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Post by Rory on Oct 3, 2018 14:31:40 GMT
If this is true, I really feel for the cast, and for the author Dawn King, who waited for years for the option on her play to come to fruition. Unfortunately it seems that the slew of 2* reviews just couldn't sustain an already ambitious 4 month run, despite a recognisable TV cast and an interesting subject matter which was very timely.
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Post by Rory on Oct 3, 2018 14:40:09 GMT
It is true, sadly. What a shame.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 14:51:51 GMT
I'm not really surprised. It was so sparsely attended when I saw it recently that even the tumbleweed from 'Heisenberg' decided to give it a miss.
Such a shame but I think the cast were far better than the play deserved really.
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Post by zahidf on Oct 3, 2018 14:54:41 GMT
Shame but I guess the bad reviews was just too much for it
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Post by lonlad on Oct 3, 2018 15:08:21 GMT
I'm amazed it got as far as it did -- it was dismayingly awful.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 15:23:23 GMT
I haven't seen it yet, but sad to see any show have such a short run.  |
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Post by Rory on Oct 3, 2018 15:50:35 GMT
Wonder what could fill the 11 week gap in the Ambassadors before the next show, Songs for Nobodies, starts there on 9th January? I could see Spamilton coming in from the Menier but I'd prefer something recent from Bath or Chichester like Copenhagen, Switzerland,The Meeting or God of Carnage.
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Post by viserys on Oct 3, 2018 16:09:41 GMT
Oh sadness, I had hoped to see it on my next trip over in November. Surprised the starry cast didn't draw more people.
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Post by sherriebythesea on Oct 3, 2018 19:14:56 GMT
I had planned on seeing in November also. Just kept putting off getting tickets so guess that's a good thing
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 19:58:05 GMT
Sad to see this closing for the sake of the creatives and the female playwright but she should have been encouraged to rewrite for the WE. The play came across as having been written by an extremely gifted GCSE student.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 19:59:34 GMT
Eugenius is replacing it, covering the remaining dates of Foxfinders run.
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Post by crowblack on Oct 3, 2018 20:36:14 GMT
It's sad because there's something interesting in there, but this was miscast, in the wrong place, and the play needs a more punchy ending. There was talk of a film - will this scupper that? I hope not.
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Post by Rory on Oct 3, 2018 20:41:17 GMT
Eugenius is replacing it, covering the remaining dates of Foxfinders run. And there was me hoping it might be Tara Fitzgerald and Bob Lindsay in a nice bit of Terence Rattigan from Bath. Ah well. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 21:32:56 GMT
It's sad because there's something interesting in there, but this was miscast, in the wrong place, and the play needs a more punchy ending. There was talk of a film - will this scupper that? I hope not. I think it will make a good film so I hope the production company hold their nerve. |
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Post by dlevi on Oct 4, 2018 8:16:45 GMT
I caught yesterday's matinee of this, there were maybe 80 people in the stalls, I didn't look in the circle. I thought it was pretty awful. The play is certainly heavy-handed and the thought of a drinking game wherein we would take shots everytime someone said the word "Fox " got me through the proceedings. There was no tension and the set looked as if it were pulled from a warehouse two days earlier. I've liked the actors before and I'll like them again but they must be relieved that the play is closing early, it has to be disheartening to perform for a sparse and unenthusiastic audience.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2018 9:18:32 GMT
Running from September 6th until October 20th, surely this is one of the fastest closings in a long while in the West End that wasn't initially scheduled?
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Post by Rory on Oct 4, 2018 9:41:29 GMT
Quick closures in the WE used to happen quite regularly, but are now thankfully very rare. There was talk of Heisenberg closing early but it went the distance. I can't recall Bill Kenwright closing one of his shows so early though. This has to be a first.
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Post by Snciole on Oct 4, 2018 14:50:35 GMT
I am willing to see many things but this just didn't interest me. It might have been selling badly that they just couldn't plow on for the planned run. Does much close early anymore?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2018 16:01:38 GMT
I caught yesterday's matinee of this, there were maybe 80 people in the stalls, I didn't look in the circle. I thought it was pretty awful. The play is certainly heavy-handed and the thought of a drinking game wherein we would take shots everytime someone said the word "Fox " got me through the proceedings. There was no tension and the set looked as if it were pulled from a warehouse two days earlier. I've liked the actors before and I'll like them again but they must be relieved that the play is closing early, it has to be disheartening to perform for a sparse and unenthusiastic audience. It wasn’t great when I saw it but it wasn’t as bad as the production you saw. I suspect the performers have lost the will to live. Best - as you suggest - to put them out of their misery. |
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Post by Rory on Oct 4, 2018 19:27:01 GMT
All of what monkey says above is true but I also think that the quality of the work presented in the last 15 years has really improved in the West End and producers like Sonia Friedman, Playful and Fiery Angel have raised the bar in terms of bringing high calibre, sometimes daring, drama to the commercial sector.
More and more sell out, critically acclaimed hits transfer from the subsidised sector than used to be the case and it is actually pretty rare now for a West End show to get universally poor reviews.
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Post by Rory on Oct 4, 2018 19:30:24 GMT
Just following on from above, I'm not so sure things like The Nether and The Inheritance would have transferred 20 years ago when Kenwright and Duncan C. Weldon revivals dominated Shaftesbury Avenue (although David Pugh made more effort back then, as did Robert Fox).
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Post by Rory on Oct 5, 2018 12:37:10 GMT
True, new plays rarely open directly in the West End now. There are of course exceptions, like The Height of the Storm now, for example.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 5, 2018 13:05:15 GMT
Running from September 6th until October 20th, surely this is one of the fastest closings in a long while in the West End that wasn't initially scheduled? I think the last run this short would have been I Can't Sing! Which was actually a very enjoyable show that just came at the wrong time and went into the wrong theatre. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2018 13:35:03 GMT
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Post by kathryn on Oct 5, 2018 14:09:30 GMT
I'd forgotten Hand to God even existed, which just goes to show how quickly that came and went.
The Full Monty toured pretty extensively before heading to the West End - it's still closed early, obviously, but it's not quite the same - people saw it, just not in the West End.
It probably would have managed a decent WE run if it had started there.
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