Health emergency forces Annette Bening to cancel ‘Medea’ performance
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Theatergoers who were hoping to catch Annette Bening in ‘Medea’ on Wednesday night at UCLA Live were instead greeted with a notice stating that the evening’s performance was canceled.
The reason, it turns out, was because Bening was dealing with a family health emergency. According to one audience member, the notice to theatergoers read:
‘Ms. Bening is unfortunately dealing with a family medical emergency. ‘Medea’ will run through the 18th of October, and we will gladly exchange your tickets into a date of your choosing. We apologize for any inconvenience, the decision to cancel the performance was made at the very last minute, and we did our best to contact all ticket buyers. Please contact the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310.825.2101 for further assistance.’
The theater learned about Bening’s cancellation at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. This was the first performance of ‘Medea’ that the actress has missed so far in the run, which officially opened Sept 23.
The publicist for Bening said that the actress is ‘completely fine’ but that the matter required her immediate attention. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the health emergency, except to say that ‘it was a family situation.’
A source from UCLA Live said that the emergency was related to one of Bening’s children. The actress has four children with her husband, Warren Beatty.
Bening could return to the production as soon as tonight, according to her publicist, but the actress has not yet confirmed that.
The production of Euripides’ tragedy, directed by Lenka Udovicki, features Bening as Medea, who is determined to seek revenge on her husband. The play also features Angus Macfadyen and Daniel Davis.
-- David Ng and Diane Haithman
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