| Finborough Theatre | |
|---|---|
Exterior of the Finborough Theatre |
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| Address | Finborough Road |
| City | Kensington and Chelsea, London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Architect | George Godwin |
| Capacity | 50 seats |
| Type | Off West End theatre |
| Opened | June 1980 |
| Years active | 1980-to date |
| Rebuilt | Internal refurbishments 1983 |
| Production | Short seasons |
| Current use | Theatre |
| www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk | |
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea), which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays.
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The Finborough Arms was built in 1868 to a design by George Godwin. It was one of five public houses built by Corbett and McClymont in the Earls Court area during the West London development boom of the 1860s.
June Abbott opened the theatre above the Finborough Arms Public House in June 1980. In its first decade, artists working at the new theatre included Clive Barker, Kathy Burke, Ken Campbell, Mark Rylance, and Clare Dowie who appeared in the world première of her own play Adult Child/Dead Child.[1]
From 1991-1994, the theatre was best known for new writing with Naomi Wallace’s first play The War Boys ; Rachel Weisz in David Farr’s Neville Southall’s Washbag,[2] Elton John’s Glasses;[3] Holding Back the Ocean by Godfrey Hamilton; and three plays by Anthony Neilson: The Year of the Family; Normal: The Düsseldorf Ripper; and Penetrator, which transferred from the Traverse and went on to play at the Royal Court Upstairs. From 1994, the theatre was run by The Steam Industry under Artistic Director Phil Willmott. Productions included new plays by Tony Marchant, David Eldridge, Mark Ravenhill, and Phil Willmott. New writing development includied Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking [4] (Royal Court, West End and Broadway) and Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), the UK première of David Mamet’s The Woods,[5] and Anthony Neilson’s The Censor, which transferred to the Royal Court.
Productions since 2000 have included the UK premières of Brad Fraser’s Wolfboy; Lanford Wilson’s Sympathetic Magic; Tennessee Williams’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear; and Frank McGuinness’ Gates of Gold [6] with William Gaunt and the late John Bennett in his last stage role which transferred to the West End; the London première of Sonja Linden’s I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda;[7] the specially commissioned adaptation of W.H. Davies’ Young Emma by Laura Wade and directed by Tamara Harvey; the first London revival for more than 40 years of Rolf Hochhuth’s Soldiers;[8] Keith Dewhurst's Lark Rise to Candleford, performed in promenade and in repertoire; the Great War drama Red Night,[9] and five first plays by new writers: Jason Hall’s Eyes Catch Fire; Chris Dunkley’s Mirita; Dameon Garnett’s Break Away ,[10] Simon Vinnicombe’s Year 10, Joy Wilkinson's Fair which transferred to the West End; Waterloo Day with Robert Lang; Sarah Phelps’ Modern Dance for Beginners, subsequently produced at the Soho Theatre; Carolyn Scott-Jeffs’ comedy Out in the Garden, which transferred to the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh; the London premiere of Larry Kramer’s The Destiny of Me ; The Women’s War – an evening of original suffragette plays; Steve Hennessy’s Lullabies of Broadmoor[11] (about the Finborough Road murder of 1922); the Victorian era comedy Masks and Faces
The Finborough Theatre has also presenteds musical theatre, including Schwartz It All About which transferred to Edinburgh and the King's Head Theatre, the world premiere of Charles Miller and Kevin Hammonds' When Midnight Strikes,[24] the UK premieres of Lucky Nurse and Other Short Musical Plays by Michael John LaChuisa, Darius Milhaud’s opera Médée, Myths and Hymns[25] by Adam Guettel, John and Jen by Andrew Lippa and Three Sides by Grant Olding, and an acclaimed series 'Celebrating British Musical Theatre' from the Victorian and Edwardian era with Florodora,[26] Our Miss Gibbs,[27] The Maid of the Mountains and A Gilbert and Sullivan Doublebill featuring Sweethearts, a play by W.S. Gilbert, The Zoo, an operetta by Arthur Sullivan and Bolton Rowe, the opera The Boatswain's Mate by Ethel Smyth and two rare musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein - the UK premiere of State Fair[28] which transferred to the West End, and the European premiere of Me and Juliet.[29]
The Finborough Theatre has won the Pearson Award bursary for playwrights seven times for Chris Lee in 2000, Laura Wade in 2005, James Graham in 2006, Al Smith in 2007, Anders Lustgarten in 2009, Simon Vinnicombe in 2010 and Dawn King in 2011[30] – as well as the Pearson Award for Best Play for Laura Wade in 2005 and - under its new name - the Catherine Johnson Best Play Award in 2007 for James Graham[31] and for Anders Lustgarten in 2010.[32] Anders Lustgarten also won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwrights Award for the same play, A Day at the Racists, in 2011.[33]
The Finborough Theatre won the Empty Space Peter Brook Award in 2010.[34] It was also the inaugural winner of the Empty Space Peter Brook Award’s Dan Crawford Pub Theatre Award in 2005 which it also won again in 2008.[35] It has also won the Empty Space Peter Brook Mark Marvin Award in 2004 . The Finborough Theatre also won four awards in total at the 2011 Off West End Awards including Best Artistic Director, Best Director, Best Lighting Bar and Best Theatre Bar in South West London.[36]
The Finborough Theatre was awarded The Stage 100's inaugural Fringe Theatre of the Year award in 2011.[37]
Neil McPherson was named as Best Artistic Director in the 2009 Fringe Report Awards [38] and 2011 Off West End Awards,[39] and won an award for the Encouragement of New Writing from the Writers Guild of Great Britain in 2010.[40]
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