Finborough Theatre Hosts The Papatango Playwriting Festival 2011

Papatango have teamed up with one of London's leading new writing venues, the Finborough Theatre to present the winning entries in the 2011 Papatango Playwriting Competition 2011, featuring this year's winning play Foxfinder by Dawn King which will play for a four week limited season from 29 November (Press Night: Thursday, 1 December 2011 at 8.30pm) and three runners up who will each receive a one week run - Through The Night by Matt Morrison (Press Night: Wednesday, 7 December 2011 at 6.30pm), Rigor Mortis by Carol Vine (Press Night: Wednesday, 14 December 2011 at 6.30pm) and Crush by Rob Young (Press Night: Tuesday, 20 December 2011 at 6.30pm).

Papatango was founded by Matt Roberts, George Turvey and Sam Donovan in 2007. The company's mission is to find the best and brightest new talent in the UK with an absolute commitment to bring their work to the stage. Since then, Papatango have produced eight pieces of new writing in such venues as the Tristan Bates Theatre, the Old Red Lion Theatre and the Pleasance London. 2009 saw the launch of their first Papatango New Writing Competition, which each year has gone from strength to strength.

Winners of previous competitions have won much acclaim from the press and profession including - for Angel by Matt Grinter at the Pleasance London - "Riveting performances....powerfully directed" (Jeremy Kingston, The Times critic), and "A great piece of theatre" (Steven Berkoff) and, for Potentials by Dominic Mitchell at the Tristan Bates Theatre, which was awarded four stars byWhatsOnStage, "Potentials was beautifully observed, conceived and the performances strong, witty and true. It was also British and modern - things I am passionate about" (Emma Rice, Kneehigh).

Now in its new home - the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre - this year's competition received over 600 entries from all over the UK. This year's judges included Con O'Neill (Actor), Catherine Johnson (Playwright), Matt Charman (Playwright), Colin Barr (BBC Director and Producer), Tamara Harvey (Director), Ruth Carney (Director), Neil McPherson (Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre),Van Badham (Literary Manager of the Finborough Theatre) and Tanya Tillett (Literary Agent, The Rod Hall Agency).

Tuesday, 29 November - Friday 23 December 2011
Foxfinder
by Dawn King
Directed by Blanche McIntyre

"You, Foxfinder, must be clean in body and mind. Always remember that the smallest fault in your character could become a crack into which the beast may insinuate himself, like water awaiting the freeze that will smash the stone apart."

William Bloor, a Foxfinder, arrives at Sam and Judith Covey's farm to investigate a suspected contamination. What follows will change the course of all their lives, forever. Foxfinder is a gripping, unsettling and darkly comic exploration of belief, desire and responsibility.

Playwright Dawn King was one of ten writers from across the UK chosen for the BBC Writersroom 10 scheme, a prestigious mentoring and support programme. Through this she is developing a new play with West Yorkshire Playhouse. She is also currently writing My One and Only, an afternoon play for BBC radio 4. Her episode of horror series The Man in Black will broadcast on BBC radio 4 Extra later this year. Previous radio work includes afternoon play 28 and episodes for the first and second series of science fiction drama Planet B for BBC radio 7. She was made co-series leader for the third series. Her recent theatre work includes Water Sculptures/Zoo double bill (Union Theatre), Face Value (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), The Bitches' Ball (Hoxton Hall), National Tour and Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh) and Doghead Boy and Sharkmouth Go To Ikea (The Junction, Cambridge). Previous work has received performances, workshops and readings at; Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Theatre503, Arcola, Old Red Lion, Etcetera Theatre, The Latitude Festival, Resonance FM and The Union Theatre. Dawn was a member of both the Soho Theatre and Royal Court Theatre Young Writers' Programmes and holds an MA distinction in Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths University, London. www.dawn-king.com

Director Blanche McIntyre returns to the Finborough Theatre where she directed the sell-out productins of Accolade and Molière or the League of Hypocrites. She was the winner of the first Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors. She was Associate Director at Out of Joint in 2010, and Director in Residence at The National Theatre Studio London and the Finborough Theatre in 2009. Directing includes When Did You Last See My Mother? (Trafalgar Studios), Pinching For My Soul (Focus Theatre, Dublin), Robin Hood (Latitude), Open Heart Surgery (Soho Theatre and Southwark Playhouse), Wuthering Heights (National Tour), The Revenger's Tragedy (BAC), The Master and Margarita (Greenwich Playhouse), Three Hours After Marriage (Union Theatre), Doctor Faustus, The Devil Is An Ass and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as Told to Carl Jung by an Inmate of Broadmoor Asylum (White Bear Theatre), Cressida and The Invention of Love (Edinburgh Festival), Prometheus Bound (Burton Taylor Theatre, Oxford). She was also Associate Director on The Big Fellah (Out of Joint 2010 and 2011 tours). Blanche also works as a writer and librettist.

The Press on Accolade, director Blanche McIntyre's last production at the Finborough Theatre
***** Five Stars Financial Times, Fringe Review and West London Living
Time Out Critics' Choice and Show Of The Week
**** Four Stars Time Out, Musicomh.com, WhatsonStage, The Guardian, Evening Standard, The Public Reviews, TNT
The British Theatre Guide - Alternative Top 5 Shows
"The reviewers' cliché "Neglected plays are usually neglected for a good reason" carries the implicit qualifier "...except when the Finborough stages them." The more obscure revivals presented by this little Studio Theatre are almost always worthwhile, often impressive and sometimes revelatory. With Emlyn Williams' 1950 drama, here receiving its first revival, we are well into revelation." Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times
"Blanche McIntyre's superbly acted production captures precisely the feel of a period of double-lives and double-standards" Michael Billington, The Guardian
"A forgotten gem... Accolade is humorous, humane and subtle in its suspenseful twists, and McIntyre's up-close staging enthralls. A talented young director and an exceptional fringe revival" Kate Bassett, Independent on Sunday
With a fraction of the budget and playing space, this is the production last year's National Theatre revival of Rattigan's After The Dance wanted to be - and perhaps the play it wanted to be as well" - Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times
"Director Blanche McIntyre unearths a potent broadside directed at English prurience and hypocrisy... Witty and sad, tense but chary of melodrama, 'Accolade' is an elegantly understated piece with a palpable fury in its depths... blessed with just about the finest cast I've ever seen in a fringe show" - Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
"At this early date, Accolade already classifies as one of the defining rediscoveries of this theatrical year... The praise afforded Accolade, one senses, has only just begun" - Matt Wolf, New York Times
"Blanche McIntyre's suspense-filled, utterly authentic exhumation... Upcoming director McIntyre is alive to the play's every emotional nuance... McIntyre's first-rate production ensures that its dilemmas remain timeless and gripping" - David Benedict, Variety
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Tuesday, 6 December- Sunday, 11 December 2011
Through The Night
by Matt Morrison
Directed by Matt Grinter

"These things happen all the time, of course. But when it's close. When it happens in your ‘sphere'. Usually these things don't touch us. But there is this dark side to certain people, certain communities. And it's a reminder to the rest of us, of how vulnerable we all are."

Through the Night is a terrifying psychological thriller about the lengths people will go to in order to protect the ones they love. Set over a single evening, it explores questions of class and violence, and how they have the potential to destroy the things we cherish most.

Playwright Matt Morrison's play Inside Out was produced at the inaugural HighTide festival. Since then he has written work for theatres and companies including the Gate Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, DryWrite, The Miniaturists, The Old Vic Tunnels, In The Same Boat and Menagerie. His play Marchers was developed in conjunction with The National Theatre Studio and performed at The White Bear Theatre. His next play, Brightest and Best, will be produced by We Were Here in early 2011, directed by Natalie Ibu. Matt has also written short stories, radio comedy for the BBC, and two non-fiction books.

Director Matt Grinter trained at the Bristol Old Vic Directors Course. Theatre includes A Great Undertaking in Little America (Alma Tavern, Bristol; Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham; and the White Bear Theatre, London), Eddie Kings Unforgettable Tour of the Forgotten (Tobacco Factory, Bristol) and Orphans (Alma Tavern, Bristol, and Trafalgar Studios). His writing credits include Angel (Tristan Bates Theatre and Pleasance London.) His film credits include Tealeaves (shown at the Tate Gallery, the Royal Academy Summer Show and the Glynn Vivian Gallery), Yukka (Best in Brief at the Kodak Awards) and Small Talk (Encounters, Palm Springs).

The Press on director Matt Grinter:
"Matt Grinter's direction of his actors in Orphans was fine, detailed and intelligent. He is a director to look out for" - Tom Morris on Orphans
**** Four Stars, Bristol Evening Post on Orphans
"As hypnotic as it was compelling" Bristol Evening Post on Orphans
**** Four Stars, Bristol Evening Post, Metro and Venue Magazine on Little America
"A triumphant debut with this excellent and intelligent play" Bristol Evening Post on Little America
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Tuesday, 13 December-Sunday, 18 December 2011
Rigor Mortis
by Carol Vine
Directed by Kate Budgen

After years of absence, Martin returns, a middle-aged, quietly broken man, to visit his parents in the house he grew up in. The fraught relations between Martin and Layla, the daughter he abandoned many years before, echo Martin's conflicted history with his own past, which he must now confront - along with the childhood event that shaped the course of his life. In this ugly coastal town, through a bitterly cold spring, extraordinary things happen to normal people as they struggle to find meaning and redemption in their lives.

Playwright Carol Vine originally trained as an actor at Rose Bruford College, before deciding to devote herself fully to writing. She later gained an MA in Screenwriting at the University of the Arts, London. She has been short-listed and long-listed for various awards in the past, including the Kings Cross New Playwriting Award, BBC Talent, Channel 4's Coming Up and the Red Planet Prize. She has also had two short films made, Rise and Irreparable - showcased in the West End and at Clapham Picture House. Carol has written treatments for the musicals Zorro and Always Summer for Adam Kenwright Associates and InterNational Theatre and Music. Her other plays include a one-woman show, Whore, which was commissioned for the Tabard Theatre, a musical The TrashChrist performed at the Soho Theatre, and an excerpt from her adaptation of Pegwell Bay performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre and the Rocliffe Forum. Carol recently completed a new play, Borderland, and a sitcom pilot.

Director Kate Budgen completed an MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck College in 2007 and has been Associate Director at Shropshire based Pentabus Theatre since 2008. Recent directing includes Crossed Keys (Eastern Angles), A New Breed (Jersey Arts Trust), May Fair (Latitude Festival), Tales of the Country (National Tour for Pentabus Theatre), Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Theatre 503) and Bedbound (Lion and Unicorn Theatre). She has worked as an Assistant Director for The Gate Theatre, Almeida Theatre, The Opera Group, Pentabus Theatre and for Opera North. She completed The National Theatre Studio Director Course in May 2010 and she is a Creative Associate at the Bush Theatre. She was runner up in the 2010 JMK Director Award with The Hairy Ape which will be produced in 2012.

The Press on Carol Vine
"Her writing constantly takes you by surprise, draws you in...Strong and provocative...intrigue and a Heavy Does of sexual tension that continues to shatter any preconceived notions of what we are watching." WhatsOnStage on Whore
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Monday, 19 December-Friday, 23 December 2011
Crush
by Rob Young
Directed by Laura Casey

"Everything they tell you is a lie. Babies aren't cute, the sixties didn't swing and there's no such thing as safe sex. Citizen Kane was not the best movie, so what the stupid ball rolls off the table. Santa Claus is a fat, boozy actor and that cafe that sells an 'all day' breakfast? It shuts at 5.30. My point being, they lied. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar."

Rob researched Crush by spending ten years in a catty office, full of growling sexual subtext. The play tells the story of Johnny and his doomed crush on Celia, the office bitch. The trouble is, she's shagging Nudds, a man whose voice is so smooth, he can wriggle his tongue between two coats of paint. And that is where the story ends. Until... click, click, click... in minces Laura, in killer heels. As Bitch 2.0, Laura Makes Celia look like an amateur. What starts out as handbags at dawn, soon descends into a filthy labyrinth where life itself hangs in the balance, culminating in a victorian theatrical spectacle of literally breathtaking proportions. For Crush, think crisp white blouses, an office tango and a flirt to the death.

Playwright Rob Young 's feature film, Miranda, starred John Hurt and Christina Ricci. It won the Audience Award at London's Raindance Film Festival and sold in twenty two countries. He has since been commissioned to write original screenplays for BBC Films, Filmfour and Working Title, as well as TV scripts for the BBC and Channel 4. Rob's musical, Ex, premieres on Soho Theatre's main stage in November 2011. His adaptation of Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize winning novella, The Old Man and the Sea, won the Award for Artistic Excellence at last year's Brighton Festival before transferring to a sell-out run at the Arcola Theatre and a five week run at the Riverside Studios in 2011. Rob has previously written three plays for the Finborough Theatre - Tango 'til You're Sore, Suicide and Manipulation and Surfing. His other theatre includes Obsession (Time Out Critics' Choice), The Shoe Shop of Desire (BAC and BBC2 documentary) and The Man with the Absurdly Large Penis (The Young Vic). Rob is the co-founder of the art group, The Curious Guide. www.robyoung.info

Director Laura Casey works in both Germany and the UK. She is Artistic Director of Magpie Blue Productions and Associate Director for UpstArt Theatre. Directing includes The Old Man and The Sea, adapted by Rob Young (Shorelines Festival, Riverside Studios, Arcola Theatre, Kaskelot, a pirate ship in Charlestown Harbour and Little Marlborough Theatre, Brighton), Rubies in The Attic (Jermyn Street Theatre and Riverside Studios), Mods and Rockers (Tristan Bates Theatre), Deep and Crisp and Even and The Christmas (Site Specific in SW6); England (The Karamel Club) and Urban Legends (Krudttonden, Copenhagen). Assisting includes Yerma (Hull Truck Theatre and Gate Theatre), Shakespeare on Edge which was nominated for Kölner Theaterpreis 2011 (Artheatre, Cologne), Oh Well Never Mind Bye (Union Theatre) and The Lover and The Dumb Waiter (Krudttonden, Copenhagen).

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