Here, cousin, seize the crown ... Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey in the theatre's production of Richard II. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Critical editorials, awkward questions about his future, and this morning even a summons to the Today programme.
This is a familiar pattern for politicians in crisis and on the way out of office. It's something of a novelty to see it inflicted on a performing artiste, but such is the pressure of negative publicity building around Kevin Spacey's tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic, one half-expects to hear opposition MPs clamouring for his resignation.
Our own Michael Billington came close to saying that on Monday, with a comment piece saying he was "beginning to wonder if he has the taste and judgment for the job". The immediate cue for this verdict has been the disastrous reception for the latest show, Arthur Miller's last play Resurrection Blues.
This show had promised much, being not only the final word from a great American playwright, but also marking the West End directorial debut of film-maker Robert Altman, steering a very a starry cast. The end result, however, seems to have had far more blues than resurrection in it: the play is closing a week early this weekend, after appalling reviews and dismal ticket sales.
A string of other shows since Spacey took over the theatre in 2004 - including Cloaca and A Soldier's Tale - have also set the critics grumbling.
It is an unhappy contrast to the excitement which greeted Spacey's appointment, at a time when he was still riding high on a much-garlanded West End debut in the lead of The Iceman Cometh.
Today, Spacey has gamely confronted Billington in a spirited defence of his position. Arguing that because he's famous he is not being judged on a level playing field, he points to successes such as Aladdin and his own Richard II that have left both critics and audiences happy. He also contends that after a very shaky press night, the supposedly disastrous Resurrection Blues steadied to become a much better show than the reviews depicted.
But what do you folks reckon? Have any readers been to see Resurrection Blues and been pleasantly surprised? And do you believe that Spacey - who claims to have grand plans after the theatre re-opens in the autumn and intends to stay for another eight years - can steady his ship and make a success of the Old Vic?
