I DIDN'T ALWAYS LIVE HERE Begins March 26 at the Finborough Theatre
Commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, and another in its series of acclaimed rediscoveries of Scottish writers, the English premiere of Stewart Conn's I Didn't Always Live Here opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 26 March 2013 (Press Night: Thursday, 28 March at 7.30pm).
Glasgow, the 1970s. Martha and Amie are old neighbours, trapped in their decaying tenement and cut off from family and friends. With the present closing in and the future uncertain, Martha and Amie's real companions are the past and their memories of ordinary lives peopled by extraordinary characters and their struggles and triumphs.
I Didn't Always Live Here is a compassionate and heart rending journey into the forgotten lives of the dispossessed and elderly, as well as an uplifting journey into the human spirit's capacity to cope with social exclusion and financial hardship.
One of multi-award-winning playwright and poet Stewart Conn's earliest works, I Didn't Always Live Here received its world premiere at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre in 1967. It now receives its English premiere and its first ever production since it was last seen at Dundee Rep in June 1973. It also marks Lisa Blair's debut as a freelance director following her work with both the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Playwright Stewart Conn was born in Hillhead, Glasgow, in 1936, and brought up in Ayrshire. His plays include The King (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh), Hugh Miller (Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh),The Aquarium, The Burning, Play Donkey, Herman and Clay Bull (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh). Television includes Wally Dugs Go in Pairs, The Kite and Bloodhunt. He was Head of Radio Drama for BBC Scotland from 1977 until 1992. Stewart Conn is also an acclaimed poet, and was Edinburgh's inaugural Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2002-2005. His poetry collections include Estuary, The Loving Cup, The Breakfast Room, Ghosts at Cockrow, In the Kibble Palace, Under the Ice and The Luncheon of the Boating Party. He received the 2011 SMIT Poetry Book of the Year Award, and won the inaugural Institute of Contemporary Scotland's Iain Crichton Smith Award for services to literature.
Director Lisa Blair is currently Associate Director of The National Theatre's One Man Two Guvnors at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Theatre as director includes Country Music (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Fine Lines (Hampstead Theatre), Agamemnon and 4.48 Psychosis (Theatre Royal York), Ariadne and the Minotaur (National Theatre Studio), Meteorite (Royal
Shakespeare Company), Stumpergrasse 31 (Arcola Theatre) and Dim and Popbitch (Theatre 503). Assistant Direction includes assisting Lindsay Posner on Noises Off (Old Vic Theatre and Novello Theatre), David Farr on The Homecoming, and Rupert Goold on The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Company), Christopher Luscombe on When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre) and The History Boys (National Tour), Alan Lane on The Count of Monte Cristo and Ian Brown on The Secret Garden (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Birmingham Rep). She co-founded Inside Stories, a theatre company that works in prisons.
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
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