Gregory Murphy's The Countess will end its West End run on July 9. The production had been booking through mid-September at the Criterion Theatre.
Set in 1853, The Countess centers on the celebrated art critic John Ruskin Nick Moran, his wife Effie Alison Pargeter, and the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais Damian O'Hare who all depart in high spirits for the Scottish Highlands. When they return four months later, London is already beginning to whisper of the woman one man calls mad, and the other... the countess.
Directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser, the play opened at the Criterion on June 7 to mostly negative reviews. Sam Marlowe of The London Times wrote of the show: "Murphy's writing is painfully stilted, and devoid of complexity or emotional truth… With his permanently constipated expression, Moran's Ruskin is tetchy rather than tormented… O'Hare tries hard to convey Millais' illicit passion for Effie, but it's a tough task when all he's permitted to do is mouth platitudes and pant down her neck while she's busy with her sketchbook. Pargeter's performance is valiant, and her put-upon Effie manages the odd touching moment… There's no delicacy or insight here--only an overwrought overload of sickly sentiment. Pointless."
