Anne Hathaway was left baffled when the audience broke into laughter during her powerful performance in TWELFTH NIGHT - she didn't realise a raccoon had wandered on stage behind her.
The star is performing in the William Shakespeare play at the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park, and has won rave reviews for her portrayal of Viola, a girl who disguises herself as a man called Cesario.
But as the actress battled her way through the dramatic script during a recent performance, the audience began chuckling and pointing - much to Hathaway's confusion.
It was only later that The Devil Wears Prada star was told the reason for the revellers' amusement - a stray raccoon.
A theatregoer tells New York gossip column PageSix, "She and Audra MCDonald were doing the first act when it just wandered onstage.
"The audience started laughing and gasping, and it wasn't a funny scene. Then the raccoon wandered off, but the girls had no idea what had happened until later."