Plays that need to stay away (for at least the next decade)

Unless its has a stellar casting along the lines of De Niro and Pacino, Waiting For Godot can be put to rest for a very long time.

King Lear - McKellen's latest attempt is the best of a bad job and they might as well stop.

Hamlet

Hamlet
King Lear
Any play by Pinter
Duchess of Malfi
View form the Bridge, The Crucible
Hedda Gabler

I'll take yet another Hamlet if they get rid of Harry Potter and don't let it come back.

There are lots of plays I'll happily never see again: Hamlet, King Lear, An Inspector Calls, that sodding Pinter thing that Patrick Stewart was in last year.... It doesn't bother me if people want to stage them though, but I don't want to see them again unless there is some amazing twist, like a version of Hamlet set on Mars with a cast of kittens in tiny 60s style space helmets.

Earnest needs to be rested, there's been three productions in the space of 4 years in the West End alone!

With great respect, I would like to take issue with oxfordsimon about 'An Inspector Calls' by quoting what I wrote in my diary the last time it played at Wimbledon:

"My heart sank when I arrived at the theatre to find it almost totally full of school parties, who were being very noisy before the play started. I feared the worst after my bad experience at the 'West Side Story' matinee when all those young girls chattered throughout the whole show and giggled at the dramatic moments. But this time the children were a bit older and were a fairly even mix of the sexes. As soon as the play started they were totally riveted, and remained rapt in attention for the whole two hours of the performance, whereupon they gave the cast a rousing reception. In fact, some of their reactions to what was happening were quite interesting. When the daughter gave her fiancé a hearty slap on the face (which was very convincingly managed by the two actors) there was a huge gasp from the children, as also there had been when the girl threw her engagement ring on the ground after she found out that her fiancé had had a mistress. These dramatic moments were obviously fully making their mark and it was clear that the kids were totally immersed in the play. They also laughed quite loudly at a few of the lines which were meant to be ironic rather than funny, but the effect of the laughter was fine and added to the overall effect the play was making. So the whole thing not only restored my faith in the legitimate theatre after all the recent rubbish at Wyndhams with 'Ivanov' and 'Madame de Sade', but even restored my faith in the younger generation!"

If this particular production can have such a profound effect on a theatre full of school children then I am in favour of it running for as long as it attracts audiences, especially young ones.

And may I also remark that I don't see directors expressing any interest in Priestley's other plays, including his other 'time theory' works like 'Dangerous Corner' and 'Time and the Conways' so why should they particularly want to have a go at 'An Inspector Calls' after Daldry's brilliant staging for the NT?

Rupert Goold did Time and the Conways at the NT in 2009. They Came to a City was done at Southwark (when it was still at London Bridge). When we are Married toured and spent some time at the Garrick in 2010. The Finborough revived Summer's Day's Dream. There was a Radio 4 adaptation of The Good Companions only last week. And of course there was a TV version of An Inspector Calls.  I'd say there was as much interest in Priestley as in any of his contemporaries except possibly Coward and Rattigan. 

Oops! I stand corrected, profquatermass and mallardo, and I should have done a bit more research before I started pontificating.

I was in fact intending to refer mainly to Priestley's 'time theory' plays (although I made my remark all-inclusive) and I have to say that 'When We Are Married' was one of the funniest and most satisfying comedies I have ever seen. A terrific play brilliantly performed.

He's certainly very well remembered in Bradford. There's a huge statue of him outside the National Media Museum (or whatever it's called these days).