A new production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Gillian Anderson as Martha, Billy Crudup as George, Josh Dylan as Nick, and Phoebe Horn as Honey.
The production, directed by Marianne Elliott, runs @sohoplace theatre from 21 September until 19 December 2026.
Set in the round, this fierce new production draws every spectator right into the eye of the storm…
“I swear…if you existed, I’d divorce you”
In the early hours of the morning on the campus of an American college, Martha, much to her husband George’s displeasure, has invited the new professor Nick and his wife Honey to their home for some after-party drinks. As the alcohol flows and dawn approaches, the young couple are drawn into George and Martha’s toxic games until the evening reaches its climax in a moment of devastating truth-telling.
Gillian 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.”
The creative team are Marianne Elliott (Director), Miriam Buether (Designer), James Farncombe (Lighting Designer), Ian Dickinson (Sound Designer), Jim Carnahan CSA (Casting Director).
Tickets are on sale now via sohoplace.org
Access Performances
BSL interpreted: Saturday 24 October, 2.00pm
Audio Described: Saturday 7 November, 2.00pm
Captioned: Saturday 21 November, 2.00pm
Further information about the cast
Gillian Anderson | Martha
Gillian Anderson is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress who has carefully curated decades-worth of iconic and impactful characters. Amongst an impressive collection of nominations, spanning from the mid-nineties to present day, Gillian has won 2 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Golden Globes, and 4 Actor Awards.
Coming soon is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma directed by the acclaimed Jane Schoenbrun, in which she stars alongside Hannah Einbender, for MUBI as well as Animals, a thriller directed by Ben Affleck for Netflix and staring Affleck, Carrie Washington and Steven Yeun and The Julia Set, a coming-of-age drama starring Chase Infiniti, Christopher Briney and Jason Isaacs.
Last year Gillian starred in Netflix’s wild west drama The Abandons, alongside Lena Headey, and with Lola Petticrew in Channel 4’s IFTA nominated series Trespasses, based on Louise Kennedy’s novel set against the backdrop of the Troubles. She also recently starred in The Salt Path, with Jason Isaacs, and in Tron: Ares, alongside Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith and Greta Lee.
In 2024 and 2023, Gillian starred in the Emmy nominated Netflix film Scoop, in which she portrayed former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis, in a dramatisation of her infamous Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew. Alongside Christian Bale, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall, and Toby Jones in the Netflix murder/thriller, The Pale Blue Eye, and in Mark Forster’s White Bird opposite Helen Mirren. She also reprised her role as sex therapist ‘Jean Milburn’ in the fourth and final series of the hugely popular Netflix series, Sex Education.
Gillian’s previous roles include her multiple award-winning role as Margaret Thatcher in the fourth series of The Crown. Starring alongside Olivia Coleman’s Queen Elizabeth II, Helena Bonham Carter, Josh O’Connor, and Emma Corrin, Gillian took home a Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors’ Guild Award and Critics’ Choice Award for her role as the former British Prime Minister.
Gillian is no stranger to portraying iconic historical figures, having also starred as Eleanor Roosevelt in the Paramount+ Drama series The First Lady. The anthology series delves into America’s presidential past from the perspective of the country’s First Ladies and also stars Viola Davis and Michelle Pfeiffer. Gillian also portrayed Catherine the Great’s mother in the second series of The Great, with Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, as well as Lady Mountbatten In Viceroy’s House alongside Hugh Bonneville and directed by Gurinder Chada and The Dutchess of Windsor in Any Human Heart with Jim Broadbent, Mathew MacFayden, and Sam Claflin. Not to mention her roles as Miss Havisham in the BAFTA-winning series’ Bleak House and Great Expectations.
Her accolades and popularity have notably stemmed from Gillian’s infamous portrayal of ‘Special Agent Dana Scully’ on the popular and award winning American sci-fi drama, The X-Files. She starred alongside David Duchovny from 1993 to 2002 in the TV series’ initial run, and then again from 2016 to 2018.
Gillian has also received great recognition for her roles on stage. She earned her first Olivier nomination for Nora in A Doll’s alongside Toby Jones at the Donmar Warehouse. She later received another Olivier nomination as well as a Best Actress win at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her role as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. In early 2019, Gillian played Margot Channing in Ivo van Hove’s West End adaptation of All About Eve, sharing the stage with Lily James. Gillian has also starred in What the Night is For at the Comedy Theatre and The Sweetest Swing in Baseball at the Royal Court.
In addition to her acting work, Gillian is an ambassador for multiple charities including War Child UK (of which she is a Global Ambassador) and Women for Women International and co-founded the mentor /mentee charity, SAYes that has successfully been running for 18 years. She is also an accomplished writer with multiple published texts under her belt, including the New York Times Bestseller WANT, a collection of anonymous sexual fantasies from women around the world, with its sequel MORE launching in 2026.
Billy Crudup | George
Equally memorable on the stage and screen, Billy Crudup has earned critical accolades for his performances. He currently stars as Corey Ellison in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, which earned him two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (three nominations total), two Critics Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (four nominations total), four Actors Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.
Most recently, Crudup was seen in Netflix and Noah Baumbach’s film Jay Kelly, opposite George Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern.
Crudup also starred in and executive produced Apple TV+’s Hello Tomorrow!, as Jack Billings, which centres around a group of traveling salesmen hawking lunar timeshares. Previously, he starred in the film adaptation of Maria Semple’s novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, alongside Kristen Wiig and Cate Blanchett; in Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding, alongside Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams; Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant along with Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston; Jackie opposite Natalie Portman; Zack Snyder’s Justice League, alongside Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa; 20th Century Women alongside Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig; Spotlight, for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and the film also won the 2016 Academy Award® for Best Picture; Youth in Oregon, which debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival; and IFC Films’ The Stanford Prison Experiment, which is based on the landmark experiment conducted at Stanford University in the summer of 1971. He made his television debut in Netflix’s psychological thriller Gypsy opposite Naomi Watts.
Crudup made his motion picture debut in Barry Levinson’s Sleepers, opposite Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Jason Patric, followed by Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You, and Pat O’Connor’s Inventing the Abbotts. Crudup played the leading role in critically acclaimed Without Limits, the story of legendary long distance runner Steven Prefontaine, for which he won the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance of the Year.
He then starred in the critically acclaimed Jesus’ Son opposite Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter and Denis Leary, which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and he reunited with Jennifer Connelly in the acclaimed Waking the Dead. Crudup also starred in Cameron Crowe’s Academy Award®-winning Almost Famous along with Frances McDormand and Kate Hudson.
Crudup’s other film credits include: 1 Mile to You, based on Jeremy Jackson’s novel Life at These Speeds; Noah Buschel’s Glass Chin; William H. Macy’s directorial debut Rudderless; Guillaume Canet’s Blood Ties opposite Clive Owen; the box office hit Eat Pray Love starring alongside Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, and James Franco; Michael Mann’s Public Enemies alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale; Zack Synder’s Watchmen opposite Patrick Wilson; Charlotte Gray opposite Cate Blanchett; Tim Burton’s fantasy tale, Big Fish, also starring Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter, and Albert Finney; Stage Beauty opposite Claire Danes; Trust the Man with Julianne Moore; J.J. Abrams’ Mission Impossible 3 opposite Tom Cruise; and Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd alongside Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.
On stage, Crudup most recently starred in the world premiere stage adaptation of the classic Western film High Noon in London’s West End. Recently, he starred in Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Ibsen’s Ghosts, and reprised his role in the one-man play Harry Clarke at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End which earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor, following a limited engagement at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He first performed this play at the Vineyard Theatre, for which he won an Outer Critics Circle Award, Off-Broadway Alliance Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama Desk Award, Obie Award and garnered a nomination for a Drama League Award. Crudup starred in the repertory productions of No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot on Broadway, opposite Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Shuler Hensley. In 2007, Crudup won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor for his role in the Broadway production of The Coast of Utopia. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in The Elephant Man, The Pillowman and Arcadia.
He made his Broadway debut as Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, directed by Trevor Nunn, which won him several awards, including the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actor and a Theater World Award. He was also honoured with the Clarence Derwent Award from Actor’s Equity for Outstanding Broadway Debut.
His other stage credits include: William Inge’s Bus Stop and the Roundabout Theater’s production of Three Sisters, which earned him a Drama Desk nomination. He has appeared in Oedipus with Frances McDormand, starred in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Measure for Measure at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and starred in the off-Broadway run of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui opposite Al Pacino and Steve Buscemi.
Crudup received his Masters of Fine Arts from New York University and also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He resides in New York City.
Josh Dylan | Nick
Josh can next be seen as the co-lead role in the series Tommy & Tuppence for BritBox, alongside Antonia Thomas and Imelda Staunton.
Dylan is soon to appear in the upcoming feature Scorn, opposite Adria Arjona and directed by Sarah-Violet Bliss.
Last year, Josh starred in the BAFTA nominated film H is for Hawk, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, opposite Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson, which premiered at LFF 2025.
He plays a leading role in The Buccaneers for Apple TV+ which had its season 2 premiere in the summer of 2025.
Early in his career, Josh starred as the young ‘Bill Anderson’, who’s older version is portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård in Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again. He then went on to work in leading roles in several critically acclaimed series, including The End of the F**king World, Noughts + Crosses, Allied and Masters of the Air.
Phoebe Horn | Honey
Phoebe’s theatre credits include Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, Sam Mendes’ production of The Motive and the Cue alongside Mark Gatiss and Johnny Flynn, and Simon Goodwin’s Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre.
On screen, Phoebe has appeared in the BAFTA-winning series Call the Midwife for BBC and recently starred in Mark Gatiss’ film for the BBC, A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone.
Marianne Elliott | Director
Marianne Elliott is a multi-award-winning director. She has won three Olivier Awards, four Tony Awards, two Evening Standard Theatre Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. She was an Artistic Director of Manchester Royal Exchange (1998-2002) and an Associate Director at the Royal Court (2002–2006) and the National Theatre (2006–2016). In 2018, she was awarded an OBE for Services to Theatre.
Theatre credits include Angels in America (National Theatre/ Broadway); Husbands and Sons, Rules for Living, The Light Princess, Port (National Theatre/Broadway); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre/ Broadway/tour); Season’s Greetings, Women Beware Women, All’s Well That Ends Well, Mrs Affleck, Harper Regan (National Theatre); War Horse (National Theatre/ Broadway/ Tour); Saint Joan, Thérèse Raquin, Pillars of the Community (National Theatre); The Unbelieveres, Stoning Mary, Notes on Falling Leaves, The Sugar Syndrome (Royal Court); Company (Gielgud Theatre/ Broadway); Cock (Ambassadors Theatre); Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle (Wyndham’s Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (RSC); Death of a Salesman (Young Vic/ Piccadilly Theatre); Sweet Bird of Youth (Old Vic); The Little Foxes (Donmar); Design for Living, Les Blancs, As You Like It, A Woman of No Importance (Royal Exchange, Manchester).
