Warner's comeback cut short

Actor David Warner's long-awaited return to the West End stage after a 30-year absence has been cut short after his new play received dismal reviews.

The 60-year-old, whose chronic stage fright has seen his career confined to film work since 1972, was once one of the most lauded English theatre actors, whose Sixties Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company was described as "definitive".

There was considerable excitement when he announced he was finally to return to London theatre, in a new play, The Feast of Snails, which opened at the Lyric last week. It was the second part of his rehabilitation after a brief run in Major Barbara in New York last year, a comeback he described as "a miracle".

But his London comeback will be disappointingly brief. It was announced today that the play will close on 23 March, after a five week run.

The decision may have been prompted by the reviews. While generally kind to Warner himself, they were savage to the wider production.

The Feast Of Snails