Bonnie And Clyde - Drury Lane/Arts Theatre/Garrick/Tour

I guess the next two weeks would have cost more to run than not run especially as there would have been the cost of getting the set to Belfast for next week.

I always wonder how the contracts work with the likes of Paul Matthew Transport if they have the lorries booked to move set around.

Wagons?!

(Hears Winthrop lisping that the Wells Fargo Wagon has arrived in town)

As usual the discourse on Twitter and all platforms has reverted to the base rhetoric of evil evil producers poor poor actors.

Life just isn't that simple through is it. Why can't we sit back and say as onlookers that we don't really know what happened cos we weren't involved and we weren't there. And that we feel for EVERYONE involved. But it's easier to focus on a common enemy isn't it.

And though it may be out of the blue for some ticket holders it won't be out of blue for those involved. Anyone who's been round the block more than once looks out over empty auditoriums and knows what could come at any stage....

Maybe the producers made some mistakes.
Maybe they did their best.
Maybe it was complicated.
Maybe they had reason for hope.
Maybe they didn't.
Maybe they battled in impossible circumstances.
Who knows.

But the constant default of producers being terrible people is rather exhausting. Without them nothing would ever happen and no-one would ever work or get paid period. Of course they could always do better; we all can.

x.com/QuestedS/status/1793012328230789554

Had never heard of this guy before yesterday but he doesn't come across as a bad person.

Oh and final thought. Actors are NOT "fired" on Twitter. Occasionally they find out on Twitter. Which is deeply unfortunate and unpleasant. But the usual reason is someone has found out and leaked it on Twitter where info explodes in milliseconds. Way quicker than any company could feasibly ever contact all their employees. Info often leaks. The people who need to take a look at themselves are the individuals who leak it straight to Twitter rather than keeping quiet, not the ones left behind cleaning up the mess.

You've completely missed my point.

All these things are complex interwoven systems where lots of factors have gone wrong.

It really isn't an individuals "fault."

And all the usual suspects screaming "DO BETTER" into social media isn't gonna stop exactly the same thing happening again.

IMHO people would do better to step back and look for a more global understanding to make this sort of thing less likely. I dunno, it's not my area. Protocols. Pathways. Probity. Quality assurance. Correct insurance. I have no idea! But change and regulate the processes. What I do know is hurling abuse online isn't gonna improve anything.

I am just saying that the fact that we see this time and time again means it's not that simple.

Also, as always happens in these cases, a few vocal members of cast/company/crew are saying they found out from WOS. The vast majority aren't.

If you have any belief in human goodness at all, it just doesn't add up that a producer wakes up and says to themselves "show has to end now, can't be arsed telling everyone, so I'll just let WOS know and that frankly will do."

I mean come on; it just isn't like that.

I dunno why people can't deal with shades of grey.
There has to be an enemy. It has to be simple. (Spoiler - this isn't how the world works)

And that is the same as the person that leaked the Cinderella closing rumour on the BH weekend. 

And countless others.

The minute social media knows, the dissemination (and chaos and slanging) is instant. 

I have some friends who are agents who in the past have been desperately trying to call actors when these pieces of news come out and physically cannot get there before Twitter.

I think it’s just a sh*t situation for everybody involved.

On that I think we can all agree :-) 

Isn't it normally the case though that cast and crew get told in person in the theatre, either before or after the performance?

I feel that this would probably be "fairest" - everyone in the building is told at the same time. And only after that a press statement is sent out announcing the closing of the show to the world.

I can see how this might not have been possible with the B&C tour, when they made the decision to close between two tour stops. Although even one must ask, why couldn't they plan it properly and tell people on the final night of the last tour stop?

Anything non-personal - calling everyone one by one, sending a mass mail, etc. - will always end in some people not getting the info, whether they miss the call for some reason, don't check their mail regularly, the mail goes into the spam folder, etc.

Totally agreee. But when actors are called together for some announcement - in a show that's been playing to empty houses - in the period they are assembling having been summoned, they know what it's gonna be! And it just takes one out of fifty odd people to Tweet. Especially in a profession where 80% of them LIVE on social media.

Honestly it's a nightmare. So difficult. I really don't have any solutions. I merely offer than information dissemination in this environment is horrific to navigate!