--- title: Keira Knightley's Broadway Debut Disturbed by Audience description: She received a surprise from an audience member canonical: https://time.com/4059860/keira-knightley-broadway-debut/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-02T18:09:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:04.112Z og:title: Keira Knightley's Broadway Debut Interrupted by Marriage Proposal og:description: A night to remember og:url: https://time.com/4059860/keira-knightley-broadway-debut/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2d6688cdfa960/698866b1bc6cfcbeba3d9bbb/keira-knightley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2096 og:image:height: 1179 og:image:alt: Keira Knightley at the Roundabout Theater Company's 50th Anniversary Season Party in New York City on Sept. 10, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Keira Knightley's Broadway Debut Interrupted by Marriage Proposal twitter:description: A night to remember twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdf2d6688cdfa960/698866b1bc6cfcbeba3d9bbb/keira-knightley.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Keira Knightley's Broadway Debut Interrupted by Marriage Proposal > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Ethan Hawke on Why Being Pretentious is Okay [Watch (HLS stream): Ethan Hawke on Why Being Pretentious is Okay](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/annrQOUO.m3u8) (3:14)  _Published 2015-03-12. "I've been accused of being pretentious my whole life, rightfully so," says Ethan Hawke. The actor reflects on the course of his career and discusses his new documentary "Seymour," which focuses on the virtue of stepping out of the limelight_ by [Andrea Towers / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Andrea Towers / Entertainment Weekly Oct 2, 2015 6:09 PM UTC  Keira Knightley at the Roundabout Theater Company's 50th Anniversary Season Party in New York City on Sept. 10, 2015. Keira Knightley at the Roundabout Theater Company's 50th Anniversary Season Party in New York City on Sept. 10, 2015. Bruce Glikas—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Andrea Towers / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Andrea Towers / Entertainment Weekly Oct 2, 2015 6:09 PM UTC Not even movie stars are safe from the unpredictability of live theater. Oscar-nominated actress Keira Knightley made her Broadway debut Thursday in the first performance of Helen Edmundson’s _Thérèse Raquin_, but unfortunately, she didn’t get very far before she was interrupted by a disgruntled audience member. According to [witness accounts from E! News](http://www.eonline.com/news/702354/keira-knightley-s-broadway-debut-interrupted-by-man-screaming-i-love-you-and-throwing-a-bouquet-of-flowers), the man shouted things at Knightley such as, “Keira, none of this is real!” followed by “will you marry me?” from the balcony. He was eventually escorted out by security, but not before throwing a very large (and apparently very heavy) bouquet of flowers onstage.While Knightley may not have taken [the Patti LuPone approach](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/09/patti-lupone-snatches-phone-texter-mid-performance) to shutting down an audience member, she remained calm and professional. After a brief intermission, the show resumed as planned.Studio 54 did not return EW’s request for comment. _Thérèse Raquin_ officially opens on Broadway Oct. 29. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/02/keira-knightley-broadway) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ## Transcript I've only ever done what I wanted to do. It's pretentious if you have if you want a result, or you want people to think this. I never wanted to make a documentary. I never even really wanted to write a novel. It just made sense at the time. Tell me about that blanket. You, you, you push it. Stretch it. It'll never be enough. I've been accused of being pretentious my whole life, rightfully so. I always encourage young people to be pretentious, in a way, because if you do it with a sense of humor, if you have a sense of humor about yourself, it means your aspiring for something. You have to set goals for yourself. And they might as well be lofty. It did used to bother me when I was younger, but I realized is that your only portentous if you can't laugh. As somebody who didn't do a professional Shakespeare play until I was in my 30s, there's a lot of pride you get. To be or not to be, that is the question. [ INAUDIBLE ] You know, I didn't go to RADA. Most American actors don't. And so, for us to learn about it, for us to care about it, for us to do it well, is meaningful. And so it starts to become fun. And that's not pretentious. I didn't tell anyone, and I arranged a farewell concert. And that was the last concert I ever played [ MUSIC ] It's interesting to talk to Seymour about why he stopped performing. I mean, he was this guy who played the concert halls all over the world and then just suddenly stopped. So, of course, that would be interesting to me. Like, what would happen if I had stopped? And, what did you gain by stopping? Do you miss it? Is your life better? All that stuff fascinated me. Being a movie star is kind of a young person's game, you know, its whole orientation is about youth, but I've always loved directing. I started a theater company when I was in my early twenties. Directing plays. That's been the great joy of my life and so my hope is that when it really becomes necessary to have a second career I'll already have some experience. So often it's our anxiety that trips us up from being our best self. A great bulk of my life is a war with my nervous system, you know, and I think a lot of people. I don't feel that way. I decided to confide with him that I've been performing with a crippling stage fright. The bottom line of the conversation: most artists are not nervous enough. When I was younger, I had so much confidence. Making my Broadway debut I was actually, I was 21. I remember being backstage and seeing the lights shift and change and I think, god, is this funny. You'd think I would be nervous. And I just can't wait. And now I, I'd be a wreck. I was just so excited to be a part of it, of anything creative. I wrote ten pages, look, you should read it. You know, and now as you get older you're like, okay, wait, there's a lot of things you should read before I waste your time with. Y, y, y, y, and you have to hopefully create a little bit of balance at maintaining that youthful huberts or else you won't get anything done. 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