John Bett, Neil McCaul and Simon Lee Phillips Lead Finborough Theatre's THE DRAWER BOY, Now thru July 14

The London premiere of the multi-award winning international hit play from one of Canada's leading playwrights, Michael Healey, The Drawer Boy opens at the Finborough Theatre for a limited four week run, opening tonight, 19 June 2012 (Press Night: Thursday, 21 June 2012), starring John Bett, Neil McCaul and Simon Lee Phillips.

Miles, an energetic and idealistic young actor, knocks on the door of an isolated farmhouse in rural Canada, seeking material for a new play he’s working on. He discovers Morgan, a gruff farmer working tooth and nail to survive, and Angus, his lifelong friend, who has long since lost track of the world. But when The Farmers let the city-boy into their home, Miles’ search for a story gradually unearths a devastating truth that threatens to destroy the tranquil lives of his hosts forever. Funny and moving, The Drawer Boy is a multi-award winning bitter-sweet tale of the power of storytelling, friendship, and the very thin line between truth and fiction.

The Drawer Boy premiered at Toronto’s acclaimed Theatre Passe Muraille, winning the Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada’s leading theatre 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.

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. His 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 Arlidge (nominated for the Governor General’s Award in 2004), The Innocent Eye Test (Manitoba Theatre Centre and Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre 2006), and Generous (winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play in 2007) which received its European premiere at the Finborough Theatre in August 2009 and was revived by popular demand for a full length run in January 2010 and was named Time Out Critics' Choice. Courageous - the sequel to Generous - premiered at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto in January 2010, and went on to win the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play. Michael Healey was Playwright-in-Residence at the Tarragon Theatre from 2000-2011. He recently resigned his post after controversy arose over programming his latest work - Proud - which satirises Canada's current political administration.

Director Eleanor Rhode is a former Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre where she has directed both sell-out runs of Generous by Michael Healey, The December Man (L’homme de décembre) for 2009’s Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, Barrow Hill for Vibrant – An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights in 2010 and Sihanoukville for Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights in 2011. She was also Assistant Director on Trying and S-27. Eleanor graduated from Mountview in 2008. She went on to train at The National Theatre Studio in 2009 and is a former Staff Director at The National Theatre. Other directing includes The Gypsy Thread (National Theatre Studio), The Error of Their Ways (Cockpit Theatre), A Number (Camden People’s Theatre), This Lime Tree Bower (Edinburgh Festival), and staged readings of The Geese of Beverly Road (Theatre 503) and Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre).
As Associate Director, she has worked on the London transfer of Lie of The Land (Arcola Theatre). Eleanor is the Artistic Director of Snapdragon Productions.

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