Enda Brady: UK correspondent on Just Stop Oil disrupting Sigourney Weaver's West End performance

A pair of protestors from Just Stop Oil disrupted a performance of The Tempest, starring Sigourney Weaver on London's West End.

The duo got up on stage as Weaver was performing - and unfurled a banner and delivered a speech before they were bundled off by authorities. 

Weaver was also escorted off stage by a member of the theatre's staff.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says the activists were met with booing - and also a few cheers.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, though, we're going to our UK correspondent in
the Brady who's with us in the good evening.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, Ryan, good to speak to you again.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Great to speak to you. Charles has made history with
his Auschwitz visit.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yes he has. He has been a longstanding friend of
the Jewish community, not just in the UK but worldwide,
and he has always attended Holocaust events in London. He
has forged long friendships from many, many years with survivors
and the opportunity came to be in Auschwitz on the
atheist anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, and the King

(00:36):
took it. So he went and he visited, and very
very solemn visits of course, and he did his speech
and he just he was quite moved to tears actually,
So his picture is all over the front pages here today.
But this is something that Charles is very passionate about,
preaching about anti Semitism and just the dangers of where

(00:56):
the world is heading at the moment, with so much
hatred everywhere online in person, and Charles just felt that
was the right thing to do. So while he was
in Auschwitz, William and cap were actually in London with
Holocaust survivors from based in the UK at a memorial
event here as well. So quite a powerful display of
solidarity really from the royal family.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
It sounds like it just stop oil. I mean just
stop for a period, but just stop oil. The protesters
are back at it in London. What are they doing
now in that.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
So would you believe it? Sigourney Weaver is here with
world class talent, and she has wanted to perform The
Tempest to play for a very long time, and last
night was her opportunity. And there is a line in
the play apparently that says come forth. She uttered that
and right on que stepped forward out of the crowd

(01:49):
up onto the stage, which she hadn't planned or taught about,
or didn't even know was going to happen. Come forth. Indeed,
two protesters from just Stop Oil. So they unfurled a banner,
they gave a speech, and then they were very quickly
bundled off. Sigourney Weaver was immediately a move from the
stage and the play was paused and the audience some

(02:09):
people cheered and a lot of people booed. They were
bundled out, and they released statements online saying that one
of them is a university lecturer from Nottingham and she
says that she just simply can't stand by anymore while
the world burns and leaders do nothing. But there you go,
they got their publicity. But yeah, last night in that theater, I.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Just find you know, I don't have a problem with
those causes. I just find that the at arrogance of
them insufferable. You know who people paid good money to
go and say, Sigourney, we would come to London do
the tempest. And for them to think they can just
get up there and interrupt the show and have this say,
I just think it's so arrogant. Anyway.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, what I was shocked about Ryan, to be honest,
was last year when they started blocking roads in London
and ambulances were held up. That was I thought that
was really poor.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah. How the Energy secretary in the UK is hiring
a staff photographer, which is raising eyebrows. Why is there?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, the salary is eighty two thousand dollars a year
to be a vanasy photographer. So this was a trend
started in the Boris Johnson years. You won't be surprised
to hear other politicians have decided the taxpayer's cash is
there to be used for this. Now ed Milliband he
is Energy Secretary in the UK government, so he sits

(03:30):
in cabinet. Now it's interesting that he wants his own
vanity photographer to make every trip look amazing because ten
years ago, when he was Labor leader himself, he was
on the campaign trail and you may or may not
remember this, he famously ate a bacon sandwich and he
was really struggling with it. Photographer got the picture and
a tabloid newspaper putting on the front page the next

(03:51):
day saying save our bacon, and they basically said that
you know, this guy can't eat a bacon sandwich. If
he can't manage his lunch, how's he going to manage you?
And the picture, the face who was making They compared
him to Wallace from Wallace and Grommus back then. So
now he wants his own vanity photographer to make sure
that every picture just makes him looking out like he's

(04:13):
some Instagram model. But there we are a lot of
yebrows raised eighty two thousand dollars of taxpayers cash, So
pretty nice gig for a photographer.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Goodness, may have you converted that into New Zealand dollars
for us. What are you talking about?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yes, I have not yeah no no, that's NZ dollars
eighty two k in zi.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah goodness, make all right. Thanks very much to that
great to talk as always in the Brady leisure Line,
a UK correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio