Emily Mann's Execution of Justice Comes to Southwark Playhouse in 2012

Lindsay Fraser presents Execution of Justice by Emily Mann. The show is directed by Joss Bennathan, and designed by James Turner. 

Lighting design is by Richard Williamson, and sound design is by George Dennis.

The show will run from 11th January to 4th February 2012

The professional British premiere of Emily Mann's docudrama opens at Southwark Playhouse's Main House for a four week run on
13 January 2012 with previews from 11 January 2012
You gotta give ‘em hope!
Harvey Milk

27th November, 1978 - Dan White is shot and killed Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American to hold elected office and George Moscone, Mayor of San Francisco.

21st May, 1979 - Dan White is found not guilty of murder.

Execution of Justice is the story of how and why it happened.

A cast of 20 perform Emily Mann's award-winning 1982 verbatim play - a panoramic view of a time of upheaval and change, told in words taken from trial transcripts, interviews, reportage and the street.

Moving in and out of the courtroom and backwards and forwards in time, Execution of Justice captures a divided city in crisis and the impact of loss.

The play was commissioned by San Francisco's Eureka Theatre in 1982, premiered at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville in 1984 and presented on Broadway in 1986. Emily Mann's adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba opens at The Almeida Theatre in January 2012.

The Press on Writer Emily Mann

"More than any other American writer of our time, the body of her work has demonstrated the importance of theatre to the psychic well-being and sanity of a society"

Athol Fugard

"One of our most urgently engaging, provocative and significant American Playwrights whose work bears witness to some of the most pressing moral issues of our time."

Joyce Carol Oates

Writer Emily Mann is Artistic Director of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, United States. In 1994 under Emily's lead the McCarter Theatre was awarded the Tony for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Most recently, she directed the world premieres of Phaedra Backwards, The How And The Why, and Me, Myself & I. Emily has written a number of successful plays, including Execution of Justice (supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, winner of Helen Hayes and Joseph Jefferson awards, nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Circle awards), Still Life (recipient of 6 Obie Awards), Having Our Say (Peabody, NAACP and Joseph Jefferson awards, Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominations) and her latest play Mrs Packard, which was the recipient of the 2007 Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award. Emily's translations include versions of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull which she also directed. This season Emily is scheduled to direct the world premiere of The Convert by Danai Gurira (McCarter Theatre) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Broadway). Her adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba opens at The Almeida Theatre in January 2012. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Princeton University.

Director Joss Bennathan's credits include Landscape of the Body (Southwark Playhouse), Christmas on Mars (Finborough Theatre), The Alchemist (Riverside Studios), Volpone (Wilton's Music Hall), Doctor Faustus (Stratford Circus), The Country Wife, The Revenger's Tragedy (Bridewell Theatre). Assistant Director credits include Pericles (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), Johnson Over Jordan (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Joss is currently Artistic Director of Present Moment and Associate Director at Arc Theatre.

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