He has earned accolades for his thrilling West End plays and won five Oscars with his first Hollywood film.
But now Sam Mendes appears to have lost some of his magic touch. The first play from his new company has become the latest flop in Theatreland and is to close after just a fortnight.
Fuddy Meers, the European premiere of a Broadway hit by David Lindsay-Abaire, had been taking bookings at the Arts Theatre until the end of August.
However after poor reviews and small audiences it will close on Saturday - the sixth West End play this year to do so less than a month after opening.
The curtain has fallen early on Calico, which won rave reviews for Romola Garai as James Joyce's daughter, and the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, starring-Amanda Holden.
Warm weather is partly to blame for low audiences, but it will surprise many that a venture bearing the Mendes imprint has flopped. "That show should have been sold out weeks before opening," a theatre insider said.
Fuddy Meers was the hotly-anticipated first play from Scamp, set up by Mendes in 2002. But critics were unimpressed. The Evening Standard said the "heavy-handed production revels in futility and silliness".
Mendes, 38, who married Kate Winslet in May last year, ran the celebrated Donmar Warehouse theatre for a decade and won five Oscars for American Beauty.
