Keira Knightley draws on phone hacking for surveillance-themed stage role
Keira Knightley and Luke Thompson are starring in a stage adaptation of *The Lives of Others*, Robert Icke’s new production based on the Oscar-winning film. Set in East Berlin in 1984, it follows a Stasi officer whose surveillance of an actor and her director gradually challenges his beliefs; Knightley says her own experience of phone hacking helped her understand the paranoia at its heart.
The production uses a revolving stage to show the couple and the officer watching them at the same time, with video elements and a Max Richter score also part of rehearsals. Knightley was among public figures whose phone messages were hacked by tabloids in the year the film was released, and she says she knew she was being followed. The interview also touches on the cost of theatre tickets and both actors’ irritation with audience members’ ringtones.
- Knightley draws on phone-hacking experience for a play about surveillance.
- The revolving stage lets audiences watch the watchers.
- The production adapts the 2006 Oscar-winning film.
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The Lives of Others is an Oscar-winning German film set in East Berlin in 1984 during the Cold War. It follows a state security officer whose surveillance of an actor and theatre director gradually leads him to question his loyalty to the authoritarian regime.
Keira Knightley is now starring in a new stage adaptation of the film, directed by Robert Icke, with actor Luke Thompson. The production adapts the film's exploration of surveillance and state control for the theatre.
Knightley was among public figures whose phone messages were hacked by tabloid journalists, and has said the experience gave her insight into what it feels like to be watched without consent. She sees a connection between this and the surveillance depicted in the play.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “‘I knew I was being followed’: Keira Knightley on her hacking nightmare – and new Stasi spy play The Lives of Others”.