Broadway plays are subject to the same interruptions as every other live event these days. Protesters thirsty for attention ruin everything.
During Thursday night’s performance of “An Enemy of the People,” starring Michael Imperioli (Sopranos) and Jeremy Strong (Succession), environmental wackos disrupted the start of the second act. It is reported that there were three climate protesters. They became the enemy of the audience.
The protesters yelled, “No theatre on a dead planet!” to stop the performance. The best part of this bruhaha is that Michael Imperioli stopped and began yelling back at the protesters. How great is that? Baller move, Michael. Actor David Patrick Kelly also yelled at them as the audience applauded the two.
The interruption happened during a tense scene between Imperioli and Strong so some theatre audience members thought Imperioli’s reaction was a part of the play. The protesters were sitting in seats except for the one who stormed the stage.
The New York Post reports that it witnessed one person walk onto the stage at the Circle In the Square Theatre while the tense scene was acted out. He spoke briefly before he was escorted off by security and cast members. One activist fought the ushers who were escorting him away. He nearly fell to the ground in doing so.
The climate weirdo that made it on stage had some thoughts to share.
“I am very, very sorry to interrupt your night and this amazing performance. I am a theater artist,” he said.
“The oceans are rising. It will swallow this city and this entire theater whole. I am putting my career on the line because we are not doing anything about this crisis. The water is coming for us!”
The actors displayed different reactions to the interruption.
Imperioli later shouted at another, “Go back to drama school!”
But Strong, remaining in character, said, “Let them speak.”
I love this story so much.
The group that protested is a known entity.
A group called Extinction Rebellion took credit for the mid-performance demonstration. In a statement, they said, “Today’s action highlights the failure of governments and corporations to treat climate and ecological breakdown as the crisis it is.”
It’s an extremist group known for disrupting areas of everyday life to garner attention.
The audience thought the protest was part of the Henrik Ibsen play because the scene interrupted was one of a rowdy town hall meeting. The people at the town hall were upset over poisoned water. The production involves audience participation. So, it’s reasonable that some in the audience mistook the demonstration for part of the show.
One audience member’s reaction, a writer who has been published in Vulture and Teen Vogue, made me chuckle.
You know you’ve seen too much experimental theatre when you immediately assume climate protesters in the middle of Enemy of the People is part of it
— Ashley Wolfgang (@sweetsoleil) March 15, 2024
Truth is stranger than fiction.
The audience applauded as the protesters were escorted out. An announcement instructed the actors to leave the stage. Most of the cast ignored that order and remained on stage. They held their ground. This sounds like an excellent cast.
There were many theatre critics from various news outlets in the audience. I hope this story gets lots of publicity.
The cast acted as they should have in their response to activists interrupting their work. The stage was the actors’ job site and environmental activists put their feelings over letting others do their job. The protester who got on stage said he was an actor. He, of all people, should have known his method of protest was wrong. Why not just picket outside the theatre like regular protesters?
Theatre-goers pay a lot of money for tickets. Interrupting their enjoyment of the entertainment doesn’t change hearts and minds, as displayed by the audience. They were happy to see the protesters removed. It was a performance of a play, not a hearing in Congress or a local town hall meeting.
Americans are beginning to push back against those who put themselves above others to make a political point. This story reminded me of those videos we see of commuters caught in a protest that closes a public road or highway. The drivers get out now and physically remove the protesters blocking the road.
More of this please, especially as Michael Imperioli reacted. Not so much as Jeremy Strong did. Appeasement doesn’t stop the crazy.