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Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup to star in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the West End
The modern classic by Edward Albee comes to @sohoplace this autumn
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will return to the West End this autumn for a limited run, playing at @sohoplace from 21 September to 19 December. This new production of Edward Albee’s play will be brought to the stage by Olivier-winning director Marianne Elliott, with Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup starring as couple Martha and George.
The play follows the couple through a drinks party at their campus home with new professor Nick and his wife Honey, who find themselves dragged into Martha and George’s toxic games until things reach a fever pitch. Josh Dylan and Phoebe Horn will star as Nick and Honey.
The understudies for the production are Alex Cartuson as Nick, Jessica Kirton as Martha, Georgia Miles as Honey, and Simon Willmont as George.
Anderson said: “Martha has built a persona to survive the emotional battlefield that she and husband George inhabit. She’s described by George as a ‘hell cat’. Ferocious, volatile, and impossible to contain. The short sharp quip also hints at the deeper tragedy beneath her wounded pride and bravado. Martha’s rage is inseparable from her longing, her disappointment, and her need to be seen; all things still eminently relatable 60 years on. I’ve wanted to play Martha for decades and thrilled Billy Crudup is joining me in the ring as George.”
Elliott said: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play of astonishing emotional precision—brutal, witty, and deeply human. What excites me most is the opportunity to explore the volatility and tenderness at its core with two actors as fearless and intelligent as Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup. Albee writes with such fervency about love, illusion and survival, and I’m so excited to dive into that world with them and rediscover just how alive and bold this play is.”
Producer Sonia Friedman said, “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is one of the defining plays of the modern theatre – raw, ferociously funny and devastating in equal measure. To bring it to life with actors of the calibre of Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup, under the direction of the extraordinary Marianne Elliott, is a thrilling prospect. Staged in the round @sohoplace, this production will place audiences right inside George and Martha’s dangerous games, in a play that remains as shocking and truthful today as when Albee first wrote it.”
The creative team also includes designer Miriam Buether, lighting designer James Farncombe and sound designer Ian Dickinson.
