An audience member fainted during Cate Blanchett’s return to the London stage amid controversial scenes of sex and violence.
The actress is appearing alongside Game of Thrones star Stephen Dillane in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre.
The play, which the theatre says explores “the often violent nature of desire”, includes explicit simulations of sexual acts including a foursome in a car that culminates in violence against women.
An elderly woman fainted during the first preview on Wednesday night and another audience member, Samuel Tucker, said it was "sexually explicit and incredibly violent”.
He told the Times: “The whole thing is a bit much, to be honest.
"It is so in-your-face violent and so in-your-face sexual and if you are not about that life, it might come across as shocking.”
The show at the National’s intimate Dorfman Theatre, which can hold around 450 people, is already a sell out success people queuing from before 4am for the limited number of day tickets.
It is not the first time the National has has faced controversy over an on-stage perfomance.
Three years ago five people fainted — and more walked out — during a production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed which featured scenes of torture.
