‘I knew I was being followed’: Keira Knightley on her hacking nightmare – and new Stasi spy play The Lives of Others
As the Oscar-winning Stasi surveillance film hits the stage, Knightley and co-star Luke Thompson talk about the paranoia at its heart, the cost of theatre tickets nowadays – and their fury at ringtones in the stalls Unpacking assorted tubs of carrot sticks and salad, Keira Knightley winces apologetically. “I just realised I’ve got very crunchy food,” she says. How apropos that she should consider the impact that her…
Key points
- Keira Knightley stars as Christa-Maria Sieland in The Lives of Others, a stage adaptation of the 2006 Stasi surveillance film, opening at London's Adelphi theatre on 14 October.
- Knightley said her experience of phone hacking gave her personal insight into the play's paranoia, but noted she had tangible evidence while the characters do not know if they are monitored.
- Co-star Luke Thompson said the play is not just a politics play and that he would feel they had failed if audiences took away only that communists are awful.
Keira Knightley and Luke Thompson star in The Lives of Others, a new play based on the Oscar-winning 2006 film about Stasi surveillance in East Berlin. The production opens at the Adelphi theatre in London on 14 October and runs until 9 January.
Knightley plays Christa-Maria Sieland, a theatre actor, and Thompson plays the playwright Georg Dreyman. Stephen Dillane plays Wiesler, the Stasi officer who monitors the couple and whose principles are gradually challenged by what he hears.
Knightley on her hacking experience
Knightley said she has personal experience of the paranoia that dominates the play. In the same year the film was released, she became part of the first wave of public figures to discover that their phone messages had been hacked by tabloids.
She said she knew her phone was being hacked because she had tangible evidence, mostly pictures, and could see that she was being followed. She added that she did not feel like she was going mad, unlike the characters who do not know when or if they are being monitored.
I knew I was being followed and then I could see that I was being followed. I didn’t feel like I was going mad.
— Keira Knightley
Stagecraft and audience behavior
Thompson said the show is quite technical and works like one big set-piece, almost musical. Knightley said the production uses a revolving stage so the audience can see the couple and their Stasi eavesdropper at the same time.
Both actors discussed modern surveillance and audience phone use. Knightley said people feel safer with cameras at bus stops but then ask who is surveying them, while Thompson said the best way to create surveillance is for people to do it themselves. Knightley also noted the fury from everyone if a phone goes off in the theatre.
