IT’s fair to say that Sheridan Smith has been through a torrid time of late, with her West End show blasted by the critics and members of the audience leaving in the interval.
Now the drama surrounding The Gielgud Theatre’s show Opening Night, has ramped up a notch, as Sheridan has revealed that she almost found herself embroiled in a crime scene, mid-performance.
Her character Myrtle, a struggling alcoholic, is slumped outside the stage door, which is filmed live and projected via a screen into the theatre. But the actress said that security had to interfere, as police were restraining someone nearby.
She told The Chris Evans Breakfast show on Virgin Radio: ” Security wouldn’t let me go out too far the other night because someone was being arrested and restrained on the floor and I was like, “It’s fine, it doesn’t matter and they were like, “No, no you can’t go too far over that way. So I had to start the scene a bit closer to the stage door.”
The 42 -year -old also told how the theatres location means that drunk revelers often try to interfere with her performance.
She said: “It’s right between two pubs, so people are all outside hammered and they want to come and try and help me.’
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Arriving at the Virgin Studios for the interview earlier this week, the actress put on a brave, face, smiling for the cameras, amid ticket prices slashed to just £25 and mounting speculation that the show may close early.
Based on the 1977 film of the same name, Opening Night tells the story of alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon, played by Smith who finds herself on the verge of a breakdown, prompted by the death of a teenage fan.
But the show, which features music and lyrics by singer songwriter, Rufus Wainwright, has failed to inspire audiences, who have been leaving the theatre in their droves during the interval.
Concerns raised by various theatre dwellers has been that the plot left them confused.
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Indeed other sources have claimed that die-hard fans of Sheridan are accustomed to seeing her in upbeat roles, like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and most recently Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York Theatre last year.
A Source told The Sun: ‘The role of Myrtle is perhaps more complex than the bubbly characters we are used to seeing Sheridan play on stage, like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde for example. So fans coming for a happy clappy night out at the theatre may end up feeling short changed.’
Critic Stefan Kyriazis, the Arts Editor for the Express was also unimpressed and noticed that some audience members even fell alseep. “As the curtain fell, the poor ladies in front of me muttering, ‘I don’t understand – what just happened?’ echoed the bewildered slump of an audience who sat (some smartly snoozed) through Rufus Wainwright’s tuneless tunes, endless pointless and intrusive camerawork (enough, already), some atrocious acting and frustratingly bad staging.”
The Gavin and Stacey star, who’s been acting since she was a child, admitted recently that she feels tremendous pressure to sell tickets.
Speaking on the Scott Mills Radio Show, she said: “ I get terrified, it’s worse as I get older. I was fearless when I moved to London. Now there’s so much pressure.’ And the Lancashire-born star even pleaded with fans to buy a ticket. She added: “Opening Night is absolutely fascinating and fun- please come.”
But despite the less than complimentary reviews, few could deny Sheridan’s magnetic performance as a woman struggling with mental health problems and addiction.
Indeed the storyline perhaps resonated with the star who in 2017 confessed to battling anxiety, depression and addiction in her 30s, sparked by the death of her father Colin in 2016.
But recently the award winning actress has said that taking on the role in Opening Night, was like coming “full circle” as she has acquired the necessary life experience to fully inhabit the character.
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Speaking about the parallels between herself and Myrtle she said: “I am playing an actress, but at least I can add a bit of my emotion to it, some true emotion. It’s very freeing. I has actually been really cathartic, just getting it all out.”
Opening Night at the Gielgud Theatre is due to run until 27th July.
