Has Matt Damon Got Stage Nerves???

The run for the new, even starrier West End cast – Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix - of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth has been shortened with the first three performances cancelled and the last seven likely to be. While the bringing forward of the end date is apparently due to Damon’s filming commitments, the delay of the opening has got many speculating that the screen stars may be getting stage jitters. The trio have already been rehearsing in New York and the new start date, on 25 April 2002, will give them five extra days of rehearsal – and five dark days for the Garrick Theatre after the current cast of Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin finish – before facing a live audience. According to the Evening Standard, despite the official line, production insiders have admitted that the extra rehearsal time “is desperately needed to ensure the celluloid cast is able to cope with the pressures of live theatre”. The second instalment of This Is Our Youth is now due to play from 25 April to 8 June 2002. For further information on the new cast, see Whatsonstage.com News (4 Apr 02).

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