Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/30/breakfast_at_tiffanys/

Theatre draws veil over naked Anna Friel

Mobiles banned from Breakfast at Tiffany's

By Lester Haines

Posted in Bootnotes, 30th September 2009 12:06 GMT

Staff at the Theatre Royal Haymarket have been placed on Defcon 1 and ordered to prevent perving audience members grabbing a quick mobe snap of Anna Friel in her birthday suit, in the West End outing of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Operatives are instructed to confiscate any mobile which may present a threat to 33-year-old Friel's modesty as she disrobes in her role as Holly Golightly. The show opened last night, but the interwebs are already awash with the former soap thesp's assets - apparently captured during a preview performance.

According to the Telegraph, an inside source confirmed: "Front of house staff have been put on alert to spot mobile phones because of Anna's nudity."

To underline that the Theatre Royal's adaptation of the Truman Capote 1958 novella is in no way exploiting the presence of a butt-naked Friel to sell tickets, the insider insisted: "This is a serious production and they don't want the naked scenes to be the only talking point."

Well, Truman Capote may well have approved of the theatre's attempt to undo the damage done to Breakfast at Tiffany's by the 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn as Golightly. He wasn't much impressed, and said of the movie: "The book was really rather bitter. The film became a mawkish valentine to New York City, and as a result was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly."

Theatre lovers will doubtless be flocking to the Theatre Royal Haymarket's box office for the chance to judge for themselves how serious, bitter, rich and ugly the production is, while studiously ignoring Friel's shapely backside.* ®

Bootnote

*Allegedly. We, of course, wouldn't dream of Googling "Anna Friel Tiffany's" to check the evidence for ourselves.