by T.S. Eliot
Directed by Tom Littler. Designed by Pip Swindall. Lighting by Christopher Nairne. Associate Director - Catherine Paskell.
Presented by Primavera in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Cast in order of appearance:
Sir Claude Mulhammer, a financier - Martin Bishop
Eggerson, his former confidential clerk - David Barnaby
Colby Simpkins, his new confidential clerk - Anthony Wilks
B. Kaghan, his colleague - Freddie Huntington
Lucasta Angel, Kaghan’s fiancée - Antonina Lewis
Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer, Sir Claude’s wife - Tamara Ustinov
Mrs Guzzard - Judy Norman

The verse play by Nobel Prizewinner T.S. Eliot in a fully costumed production-without-décor

[ rediscoveries season 2007 ]
Sundays and Mondays, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27 August 2007

"As if you were her son? If she comes to think of you
As the kind of man that her son would have been –
And I believe she will: though I’m perfectly convinced
That her son would have been a completely different type of person –
Then you will become her son, in her eyes. She’s like that.”

Sir Claude Mulhammer, a wealthy entrepreneur, wants to smuggle his illegitimate son Colby into his household, so he employs him as his new confidential clerk in the hope that his eccentric wife Elizabeth will take a shine to the young man. She exceeds his greatest expectations, however, when she claims that Colby is her own long-lost son. Colby, meanwhile, becomes entangled with the beautiful Lucasta Angel, who is in turn engaged to the thrusting young businessman B. Kaghan. And nobody seems to have any parents…

The Confidential Clerk has all the sophistication of T.S. Eliot’s finest poetry, coupled with a delightfully impish wit and unexpectedly playful characterisation. It was first produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1953, after which it transferred to the Lyric and later the Duke of York’s in 1954. It has not been seen in Central London for over fifty years.

Playwright T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) was a Nobel Prize-winning poet, critic and playwright whose work won him international acclaim. His best-known poems, including The Waste Land and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and were published in the early part of his career, after which he took to writing for the stage. His plays, all in verse, include Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). More recently, he has achieved a home in the West End with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, inspired by his poem Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

Director Tom Littler is directing three rediscoveries at the Finborough Theatre this Summer including Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate and Hubert Henry Davies’ The Mollusc. He has directed over twenty productions including Stephen Sondheim’s Passion (Edinburgh Festival 2006 –The Scotsman Critics’ Choice), A Streetcar Named Desire and Into the Woods (Oxford Playhouse), and Frank McGuinness’ version of A Doll’s House (Tour). He is currently Assistant Director to Alan Strachan on The Letter (Wyndham’s) and to Laurence Boswell on Treats (Garrick). He is also Peter Hall’s Assistant Director on Little Nell (Theatre Royal Bath) and later this year will staff direct the international tour of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Nicholas Nickleby. Tom is Artistic Director of Primavera and is currently directing Primavera’s Forgotten Classics series at the King’s Head. Primavera was founded in 2003 and focuses on producing revivals, particularly of plays that are unacknowledged and underperformed masterpieces. www.primaveraproductions.com

Tamara Ustinov made her stage debut as The Wife in The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, directed by her father Sir Peter Ustinov at the New London Theatre. Her successful stage career has included roles in the West End, and for the Watermill Theatre, Young Vic Theatre and Theatre Royal, York. David Barnaby recently appeared with the Peter Hall Company as Corin / Adam in As You Like It, and Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing, as well as playing roles in the West End and at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. Antonina Lewis recently hit the headlines when she stepped into Billie Piper’s role in the West End production of Treats on several occasions.

The Press on The Confidential Clerk
“A rare opportunity … Just as Eliot makes clear there’s more to life than appears, the Finborough, once again, makes it evident there’s more to British drama than most theatres show” Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“This is not a production which should be left to run its course in the purlieus of Earls Court. The West End should have a chance to find out how a well acted and directed – by Tom Littler – play of Eliot’s can be really enjoyable.” IndieLondon

“I was…shattered and delighted when I suddenly found the play entertaining, amusing and, for all its implausibilities, coherent.” IndieLondon

“Eggerson was brilliantly portrayed by David Barnaby as the egregious servant willing to please and knowing just how far he can go in his relationship with his erstwhile employer. A well calculated comic performance that contrasted well with the more complicated characterisations of the rest of the cast.” IndieLondon

“it’s crisply played, especially on the realistic social level, and there’s an excitement in Eliot’s sense of What Is and What Might Be, played out in different ways in various characters” Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“A play of sparkling surfaces and hidden depths…enthusiasm and energy in abundance” MusicOMH

“David Barnaby is excellent…Tamara Ustinov gets the dottiness of Lady Elizabeth… Judy Norman brings an effective frostiness to Mrs Guzzard…Martin Bishop bumbles along nicely…Antonina Lewis, Freddie Huntington and Anthony Wilks play the new generation attractively.” MusicOMH