Two eco-activists arrested after storming West End stage and disrupting Shakespeare play starring Sigourney Weaver

28 January 2025, 12:05 | Updated: 28 January 2025, 12:07

Two environmental activists have been arrested after disrupting a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest starring Sigourney Weaver on Monday.

Mother of three Hayley Walsh, 42, and mechanical engineer Richard Weir, 60, can be seen walking on stage where Alien star Weaver is performing, in a video shared to social media by Just Stop Oil, the climate protest group.

Carrying a sign that reads "over 1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck", the pair launched a confetti cannon while announcing "we'll have to stop the show ladies and gentlemen, sorry".

Weaver, 75, who had been sitting on a chair, was escorted off stage at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane on Monday, while the two protesters faced boos and a few cheers from the audience.

Police have confirmed that they arrived at the venue after the protesters had left, and that a 42-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.

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The sign references the recent announcement that 2024 was the warmest year 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."

Bafta-award winning actress Weaver plays the storm-creating magician Prospero in the new staging of the Shakespeare classic, in a role typically played by a man.

The production opened in December and will run until February 1.

The Metropolitan Police and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane have been approached for comment.