The climate activists have targeted works of art, Stonehenge, Taylor Swift’s jet and Charles Darwin’s grave. Now, they’re interrupting a Hollywood legend on stage, in order to raise the alarm about a “global shipwreck”…
ADVERTISEMENTJust Stop Oil activists disrupted a performance of The Tempest last night, storming the stage of the West End show starring Hollywood legend Signourney Weaver.
The activists stopped the play with a sign that read: “Over 1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck” – 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.
It was also a canny nod to the plot of Shakespeare’s play, which features the sinking of ships.
A confetti canon was launched just after Weaver uttered the lines “Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!” Then, the two protestors, lecturer Hayley Walsh and mechanical engineer Richard Weir, took to the stage at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.
Weaver, who plays the storm-creating magician Prospero in the new staging of the Shakespeare classic which opened in December to mixed reviews, was escorted off stage, while the two protesters faced boos and a few cheers from the audience.
Walsh, 42, said: “Years of writing to MPs, going on marches and teaching my students to be more sustainable hasn’t seen the urgent change needed. (…) I am scared for my children, I can’t sleepwalk them into a future of food shortages, life-threatening storms and wars for resources.”
She added: “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.”
Founded in February 2022, the movement’s main aim is to stop the British government’s new oil projects. Activists are also calling for investment in renewable energy and for buildings to have better thermal insulation to reduce waste.
The movement has targeted several works of art, renowned prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage Site Stonehenge, and attempted to target Taylor Swift’s jet. Earlier this month, two women were arrested after they spray-painted over the grave of Charles Darwin inside Westminster Abbey in London.
Check out Euronews Culture’s interview with Alex De Koning, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson who believes that pushing cultural buttons can make people question their comfort zones.
