Michael Imperioli stays in character to demand ejection of Broadway play climate change protester

Michael Imperioli addressed a protesting audience member while still in character at a recent performance of a Broadway play.

The Sopranos and The White Lotus actor is currently featuring in the New York City revival of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, alongside Succession actor Jeremy Strong.

Thursday evening’s (14 March) performance was briefly disrupted when a group of climate protesters began to chant phrases such as “No Broadway on a dead planet” and “No theatre on a dead planet”.

According to videos shared on social media, the protest took place while characters were in a town hall scene.

As the play mimics a meeting setting, with house lights kept on throughout the show, the demonstrators’ outburst was fitting with the various objections from the characters.

In response to the chanting, several of the cast’s actors, including Imperioli and David Patrick Kelly, shouted back and some began physically pushing the disrupters up the stairs toward an exit.

Later, the New York branch of the demonstration group Extinction Rebellion claimed responsibility for the action, and posted a clip of the moment on X/Twitter.

“Rebels disrupted #AnEnemyOfThePeople on #Broadway,” a caption to one of the posts reads.

“#Climate activists aren’t the enemy; it’s fossil fuel criminals like Exxon & Chevron. If we don’t #EndFossilFuels now, there’ll be #NoTheatreOnADeadPlanet.”

One of the protesters is heard to say: “I object to the silencing of scientists. I am very, very sorry to interrupt your night and this amazing performance. I am a theatre artist, I work in the theatre professionally and I am throwing my career…”

However, his speech was cut when Imperioli interjected, while still in character as a 19th-century town mayor: “You need to leave. You’re interrupting.”

The play, originally published in 1882, features questions of ecological and environmental concern. Strong plays the protagonist, Doctor Thomas Stockmann, who exposes the contamination of the town’s public bathwater.

On social media, the interruption has received a mixed response from onlookers.

One take came from a person who claims to have been in the audience. It reads: “I was literally [at] this show, and it was the most meta experience I’ve ever had. I genuinely thought it was a part of the play tbh…”

Meanwhile, another person praised Extinction Rebellion’s actions: “I cannot praise this brand of activism highly enough!”

However, others have criticised the group for disrupting the show. One response simply reads: “Don’t do this.”

Theatre has often been a forum for political action, with demonstrators in the UK also using West End shows to draw attention to their causes.

In October, Just Stop Oil activists stormed the stage during a performance of Les Miserables at London’s Sondheim Theatre.

Protesters interrupted one of the musical’s most memorable songs, “One Day More”, after which the performance was halted and refunds issued to audience members who wanted them.