Gillian Anderson confronts ‘distracting’ superfans outside theater

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Gillian Anderson has become the latest Hollywood star to call out theatergoers’ behavior, after a video posted on social media showed her asking superfans not to distract her by repeatedly sitting in the front row of her London West End show.

While signing memorabilia for fans outside the Soho Place theater, where she is appearing alongside Billy Crudup in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” Anderson can be heard telling a group of women, “You guys cannot sit in the front row.”

The fans, who are off-camera, can be heard apologizing to the “X-Files” star, saying “I’m sorry” and “I know.”

One woman then told Anderson her turn as Martha — a 1960s wife frustrated with her marriage — made her and the other fans “cry so much.”

But Anderson responded firmly: “I do not care; you cannot sit in the front row. It’s so distracting.”

The actor turned author and activist then appeared to laugh a little as she told the women: “You can’t come 20 times and sit in the front row; it’ll drive me mad.”

The video sparked mixed reactions on social media, with some backing Anderson’s request as reasonable for a performer and others branding her ungrateful for her fans’ support.

On Sunday, Anderson responded by sharing a statement across social media clarifying her position.

“The video doing the rounds is me talking with women I go back over 20 years with — so please don’t say anything negative to or about them,” the 58-year-old began.

“We’re thrilled to be doing this show but for people in the front row, please be aware that in such an intimate venue we can all see you and sometimes, it can be a tad distracting!” Anderson added, referring to the 602-seat auditorium.

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She ended her message with: “That’s all. All good. On with the show and love to everyone and thank you to all of those coming.”

Anderson is the latest in a succession of high-profile performers to complain about the behavior of theater audiences.

Just last month, double Oscar winner Cate Blanchett took a moment to ask a London audience not to film during the National Theatre production “Electra/Persona.”

“There are few places on this planet at the moment where we can simply be together and be present,” Blanchett said.

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“For anyone who is filming the show, please don’t, because it spoils it for the next group of people who come in and are present with us,” she added.

Back in April, “Wicked” superstar Cynthia Erivo paused a performance of her one-woman version of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” at the Noël Coward Theatre in London — in which she played all 23 roles — because she spotted a member of the audience apparently filming from their seat.

And the following month, “Gone Girl” actor Rosamund Pike used the curtain call to chastize an audience member — whom she did not identify — she’d clocked texting during the emotional finale of her show “Inter Alia” at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre.

艾米·萨斯曼/盖蒂图片社

吉莉安·安德森成为最新一位公开谴责观众行为的好莱坞明星。此前，一段发布在社交媒体上的视频显示，她在观看伦敦西区演出时，要求超级粉丝不要反复坐在前排，以免分散她的注意力。

在 Soho Place 剧院外为粉丝签名纪念品时（她与比利·克鲁德普一起出演了《谁害怕弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫？》），可以听到安德森对一群女性说：“你们不能坐在前排。”

镜头外的粉丝们向《X档案》明星道歉，说“对不起”和“我知道”。

一位女士随后告诉安德森，她扮演的玛莎（一位 20 世纪 60 年代对婚姻感到沮丧的妻子）让她和其他粉丝“哭得非常伤心”。

但安德森斩钉截铁地回应道：“我不在乎；你不能坐在前排。那样太分散注意力了。”

这位演员出身的作家兼活动家随后似乎笑了笑，她对这些女性说：“你们不能来20次都坐在前排；这会让我发疯的。”

这段视频在社交媒体上引发了不同的反应，一些人支持安德森的要求，认为这对于一名表演者来说是合理的，而另一些人则指责她对粉丝的支持忘恩负义。

周日，安德森在社交媒体上发表声明，澄清了自己的立场。

“网上流传的那段视频是我和一些认识超过20年的女性朋友的对话——所以请不要对她们说任何负面的话，”这位58岁的男子说道。

“我们很高兴能举办这场演出，但对于前排的观众，请注意，在这样一个私密的场地，我们所有人都能看到你们，有时这可能会有点分散注意力！”安德森补充道，他指的是这个有 602 个座位的礼堂。

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她最后说道：“就这些了。一切都好。演出继续，爱你们所有人，感谢所有到场的朋友们。”

安德森是近期一系列抱怨剧院观众行为的知名表演者之一。

就在上个月，两届奥斯卡奖得主凯特·布兰切特特意请求伦敦观众在观看国家剧院制作的《厄勒克特拉/假面》时不要拍摄。

布兰切特说：“目前在这个星球上，很少有地方我们可以像这样聚在一起，真正地感受当下。”

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她补充道：“如果有人要拍摄这个节目，请不要这样做，因为这会破坏下一批来和我们一起观看节目的观众的体验。”

今年四月，《魔法坏女巫》的超级巨星辛西娅·埃里沃在伦敦诺埃尔·科沃德剧院表演她一人分饰布拉姆·斯托克《德古拉》23个角色的独角戏时，突然发现有观众席上的一名成员似乎正在拍摄。

次月，电影《消失的爱人》的演员罗莎蒙德·派克在伦敦温德姆剧院演出《Inter Alia》时，利用谢幕的机会斥责了一位观众——她没有透露该观众的身份——因为她发现这位观众在演出感人的结尾部分发短信。