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 is performing at Soho Place Theatre and was filmed confronting audience members following a performance. In the video, posted just after midnight on Sunday morning in the UK, Anderson tells fans: “You guys cannot sit in the front row.”
She continued: “I don’t care; you cannot sit in the front row. It’s so distracting.” The fans can be heard responding and apologizing. “You can’t come 20 times and sit in the front row, it’ll drive me mad,” Anderson adds, according to the video, originally posted on TikTok.
After the footage went viral (it has amassed more than 4 million views on TikTok alone), Anderson posted on X/Twitter, explaining the interaction she had following the show, which co-stars Billy Crudup.
“The video doing the rounds is me talking with women I go back over 20 years with – so please don’t say anything negative to or about them,” she said. “We’re thrilled to be doing this show but for people in the front row, please be aware that in such an intimate venue we can all see you and sometimes, it can be a tad distracting!”
The 58-year-old Sex Education star added: “That’s all. All good. On with the show and love to everyone and thank you to all of those coming.”
It’s unclear whether her fans will respect her request. The TikTok user who posted the video of Anderson suggested that the women had booked to attend eight performances.
Anderson’s confrontation is part of a growing trend of actors voicing their concerns to theatergoers. Last month, Cate Blanchett, from the London stage of National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre after the curtain call of Electra/Persona, asked fans to put away their cellphones.
Blanchett said: “There are few places on this planet where we can simply be together and be present. I understand you like filming the curtain call – and it is kind of flattering in a way – but for anyone who is filming the show, please don’t, because it spoils 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 halted her performance of Dracula at the Noël Coward Theatre after spotting an audience member recording the show. A month later, Rosamund Pike was critical of an audience member for texting during her Inter Alia show at the National Theatre.
