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Planer’s Debut Ceiling Collapses at Garrick, 1 Oct

Nigel Planer’s playwriting debut On the Ceiling has posted early closing notices in the West End. Following its premiere in May at Birmingham Rep, the comedy about the painting of the Sistine Chapel in 1508, starring Ron Cook and Ralf Little, opened on 12 September 2005 (previews from 30 August) at the Garrick Theatre, where it was booking until 31 December. It will now close on 1 October 2005.

The man the Pope has put in charge of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is simply not up to the job. He’s a sculptor with next to no experience of painting and has never done anything on this scale. He's all over the place - when he remembers to turn up to work. And who has to cover for him? Who has to put in all the hours, teach him his craft, patch up his mistakes, deal with his tantrums and get the job done? Like any big project, it's the little guys, the professionals, the men who've been doing this kind of thing all their lives.

Cook (whose recent credits include Howard Katz on stage, The Merchant of Venice, Chocolat, Charlotte Gray) and Little (Billy Liar on stage, TV’s The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps) play the Renaissance little guys forgotten by history.

On the Ceiling is Planer's first play. The actor is best-remembered by TV fans for his 1980s roles in The Young Ones and The Comic Strip Presents. More recently, he’s been seen on stage in musicals including Chicago and We Will Rock You and plays like Feelgood and Darwin in Malibu. Planer was also a co-founder of London's Comedy Store and Comic Strip clubs and has authored several books – amongst them, I, An Actor, a spoof memoir of fictitious luvvie actor Nicholas Craig, who he later played in a one-man show of the same name – and, with his brother Roger, has scripted and voiced over 100 episodes of the Magic Roundabout.

On the Ceiling is directed by Jennie Darnell and designed by Matthew Wright, with lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Fergus O’Hare and music by Adam Cork. It’s presented in the West End by Greg Ripley-Duggan in association with Birmingham Rep, where it ran from 14 to 28 May 2005. No further productions have yet been announced for the Garrick.

- by Terri Paddock

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