Short runs

A play is expensive to stage, so everyone involved hopes that it will run for long enough to earn back the money spent on it. Shows that run for years earn back their initial investment many times over, but some fail on their first night, or even earlier! On 18 December 1816 the one and only performance of J.R. Ronden’s the play without an A took place at the Paris Theatre des Varietes. It was written with words without the letter “a”, which made it very hard to perform and understand. The audience rioted and did not allow the play to finish. In 1888, at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, The Lady Of Lyons failed to make its first night when the safety curtain jammed. The Intimate Revue opened and closed at the Duchess Theatre, London, on 11 March 1930. It was a disaster from start to finish. The scenery changes took so long that seven scenes were abandoned to allow the long – suffering audience to go home before midnight.