Gillian Anderson has explained why she asked a group of superfans not to sit in the front row of her West End stage show, Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Anderson performs at Soho Place Theater and was filmed confronting audience members after a performance. In the video, posted shortly after midnight on Sunday morning in the UK, Anderson tells his fans: “You can’t sit in the front row. »
She continued: “I don’t care, you can’t sit in the front row. It’s so distracting.” Fans can be heard responding and apologizing. “You can’t come 20 times and sit in the front row, it’ll drive me crazy,” Anderson adds, according to the video originally posted to TikTok.
After the footage went viral (it racked up more than 4 million views on TikTok alone), Anderson posted to X/Twitter, explaining the interaction she had after the show, which features Billy Crudup.
“The video going around is me talking to women I lived with over 20 years ago – so please don’t say anything negative about or about them,” she said. “We’re excited to be doing this show, but for those in the front row, please know that in such an intimate venue we can all see you and sometimes that can be a little distracting!”
The 58 year old man Sex education The star added: “That’s it. Everything’s fine. Keep the show going and I love everyone and thank you to everyone who came.”
It is unclear whether his fans will respect his request. The TikTok user who posted Anderson’s video suggested the women were booked to attend eight performances.
Anderson’s confrontation is part of a growing trend of actors expressing their concerns to theatergoers. Last month, Cate Blanchett, from the stage of London’s Lyttelton Theater at the National Theater after the encore of Electra/Personaasked fans to put away their cell phones.
Blanchett said: “There are few places on this planet where we can just be together and present. I understand that you like to film the encore – and that’s kind of flattering in a way – but for everyone who is filming the show, don’t do it, because it ruins it for the next group of people who come in and are present with us. So thank you very much.”
In April, Wicked star Cynthia Erivo interrupted her performance of Dracula at the Noël Coward Theater after spotting an audience member recording the show. A month later, Rosamund Pike criticized a member of the public for texting during her Inter-alias show at the National Theater.
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