Finborough Theatre Presents QUALITY STREET, 11/30
By: Nicole Rosky Nov. 01, 2010
Following her sell-out production of J.M. Barrie's What Every Woman Knows at the Finborough Theatre in July this year, director Louise Hill returns to the Finborough Theatre with another rediscovery of a classic comedy by J.M. Barrie to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth - his magical 1901 play Quality Street, opening on 30 November 2010 as part of the Finborough Theatre's 30th anniversary year.
Set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, Quality Street is a tale of romance, enchantment and the transformative power of love. As snow falls in Quality Street, Dr Valentine Brown enlists in the army, leaving Miss Phoebe Throssel broken-hearted. Undaunted, she and her sister Susan set up a school and resign themselves to a life of algebra, headaches and unruly pupils.
Ten years pass and a victorious army returns from the Battle of Waterloo. A ball is thrown in their honour, but the years have taken their toll and Phoebe's dancing days are done. At the ball, every soldier is entranced by a mysterious beauty whom no one has seen before. Will Captain Brown also fall under her spell, or is it still possible to right the wrongs of a decade ago?
Quality Street explores a favourite theme of Barrie's - the possibility of second chances - in a touching, magical and poignant account of love delayed but not lost.
Quality Street originally opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre, New York, in 1901, produced by Charles Frohman. It then opened at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, in September 1902 and ran for a very successful 459 performances, starring Ellaline Terriss, Seymour Hicks and Marion Terry. It has been unseen in London since 1946. It was filmed in 1927 and again in 1937 with Katharine Hepburn. The play was also the inspiration behind the name of Nestle's famous sweets which for many years used characters from the play in their advertising.
Playwright J.M. Barrie (1860-1937) was born in 1860 in Kirriemuir, Scotland, and this production of his 1908 classic celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth. Now best remembered for his only children's play, Peter Pan, he was also the hugely successful author of plays and novels including The Admirable Crichton, Dear Brutus, Mary Rose and What Every Woman Knows, which received a sell-out production at the Finborough Theatre in July this year.
Director Louise Hill trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and spent two years as Artistic Director of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival. Directing includes Spiders (Soho Theatre Studio), Tiny Dynamite (Alma Tavern Theatre, Bristol), To a Sunless Sea (Etcetera Theatre) and IAGO, her own adaptation of Othello for which she
won a Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2009. Louise directed a sell-out production of J.M. Barrie's What Every Woman Knows at the Finborough Theatre earlier this year.
Designer Alex Marker has been Resident Designer of the Finborough Theatre since 2002 where his designs have included Charlie's Wake, The Women's War, How I Got That Story, Soldiers, Happy Family, Trelawny of the 'Wells', Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, Albert's Boy, Lark Rise To Candleford, Red Night, The Representative, Eden's Empire, Love Child, Little Madam, Plague Over England - and its West End transfer to the Duchess Theatre, Hangover Square, Sons of York, Untitled, Painting A Wall, Death of Long Pig, Molière or The League of Hypocrites and Dream of the Dog and its West End transfer to the Trafalgar Studios.
The cast includes Tamzin Aitken, Daisy Ashford, Hannah Boyde, Kate Cooke, Alan Devally, Katie Ellen-Jones, Jack Hardwick, Catherine Harvey, James Rastall, Claire Redcliffe, James Russell and Zoe Thorne. Tamzin Aitken's credits include Last Seen (Almeida Theatre), An Object (Paines Plough), Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Playing for Time (Salisbury Playhouse). Daisy Ashford's credits include The Rivals (Theatre Royal, Bath, and National Tour), The Twelve Pound Look, The House of Bernarda Alba and The Beggars' Opera (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond). Hannah Boyde's credits include Heldenplatz (Arcola Theatre) and Fuente Ovejuna (Southwark Playhouse). Kate Cook's credits include A Man For All Seasons (Theatre Royal, York) and 1936 (Arcola Theatre). Alan Devally's credits include Mrs Affleck (National Theatre) and Tombstone Tales and Boothill Ballads (Arcola Theatre). Katie Ellen-Jones' credits include Harold Pinter: A Celebration (National Theatre). Jack Hardwick's credits include The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Tobacco Factory). Catherine Harvey's credits include An Ideal Husband (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), Alison's House and The Ring of Truth (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond) and Deirdre of the Sorrows (Riverside Studios). James Rastall's credits include Theatre:24 (Bristol Old Vic) and Bath Time (Oxford Playhouse). Claire Redcliffe's credits include Kindertransport (Bolton Octagon - Nominated for Best Actress at the Manchester Evening News Awards), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Open Air Theatre, Regents Park), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, When We Are Married (West Yorkshire Playhouse), and Great Expectations and Tom's Midnight Garden (Manchester Library Theatre). James Russell's credits include Miss Lilly Gets Boned at the Finborough Theatre for which he was nominated for Best Actor at the Off West End Theatre Awards, All Mouth (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Days of Hope (King's Head Theatre). Zoe Thorne's credits include The Potting Shed (Finborough Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost and Hamlet (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Turn of the Screw (Bristol Old Vic) and The Water When it Burns (Hampstead Theatre).
The Press on Louise Hill's production of What Every Woman Knows
Time Out Critics' Choice
**** Four Stars, The Times
**** Four Stars, Time Out
"A welcome revival of a droll examination of sexual politics...We associate JM Barrie, of course, with Peter Pan, but here he is writing an astute and witty drama about women's rights. Or rather, the lack of them." Sarah Hemming, Financial Times
"The hope is that this production...is seen by enough people to bring the prolific J M Barrie back to the position that he deserves as one of the best and most popular writers of his period." Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide
"Barrie's play was ahead of its time and is written with both humour and political nous. A must see production for all those with a love of theatre and robust sense of humour." Deborah Klayman, The Public Reviews
"It would be a shame if plays like What Every Woman Knows disappeared, as, despite the changes of the last century, it still has much to say to us about human nature and the way we live now." Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide
"J. M. Barrie's delightful comic fable is given as sensitive and rightly-tuned a production as you could ask for...making for a thoroughly entertaining evening." Gerald Berkowitz, TheatreGuideLondon
"What Every Woman Knows has some surprisingly sharp ironic edges to it, all of which director Louise Hill and her cast find and happily display, generating shocks of recognition and frequent out-loud laughs among the gentler chuckles." Gerald Berkowitz, TheatreGuideLondon
"Hill's direction orchestrates fine performances" Jeremy Kingston, The Times
"Louise Hill stages the play with warmth and sympathy" Sarah Hemming, Financial Times
Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Tuesday, 30 November - Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm. Saturday matinees at 3.00pm (from the second week of the run).
Performance Length: Approximately 2 hours.
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