Inspector Rebus star halts West End play over noise in stalls

Midway through the first half of the play, in which Stott plays a tragic Italian American longshoreman in Forties Brooklyn, the actor could bear the din no longer. Switching from his stage American accent to his native Scottish drawl he demanded that the teacher responsible for the children remove them - or the play would cease.

Up came the house lights and there followed a 15-minute stand-off as negotiations with the guilty parties were opened up.

It seems the audience at the Duke of York's Theatre last night took the side of Stott as they indulged in football-syle chanting of "Out, out, out" until the three culprits and one shamefaced teacher slunk away. Future theatre-goers would be advised to be on their best behaviour. Only last month a telephone trilled in a stall seat directly in front of Stott on stage. He bristled but said nothing. In the second act it happened again during a crucial scene with Stott stage front at a table with a lawyer. This time he glared at the culprit in the audience and snapped: "Is that it now?" There were no more interruptions.

One witness to last night's debacle said: "I've never seen anything like it before. Stott was quite calm in that he didn't swear at the teenagers but he was adamant that unless the offenders left, the play would go no further. It was funny how he switched from an American to Scottish accent to make his point."

Stott, who plays Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus on ITV, has received rave reviews since A View from the Bridge opened on 5 February. It stars Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Hayley Atwell, and is directed by Olivier Award-winning Lindsay Posner.

A spokesman for the theatre tells me: "It happened, but we haven't got anything to say."

Stott once described himself as "a cantankerous old bastard". But he is not alone in standing up to rude theatregoers.

Actor Richard Griffiths once asked a woman audience member to leave the theatre after her mobile phone rang during a performance of The History Boys. She promptly walked out and Griffiths received a standing ovation.

Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey has often criticised theatregoers for allowing their mobile phones to ring when the curtain is up - and for eating sweets too loudly.