Cock - Ambassadors Theatre

What??? I don’t think the show was reviewed badly - there are mixed reviews but not critically panned a la NT’s Manor. Is Taron thirsty for an Olivier or something? Maybe if they opened last February, they can be eligible. But this is a Marianne production so it will still get bums on seats.

I noticed from the press night photos that Taron did not go to the after party - it’s only Johnny, Jade, Phil, and Marianne. If Taron was exhausted, then he can take a rest. I guess the media were bummed not to see him with his castmates.

It's a bit nieve to say producers wouldn't put out a false statement. It happens often to disguise behind the scenes drama (it's just PR spin) and covid is the perfect excuse at the moment and its very hard to question peoples health. Wouldn't be the first, companies use covid too for one reason or another. It buys you time, a couple of weeks to sort out whatever the issues are.

Taron being unhappy with reviews seems a bit unlikely to me but i guess anything is possible. Based on what we know my guess would be extreme stage fright, or possible exhaustion as he went from filming a movie (and a big fitness routine) straight into the play. The one aspect that does hint at maybe behind the scenes drama is the lack of warmth/best wishes in the statement towards taron.

"There are operational difficulties" = PR spin

Knowingly saying the opposite of the truth = Lying, and potentially fraud

This is 2022. Like many employees, I have to do annual training to remind me of my legal obligations. It would be misconduct, possibly gross misconduct, to knowingly make false representations to colleagues or third parties. It's naive to think you can get away with this stuff in business these days.

Only if it can be proven, and bad health is very difficult to prove one way or another.

The law is only useful if someone can prove something and the law inforces it. So unless someone has proof someone did or didn't have an illness (something we dont have the right to know publicly), and has the financial and time ability to pursue legal action, the law is meaningless. False statements are used in show business all the time.

Not much professional stage experience but he got into acting via amateur theatre back in Wales before he went to drama school. He was fully expecting to have a theatre-and-the-odd-bit-of-TV career, not a Hollywood one.

‘Not wanting to go on because of negative reviews’ just doesn’t ring true at all to me. Struggling with serious anxiety issues (which he has mentioned suffering from in the past) seems more likely. I worry, though, given his first night faint, that a full medical check has shown up something underlying that is more serious - that would explain also pulling out of the film.

This does go to show how easily people jump to bad faith interpretations, though. The guy keeled over on stage mid-scene in front of an audience - which is an extremely rare event - and yet people are already jumping to the conclusion that he has a character flaw rather than a health problem.

Well, just glad I got to see Taron before he left!

I loved the show but I do understand the criticisms of it being outdated. Acting was great though and script was hilarious.

As with Cabaret, my ire is towards cynical producers rather than the performers themselves. Unlike Cabaret, this wasn't something I was ever going to see and I basically have scarcely heard of Taron Egerton, though I realise he is well known to most others.

We don't know what's going on with him personally, it might be Covid, it might be anxiety, it could be a lot of things.

Just because "the producers said it", it doesn't mean it's true either. It's PR, they have a job to protect their brand as does the performer who through their own PR and agent will seek to protect their performer's own brand.

If it were "anxiety" for example, this would be much more damaging than "Covid" and would be considered a white lie to protect him, his brand and ability to secure future work. This kind of stuff happens ALL the time.

Either way, the outcome would be the same - he can't perform, so no real harm done in terms of what reason/excuse is given.

But you end up in the position of charging super-premium rates for a play sold almost exclusively off a star name, not delivering that name, then saying essentially "ha ha, we already have your money - tough, no refunds. Oh, and we won't be replacing the star name with another one of equal appeal - we are promoting the understudy. That way, we don't have to close for a week losing all that lovely revenue, we can give him a small pay increase and don't have to shell out for an expensive last-minute star replacement. We win, you lose."

And it is this which I find frankly inexcusable in my eyes. And the paid shills and astroturfers from PR offices on social media and forums whose job it is to sign up with suspiciously similar arguments, justifying these unethical practices.

Winning hearts and minds? Maybe. Transparent as hell? Definitely.

Joel Harper-Jackson posted some production stills of himself. Part of the caption reads:

“Taron has been one of my acting heroes for years, I
have learnt a great deal watching, working and
getting to know him during this process. He's a true
gentleman and a phenomenal actor. I send him much
love and well wishes”

I have a feeling with the way producers are aggressively targeting punters with the deepest pockets these days, that it won't make much difference. They are aware there is still a lot of pent up spending potential amongst certain demographics, and are literally banking on that.

Some posts have been moved to the Coronavirus thread in General.

With permission from mods, you could try listing them here? Sometimes the dates/availability matches for people. Otherwise I'd suggest Facebook and social media generally. If the theatre won't take them back, reselling yourself (however you manage it) is your only option, I'm afraid.

Also worth knowing - are they e-tickets? If that's the case, you can try again on the day if there are no takers to recoup a bit of the money. You might only get £50 for the pair, but for the sake of a few minutes posting online and emaililing the tickets, it's better than losing all the money completely.