Sonia Friedman Productions, in association with Nica Burns, has announced a new staging of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup.
The production will run at @sohoplace from 21 September to 19 December 2026, with press night on 30 September at 7pm.
Anderson will play Martha opposite Crudup as George, with Josh Dylan as Nick and Phoebe Horn as Honey. The production will be directed by Marianne Elliott and staged in the round, bringing audiences close to the ferocious emotional landscape of Albee’s iconic drama.
Set during the early hours of a college campus after-party, the play follows Martha and George as they draw a younger couple into their volatile psychological games. As the night unfolds, the truth becomes harder to suppress.
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 includes Miriam Buether, James Farncombe, Ian Dickinson and Jim Carnahan.
Tickets are on sale now at sohoplace.org.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
