Katie Holmes plays Lorna in Dead Accounts by Theresa Rebeck. The plays Broadway run will end Jan. 6. (Joan Marcus/Boneau/Bryan-Brown/Associated Press)

Katie Holmes' latest turn on Broadway has been cut short after the play she starred in, Dead Accounts, received mixed reviews.

Originally scheduled to run another seven weeks, it will close Jan. 6 after 27 previews and 44 performances.

Holmes, formerly married to Tom Cruise, made her Broadway debut four years ago in All My Sons.

After Dead Accounts opened in November, she received a warm reception in her role as the sister of a man who returns to his home in the Midwest with a secret. Norbert Leo Butz plays Holmes' onstage brother in the drama.

“Let me assure you that Holmes, who was a tad unsteady in her Broadway debut four years ago in Arthur Miller's All My Sons, appears much more at ease playing a worn-down country mouse to the hyped-up city mouse of Butz,” the New York Times said in its review.

“Holmes suggests what might have happened to Joey Potter, the ultimate girl-next-door she once portrayed on TV in Dawson's Creek had she never found true love or left town.”

Criticism centred on the play itself, written by Theresa Rebeck, who created the first season of NBC’s Smash.

Although Rebeck has created well-received plays such as Mauritius and Seminar, Dead Accounts was seen by critics as uneven in tone and unfocused in its storytelling.

It’s not the only recent Broadway casualty — David Mamet's The Anarchist, starring Broadway legend Patti LuPone and Debra Winger, closed Dec. 16 after only 23 previews and 17 regular shows.

In the December issue of Vogue, Holmes said she was keen to do more theatre.

"It's exciting because there's no close-up, so a person has to use every inch of themselves," Holmes said. "So you're never done — and who wants to be done? It's just another opportunity to keep growing."