Nigel Planer's On the Ceiling, starring Ron Cook and Ralf Little, is ending its run at the West End's Garrick Theatre on October 1 after only four weeks.
Set in 1508, On the Ceiling centers on the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Pope has put a sculptor with next to no experience of painting in charge of the task. The man didn´t want the job in the first place and has never done anything remotely on this scale. He´s all over the place--when he remembers to turn up for work. Who has to put in the hours, teach him his craft, patch up his mistakes, deal with his tantrums and get the job done? Like any big project, it is the little guys Cook and Little who are actually going to have to make it happen.
The comedy, directed by Jennie Darnell, opened at the Garrick on September 12, after a successful run at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Nicholas de Jongh of The Evening Standard wrote of On the Ceiling: "I am delighted to award Nigel Planer's On the Ceiling a peculiar accolade. It has gone straight into my little Black Book of Theatrical Horrors: the 21st-century edition is available at all bad booksellers. The book, spattered with blood of mauled reputations, of plays and players torn to shreds in revenge for the mental and physical torment caused to an innocent theatre-goers like me, is unsuitable for those of a sensitive, humane or humorous disposition. So, too, is the comedy-lite On the Ceiling."
