These days it seems there’s little you can’t blame on Brexit. From low ratings to school bullying, Britain’s departure from the European Union has served as a wonderful catch-all, consequence-free excuse for various individuals and institutions to explain their shortcomings. A vintage example of this was offered today by Rufus Wainwright, the Canadian-American singer-songwriter. His latest production ‘Opening Night’ – starring Sheridan Smith – flopped so badly in the West End that it was forced to close its doors two month early.
Both audiences and critics alike were left unimpressed by the musical, adapted from John Cassavetes’ 1977 film about a struggling actor. Audiences were so bored that there were reports of multiple walkouts during the show or at the interval. The New Statesman branded Wainwright’s show ‘chaotic and masochistic while even the right-on New York Times pronounced that the play was ‘algorithmically bland’. Ouch.
Thankfully, Wainwright has discovered the real culprit for why his show failed so badly: Brexit. Blasting British audiences for their ‘lack of imagination and curiosity about change’ since the 2016 referendum, Wainwright told the Guardian that London theatre-lovers simply cannot cope with the more radical elements of his performance. ‘All of the reviews from Europe were incredible for this piece,’ the writer lamented, adding:
‘The staging and the rhythm is more European and there was a vitriolic reaction against that. I don’t think it was perfect and that I don’t deserve criticism, but this thing of shutting it down if it’s not exactly what you want is not really the theatrical lane that I want to live in.’
Whatever it is, it’s certainly not the fast lane, is it? Wainwright veered dangerously close to demonstrating a smidgen of self-awareness, admitting that there ‘were mistakes made on many fronts’, before making a quick return to his bubble of self-adulation, announcing that:
‘The main objective I have is that people think about it for days and days and look: people have thought about Opening Night now for weeks. It has remained in the psyche of the press and the public… It does endure for better or for worse.’
They say all publicity is good publicity – but in this case Mr S isn’t quite so sure…
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