Sigourney Weaver was escorted off-stage after two oil protesters disrupted her performance of The Tempest in London's West End on Monday night.

The Alien actress, who plays Prospero in the revival of the Shakespeare play, was sitting on a chair in the middle of a scene when two activists from the climate protest group Just Stop Oil took to the stage at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

The duo, carrying a large orange sign reading "Over 1.5 degrees is a global shipwreck", launched a confetti cannon and said, "We'll have to stop the show ladies and gentlemen, sorry."

Weaver was escorted off stage by a member of theatre staff as the activists received a mix of boos and cheers from the audience. The protestors, Hayley Walsh and Richard Weir, were ushered off stage after less than a minute.

Their sign refers to the recent announcement that 2024 was the first full year over the 1.5-degree safe limit for global temperature rise. It is also a nod to the plot of The Tempest, which features a ship sinking.

In a press release, 42-year-old lecturer Walsh explained why she disrupted the performance.

"I am scared for my children, I can't sleepwalk them into a future of food shortages, life-threatening storms and wars for resources. Years of writing to MPs, going on marches and teaching my students to be more sustainable, hasn't seen the urgent change needed," she said in a statement.

"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."

The latest stunt from Just Stop Oil comes just weeks after protesters spray-painted Charles Darwin's grave in London's Westminster Abbey.

The Tempest opened in December and closes on Saturday 1 February.

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