‘I knew I was being followed’: Keira Knightley on her hacking nightmare – and new Stasi spy play The Lives of Others

'I realized someone was tracking me': Keira Knightley discusses her hacking ordeal and upcoming Stasi drama The Lives of Others

The Academy Award-winning East German surveillance thriller transitions to the stage, with Knightley and her fellow actor Luke Thompson exploring the underlying suspicion, the current price of theater tickets – and their annoyance at mobile phones ringing in the audience

While unpacking various containers of carrot sticks and salad, Keira Knightley offers an apologetic wince. "I've just noticed my food is quite noisy," she remarks. How fitting that she considers how her meal might affect my voice recording, as we're gathered to talk about The Lives of Others, a fresh theatrical production where the characters are split into those who observe and those who are observed.

Adapted from the 2006 film that won an Academy Award and set in East Berlin during 1984, the play features Knightley portraying Christa-Maria, a stage actress involved with a director named Georg, played by Luke Thompson. Eavesdropping on them is Wiesler (Stephen Dillane), the Stasi agent whose ethical stance gradually shifts and erodes due to his constant surveillance of this sophisticated pair.