Just Stop Oil activists shut down West End show starring Sigourney Weaver
Just Stop Oil activists have disrupted a West End performance of The Tempest starring Sigourney Weaver after storming the stage.
Mother of three Hayley Walsh and mechanical engineer Richard Weir interrupted the performance by walking on stage while Weaver was performing.
The pair unveiled a banner which read ‘over 1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck’ and launched a confetti cannon while a voice can be heard saying ‘we’ll have to stop the show ladies and gentlemen, sorry’.
Both made their entrance after Weaver emphatically delivered the line ‘Come forth’, which also prompted another character to emerge from the floor.
They were met with a mixed reception, with some members of the crowd booing the activists and shouting ‘get off the stage’ while others cheered them on.
Weaver, who had been sitting on a chair at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, was escorted off stage by security.
The sign was a reference to the recent announcement that 2024 had been the warmest on record globally and the first full year when the average temperature exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Ms Walsh, 42, a lecturer from Nottingham, said: ‘I am scared for my children, I can’t sleepwalk them into a future of food shortages, life-threatening storms and wars for resources.
‘Years of writing to MPs, going on marches and teaching my students to be more sustainable hasn’t seen the urgent change needed.
‘1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck we can’t ignore. Wildfires in California, deadly floods in Valencia and hundreds of thousands without power in the UK this weekend.
‘This isn’t a distant, future problem. We need a global treaty to stop fossil fuel burning and a global emergency response.’
Mr Weir, 60, from Tynemouth, North Tyneside, said: ‘I started my career in the shipyards of Tyneside and I watched management inaction lead to the collapse of UK manufacturing.
‘Now I see similar failures of leadership as politicians refuse to take action to protect us and our loved ones.
‘We’re already seeing the damage this crisis is doing to crops, homes and entire neighbourhoods. Unless we come together and demand a move away from fossil fuels by 2030, we will go the same way as manufacturing in the UK.’
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.