Benedict Cumberbatch begs theatergoers to stop filming him on phones

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

This isn't going to end well.

And no, I don't just mean "Hamlet."

Benedict Cumberbatch is the latest performer to encounter his wit's end over witless people who insist on using their cell phones in theaters.

On Saturday night, Cumberbatch emerged from London's Barbican Theater, where he's playing Hamlet.

As the fans performed their customary shrieks, he expressed, in as elegant a way as he could, that he's completely fed up with audience members who insist on using their cell phones during the performance to film him.

"I don't use social media. And I would really appreciate if you did tweet, blog, hashtag the s*** out of this one for me," he said.

He continued: "I can see red lights in the auditorium. It may not be any of you here who did that, but it's blindingly obvious."

Cumberbatch explained that it was "mortifying and there's nothing less supportive or enjoyable as an actor being on stage experiencing that."

Clearly driven batty by the audience's self-centeredness, he said: "I can't give you what I want to give you, which is a live performance that you'll remember, hopefully in your minds and brains -- whether it's good, bad, or indifferent -- rather than on your phones."

He said that from Monday, the theater will begin throwing cell phone filmers out.

Theaters have experienced so many incidents with phones that it's clearly driving the professionals mad. Recently, Patti Lupone walked into the audience and confiscated a texter's cell phone.

Then there was the terribly clever, needy 19-year-old who leaped onto a Broadway stage and tried to charge his phone in a fake iPhone socket.

Nick Silverstri, for that was the teen's name, explained himself afterwards like this: "Girls were calling all day. What would you do?"