Benedict Cumberbatch makes emotional appeal to Hamlet audience to help refugees - and raises £4,000

(Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TWC)

pBenedict Cumberbatch used his sold-out theatre run of Hamlet to bring attention to the current refugee crisis — and raised thousands of pounds in the process./p pFollowing his performance at the Barbican in London on Thursday evening, Cumberbatch stepped forward, reportedly while the audience were still applauding, to urge the audience to donate to cash to help alleviate the ongoing crisis./ppCumberbatch is said to have criticised the UK government’s “slow response” and quoted the poet Warsan Shire, reciting : A parent only puts their child on a boat when the sea is safer than the land./ppblockquote class=twitter-tweet lang=enp dir=ltr lang=enIn a stirring speech, Cumberbatch said a parent only puts their child on a boat when the sea is safer than the land./p— Josh Jackman (@josh_jackman) a href=https://twitter.com/josh_jackman/status/642094210443804673September 10, 2015/a/blockquotescript charset=utf-8 src=//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js/script/ppHe appealed to the audience to donate notes instead of coins in the collection buckets to aid refugees, joking that he did not want the buckets to be too heavy./ppThe collection reportedly raised over £4,000 in donations./ppblockquote class=twitter-tweet lang=enp dir=ltr lang=enNews from a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/benedictcumberbatch?src=hash#benedictcumberbatch/a - his interval speech at Hamlet last night about a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/helpiscoming?src=hash#helpiscoming/a, followed by a collection, raised £4020/p— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) a href=https://twitter.com/caitlinmoran/status/642341319424274432September 11, 2015/a/blockquotescript charset=utf-8 src=//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js/script /ph5Read more: br br /h5pAmong the audience were MPs, including Culture Secretary John Whittingdale. Labour MP Chris Bryant also watched the play, later tweeting that he was proud of the actor’s “emotional appeal”./ppblockquote class=twitter-tweet lang=enp dir=ltr lang=enReally proud of a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/BenedictCumberbatch?src=hash#BenedictCumberbatch/a for his emotional appeal after Hamlet tonight over a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/refugeescrisis?src=hash#refugeescrisis/a and shameful govt response/p— Chris Bryant MP (@RhonddaBryant) a href=https://twitter.com/RhonddaBryant/status/642097955399442433September 10, 2015/a/blockquotescript charset=utf-8 src=//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js/script/ppThe appeal came the day before Cumberbatch gave a video introduction of the charity re-release of Crowded House’s Help Is Coming. The release was the idea of author Caitlin Moran and her husband journalist, Pete Paphides, with all proceeds going to Save the Children./ppblockquote class=twitter-tweet data-cards=hidden lang=enp dir=ltr lang=enThe responses to a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/helpiscoming?src=hash#helpiscoming/a have me in bits. Timelines gone nuts: a href=https://t.co/j8xDBOrGD7https://t.co/j8xDBOrGD7/a a href=https://t.co/WJhaIm61WVhttps://t.co/WJhaIm61WV/a/p— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) a href=https://twitter.com/caitlinmoran/status/642237034581598208September 11, 2015/a/blockquotescript charset=utf-8 src=//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js/script/ppiframe frameborder=0 height=325 src=https://www.youtube.com/embed/5gWLQhCSv2I width=460/iframe/p