Finborough Theatre Announces August Productions

The Finborough Theatre Announces two upcoming productions for August, 2011, Blue Surge and Portraits.

BLUE SURGE Tuesday, 2 August - Saturday, 27 August 2011

Mark Cartwright in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre presents The UK Premiere Blue Surge by Rebecca Gilman Directed by Ché Walker. Cast includes: Cast: Kelly Burke. Samantha Coughlan. Alex Guiney. James Hillier. Clare Latham.

The UK premiere of Rebecca Gilman's acclaimed play Blue Surge opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre on Tuesday, 2 August 2011 (Press Night: Thursday, 4 August 2011 at 7.30pm) for a limited four-week season.

He's a 38 year old cop. She's an 18 year old prostitute. They're in love. What could possibly go wrong?

Curt is a small-town cop in Midwest America under pressure to close down the local massage parlor. But after an encounter with one of its occupants, Sandy, his job suddenly becomes anything but clear-cut. As Curt and Sandy embark upon an unlikely relationship, they realize they might just achieve the American Dream. Yet when events begin to get out of control, they find escaping the past is much more difficult than it seems...

Set against challenging questions about the class struggle in America today, this moving love story between cops and hookers is a tale of expectations missed and overcome, a play about the narratives we all write for ourselves and how fortune and single moments can change our lives.

Playwright Rebecca Gilman plays include The Glory of Living, Spinning into Butter, Boy Gets Girl and The Sweetest Swing in Baseball. She was the first American playwright to win an Evening Standard Award for The Glory of Living (seen in the UK at The Royal Court Theatre), which also won the George Devine Award, was named one of Time magazine's Best Plays of the Decade, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Spinning into Butter (also seen at the Royal Court) received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play and the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. Her other plays include Boy Gets Girl and The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, both seen at the Royal Court in the UK. Her work has been produced in the US at such venues as the Lincoln Center Theatre in New York, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Manhattan Class Company, as well as other theatres internationally. A native of Alabama, she was awarded the 2008 Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Most Distinguished Writer of the Year. Blue Surge was originally presented at the prestigious Goodman Theatre, Chicago, and was subsequently seen at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theater. This production marks its UK premiere.

Director Ché Walker returns to the Finborough Theatre where he made his directorial debut with Achidi J's Final Hours in 2004 and where he directed the sell-out Etta Jenks, starring Daniela Nardini and Clarke Peters (2005). Other Theatre includes Been So Long (Young Vic and English Touring Theatre), Extended Family (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Glory of Living (BAC), Estate Walls, Little Baby Jesus (Oval House), Lovesong (English Touring Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe), Car Thieves (National Theatre Studio) and Dance for Me (Tricycle Theatre). Ché's writing includes Been So Long (The Young Vic and Royal Court Theatre), The Frontline (Shakespeare's Globe), Iphigenia (Southwark Playhouse), Flesh Wound (Royal Court Theatre), Crazy Love (Paines Plough), Car Thieves (National Theatre Studio), Carmen (Open Air Theatre), Dance For Me (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Rootz Spectacular (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry). He is also writing the book for The Eighth, a new musical with music and lyrics by Paul Heaton of The Beautiful South for this year's Manchester International Festival as well as writing his own musical adaptation of The Bacchae with Arthur Darvill for English Touring Theatre. This year, Ché will direct the feature film adaptation of his original musical, Been So Long from his own screenplay for Greenacre Films/UKFC and is also developing an original television series with the BBC.

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