The Full Monty opened at the Noel Coward Theatre last month and was booking until Saturday 14th June 2014. However, over the weekend cast member Kenny Doughty revealed the show would instead close on Saturday 29th March 2014.
An online petition against the show's closure has been set up which 1,048 people have already signed, including the play's writer, Simon Beaufoy.
Writing online, Beaufoy said:
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| Simon Beaufoy |
Like the other people on this list, I am devastated the show is ending early and pondering on how on earth that can happen to a play that regularly gets standing ovations. If it was a bad show, I'd understand - or even a ho-hum sort of affair. But read what the Telegraph and the Times have to say about it, or better still read on Twitter what the audiences felt about it. On Monday, we got an Olivier nomination for Best New Comedy: on Saturday we were given notice. That's a steep dive by anyone's standards.
We were told that Delfont Mackintosh had closed the show, but the email below that came from a Delfont Mackintosh employee to a ticket holder says different.
Thank you for your email. The producers have decided to close the show early. We have not been given full details and only found out this morning. The box office are in the process of contacting all customers to offer an exchange or refund."
Which begs the question why would a producer close his own show before it had any chance of finding an audience? On the other hand why would a producer never come to see his own show in the West End? Perhaps he can answer these questions. I can't because he hasn't spoken either to me or the creative team in months. He absented himself utterly from the West End run of the play. Without his undoubted skills and experience, a producerless show faltered.
To everyone who bought tickets and now can't see it, the woman who bought flights from Japan especially for the show, the coach driver in Richmond who had his coach booked out for three hundred people...I am so sorry. We so wanted to put a smile on your face. And that was guaranteed. Simon.
Click here to view and sign the online petition
Following the announcement of The Full Monty's closure, producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers released the following statement: "It is with great sadness that this show will close despite having played to packed houses on its UK tour. Simply not enough of a West End audience shared in the excitement of this terrific production."
Announcing the closure, Doughty (who stars as Gaz in the production) said he was "devastated and heartbroken", stating that the cast and team working on the show "deserved better".
Click here to book tickets to see the Full Monty at the Noel Coward Theatre
Read our interview with Kenny Doughty and 4* review of the production
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