SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS, IN ASSOCIATION WITH NICA BURNS, ANNOUNCES
GILLIAN ANDERSON AND BILLY CRUDUP IN
EDWARD ALBEE’S
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
OPENING @SOHOPLACE ON 21 SEPTEMBER 2026
Sonia Friedman Productions, in association with Nica Burns, today announces 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, with press night on Wednesday 30 September at 7pm.
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.”
Marianne 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.”
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.”
Nica Burns said, “Sonia Friedman has brought together an outstanding creative team helmed by the brilliant Marianne Elliott with a remarkable cast led by Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup. We are excited that the first American classic to be presented @sohoplace will offer a different experience – thrillingly up close and personal – of Albee’s intense play in the intimacy of our in-the-round auditorium.”
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.
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,whichcentres 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).
Miriam Buether | Designer
Miriam Buether is a multi-award-winning stage designer working internationally in theatre, opera and dance.
She received the 2025 Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critic’s Circle Award and the Olivier Award for Best Set Design for Stranger Things: The First Shadow. She is also three times Tony Award nominated for Prima Facie, Three Tall Women and To Kill a Mockingbird, two times winner of the Evening Standard Award for The Jungle and Earthquakes in London and Sucker Punch, and winner of the Critics Circle Award for Wild Swans.
Recent work includes: The Hunger Games on Stage (Troubadour Canary Wharf); Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Inter Alia, The Land of the Living, Earthquakes in London, The Effect (National Theatre); Unicorn (West End); Kyoto (RSC/ West End/ New York); The Fear of 13 (Donmar); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (West End/ Broadway); Prima Facie (West End/ Broadway); The Jungle (Young Vic/ West End/ New York); The 47th (Old Vic); Jungle Book Reimagined (Akram Khan Company); Patriots (Almeida/ West End/ Broadway); Christmas Day, Women Beware the Devil, Shipwreck, Spring Awakening (Almeida); The Cherry Orchard (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam); Sunny Afternoon, Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre/ West End); The Trial, Wild Swans (Young Vic), What If If Only, Love and Information, Sucker Punch (Royal Court); To Kill a Mockingbird, Three Tall Women, King Lear, A Doll’s House 2, The Children (Broadway); Wozzeck (Festival d’Aix); Festen, Aida, Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House).
James Farncome| Lighting Designer
Theatre includes: The Land of the Living, London Road, The Other Place, Phaedra, People, Places and Things (National Theatre/ UK tour/ New York); Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Playboy of the Western World, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, The Plough and the Stars, Man and Superman, 3 Winters, Edward II, People and Men Should Weep (National Theatre); The Cherry Orchard (Donmar); The Tragedy of King Richard the Second (Almeida); John Gabriel Borkman (Bridge Theatre); Yerma, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Measure for Measure (Young Vic); Anatomy of a Suicide (Royal Court); Vanya (Duke of York’s/ New York).
Opera includes: The Makropulos Case, Jenufa, Theodora, Lessons in Love and Violence (Royal Opera House); Lucia di Lammermoor (Met Opera, New York/ LA Opera); La Traviata (Garnier, Paris, and Vienna Staatsoper); Innocence (Metropolitan Opera); Pelléas et Mélisande, Alcina (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow); Ariadne auf Naxos, Trauernacht (Aix-en-Provence Festival); Le Vin herbé (Berliner Staatsoper).
Ian Dickinson| Sound Designer
Ian has extensive sound design credits to his name both domestically in the U.K and internationally. He was the recipient of both Olivier and Drama Desk awards for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–Time, which played at the National Theatre and subsequently toured venues worldwide. He has also received numerous Olivier and Tony nominations for his work in London and on Broadway, most notably for Company, Angels in America, Rock & Roll, 2:22 (A Ghost Story) and Jerusalem.
Recent work includes: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Theatre); The Battle (The Rep); Unfortunate (The Lowry); The Hunger Games (Troubador Theatre); Hedda (Ustinov Studio, Bath); The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Chichester Festival Theatre); Ballet Shoes (National Theatre); Fear of 13 (Donmar); Waiting for Godot (Haymarket); Alma Mater (Almeida); The Witches (National Theatre), Boys on the Verge of Tears (Soho Theatre), 42nd Street (UK tour); The Pillowman (Duke of York’s); 2:22 A Ghost Story (West End/ Los Angeles/ UK tour); Rock Follies (Chichester Festival Theatre); Shirley Valentine (Duke of York’s); Ocean at the End of the Lane (UK tour/ Duke of York’s); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare North Playhouse); COCK (Ambassadors); Uncle Vanya (Harold Pinter); Angels in America (Broadway); Translations, Small Island, Husbands and Sons (National Theatre); Company (Broadway/ West End); Hangmen (Broadway/ West End).
Jim Carnahan CSA | Casting Director
Jim has cast over 175 Broadway shows including: Fallen Angels, Oedipus, Chess, Waiting for Godot, ART, Just in Time, Pirates!, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Sunset Blvd, The Hills of California, Appropriate, Merrily We Roll Along, A Doll’s House, A Beautiful Noise, Leopoldstadt, Funny Girl, Take Me Out, The Lehman Trilogy, Moulin Rouge!, The Ferryman, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fun Home, Cabaret, Matilda, Once, Boeing-Boeing, Spring Awakening.
Off-Broadway: A Christmas Carol, Kyoto, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, Creditors, Little Shop of Horrors, Medea, Hamlet/Oresteia, The Doctor.
London: Copenhagen (Hampstead Theatre): Romeo & Juliet (Harold Pinter); Woman in Mind (Duke of York’s); Mary Page Marlowe (Old Vic); The Assembled Parties (Hampstead Theatre); The Seagull (Barbican); Evita (London Palladium); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix Theatre); Enemy of the People (Duke of York’s); Oedipus, Eureka Day, Speed-the-Plow (Old Vic); Plaza Suite (Savoy Theatre); Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Harold Pinter); Best of Enemies (Noël Coward).
Film/TV includes: Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid, The Seagull, Glee (Emmy nomination), John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch, A Home at the End of the World, Flicka.
Jim is a member of the Casting Society of America and a 26-time recipient of the Artios Award for excellence in casting.
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BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
Box Office
www.sohoplace.org
0330 333 5961
4 Soho Place | Charing Cross Road | London | W1D 3BG
Access Bookings/Customer Ticketing Enquiries: 0330 333 5962
Group Bookings: 0330 333 5963
@sohoplace
21 September – 19 December 2026
Press Night: Wednesday 30 September at 7pm
Ticket prices
From £25
Fair access: 50% off across all bands
Access @sohoplace
BSL interpreted: Saturday 24 October, 2.00pm
Audio Described: Saturday 7 November, 2.00pm
Captioned: Saturday 21 November, 2.00pm
@sohoplace has wheelchair access on stalls level and wider seats available for patrons with access needs.
access@sohoplace.org
Ticketing @sohoplace
@sohoplace has contactless ticketing for every performance. Tickets will be issued electronically 48 hours prior to the performance.
boxoffice@sohoplace.org
Cloakroom @sohoplace
The theatre has a large cloakroom that can be used by all patrons free of charge. Out of respect for patrons and the auditorium, we request that large bags are checked into the cloak room.
Feedback @sohoplace
We welcome all feedback on patrons’ experience with the venue and encourage patrons to email us feedback@sohoplace.org
