Theater critic throws audience member's phone

NEW YORK, May 17 (UPI) -- A New York theater critic was kicked out of a play after he threw a fellow patron's cellphone against a wall during a performance.

Kevin Williamson, 40, who reviews theater for The National Review and The Corner blog, said he was attending a performance of "Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812," a new musical based on a portion of the novel "War and Peace," and he decided to become a "vigilante" when a fellow patron whose phone constantly posed a distraction refused to turn the device off, the New York Post reported Friday.

"To the theatergoing public of New York -- nay, the world -- I say: 'You're welcome,'" Williamson wrote on The Corner.

"I did it to make a statement -- but also I was just annoyed," Williamson said. "I go to the theater every week, and I'm used to bad behavior. But this was over the top."

"These are people who are not smart enough to sit through a two-hour play," he said.

Williamson, who was escorted out of the play by security, said he and ushers had repeatedly asked the woman to put her phone away.