by Hubert Henry Davies.
Directed by Tom Littler
Designed by Pip Swindall
Presented by Primavera in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Cast in order of speaking:
Miss Roberts - Sally Leonard
Mr Baxter - Simon Poland
Mrs Baxter - Moir Leslie
Tom Kemp - Andrew P. Stephen

[ rediscoveries season 2007 ]
Sundays and Mondays, 15, 16, 22, 23 and 29 July 2007

The centenary production of the classic Edwardian comedy in a fully costumed production-without-décor .

“The lazy flow with the tide. The mollusc uses force to resist pressure. It’s amazing the amount of force a mollusc will use, to do nothing, when it would be much easier to do something. It’s no fool, you know, it’s the most artful creature, it wriggles and squirms, and even fights, from the instinct not to advance. There are wonderful things about molluscry, but it’s sad enough, too – it can ruin a life so, not only the life of the mollusc but all the lives in the house where it dwells.”

Paired with the Finborough Theatre’s revival of T.W.Robertson’s Ours, The Mollusc is a classic comedy of social and sexual manners. This production marks the centenary of the 1907 premiere and is the first time the play has been seen in London for over 50 years.

The Mollusc is the story of a woman who will do anything to do nothing. With mesmerising skill, Mrs Dulcie Baxter enslaves the members of her household – her husband, her children, and their attractive governess, Miss Roberts. When her brother Tom arrives from Colorado, he tries to break the cycle of entrapment which binds everyone to his sister’s will, but he uncovers a world of sexual hypocrisy and jealousy which nobody expected to find…

On one level a delightfully frothy comedy, and on another a subversive and vicious assault on the double standards of the English middle classes, The Mollusc is a classic of Edwardian theatre with all the polish and sophistication of an Oscar Wilde comedy combined with the urgent passion expected of the drama of Harvey Granville Barker or Bernard Shaw.

Playwright Hubert Henry Davies (1867-1917) was a leading playwright of the early twentieth century, following in the tradition of Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones, but influenced profoundly by T.W.Robertson, whose play Ours is presented by the Finborough Theatre this July. He began his career in New York with The Weldons (1899) and on his return to Britain collaborated successfully with the actor-manager Charles Wyndham to produce four West End productions. This production is the first time the play has been seen in London since it was presented at the Arts Theatre in 1949, and marks the centenary of the original 1907 production, starring Charles Wyndham himself, at the Criterion Theatre.

The cast includes Sally Leonard in her first stage appearance since being nominated for the Ian Charleson Award 2007 for A Family Affair (Arcola Theatre); Moir Leslie, who is best known for her long-running roles as Sophie Barlow and the Reverend Janet Fisher in The Archers, as well as playing Anne de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice (BBC), and Eva in For Services Rendered (Old Vic); Andrew P. Stephen, who most recently appeared as Younger Kipps in The Woman in Black (UK tour); and Simon Poland, whose credits include Children of Men, United 93 and roles for Salisbury Playhouse and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Director Tom Littler is directing three rediscoveries at the Finborough Theatre this Summer including Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate and T.S. Eliot’s The Confidential Clerk. 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


The Press on The Mollusc
“This is worth catching. Unless you want to risk hanging-on till 2107.”
Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“A well constructed amusement.” Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“Just like theatre. You wait nearly a century for a Mollusc, then two arrive only a year apart; though Liverpool Playhouse disguised its 2006 revival as The Lady of Leisure. That was a more refined production, but with its overtly modern slant for the title character it reached less close to the play's heart than Tom Littler's production for Primavera at the Finborough.” Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“This entertaining production certainly earns its place in the Finborough's current 'Rediscoveries' Season.” Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“Director Tom Littler has cast well and he keeps his production light and amusing with an edge of irony and pace when needed.”
Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“This young company playing intimately in the round for modern audiences have a good sense of style as well as modern responses.”
Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“Moir Leslie makes Dulcie amusingly insufferable, building the performance and gradually revealing the steely self-interest of which she is perhaps herself oblivious.”
Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“Moir Leslie produces a repertoire of expressions to aid Mrs Baxter's manipulations.”
Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“Sally Leonard's Miss Roberts has a sufficiently modern tinge to make the character sympathetic without undermining a sense of period.”
Timothy Ramsden, ReviewsGate

“Sally Leonard gives Miss Roberts a natural charm edged with exasperating naivety.”
Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“As Mr Baxter, Simon Poland is largely required to be blandly acquiescent; to his credit it does not just become a bland performance and he takes what few opportunities there are to show some spirit.”
Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds

“Tom Kemp…almost never lets up. Andrew P Stephen makes him very likeable and plays him with great energy.”
Howard Loxton, Rogues and Vagabonds