Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup to star in 'Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' in the West End

Anderson and Crudup will star as couple Martha and George, who invite new professor Nick and his wife Honey to their home on an American college campus for some after-party drinks. As the young couple are drawn into Martha and George's toxic games, the night erupts into a brutal confrontation with reality.

Summary

• Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup will star in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• The play is written by Edward Albee
• Marianne Elliott will direct
• Performances begin at @sohoplace in September

Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup will lead the cast of a new production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which begins performances at @sohoplace on 21 September running through 19 December.

Anderson and Crudup will star as couple Martha and George, who invite new professor Nick and his wife Honey to their home on an American college campus for some after-party drinks. As the young couple are drawn into Martha and George's toxic games, the night erupts into a brutal confrontation with reality.

The rest of the cast includes Josh Dylan as Nick and Phoebe Horn as Honey.

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 includes Marianne Elliott (Director), Miriam Buether (Designer), James Farncombe (Lighting Designer), and Ian Dickinson (Sound Designer).

Check back for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup. (Courtesy of production)