59E59 Theatres Presents A BRITISH SUBJECT As Part Of Its Brits Off Broadway Festival, Begins 12/9

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) is thrilled to host the US premiere of A BRITISH SUBJECT, written by Nichola McAuliffe, at the 2009 Brits Off Broadway festival. Directed by Hannah Eidinow, A BRITISH SUBJECT comes to NY from the Pleasance in Edinburgh, where it premiered during the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A BRITISH SUBJECT begins performances on Wednesday, December 9 for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3. Press opening is Sunday, December 13 at 7:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7:15, Wednesday - Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM and 7:15 PM. Please note, there is no performance on Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) or New Year's Day (Friday, January 1). The curtain time on Thursday, December 24 is at 7:15 PM. Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.ticketcentral.com. For more information, visit www.59e59.org or www.britsoffbroadway.com.

At the age of 18, Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British subject, arrived in Pakistan. 24 hours later a taxi driver was dead and Tahir was tried for his murder. Condemned to hang in the Criminal Court, he spent 18 years on Death Row. Don Mackay of the Daily Mirror was the only journalist to visit him in that time.

Written by and starring Olivier Award-winning actress (and Mackay's wife) Nichola McAuliffe, A BRITISH SUBJECT is their tense and absorbing true tale that travels from the backstage of a Noel Coward play in the heart of London to the squalid jails of Pakistan as Mackay and McAuliffe race to free this British national from his date with the gallows.

A BRITISH SUBJECT is an extraordinary true-life tale of international politics and the media colliding with justice, civil liberties and, ultimately, faith.

A BRITISH SUBJECT makes its US premiere at Brits Off Broadway, after a critically acclaimed, sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where the Observer called it "edge of the seat drama!"

A BRITISH SUBJECT features performances by Tom Cotcher, Kulvinder Ghir, Shiv Grewal and Nichola McAuliffe.

Prior to A British Subject, Nichola McAuliffe (playwright) was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with her play National Hero starring Timothy West. On stage, she was most recently seen as Marjorie in Home, part of the 2009 Peter Hall Season. She won an Olivier award for Kiss Me Kate, Manchester Evening News Award for the Wild Duck, Edinburgh Stage Award for Bed Among the Lentils, the Clarence Derwent award for Poppy. Best Known on TV as Sheila Sabatini in Surgical Spirit. Novels include The Crime Tsar, Attila Loolagax and the Eagle (Bloomsbury) and A Fanny Full of Soap (Oberon).

Hannah Eidinow (director). Edinburgh credits include: two Scottish Fringe First Winning Plays - Gone in 2004, which also won Guardians Fringe Awards' Best Play and transferred to New Ambassadors, West End; and What I Heard About Iraq in 2006 (regional Tour and Arts Theatre in London, 2007) Other Credits: The Lady from the Sea (Sunday Times' Top Theatre Pick).

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