Some loud drilling noises at the Public Theater were enough to disturb a performance of “Mother of the Maid” last week — when the play’s star, Glenn Close, stopped the show cold.
“Is this bothering anyone else?” Close broke character to ask the audience.
Sources told Page Six that the “Fatal Attraction” actress then proceeded to entertain the crowd for 15 minutes about her favorite role (she’s partial to her portrayal of a scheming widow in Stephen Frears’ 1988 drama “Dangerous Liaisons”) and what her dog, Pip, dressed up as for Halloween (a bumblebee).
About her Oscar-buzzed performance in the Sony Pictures Classics film “The Wife,” she revealed during the break, “No American actor wanted to play a leading role in a movie called ‘The Wife’ — so we had to go with a Brit. Thank God for Jonathan Pryce!”
Both “Mother of the Maid” and “The Wife” were written by Jane Anderson.
After the unexpected break, Close re-started the show — which tells the story of Joan of Arc’s mother, and runs at the Public through Dec. 23 — without a hitch.
A rep for the theater said that the show declined to elaborate on where the drilling noise was coming from. The rep said it was not coming from a workshop in the theater. But commented, “It was only 10 minutes, and it was drilling … Glenn was great with the audience and is brilliant in the show.”
The New York Times has said of Close in the show: “Her performance … is a triumphant blend of sharp sense and passionate sensibility, of an old pro’s expertise and a newcomer’s enthusiasm.”
Adapted from Meg Wolitzer’s novel, “The Wife” stars Close as a woman who goes with her husband (Pryce) to Stockholm, where he’s picking up the Nobel Prize.
Close, 71, told the “Today” show recently: “I love what I do. I love the people I get to work with. I’m jazzed by life.”