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Although part of Gillian Anderson will forever live on as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully, there’s no denying that intimidating matriarchal figures have proven to be something of a speciality for her in recent years, from Miss Havisham to Margaret Thatcher and Margo Channing to Blanche DuBois.
In other words it’s not a stretch to imagine Anderson as the acid-tongued Martha, the toxic antiheroine of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The role was most famously played by Elizabeth Taylor in the classic film version, and in recent years it’s been brought to the stage by everyone from Kathleen Turner to Imelda Staunton.
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine better casting than Anderson as Martha, and this autumn we’re getting it. A new production by the great Marianne Elliott will see Anderson co-star with US actor (and recent West End regular) Billy Crudup as George, Martha’s Ivy League academic husband who invites a young colleague and his wife over for drinks and subject them to blistering arguments and bizarre games.
The icing on the cake? It’ll be staged not in a old school theatre but in the West End’s newest venue, @sohoplace, which is intimate both in terms of its relatively small size (600 seats) and its in-the-round configuration that means the action happens in the centre of the room and all seats are close to the actors.
We’re looking at a real theatrical treat, in other words, although the cosiness of the venue is likely to make it an alarmingly hot tickets – better get tickets immediately, as they’re on sale now.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is at @sohoplace, Sep 21-Dec 19.
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