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[ NEW YEAR | NEW PLAYS SEASON ]
January to March 2010 at the Finborough Theatre
Snapdragon and Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre presents
The European Premiere of
Generous
by Michael Healey
Directed by Eleanor Rhode. Designed by Kim Alwyn-Botting and Aimee Sajjan-Servaes.
Cast: Karen Archer. Richard Beanland. Rick Bland. Scott Christie. Jane Perry. Meghan Popiel. John Sheerman. Corey Turner.
The London debut of multi-award-winning playwright Michael Healey, one of Canada’s leading dramatists.
Following six sell-out performances at the Finborough Theatre in August 2009, the European premiere of Generous – winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada’s leading theatre awards) for Best New Play 2007 – opens at the Finborough Theatre on Tuesday, 5 January 2010 (Press Night: Thursday, 7 January 2010), part of the[ NEW YEAR | NEW PLAYS SEASON ], celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Finborough Theatre.
What happens when someone is overwhelmed with the desire to help?
A minority government is on the verge of collapse; a ruthless oil executive tells the truth to a reporter; an effusive young law clerk engages in an excruciating post-coital chat with an aging judge; and a spectacular battle wages over a bucket of fried chicken. Through four interconnected stories, Michael Healey questions the idea of the selfless act. Politically-charged, sharply-written and hilarious, Generous is a tour-de-force from one of Canada’s most successful playwrights.
“Generous lives up to its title. It’s generous in the social and emotional groundit covers, in the quality and quantity of barbed laughter it provokes, in both the sharpness and compassion of its insights into relationships, and in the spirit that animates all these.’’ National Post
Playwright Michael Healey trained as an actor at Toronto’s Ryerson Theatre School. He began writing for the stage in the early nineties and his first play, Kicked, was produced at the Fringe of Toronto Festival in 1996. He subsequently toured the play across Canada and internationally, and in 1998 it won Canada’s leading theatre award – the Dora Mavor Moore Award –for Best New Play. The Drawer Boy, his first full-length play, premiered in Toronto in 1999 and also won the Dora Award for Best New Play, as well as the Chalmers Canadian Playwriting Award, and the Governor General’s Literary Award. It has been produced across North America and internationally, and has been translated into German, French and Japanese. It has also been produced in various theatres around the UK, most recently at the Tron in Glasgow. His other plays include The Road To Hell (co-authored with Kate Lynch), Plan B (which again won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play in 2002), Rune Alridge (nominated for the Governor General’s Award in 2004), and The Innocent Eye Test (Manitoba Theatre Centre and Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre 2006).
Director Eleanor Rhode is a former Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre and is now Senior Reader. She trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the National Theatre Studio. At the Finborough Theatre, she directed the first sell-out run of Generous by Michael Healey, and the staged reading of The December Man forVibrant! – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. Other directing credits include The Error of Their Ways (Cockpit Theatre), A Number (Camden People’s Theatre), This Lime Tree Bower (Edinburgh Festival) and Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre). As Associate Director, she has worked on Lie of The Land (Arcola Theatre). As Assistant Director, she has worked on Trying, S-27 (Finborough Theatre), Lie of the Land (Pleasance Edinburgh), African Gothic (White Bear Theatre) and Terrorism (Oval House Theatre).
Karen Archer’s many credits include Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), The Memory of Water (English Theatre Vienna), Ghosts (Library Theatre, Manchester) and Nicholas Nickleby (Royal Shakespeare Company National Tour and US Tour). Richard Beanland’s credits include Eyes (New End Theatre) and Sold (Octagon Theatre, Bolton).RickBland’s credits include Strike (Finborough Theatre and BAC), Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Reduced Shakespeare Company), Jerry Springer the Opera (BAC), Press Conference (Theatre 503), Thick (National Tour and New York Fringe,winner of the Best Actor Award NYC Fringe 2005). Scott Christie’s credits include Romeo and Juliet, Richard III (Antic Disposition), George Orwell’s 1984 School Disco and Other Stories, A Bit of How’s Your Father, The Devil’s Own Goldfish Scam, Lock Out (Soho Theatre), The Hollow, Someone Waiting, House Guest, Murder on the Nile, And Then There
Were None, Alibi, Habeus Corpus (Newpalm Productions).Jane Perry’s many credits includeThick (National Tour and Croydon Warehouse), Misalliance, Blood Relations, Laura, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Time and The Conways (Shaw
Festival, Ontario). Film includes How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and The Score. Television includes Spooks, The X-Files, Provinceworld, Dead Man’s Gun, Millenium, The Addams Family, Night Visions. Meghan Popiel’s credits include Trying (Finborough Theatre), and the film 28 Weeks Later. John Sheerman’s credits include For King and Country (National Tour), Indian Ink (Salisbury Playhouse), King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Amy Evans’ Strike (Courtyard Theatre, Covent Garden), Lifelines (Pleasance Theatre, London), The Problem (Alma Tavern, Bristol), The Principle of Motion (Underbelly, Edinburgh). Television includes Hollyoaks, Megaflood and The Proposal.Corey Turner’smany Canadian credits include Leading Ladies, Powers and Gloria (Theatre Northwest), The Drawer Boy (Theatreone), Death of a Salesmen, Discovering Elvis (Neptune Theatre), Caesar and Cleopatra, Detective Story, In The Zone (Shaw Festival, Ontario). Television includes Snakes and Ladders, Going Home, andThe Dive from Clausen’s Pier.
The Press on Michael Healey
“Far and away the finest new Canadian drama to grace a Toronto stage this season. Richly textured, The Drawer Boy touches the heart and mind in equal measure.” The Toronto Star on The Drawer Boy
“A stunning and brave new play” The Globe and Mail on Rune Arlidge
“An ambitious work about humanity and fate that slyly has you laughing till the end when you suddenly realize it has not been a comedy at all, but a tragedy.” Eye Weekly on Rune Arlidge
“Our most humanely intelligent playwright.” The National Post on Rune Arlidge
“Absolutely outstanding, sizzling comedy.” CBC Radio on The Innocent Eye Test
“Hilarious! … Fizzes over with laughs.” Winnipeg Free Press on The Innocent Eye Test
“Tear inducingly funny.” The Globe and Mail on Plan B
“Plan B is, among other things, the best political play Toronto, or maybe Canada, has seen in years … shimmeringly accomplished but tantalizingly cool.” The National Post on Plan B
“The Toronto playwright has created a hard-edged but hilarious political satire…essential theatre.” Maclean’s on Plan B
The Press on this production of Generous
**** FOUR STARS WhatsOnStage
“This is the play’s European premiere and it fits the venue’s intimate stage nicely, adding a certain intensity that makes for compelling drama – a welcome London debut for Healey…Energetically staged” Elizabeth Fitzherbert, WhatsOnStage
““Michael Healey’s clever and witty play provides a thought-provoking look at the moral complexities of trying to “do good…Healey’s dialogue crackles with both humour and tension” Elizabeth Fitzherbert, WhatsOnStage
“His lithe and lively script” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“The entire company is packed with the most accomplished actors.” Blanche Marvin, Theatreviews
“Richard Beanland brings precision and spirit to his relationship with the older Maria” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“Scott Christie finds comic and moral dignity in his small-time journalist interviewing a powerful businesswoman.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“The performances are excellent, with Jane Perry a caustic delight, and Archer a formidable joy” Elizabeth Fitzherbert, WhatsOnStage
“Unforced and confidently relaxed, Jane Perry is exceptional in a high-quality production that zings along from first to last.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“Director Eleanor Rhode grasps these high-octane minds in a fast, explosive production where the Canadian accents seem fine to my ears and where the acting’s undoubtedly fine throughout” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“Why is Michael Healey’s play receiving a mere handful of performances at the Finborough? Can’t we be bothered because it’s about Canada? A severe mistake, for it has a lot to say indirectly about British society, from its startling opening backstage in parliament during a knife-edge Vote of Confidence...Surely this fine play and production will be seen again?”Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY, 7 JANUARY 2010 AT 7.30pm
PHOTOCALL: TUESDAY, 5 JANUARY 2010 AT 1.00PM-1.30PM
Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652.
Tuesday, 5 January – Saturday, 30 January 2010
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Saturday Matinees at 3.00pm (from 16 January 2010). Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm.
Prices for Weeks 1 and 2 (7-17 January) – Tickets £13, £9 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £9 all seats, and Saturday evenings £13 all seats. Previews (5 and 6 January) £9 all seats.
£5 tickets for Under 30’s for performances from Tuesday to Sunday of the first week when booked online only.
£10 tickets for residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on Saturday, 9 January 2010 when booked online only.
Prices for Weeks 3 and 4 (19-30 January) – Tickets £15, £11 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £11 all seats, and Saturday evenings £15 all seats.
Performance Length: 2 hours with one interval.
For more information, interviews and images, please contact
Neil McPherson on e-mail or 07977 173135
Press releases and images to download are available at
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone +44 (0)20 7244 7439 Fax +44 (0)20 7835 1853
e-mail Artistic Director Neil McPherson
The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.
Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.