Theatre News

The King’s Speech posts early closing notices for 12 May, film blamed

Editorial Staff
London's West End

The producers have announced that The King’s Speech will close two months early on 12 May 2012 and say they misjudged the amount of time that needed to have elapsed since the Oscar-wining film.

The production had been booking through to 21 July 2012.

A statement from the producers said: “Two years ago, originating producer Michael Alden was ready to put the play on and the film came along and blocked its path. At the start of this year, we believed that enough time had passed between the film and our opening. This clearly was not the case.

“We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished. It is a production of genuine quality that has been critically and publicly acclaimed across the board.”

The world premier production of the original play by David Seidler took place on Friday 10 February 2012 at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud theatre. It transferred to the Wyndham’s where it earned a clutch of four and five star reviews when it opened on 27 March 2012.

David Seidler‘s play tells of how King George VI conquered his debilitating stammer with the help of maverick Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Portrayed on screen by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, the roles are played on stage by Charles Edwards and Jonathan Hyde. The director is Adrian Noble who was the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003.