'1984's Reed Birney Stops Performance to Address Rude Audience Member

The controversial drama "1984" has been eliciting a host of reactions from audience members throughout its Broadway run, and Friday night's performance appears to have been no exception. According to the New York Post, Tony Award winner Reed Birney (THE HUMANS, CASA VALENTINA, PICNIC), who portrays the character of 'O'Brien,' stopped the show in order to address audience members who were talking back to the actors during the performance.

A source tells the Post that during Friday's performance at the Hudson Theatre, "a couple of audience members began talking back to the actors." Birney, whom the source says "was particularly annoyed by the behavior" stopped the show in its tracks and "in character, stared down and pointed out the culprits in the crowd." The source goes on to say that the moment, "added to the intensity of the show."

The cast of 1984 also features Tony Award nominee Tom Sturridge, and Olivia Wilde in her Broadway debut. Among the A-listers who have attended performances of the show are Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law, Jennifer Lawrence and James Franco.

One of the most widely referenced and best known fiction titles of all time, the Broadway production of 1984 was originally produced in the U.K. by Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse, and the Almeida Theatre, London; as well as on the West End at The Playhouse Theatre London. The show opened on Broadway on Thursday, June 22 at the Hudson Theatre and completed its limited engagement yesterday, October 8th.

One of the most widely referenced and best known fiction titles of all time, 1984 has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 65 languages, surging again this year to the top of the bestselling lists in the wake of "fake news" and "alternative facts."

Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan have adapted the novel into a chilling theatrical event as we watch the iconic characters of Winston, Julia and O'Brien-played respectively by the extraordinary trio of Tony Award nominee Tom Sturridge, Olivia Wilde in her Broadway debut, and Tony Award winner Reed Birney - negotiate a world that believes, as the novel boldly exclaims: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

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