Coward's Semi-Monde Closes Early, 9 JunDate: 29 May 2001
The London premiere of Noel Coward's Semi-Monde is to close three weeks early on 9 June 2001 after a twelve week run. This follows a previous announcement in April stating that the season had been extended up to 30 June.
The show, which has received wildly mixed reviews, features a prominent cast including Georgina Hale, Sophie Ward and Nichola McAuliffe. The veteran Hollywood actor Farley Granger, star of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, pulled out of the show before it opened due to "personal problems".
The play only received its world premiere in 1977, four years after Coward's death. It opened in the West End on 14 Mar 2001 with a company of 28 actors under the direction of Philip Prowse, who produced the 1977 premiere for the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre. The action is centred around a cocktail bar in the Ritz Hotel, in between the two World Wars, and follows the romantic relationships of several sophisticated but self-centred characters.
Coward's popular works have enjoyed something of a renaissance in the past year or so, with major versions of Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and Present Laughter enjoying success in both the West End and the regionals.
A spokesperson for the production company said, "We were always going to be selling tickets up until 9 June, but it wasn't practical to extend beyond this as we were coming to the end of the run." A production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers is expected to play at the Lyric from 21 June.
- by Gareth Thompson
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