Debra Winger's first stint on Broadway has come to an abrupt halt after theatre bosses decided to close The Anarchist following lacklustre reviews.

The Terms of Endearment star stepped on stage in New York's famed theatre district to play a radical left-wing inmate who pleads for mercy from her prison warden.

The two-woman production, which co-stars Patti LuPone, failed to impress critics during previews, and producers have now announced they will close the show early.

The David Mamet play, which is staged at the John Golden Theater, officially opened on Sunday (02Dec12) and will close on 16 December (12). It was slated to run until February 2013.

The Hollywood Reporter's theatre critic David Rooney described the play as "desiccated, dull and virtually without drama," while The Associated Press' Mark Kennedy called the dialogue "very smart, just not very interesting".

Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune condemned the project "as a cautionary tale for the writer who gains so much clout that he can now get anything up in the great American marketplace... without any of the usual checks and balances."