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Summer Strallen, who was due to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, only discovered the show had been cancelled online. She says this must not happen again.

Last Thursday, I was having a wig fitting for the role of the Queen in Cinderella, ready to begin rehearsing next month. The part, which I signed up for six weeks ago, promised a year-long contract – and with it, a rare level of stability.

Three days later, I received a text from a friend offering her sympathy that the production was closing, and saying she was sure I would get another role soon. I had no idea what she was talking about, so she sent me a link to an online article. I felt my stomach drop.

My agent didn’t know anything about it either, until he checked his email and saw he’d received a message less than half an hour before – just after 6pm on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend – to say the show was closing and I no longer had a contract. My initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief, made worse that by telling us in this way, the people in charge – headed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Really Useful Group (RUG) production company – seemed to be showing a complete lack of humanity towards their workers...Keep reading on The Guardian.