Finborough Theatre to Present VIBRANT 2014 Playwrights Festival, Nov 2-20
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 07, 2014
Now in its sixth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing and part of its 20 Premieres season, running between 2-20 November 2014.
This year's festival features 15 staged readings of new works by 15 UK and internatio nal playwrights, discovered, developed or championed by the Finborough Theatre.
As always, Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights offers an eclectic idiosyncratic selection of new plays from both established writers and first time writers, aged from their 20s to their 70s, including dramatists from Australia, the United States, Canada, and from throughout England including Cornwall, the North East, the East Midlands and Earl's Court itself. This festival also includes more female playwrights than ever before, work from South Asian, East Asian, British-Lebanese and Australian Aboriginal playwrights, work from our local community, and new plays from our Channel 4 Playwright-in-Residence and all three of our Playwrights-on-Attachment.
Concentrated solely on full length works for the stage, Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights continues to introduce you to some of the fascinating diverse vibrant voices we have nurtured. A unique opportunity to see behind the scenes at one of the UK's most exciting theatres as we continue to discover and develop tomorrow's plays today, brought to life by some of the UK's most talented actors and directors.
As West London's original new writing festival, our Vibrant festivals have included 79 new plays, 21 of which have gone on to be produced in full productions at the Finborough Theatre including Mirror Teeth by Nick Gill, The Man by James Graham, And I And Silence by Naomi Wallace, Black Jesus by Anders Lustgarten, Carthage by Chris Thompson and Nona Shepphard and Craig Adams' musical version of Thérèse Raquin.
Despite remaining completely unsubsidised, the Finborough Theatre has an unparalleled track record of discovering new playwrights who go on to become leading voices in British theatre. Under Artistic Director Neil McPherson, it has discovered some of the UK's most exciting new playwrights including Laura Wade, James Graham, Mike Bartlett, Sarah Grochala, Chris Thompson, Jack Thorne, Simon Vinnicombe, Alexandra Wood, Al Smith, Nicholas de Jongh and Anders Lustgarten.
It is the only theatre without public funding to be awarded the prestigious Pearson Playwriting Award bursary for writers not once, but eight times: Chris Lee in 2000, Laura Wade in 2005 (who also went on to win the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright, the George Devine Award and an Olivier Award nomination), James Graham in 2006 (also subsequently nominated for an Olivier Award), Al Smith in 2007, Anders Lustgarten in 2009, Simon Vinnicombe in 2010, Shamser Sinha in 2012 and Chris Thompson in 2013. Three bursary holders (Laura Wade, James Graham and Anders Lustgarten) have also won the Catherine Johnson Award for Best Play written by a bursary holder.
Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights is again curated by Finborough Theatre Artistic Director Neil McPherson, winner of The Writers' Guild Award for the Encouragement of New Writing, and twice winner of the OffWestEnd Award for Best Artistic Director.
Sunday, 2 November 2014 at 7.30pm
The House of My Father by Carmen Nasr. Directed by Zoe Lafferty.
While war rages in the streets of a divided Beirut, a family refuses to abandon their home as they await the return of their father. As bombs fall and soldiers appear unannounced in their garden, Mona and her family cook, repaint the kitchen, plant flowers and persuade each other that all will be well. Exploring the sometimes forgotten lives of those who remain living in their homes during protracted urban wars, this debut play from an exciting new playwright asks how far people will go to preserve a sense of normality, in the face of unimaginable horror.
Part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Nour Festival of Arts, a celebration of the very best in contemporary Middle Eastern and North African arts and culture.
Playwright Carmen Nasr is British-Lebanese, grew up in Beirut, and then moved to London five years ago to study and pursue a career in playwriting. This is her first play.
Director Zoe Lafferty is currently an Associate Director of the Freedom Theatre, Palestine. Productions at the Finborough Theatre include The Fear of Breathing which Zoe wrote whilst undercover in the Syrian revolution. It was published by Oberon Books, and was Critics' Choice in both Time Out and The Daily Telegraph. Zoe trained at Drama Centre, London, and the Vaktangov Theatre School, Moscow. Theatre includes the world premiere of Bola Agbaje's Concrete Jungle(Riverside Studios), The Keepers of Infinite Space and No More Page Three (Park Theatre), Gaza: Breathing Space and Off Record (Soho Theatre and AZ Theatre), War and Peace (Rich Mix and AZ Theatre) Sho Khman? (Freedom Theatre, Palestine, and International Tour), Alice in Wonderland(Freedom Theatre, Palestine), Adult Child / Dead Child (Edinburgh Festival and Unicorn Theatre) andNot a Step Back (Cochrane Theatre). Zoe was also Associate Director for the documentary and site-specific production of Lost Nation (The Red Room). Assistant Direction includes The Dresser(Watford Palace Theatre), Waiting For Godot (Freedom Theatre, Palestine, and International Tour),Protozoa and Oikos (The Red Room).
Monday, 3 November 2014 at 7.30pm
A Film About Someone You Love by Chris Thompson. Directed by Robert Hastie.
Sophie can't work out why one of her daughters went out one morning and never came back. The rejection is taking its toll - Sophie is on the brink of losing her shit and has been signed off work for locking herself in the stationery cupboard. Her other daughter, Ellie, hasn't left (more's the pity) and has invited round her fiancé, Monday, and her best friend, Adam, to practice the first dance for her upcoming wedding. Monday's got the dinner on, and the doorbell goes. Could this be the night the errant daughter sees sense and comes back home to Croydon? You can't choose your family, but you can sure as hell f***k them up if you want to. Urgent, acerbic and sometimes painful, this is a corrosive comedy about self-obsession and what happens when someone stops loving you.
Playwright Chris Thompson is Channel 4 Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre, where his debut play Carthage premiered earlier this year. Subsequent theatre includes Albion (Bush Theatre). Following an attachment at the Royal Court Theatre in 2014, Chris was invited to join their most recent Summer Group, whilst in 2013 he took part in the Kudos/ Bush initiative. In his previous career, Chris was a social worker.
Director Robert Hastie returns to the Finborough Theatre where his previous productions include Chris Thompson's critically acclaimed Carthage (the first reading of which he also directed for Vibrant 2012 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights), and the first production in over 40 years of John McGrath's Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun. Theatre includes My Night with Reg (Donmar Warehouse) and the UK premiere of Sunburst by Tennessee Williams, as part of The Hotel Plays for Defibrillator at the Holborn Grange Hotel. Associate Direction includes Sixty-Six Books which opened the new Bush Theatre in which Robert directed the world premieres of In The Land of Uz by Neil LaBute, The Middle Man by Anthony Weigh, David and Goliath by Andrew Motion, Snow In Sheffieldby Helen Mort and A Lost Expression by Luke Kennard. Robert was also Associate Director of Much Ado About Nothing, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate (Wyndham's Theatre).
Tuesday, 4 November 2014 at 3.00pm
All for One by Henry Darke. Directed by Anna Marsland.
Huck, 38, decides to squat in a Cornish holiday home to make a political stand. But is he a fierce revolutionary, or a bum that wants his name in the paper? When arch nemesis and local surf God Darren Kashmarick appears on the scene intent on sabotaging Huck's plan, a political battle becomes a local grudge going back thirty years. Both men will stop at nothing to outdo each other. The local surf championships are coming up and seemingly happy-go-lucky pillar of the community, Daz, turns out to be a man with a lot to prove. There are sharks in the water - and they bite. Set in a disenfranchised community in Cornwall, All For One is about man's struggle to feel significant.
Playwright Henry Darke had his first piece of writing, a one-act play, Highfliers included in the Royal Court Young Playwrights Season, and was subsequently selected as one of 'The Royal Court 50' by Plymouth Theatre Royal. In 2006, he won a scholarship to attend the London Film School as a director, graduating with a short film set in Cornwall called The Lobster Trap which won the Lodz Festival Poland. His second short film Big Mouth, also filmed in Cornwall, on 35mm, was long-listed for a BAFTA and won Best Film at the Brief Encounters Film Festival. Henry also directed Hooked for Channel 4's 'Coming Up' series. He is a Screen International 'Star of Tomorrow' and has feature films in development with The Bureau Film Company and Pico Pictures. All For One is Henry's first full length play.
Director Anna Marsland trained on the MFA Theatre Directing course at Birkbeck College, and was a finalist for the 2013 JMK Award for Young Directors. Direction includes Twelfth Night (Victoria Baths, Manchester), Masterclass Academy Showcase (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Leonardo Question(Rosemary Branch Theatre and Roxy Art House), Secret Heart, Road, All the Ordinary Angels, What the Butler Saw and Two (ADC Theatre). Assistant Direction includes The White Devil, The Roaring Girl (Royal Shakespeare Company), Hope Light and Nowhere (Underbelly Theatre), A Christmas Carol (New Vic Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent), Lady Windermere's Fan, Miss Julie, The Gatekeeper, Beautiful Thing and Good (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Othello (Rose Theatre, Bankside, and Broadway Theatre, Barking) and Love and Money (Arts Educational School). Text Assistant work includes The Malcontent (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and Henry VI: Parts I, II, and III(Shakespeare's Globe).
Wednesday, 5 November 2014 at 3.00pm
Shangri-La by Amy Ng. Directed by Simon Dormandy.
Bunny, an ethnic minority tour guide in China, struggles to break free from Western travellers determining and defining her life. Nelson, her Chinese boss, wants a new kind of tourism - sustainable, respectful, enabling genuine cultural exchange. Their white clients yearn for something authentic and unique. These desires collude and collide in Shangri-La.
Playwright Amy Ng was born in Australia, brought up in Hong Kong and educated at Yale and then Balliol College, Oxford, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Amy is also a graduate of the Royal Court Theatre's Critical Mass writers programme. Her other plays include Beyond Cathay, selected for the semi-finals of Reverie Productions Next Generation Playwriting Competition, New York City, and A Little Night Music (The Space). Currently, Amy is a member of the British East Asian Theatre writing group, a year-long script development programme which is supported by The Young Vic. Her screenplay Prelude to a Feast won the Oxford University Film Foundation competition for Best Short Screenplay. Amy is also a historian and the author of Nationalism and Political Liberty (Oxford University Press), as well as articles published in the Journal of Contemporary History, Contemporanea and The English Historical Review.
Director Simon Dormandy previously worked as an actor spending two years with Cheek by Jowl and five with the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as working at the Donmar Warehouse, The Old Vic and the Chichester Festival Theatre, among many others. Between 1997 and 2012, Simon taught, directed and managed theatre at Eton College where he was Director of Drama. Since January 2013, he has been working as a freelance theatre director, recently directing Waiting for Godot with young comic duo Totally Tom in the leads, and the UK premiere of Eldorado by Marius von Mayenburg (Arcola Theatre). This spring, Simon will direct his own stage adaptation of The Hudsucker Proxy, a film by the Coen Brothers, for the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, and Liverpool Playhouse.
Thursday, 6 November 2014 at 3.00pm
Apophis by Steven Hevey. Directed by Caitlin McLeod.
When a close group of friends gather to observe Venus begin her transit across the face of the sun, little did they expect they would ever come face to face with a very different type of Venus - a fast talking, hard drinking working-class Mum. From a world very different to their own, and with the clouds conspiring to block their view, they struggle to connect not only with each other, but themselves. Yet when an unexpected bomb of a guest arrives, it's not long before they soon do - only not in the way they had planned. A play about life, love, the universe and everything that's in it (well almost), and how no matter how many times you mess up in life, you always get a second chance. Don't you?
Playwright Steven Hevey is a Playwright on Attachment at the Finborough Theatre. He is also under commission by Old Vic New Voices, and he was recently announced as the seventh writer to be supported by OffWestEnd.com's Adopt a Playwright Award. A recipient of several Peggy Ramsay Foundation awards and a graduate of the Royal Court and Soho Theatre Young Writers Programmes, he has worked extensively with Old Vic New Voices and Paines Plough. His plays include Short Plays by Steven Hevey (Soho Theatre), Pay As You Go (Cock Tavern Theatre) and In My Name (Old Red Lion Theatre and Trafalgar Studios). Steven's short plays have been performed at Shakespeare's Globe, Ovalhouse, Hampstead Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Bush Theatre, Old Vic Tunnels, Vineyard Theatre, New York City, and the Lyric Studio Hammersmith.
Director Caitlin McLeod previous productions at the Finborough Theatre include Facts, And I And Silence and Northern Star. Caitlin studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Warwick and was Trainee Director at the Royal Court Theatre from 2011-12. Theatre includes And I And Silence(Signature Theater, New York), The Malcontent (Shakespeare's Globe), CommonWealth (Almeida Theatre), The Children's Hour (Royal Welsh College), The Red Set, Mahua ('New Plays from Chile and India' at the Royal Court Theatre), Escalator Plays (HighTide Festival Theatre), staged readings of Love, Love, Love (La Mousson d'été Festival and Théâtre du Rond-Point), One Short Sleepe(Southbank Festival), The Lady's Not For Burning and Elephant's Graveyard (Warwick Arts Centre) and a staged reading of Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company). Assistant Direction includesStrange Interlude (National Theatre), Hamlet (Shakespeare's Globe), Love and Information, In Basildon, Love, Love, Love and Haunted Child (Royal Court Theatre), The Talented Mr Ripley (Royal and Derngate Theatres, Northampton) and Touched (North Wall Theatre, Oxford).
Sunday, 9 November 2014 at 7.30pm
The Komagata Maru Incident by Sharon Pollock. Directed by Vik Sivalingam.
A UK premiere commemorating the 100th anniversary of a true story. May 1914. The Komagata Maru- a boatload of Indian immigrants - docks in Vancouver Harbour. Using laws designed to keep out immigrants of only Asian origin, passengers are refused permission to land despite right of entry to Canada, guaranteed by India's membership in the British Empire. For two months, it's a funfair on the docks, while those aboard suffer as supplies - including food and water - are denied. T.S. Master of Ceremonies creates a Carnival Circus to reveal and revel in the political, legal and racist skirmishes in courts, parliament and the street. His sideshow skills come into play as he manipulates and manoeuvres Immigration Officer William Hopkinson; Evy, madam of a brothel; Sophie, a lazy but ambitious prostitute; Georg, a recent immigrant, eager to get ahead; and a Sikh woman and child, the only woman among 376 men on the Komagata Maru.
Playwright Sharon Pollock is a multi-award-winning Canadian dramatist, and has also directed at theatres across Canada. She has served as Artistic Director of Theatre New Brunswick, as Associate Artistic Director of Stratford Festival Theatre, and of Manitoba Theatre Centre. Her other plays includeBlood Relations (Shaw Festival, Canada), Walsh and Fair Liberty's Call (Stratford Festival Theatre),One Tiger to a Hill (National Arts Centre, Ottawa) and Doc (Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto). Sharon has also won two Governor General's Drama Awards for Blood Relations and Doc, The Canada Australian Literary Award, a Japan Foundation Award, Canada's National Theatre School Gascon-Thomas Award and two Gwen Pharis Ringwood Awards for Constance and Kabloona Talk. Her contribution to theatre was recently recognized with investiture as an Officer of the Order of Canada. In addition to her theatre work, Sharon has served since 2007 as librettist and dramaturg with The Atlantic Ballet of Canada in the creation of four premieres.
Director Vik Sivalingam is currently Resident Director on Made in Dagenham: The Musical at the Adelphi Theatre, is a graduate of Birkbeck, University of London's MFA in Theatre Directing programme and also holds a postgraduate award in Teaching Shakespeare from Warwick University. Direction includes Rice'n'Peas'n'Caviar! (Edinburgh Festival), Pericles (Rose Theatre, Bankside),Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Aladdin - The Rock and Roll Panto (City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds), Little Shop of Horrors (Westminster Kingsway College Theatre), Age of Arousal (Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome), Radio Serenade (Medicine Show Theatre, New York City), The Glass Menagerie (Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham), Home (The Last Refuge), Bus Stop (Arts Educational Schools), writing and directing Ed Reid - Living The Dream which was awarded Best Fringe Show Radio at the Forth Awards 2012 (Edinburgh Festival and Scottish Tour), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham), How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found (Arts Educational Schools), Circles (Arcola Theatre and Tricycle Theatre), The Invisible Man (Royal Shakespeare Company and Park Avenue Armory, New York City), The Bullet (Royal Shakespeare Company at Hampstead Theatre), Once On This Island (Cockpit Theatre), The Caucasian Chalk Circle(Birmingham School of Acting), Writing On Your Feet Playlets (Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Swan Theatre, Straford-upon-Avon), Uncle Vanya (Sturdy Beggars Theatre Company), Or Nearest Offer (Almeida Theatre) and Blue/Orange (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich).
Monday, 10 November 2014 at 7.30pm
Childhood Memories - Monologues of Local Residents' Memories of Growing Up During the Second World War by the Earl's Court Local Community with Jane Wainwright, based on interviews conducted by Caroline Tod and Pavel Rjabtsenkov. Directed by Jennifer Bakst. Produced by Sean Duffy and Caroline Tod. Assistant Producer and Editor Pavel Rjabstenkov.
Commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War and the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, Childhood Memories is a performance of a series of monologues, together with drama, music and poetry, based on the memories of local residents of their childhood during the Second World War. During the course of the interviews, there were poignant, introspective flashes of recollection along with charming childlike observations of the world our local interviewees lived in. A story of love and resilience, families wanting to stay together, and despite danger, wanting to remain in their streets.
The taped interviews will be archived at Kensington Central Library as part of an oral history bank.
Supported by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's City Living Local Life (Earl's Court and Redcliffe wards) and TLC Estate Agents.
Playwright Jane Wainwright returns to the Finborough Theatre where her play Barrow Hill, also published by Oberon Books, was produced in 2012, her play Photos of You Sleeping was a Prizewinner in the 2012 PapaTango New Writing Festival, and In World was seen in Vibrant 2011 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. Trained with the Royal Court's Young Writers Programme where she was an invitation member of both their Studio Group and 'Supergroup'. Plays include Concrete Supernova (commission for Bush Theatre in association with White City Youth Theatre at Bush Theatre), Leftovers (Schoolwrights at Rich Mix and Soho Theatre), How I Skinned My Sister(Schoolwrights at Rich Mix), A Bite of the Apple (TBG Theatre, New York City), A Guide to Removing Corpse Stains (Theatre Café for Company of Angels at Theatre Royal York), Life Mould (Skylines Showcase at Theatre Centre), Pinocchio Gets Laid (Winner of the Invertigo/IdeasTap Brief at the HighTide Festival and Pleasance London), FiveFiftySeven (Roundhouse), Hands Free (Old Vic Tunnels) and Pet's Corner (Miniaturists at the Arcola Theatre). She was shortlisted for the BBC Heartlands New Writing Scheme, and was an invited member of both the BBC Writers Academy Story Workshop and BBC Playwright's Scheme. Jane is 'fostered' by OffWestEnd.com's Adopt A Playwright Award.
Director Jennifer Bakst is the Associate Director of the Finborough Theatre, supported by The Richard Carne Trust, where she has directed the world premiere of Armstrong's War, the English premiere of The Flouers O'Edinburgh, a staged reading of Little Red Hen, and Hate Radio as part ofVibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. She was formerly Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre where she assisted on I Didn't Always Live Here, ROOMS: A Rock Romance, and Nothing is the End of the World (Except for the End of the World). Jennifer also translates dramatic texts from German into English, and translated Rolf Hochhuth's Sommer 14,recently performed at the Finborough Theatre and published by Oberon Books. Jennifer is an international director working in theatre and opera across the UK, USA and Germany. Theatre and opera directing includes L'elisir d'amore (Fine Arts Theatre, USA), Bash (Etcetera Theatre), Selkieand Now We Are Three (Southwark Playhouse), Everything Happens at the Starlight Lounge (Vault Festival), The Collectors (Courtyard Theatre), Tiny Dynamite (Cockpit Theatre) and Fallen Angels(Theatro Technis). She will be directing Bong Hits 4 Jesus at Theatre503 and Acis and Galatea at the Arcola Theatre in 2014. Jennifer has also worked as an Assistant Director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Royal Academy of Music.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014 at 3.00pm
Chicken Dust by Ben Weatherill. Directed by Suba Das.
A chicken farm in rural England. New boy Tim has just arrived for his first shift. The job is pretty simple: grab chickens seven at a time by their legs and ram them into cages for shipping. All of this in the dark, stomping around in ankle deep chicken shit, muck and mud. His teammates are old-timers, with cigarettes dangling from their lips and pantyhose up their arms to protect their skin. Feathers cling to clothes. A thick film of brown dust cakes clothing and faces. This band of survivors don't want much: just to stay in the countryside, catch the chickens, and earn the best living they can.
But the chickens are dying, rotting from the inside out like hot fruit just hours after they arrive. As disease spreads and pressure mounts, enter Oscar, the meticulous poultry inspector. Suddenly, the farmers are forced to fight to hold on to the little they have left. But at what cost?
Director Suba Das is currently Curve's Associate Director and helped develop Chicken Dust. At Curve, Suba has directed Serious Money by Caryl Churchill, Mother Clap's Molly House by Mark Ravenhill and Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh. Suba also created and curates Curve's Inside Out programme. He was previously Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio. Theatre includesMedea (Theatre Royal, Stratford East), Zindabad by Avaes Mohammed (Tamasha Theatre and Gate Theatre), Hope, Light And Nowhere (Underbelly) and The Suit (The Young Vic).
Wednesday, 12 November 2014 at 3.00pm
The Sweethearts by Sarah Page. Directed by Daniel Burgess.
A girl band, in desperate need of some positive publicity, travel to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan to do a special gig for the troops. A group of battle weary soldiers, chosen to protect these three gorgeous pop stars, eagerly await their arrival. But when there's an attack on the base The Sweethearts and the soldiers are thrown together and forced to wait it out in a very small tent. As the sound of gunfire becomes louder, allegiances are tested, tactics are deployed and a war begins to break out inside their tent. A black comedy about the people we choose to make into our heroes.
Playwright Sarah Page returns to the Finborough Theatre where she was formerly a script reader.The Sweethearts was a runner up in the Curve Theatre Leicester Playwriting Competition, supported by the Finborough Theatre, IdeasTap, Writing East Midlands and BBC WritersRoom. Sarah studied at Bristol University before completing an MA in Play and Scriptwriting at City University London. She was a member of the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers' Group, before being invited to join their Studio Writers' Group in 2013. Her first full length play Pilgrims (Etcetera Theatre), débuted last year to critical acclaim, and Sarah has also had performances of her work at the Arcola Theatre, Curve Theatre Leicester, Old Vic Tunnels, Hampstead Theatre and Soho Theatre. Sarah was also a contributing writer for BBC Radio 4's new comedy series The Show What You Wrote, whilst her first television drama pilot GYPPO was shortlisted for the BBC's Scriptroom 4 prize. Sarah is currently Literary Associate of Raise Dark Theatre Company.
Director Daniel Burgess was a Resident Assistant Director (assisting on Beating Heart Cadaver, Sign of the Times, A Day at the Racists, Moliere or the League of Hypocrites and Too True to be Good) and directed In the Blood. He is Artistic Director of All-In Productions. After completing a BA in Theatre Arts (Theatre Direction) at Middlesex University, Daniel has directed To Defend Freedom(Theatre503), The Grace of God (Southwark Playhouse), Starting Tomorrow, Guardian Angels (Park Theatre), The Dispossessed (Etcetera Theatre), Days of Significance, The Caucasian Chalk Circleand The Nativity (Theatre Royal Norwich Youth Company), The Pillowman (Norwich Playhouse),Waterton's Wild Menagerie (Theatre503), Coming and Going (Lighthouse Theatre, Poole) andChristie in Love (Edinburgh Festival). Associate Direction includes As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe), Orpheus and Eurydice (National Youth Theatre at the Old Vic Tunnels) and Dorothy and the Lost Princess of Oz (Theatre Royal Norwich). Assistant Direction includes Anne Boleyn (English Touring Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe), As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe), Skylight and The Ugly One (Norwich Playhouse).
Thursday, 13 November 2014 at 3.00pm
Gunplay by Kevin Kautzman. Directed by Max Pappenheim.
Bang. Bang bang bang!!! Guns. What are they good for? Not much. Or maybe everything? Here's a new play straight from the hip that asks the question, complete with True Stories from 'Merica, a talking Human Moocow and (not least) a vicious raccoon that haunts the trail recent divorcee Evelyn jogs at dawn each morning because she can't stand the goddamned gym. Fear! Security! Freedom! College! Fear?! College? Freedom? Security...
Playwright Kevin Kautzman returns to the Finborough Theatre after the OffWest Award nominated world premiere of his play Dream of Perfect Sleep this summer. Originally from North Dakota, Kevin is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota and also holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. His full-length plays include Coyote (Nouveau 47, Dallas), If You Start A Fire [Be Prepared To Burn] (45th Street Theatre, New York), Iris (Red Eye, Minneapolis), Wolf Cry Wolf (The New Theatre Project, Ypsilanti), Life Electric, Then Waves and Vasilisa Most Lovely. His short plays include Clifton Mill (Nouveau 47), The Play is Memory, Rosemary (History Theatre), Strike, Solomon the King, and most recently $<0RP!0. His honours include the Jerome and Michener fellowships, the Tennessee Williams and Kenyon Institute scholarships, the Kernodle New Play, International Student Playscript Competition, Repertory Theatre Iowa's Alpha Project and Southwest Playwriting awards. He is represented by Max Grossman at Abrams and lives in New York, where he is a partner at web development agency e9digital and a member of Page 73′s playwriting group. Kevin is currently under commission from History Theatre, working on a play about Hemingway's last days.kevinkautzman.com.
Director Max Pappenheim returns to the Finborough Theatre where he directed Dream of Perfect Sleep this summer, as well as directing Nothing is the End of the World (Except for the End of the World), Perchance to Dream and - as part of Vibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights - Bill C. Davis' Avow. He was formerly a Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes San Giuda (Southwark Cathedral), The Charmed Life (King's Head Theatre),Finchley Road (LOST Theatre), Siegfried (Fulham Opera) and Quid Pro Quo (Riverside Studios). Max was nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for Best Director in 2013.
Sunday, 16 November 2014 at 7.30pm
Fifty Pairs of Unworn Shoes by Louise Monaghan. Directed by Alex Marker.
Lifelong friends Eva and Angharad meet at a condemned primary school where fifty children died. Heavily pregnant, Eva is staging a sit-in to prevent the bulldozers moving in, but Angharad, who lives opposite the school, agrees with the authorities that the building must come down. With the river threatening to flood the building and the arrival of Eva's baby imminent, emotions run high, forcing the women to confront the past and think about the future. Yet, in the wake of such tragedy, can they ever move on? An intense two-hander exploring the part memorials play within our lives.
Playwright Louise Monaghan is currently Playwright-on-Attachment at the Finborough Theatre where her play Pack won the 2012 Papatango New Writing Award and Life After Life received a staged reading as part of Vibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. Plays include My Space (24:7 Festival, Manchester), Shadow Play for which Louise won a Bruntwood Judges' Award and Aurora for which Louise was a finalist for both the London Fringe Festival's Theatre Writing Award and Little Brother's Big Opportunity. Radio includes Alone in the Garden With You and The Man Inside the Radio is My Dad, both for BBC Radio 4.
Director Alex Marker has directed sell-out revivals of William Douglas Home's Portraits and J. B. Priestley's Summer Day's Dream at the Finborough Theatre, as well as Atman by Iain Finlay Macleod in Vibrant 2010 - An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights and Pig Girl by Colleen Murphy in Vibrant 2012 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. He has also been Resident Designer of the Finborough Theatre since 2012.
Monday, 17 November 2014 at 7.30pm
Come Home Badger Gash by Paul Roberts. Directed by David Mercatali.
When Charles 'Badger' Gash returns to his childhood home in the North East, all he wants to do is restart his life, pick up those pieces and put things back together. However, his over bearing mother, a reckless pastor, and his violent, vengeance obsessed brother Billy have other plans. And towering above it all - the shadow of Jackie Prentice. Come Home, Badger Gash is a black comedy about small town grudges, personal imprisonment and family.
Playwright Paul Roberts trained as a screenwriter. Come Home, Badger Gash was runner up in the 2014 PapaTango Award. This is the first part of a trilogy of tales, being continued by A Bairn Born Wrong. Theatre includes Pink Confetti, which was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize, and shortlisted for Hightide and the RedPlanet Prize in 2013, and A Black Heart of Petty Malice which won Soho Theatre's Westminster Prize.
Director David Mercatali returns to the Finborough Theatre where he directed the world premiere of Anders Lustgarten's Black Jesus and Papatango prize-winner Coolatully. He won a Fringe First for his production of Philip Ridley's Dark Vanilla Jungle (which transferred to the Soho Theatre) and was nominated for the Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award for his production of Tender Napalm. Other theatre includes the world premiere of Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Ajax, Johnny Got His Gun and Feathers in the Snow (Southwark Playhouse), Sochi 2014 (Hope Theatre),Someone to Blame (King's Head Theatre), Moonfleece (Riverside Studios and Tour), People's Day(Pleasance London), Runners the Return (Underbelly at the Edinburgh Festival), Weights and Paint Over (Blue Elephant Theatre). He is the Associate Director at Southwark Playhouse.
Tuesday, 18 November 2014 at 3.00pm
Picture Ourselves in Latvia by Ross Howard. Directed by Alex Thorpe.
A contemporary comedy on contemporary England. Desires are suppressed and aspirations thwarted for both the staff and patients of a psychiatric ward. Orderly Oliver pines for Margaret Thatcher. Dr Rupert wants Nurse Whitehall who wants Dr Rupert. But Dr Rupert and his wife are trying for a baby and Nurse Whitehall who is also married has just returned from maternity leave. As for the patients, Duncan secretly loves Anna who secretly loves Martin who openly loves no one. Both a love story and a modern allegory of the state, Picture Ourselves in Latvia confronts the impossibility of categorising people as either sane or insane.
Playwright Ross Howard's work has been seen in Las Vegas (Onyx Theatre), Minneapolis (Pillsbury House Theatre), San Francisco (Phoenix Theatre), London (Theatre503, Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Riverside Studios, Old Red Lion Theatre, Park Theatre) and New York City (Cherry Lane Theatre, Clurman Theatre, Access Theater). Hailing from Lancashire, he was awarded a Playwright Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation. His plays include Arthur and Esther, awarded Best of Fringe at Las Vegas Fringe Festival, No One Loves Us Here which was a finalist for the New York Stage and Film Founders Award and Frisky and the Panda Man, a winning finalist in the 38th Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. He is the Resident Playwright of New Light Theater Project. Arthur and Esther, No One Loves Us Here and his collection of six short plays, Our Walk Through the World, are published by Samuel French.
Director Alex Thorpe returns to the Finborough Theatre following the 50th anniversary production of Michael Hastings' Lee Harvey Oswald: A Far Mean Streak of Independence Brought on by Negleck.He is currently one of the Assistant Directors on Shakespeare's Globe's World Tour of Hamlet.Direction includes Metamorphosis (Little Angel Theatre), Newlands by Janice Okoh (Islington Community Theatre and National Theatre Pop-Up Workshop), Relief (Theatre503), Rubbish, Inherited Risk Factors (Eyebrow Productions), Storm on the Ward, One Act Play Festival (Almeida Projects). Assistant Direction includes assisting Dominic Dromgoole on Hamlet (Shakespeare's Globe), Dawn Walton on One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Tricycle Theatre and Sheffield Theatres), Paul Miller on Democracy (The Old Vic and Sheffield Theatres), Nick Bagnall on Henry VI(Shakespeare's Globe) and Betrayal (Sheffield Theatres) and Jonathan Munby on Company(Sheffield Theatres). Alex was longlisted for the 2014 JMK and Genesis Future Directors Awards. He delivers theatre workshops for organisations including The Old Vic, Almeida Theatre and Little Angel Theatre and is a visiting director at the Arts Educational Schools.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014 at 3.00pm
This Heaven by Nakkiah Lui. Directed by Laura McCluskey.
An Australian Aboriginal family at the breaking point of oppression, loss, love and anger. Sometimes you need to push. Sissy Gordon's father died in custody at Mount Druitt Police Station. The cops got a fine, Sissy's family got $9,000 and no-one is allowed to speak about it. Sissy is about to become a lawyer, but tonight, lawyers and the law are beside the point. Tonight the night is dirty and heavy, and the moon is swollen and bright. Everyone knows that on nights like this things happen. Here, the streets and parks of Mount Druitt are turned into a fierce public forum, where the essential matters of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad are up for grabs. This Heaven poses the question: does doing nothing make you as complicit as the perpetrators?
Playwright Nakkiah Lui is a Gamillario and Torres Strait Islander woman. She is currently Playwright-in-Residence at Belvoir Theatre, Sydney, where her debut play This Heaven opened the 2013 downstairs season and was an instant hit, with a sell-out production that was extended twice. Nakkiah was previously Artist-in-Residence at Griffin Theatre Company. Her other writing work includes My Dreaming, Our Awakening (the first radio play on ABC Radio National programme Awaye), I Should Have Told You Before We Made Love (That I'm Black) (You Are Here Festival), Stho Sthexy (MKA Melbourne) and The Traditional Owners of Death (Bondi Feast for Rock Surfers Theatre Company). Nakkiah also wrote and directed From Drag King to Law Queen and BabyGirl (Chauvel Cinema, ABC and Colourise Festival). In 2012, Nakkiah was the first recipient of The Dreaming Award from The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board of the Australia Council and the inaugural recipient of the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright award. Nakkiah was also the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize and recently received a Green Room Award for the Sisters Grimm productionSovereign Wife (Melbourne Theatre Company). This year, Nakkiah will make her television debut inBlack Comedy (ABC and Scarlett Pictures), a new comedy series she has co-written and stars in. Nakkiah is also a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community and has contributed to The Guardian, been a featured panellist during Sydney Writers Festival and has appeared on The Drum(ABC).
Director Laura McCluskey is also a playwright and directed her own work Cake and Congo(Theatre503) and Nina and Shaz (Brockley Jack Theatre and a London tour for Black History Month to Rich Mix, Drill Hall and Tara Arts). Direction includes The Wing by Clara Brennan as part of Theatre Uncut. Assistant Direction includes Been So Long by Che Walker (The Young Vic) and Gone Too Far by Bola Agbaje (Royal Court Theatre), where she was also education manager. Laura is also education manager at Clean Break, a theatre company that works with women affected by the criminal justice system, where she recently worked with playwright Stacey Gregg on an ensemble piece.
Thursday, 20 November 2014 at 3pm
1984 by Satinder Chohan. Directed by Chris White.
1984. England. Seventeen-year-old Liverpool fan Tarno is coming of age to the beats of bhangra and Madonna, the miners' strike and the Sikh independence struggle in India. Dad supports the pro-Khalistanis, one brother fights the National Front after school, the other wants a flash Ford Cortina, while Mum arranges his marriage to a Punjabi village girl, nagging Tarno to make chapattis. Seeking her own truth and freedom in worlds under siege, Tarno has to kick against the men at home - and Maggie Thatcher and Indira Gandhi outside. In a play about youthful idealism, faith and belief, if you can't trust those in power, who can you trust?
Playwright Satinder Chohan's plays Zameen and KabaddiKabaddiKabaddi both embarked on national tours. She previously received a Kali Futures Writer Award, and was selected as an Emerging Writer for a residency at both Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre and for Tamasha Theatre's New Writing Workshop. After a Writer's Attachment at Hampstead Theatre, Satinder wrote Crossing the Line for Heat & Light - Hampstead's Youth Theatre. In 2013, Satinder received the OffWestEnd Adopt A Playwright Award for her play Mother India about East-West surrogacy. Other projects include Lotus Beauty, set in a suburban British-Asian beauty salon (Tamasha Theatre), and Lost Bright Heads, a feature film about teenagers in her hometown of Southall. Her monologue Red, White and Blue featured in Twelve (Tristan Bates Theatre), a continuing collaborative piece about honour killings. Satinder has also worked in journalism including editing arts and culture magazine 2nd Generation and occasionally still works as a researcher and assistant producer for television and film.1984 is supported by a Grant for the Arts Award.
Director Chris White's directing includes Trouble and Wonder (Royal Shakespeare Company),Dreamworlds (Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Newcastle), Cocoa (Theatre503),The Ravenglass (National Theatre Studio), The Sale (Tinderbox Theatre at the Chapter Theatre, Cardiff), Pillars of Salt (Everyword Festival at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, and Hampstead Theatre), The Water When it Burns (Hampstead Theatre), Plan D (Tristan Bates Theatre), The Truth(La Virgule, Lille), Soho Young Playwrights (Soho Theatre), 40 Years Young (The Young Vic), Ice Cream and Way to Heaven (Arts Educational Schools, London). He was Assistant Director at Shakespeare's Globe, The Young Vic and then the Royal Shakespeare Company on the Spanish Golden Age Season. Chris also directed Hard Places at Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and Pritvi, Mumbai, before an Indian tour for Tinderbox Alley and RAGE Productions. Having studied at Manchester University, Chris worked in Italy at Teatro Della Contradizzione, Milan, for whom he directed The Visit, The Suicide and The Fire Raisers, before co-directing Le Foreste di Arden with the company. Earlier this year, he co-directed a new piece adapted from Whole Blue Sky by Martin Crimp (IT Festival, Milan), which will be further developed and produced by Teatro Litta in November 2014. Chris is an Associate Practitioner for Royal Shakespeare Company Education for whom he has recently worked in India, as well as directing a version of Henry IV at the Houses of Parliament. Chris is also working with Satinder on Mother India, directing a reading of at Theatre Royal Haymarket.
DETAILS:
Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights
Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Sunday, 2 November - Thursday, 20 November 2014
Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday matinees at 3.00pm.
Tickets £4 all seats.
Subscribe for ten or more readings and save 10% on the total price
Week One - 2-8 November 2014
Sunday, 2 November 2014 at 7.30pm - The House of My Father by Carmen Nasr. Directed by Zoe Lafferty.
Monday, 3 November 2014 at 7.30pm - A Film About Someone You Love by Chris Thompson. Directed by Robert Hastie.
Tuesday, 4 November 2014 at 3.00pm - One For All by Henry Darke. Directed by Anna Marsland.
Wednesday, 5 November 2014 at 3.00pm - Shangri-La by Amy Ng. Directed by Simon Dormandy.
Thursday, 6 November 2014 at 3.00pm - Apophis by Steven Hevey. Directed by Caitlin McLeod.
Week Two - 9-15 November 2014
Sunday, 9 November 2014 at 7.30pm - The Komagata Maru Incident by Sharon Pollock. Directed by Vik Sivalingam.
Monday, 10 November 2014 at 7.30pm - Childhood Memories - Monologues of Local Residents' Memories of Growing Up During the Second World War by the Earl's Court Local Community with Jane Wainwright. Directed by Jennifer Bakst.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014 at 3.00pm - Chicken Dust by Ben Weatherill. Directed by Suba Das.
Wednesday, 12 November 2014 at 3.00pm - The Sweethearts by Sarah Page. Directed by Daniel Burgess.
Thursday, 13 November 2014 at 3.00pm - Gunplay by Kevin Kautzman. Directed by Max Pappenheim.
Week Three - 16-21 November 2014
Sunday, 16 November 2014 at 7.30pm - Fifty Pairs of Unworn Shoes by Louise Monaghan. Directed by Alex Marker.
Monday, 17 November 2014 at 7.30pm - Come Home Badger Gash by Paul Roberts. Directed by David Mercatali.
Tuesday, 18 November 2014 at 3.00pm - Picture Ourselves in Latvia by Ross Howard. Directed by Alex Thorpe.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014 at 3.00pm - This Heaven by Nakkiah Lui. Directed by Laura McCluskey.
Thursday, 20 November 2014 at 3.00pm - 1984 by Satinder Chohan. Directed by Chris White.
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