Post-Hamlet anti-government speech
Cumberbatch tells a London Hamlet audience to ‘f-ck the politicians’ amid criticism of ministers over their handling of the migration crisis in Europe. He has been giving nightly speeches after his curtain call, reading a poem called Home by Somali poet Warsan Shire, which includes the line:
No one puts children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land
He urges theatregoers to donate money to Save the Children which helps Syrian refugees, raising more than £150,000. Cumberbatch tells theatregoers of a friend’s experience volunteering on the Greek island of Lesbos, where 5,000 people had been arriving every day.
Everywhere on the horizon there was nothing but boats and on the shoreline nothing but lifejackets. We are saying, as citizens of the world, we see you … and at least some help is coming.
