Chit Chat - This is the age of the name

Published Monday 16 June 2008 at 16:25 by Tabard

Meanwhile, theatre director Jonathan Miller has - in a not unChrist-like fashion - been rounded on by pretty much everybody this week following his comments about how you need a star name to get a play into the West End these days.

Perhaps he should learn to pick his targets better - after all, Jude Law and David Tennant, the ‘star names’ he rounded upon, aren’t exactly without acting plaudits.

Tabard, though, was most impressed with producer Nica Burns’ response to Miller’s tantrum about not being able to bring his production of Hamlet to London, which was to say (paraphrasing) ‘Okay, Jonathan, you pay for a West End transfer.’

An eminently sensible suggestion, one might think.

Writing in the Independent, Burns said: “Miller is a brilliant, polemical director, but he hasn’t understood that it’s the public who call the tune. I don’t see him putting his hand up to take the risk. So let me reiterate the offer I’ve made - £300,000 will bring the production to the West End, and I will gladly rent him a theatre. Come on, Jonathan, put your money where your mouth is.”