The King’s Speech to close after poor ticket sales

A WEST End stage production of Oscar-winning hit The King’s Speech is to close early due to poor ticket sales.It was originally envisaged as a theatre show but director Tom Hooper picked up the project to make the movie starring Colin Firth.

The world premiere production of the play by David Seidler took place in February at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, at Guildford, in Surrey, and it transferred to the West End last month.

It will now close at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre on 12 May. The production starred Charles Edwards as King George VI and Jonathan Hyde as speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Producers of the show said yesterday in a statement: “Two years ago, originating producer Michael Alden was ready to put the play on and the film came along and blocked its path.

“At the start of this year, we believed that enough time had passed between the film and our opening. This clearly was not the case. We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished.

“It is a production of genuine quality that has been critically and publicly acclaimed across the board.”