Brits Off Broadway, the critically acclaimed festival featuring the best in new British theater, will present Darren Murphy's "flick knife sharp comedy," Tabloid Caligula.
The show begins previews at 59E59 Theaters on Tuesday, May 24 and opens on Thursday, May 25th at 8:15 PM for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 12.
Tabloid Caligula is directed by Lisa Forrell, and produced by Tror Taa and Kay Ellen Consolver for KLN Productions Limited.
The London
Sunday Times described the play favorably: "Murphy gets the atmosphere of the criminals' world absolutely right through the sheer hilarious nastiness of the language." According to its press release, the plot "centers on Robert, an ageing criminal and wannabe businessman. Part mentor, part historian, part psychopath, he strides about his storeroom like a low-rent Godfather, filling his young protégé, Joe, with tales of underworld glamour & ancient historical conquests. Joe dreams of being just like Robert. But, Robert' s not telling Joe everything he knows. Then in walks Mary, and Robert's game is up."
Playwright Murphy graduated from Surrey Institute of Art & Design in 1997. In 1999, he wrote and directed
Kilburn Tom, currently under consideration by London's Channel 4. In 2002 he was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award for his play
The Flats (Chelsea Theater, London) and won The Westminster Prize for
A Road in Winter, both for the Soho Theatre.
Tabloid Caligula was a prizewinner in the London Writers¹ Competition in 2000 and was produced at the Arcola Theatre in London. Other productions to date include:
The Derelicts (Battersea Arts Centre, London),
Bag of Monkeys [International Bar, Dublin Festival],
The Suffocators [Hampstead Start Night Season, London],
Charlatan [Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe]. He is co-founder of the Penny Dreadful Theatre Co., established in 2002, who have had six productions to date.
Forrell's directing credits include:
Tabloid Caligula (Arcola Theatre);
Unsuspecting Susan with Celia Imrie (King¹s Head Theatre); the MMD new musical workshop of
Espresso Trasho (Arts Theatre);
Johnson is Leaving (Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan, Stratford);
Best of Motives (co-written with Marcel Berlins) - Tricycle Theatre charity event;
Les Lettres d'une Religieuse Portugaise and Cartas (with Myriam Cyr);
Dragonslayer (a new Musical written by Molly Yeomans and Jack Lenz) (Toronto & New York);
The Slow Drag, a musical with Kim Criswell (The Whitehall Theatre, West End);
Abundance by Beth Henley (Riverside Studios);
Time and the Room by Botho Strauss (Gate Theatre);
Suzanna Andler by Marguerite Duras with Susan Jampshire (Battersea Arts);
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (Lyric Hammersmith and Plymouth Theatre Royal); Chekhov's
Three Sisters (Chichester Festival Theatre);
Look Back in Anger (Plymouth Theatre Royal);
Total Eclipse by
Christopher Hampton (Greenwich Theatre);
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg with Clive Owen;
The Day You'll Love Me (Hampstead Theatre);
Slow Dance on the Killing Ground (Greenwich Theatre);
The Real World? by Michel Tremblay (Soho Theatre and in her own translation);
A Shayna Maidel (Ambassador's Theatre, West End). Future projects include:
Shrinks!, a new Musical,
Eclipse Totale at the Theatre de l'Oeuvre, Paris;
Rue de Babylone by Jean-Marie Bessett in London; S
hocking (as in pink) by Stewart Permutt, and
Liar's Tango, a film written by Laurence Davey.
The Brits Off Broadway festival will continue until July 3rd at 59E59 Theatres. Other shows in the series are
Faster, created and performed by Filter Theater,
Jackson's Way, written and performed by Will Adamsdale,
Private Fears in Public Places, written and directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn, and Celia Imrie in
Unsuspecting Susan by Stewart Permutt.
The performance schedule is Tuesday - Friday at 8:15 PM , Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM and Sunday at 3:15 PM and 7:15 PM. Single tickets are $35 and are available by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200or online at
www.ticketcentral.com. For more information on Brits Off Broadway, visit
www.britsoffbroadway.com.
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