Just Stop Oil disrupts Sigourney Weaver West End play
2025-01-28
Category: news

Two protesters from Just Stop Oil have disrupted a performance of The Tempest, starring Sigourney Weaver in London's West End.A man and a woman from the environmental campaign group climbed on to the stage at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Monday evening.They launched a confetti canon and a voice called out: "We'll have to stop the show, ladies and gents, sorry." Hollywood actress Weaver, who had been sitting in a chair on stage, was escorted away by a member of the theatre's staff.A video shared by Just Stop Oil shows the protesters being met with boos from the audience  - but also a few cheers - before they were then guided off stage after less than a minute. 
Alien star Weaver and another actor had been mid-scene when they were interrupted. The protesters had been holding an orange banner reading "Over 1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck".It was a nod to the plot of Shakespeare's Tempest, which features a ship sinking.In an online statement, Just Stop Oil said the sign was a reference to a recent finding that annual global temperature rose above the internationally agreed 1.5C target for the first time in 2024.In recent years, Just Stop Oil has targeted a number of other events and venues including the Chelsea Flower Show, the Proms, Stonehenge and the National Gallery. Earlier this month, two women were arrested after they spray-painted over naturalist Charles Darwin's grave inside Westminster Abbey.