Ring Round Moon Posts Closing Notices, 29 Mar

Sean Mathias’ revival of Jean Anouilh’s 1947 comedy Ring Round the Moon has posted early closing notices at the West End’s Playhouse Theatre (See 1st Night Photos, 20 Feb 2008). The production opened on 19 February 2008, (previews from 5 February) and had been booking until 24 May 2008. It will now close on 29 March.

Set around a lavish ball at a chateau, the tale centres on twin brothers (both played by Feild), an heiress who’s engaged to one twin but desperately in love with the other, and a ballet dancer embroiled in a plot hatched by the more calculating of the brothers. The stellar ensemble cast features Angela Thorne, JJ Field, Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Fiona Button, Belinda Lang and Peter Eyre.

Anouilh’s other plays include, in English, Becket, Antigone, Eurydice, The Waltz of the Toreadors and Time Remembered. Ring Round the Moon, translated from the French (in which its title is L’Invitation au Chateau) by Christopher Fry, had its West End premiere at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in a production starring Paul Scofield, Claire Bloom and Margaret Rutherford. The revival is designed by Colin Richmond, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Gregory Clarke. It’s presented by Karl Sydow and Act Productions.

No further productions have yet been announced for the Playhouse.

– by Terri Paddock