First Look: Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup rehearse Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
New rehearsal images show Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup in Marianne Elliott’s in-the-round production of Edward Albee’s classic, opening at @sohoplace this September.
We’ve already seen the casting announcement. Now we can see Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup together in rehearsal for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
New images by Johan Persson show the actors preparing for the West End production, with Anderson taking on the role of Martha and Crudup playing her husband, George. Josh Dylan plays Nick, with Phoebe Horn as Honey.
Directed by Marianne Elliott, the production is being staged in the round at @sohoplace, putting the audience close to the action. For a play in which private tensions gradually become very public, it is an especially intimate setting.
The story takes place in the early hours of the morning, after Martha invites the younger professor Nick and his wife Honey back to her home following a faculty party. As the drinks continue, the evening turns into a series of increasingly cruel games between the two couples.
The images offer the first real sense of how Anderson and Crudup are approaching the famously volatile marriage at the centre of the play. Anderson’s casting has already prompted plenty of discussion, particularly around how her controlled screen presence might translate into Martha’s unpredictable intensity. Seeing her alongside Crudup in rehearsal adds another dimension to that question, even if the photographs can only offer a glimpse of what is to come.
Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? remains one of the great dramas of marriage and power, combining dark humour with emotional brutality. This production opens at @sohoplace on 21 September, with performances continuing until 19 December 2026.
Image credit: Johan Persson
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — listings
Venue: @sohoplace, 4 Soho Place, Charing Cross Road, London W1D 3BG
Dates: 21 September – 19 December 2026
Tickets: From £25
Booking: sohoplace.org
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
