UK Roundup - closure, discounts and Edinburgh Fringe

By: Jun. 20, 2004
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Well, it looked pretty inevitable. Damning reviews mixed with an unstable climate for plays ultimately spelt the end for Fuddy Meers, which closed with almost immediate effect on June 12th. The play started its English life at the Birmingham Rep Theatre. Despite sell-out houses there its transfer was less well receieved in the capital, with many publications finding it just too zany for their liking - though a lot of criticism came from the fact the stellar actors were 'too good' for the play. Its ensemble cast included Scream actor Matthew Lillard and veteran actress Julia McKenzie.

And before it's even opened, Trevor Nunn's production of wife Imogen Stubbs' play We Happy Few has also started discounting its £42.50 tickets. After such a bad spate of early play closures the producers are no doubt fearful as to the timing of the run. It stars Juliet Stevenson, regular London actress Marcia Warren and former-Eastender Patsy Palmer, who has just finished touring with Tell Me On A Sunday and last appeared in the West End in Mum's the Word.

So there has to be a solution to this ticket crisis, right? Well yes, and the Tricycle Theatre have found it. They will transfer their production Guantanamo, based on true accounts of Camp Delta in Guantanamo bay, to the New Ambassador's Theatre with a top price of £20 a seat, compared to the theatre's last production which had a top price of £35. The Tricycle is reknowned for its adaptations of current affairs, having recently staged a dramatised version of The Hutton Inquiry.

Whatever their prices may be, a new production of Twelfth Night with a twist opens at the Albery Theatre in August. The twist? The action moves from Illyria to.. India. As a fitting solution to the closure of Bombay Dreams, Stephen Beresford has found a new ground for British-Asian stars, including Raza Jaffrey who created the role of Akaash in Bombay Dreams, and Paul Bhattacharjee, who is currently appearing in Guantanamo. The cast of fifteen open officially on September 2nd.

The programme was announced this week for the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Scottish capital is taken over by thousands of theatregoers each August and this year is no exception. Taking the headlines in announcements is Nancy Cartwright, otherwise known as the voice of Bart Simpson, in her show My Life as a Ten Year Old Boy. Other ones to watch include The Andy Warhol Syndrome, with British comedian Jenny Eclair, and, of course, the astonishing aray of comic talent including Dara O'Brian, Paul Merton and Danny Bhoy.

On the musicals front, as the Edinburgh Fringe was the place where Jerry Springer the Opera was discovered by National Theatre boss Nicholas Hytner two summers ago, Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party is among the writers featured. I'll be up in Edinburgh mid-August and will be beaming back coverage to BroadwayWorld of just a tiny proportion of the hundreds of shows on choice.

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