It's impossible to decide whether we prefer a stage actor to gracefully ignore disruptive heckling during a show, or for them to respond in a confrontational fashion. Laurence Fox decided on the latter when faced with a persistant loud-mouth at the Park theatre in London during his production of 'The Patriotic Traitor'.

Laurence FoxLaurence Fox hits back at theatre heckler

The 'Lewis' star was playing French army officer Charles de Gaulle in the World War Two based play written by Jonathan Lynn, which followed the relationship between de Gaulle and Philippe Pétain who was played by the Oscar nominated actor Tom Conti. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the play has received rave reviews across the board, one theatre-goer was left unimpressed and made his feelings known by heckling Fox from the front row. 

Towards the end of the play, Fox took the time to address the issue in a particularly foul-mouthed fashion. 'I won't bother telling you the story because this c**t in the front row has ruined it for everybody', he said, leaving the stage in anger and refusing to return for the curtain call. 

More: Keira Knightley was also recently heckled on stage

It might've seemed like a harsh statement to make, but he reiterated his feelings on Twitter - though apologised for his own reaction to the situation. A BBC producer took to the social networking site to praise Fox for his reaction. 'Exceptional performance of 'The Patriotic Traitor at Park Theatre and Laurence Fox dealt brilliantly with that cunning stunt at the end', he said.

'He was a cunning stunt wasn't he...? Apologies for my being a cunning stunt as well... So glad you liked it', Fox wittily replied.

Fox, who is married to 'Penny Dreadful' star Billie Piper, while best known for his role in detective series 'Lewis' has also appeared in a number of films including 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age', 'Gosford Park', 'Becoming Jane' and 'W.E.'. Among his other theatrical appearances are 2006's run of 'Treats' in which he starred alongside Piper, 2012's 'Our Boys' and 2013's 'Strangers on a Train'. He is also an accomplished musician with a new album released this year entitled 'Holding Patterns'.