Southwark Playhouse Postpones THE BEAST OF BLUE YONDER

Southwark Playhouse has postponed the upcoming professional world premiere of Philip Ridley's The Beast of Blue Yonder.

Audience members who've already booked tickets should contact Southwark Playhouse directly via email (boxoffice@southwarkplayhouse.co.uk) or phone (020 7407 0234) and they'll be fully refunded.

The Beast of Blue Yonder by Philip Ridley was due to open at Southwark Playhouse on 2nd April, directed by Wiebke Green, and featuring Rachel Bright, Tyler Conti, Joseph Drake, Mike Evans, Jade Ewen, Steve Furst, Lucy Gape, Grace Hogg-Robinson, Nat Johnson, Mirren Mack, Joseph Potter, Charlie Quirke, Kyle Rowe, and Unique Spencer.

Jack Silver, the Artistic Director of the production, released the following statement:

Yesterday Southwark Playhouse had to take the very difficult but entirely correct decision to close the theatre for at least the next 8 weeks, to protect the health of staff, audiences, actors, and creatives.

This means we've had to postpone the professional world premiere of Philip Ridley's phenomenal new show, The Beast of Blue Yonder, at Southwark Playhouse because of Coronavirus.

We've always worked with the mantra, "the show must go on". But following recent developments, we are in complete agreement with the theatre and feel strongly that it is not worth jeopardising the health of the cast and creative team or the health of our audiences, friends and family.

We feel for everyone involved that closing the theatre is the right thing to do at this time.

We've spoken to Southwark Playhouse over the past few days, and we are aiming to get the show up again in early 2021, once things have settled down.

Obviously, this situation is horrible. Lots of people in the industry and the country are suffering both health wise and financially, and we feel for everyone involved. The postponement of one show is a drop in the ocean compared to the very real issues people are facing.

It's taken 2 years to get this production to this stage and I'm incredibly proud of all the hard work the cast and creative team have done to date. It's devastating to get this close and then have to delay, but at the end of the day no show is worth jeopardising people's health for.

We've got an incredible creative team lead by a phenomenally talented female director, Wiebke Green, and a world class cast who are not only sublimely talented but also a delight to work with. It's been a privilege to be in the room with them over the past 2 weeks of rehearsals.

In terms of the show, this isn't the end at all, we're just taking a break whilst we weather the Coronavirus storm. We're disappointed but feeling positive about the future life of the production and can't wait to get back into rehearsals again.

I just want to say a personal thank you to all the incredible people who've been involved in the journey so far, from all the wonderful actors who we met with during the casting process, to agents, the amazing teams at Southwark Playhouse and Wildcard Studios, and to our friends and families who've put up with more than they should have to get us this far.

Please stay safe.

To post a comment, you must register and login.