Tim Curry Withdraws from Chichester Festival Theatre’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Tim Curry has withdrawn from the Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, according to WhatsOnStage.com. The show is currently in previews, with an opening set for May 31. Following the end of this engagement on June 11, the production is slated to transfer to the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, beginning performances there on June 16.

Curry’s departure is due to ill-health, following an on-going chest infection and repeated asthma attacks. His understudy, Chris Andrew Mellon, has taken over the role of The Player, although the theater is reportedly considering “its longer-term options.”

Trevor Nunn directs the production, which stars, as previously reported, Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker in the title roles.

The dark comedy centers on two secondary characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, imagining some of the background action that goes unseen in the tragedy.

For tickets and more information on the London engagement, click here.