She said: "Some of the best actors, actresses, film and theatre directors are here.

"My films have not really been mainstream. There's been a danger to them, they've been counter-culture and I was never just going to be a film actress. But film is a film-maker's medium and at the end of the day I have a bigger love for a live experience."

She said she would make an exception to work for British names such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh adding: "The American film world is very cookie cutter these days."

The play, about two former lovers who meet again at an isolated motel and which features New Zealander Martin Henderson, began following the end of the England football match at the Apollo Theatre.

British star Joe Duttine who plays a character called Martin said: "I was watching the football right until the end and I really wanted England to win because I thought it would give us all a lift, luckily they did."