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A spate of London West End shows have issued early closure notices, prompting caution in theatreland as the credit crunch hits box office sales. Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial effort, Riflemind, which opened at Trafalgar Studios on September 19 to a star-studded audience and was backed by Cate Blanchett and her Australian playwright husband, Andrew Upton, is to shut 10 weeks early. Starring John Hannah as an ageing rock star, it was booked until January 3, but now closes tonight.
Avenue Q, the award-winning puppet musical and surprise word-of-mouth hit, which offered affordable tickets to a younger audience, also posted closing notices at the Noel Coward Theatre. It opened in London in June 2006 and had been booking until next April. The finale will instead be at the end of March. A spokeswoman played down the closure: "It's just ending a week or two early." But industry insiders said the closures marked a darker turn.
Eurobeat, the spoof musical which uses the Eurovision song contest as its starting point, has also posted a closure notice at the Novello Theatre. The show was a hit at last year's Edinburgh Fringe before opening in London last month. It had been booking until November 15 but will finish a fortnight early.
- INDEPENDENT
