by Elizabeth Kuti.
Directed by Jamie Harper.
Designed by James Lewis. Lighting by Adam Bullock. Sound by Tomas Gisby. Costume Design by Nicky Bunch.
Cast includes: Katharine Barker. Robert Emms. Tracy Kearney. Chris Moran. Rosalind Porter. William Whymper.
The world premiere of a spellbinding new play from award-winning playwright Elizabeth Kuti.
28 November – 22 December 2007
A small town in the south east of England. Eddie returns home for a peaceful family Christmas for the first time in many years. But the recriminations of his parents and girlfriend on his failings as a son and as a man force dormant conflicts to the surface and raise the ghosts of Christmases past…
Written and developed as part of an attachment at the National Theatre Studio, Elizabeth Kuti evokes both the poignancy and the poison of Christmas in a powerful examination of how families deal with their history.
Playwright Elizabeth Kuti’s most recent work was The Sugar Wife (Rough Magic Theatre Company at the Soho Theatre and Project Arts Centre, Dublin), joint winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and nominated for Best New Play in the Irish Times Theatre Awards. Other plays include The Whisperers (Irish tour and Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh); and Treehouses (Abbey Theatre) which won second prize in the Susan Smith Blackburn Awards and the BBC Radio Drama prize in the Stewart Parker Awards. Radio plays include May Child starring Patricia Routledge (Radio 4), The Glasswright (Radio 4) and Mr Fielding’s Scandal-Shop, broadcast on Christmas Day 2005 on Radio 3. She is currently under commission to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
Director Jamie Harper’s recent credits includeThe Things Good Men Do (Old Red Lion and Lyric Hammersmith Studio), The Vanek Plays (Tristan Bates Theatre), The Infant (Old Red Lion and Edinburgh) and A Lie of the Mind (BAC). Assistant Directing includes Oedipus the King (National Theatre Studio), Mother Courage and Her Children (English Touring Theatre), Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric Theatre, Belfast) Love and a Bottle (Young Vic) and James Macdonald’s forthcoming production of The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (National Theatre). He won the 2006 JMK Directors’ Award, and the 2006 John S. Cohen Bursary for which he was Resident Director at English Touring Theatre and the National Theatre Studio.
Katharine Barker ’s many credits include Indian Ink, To Kill a Mockingbird and Waters of the Moon (Salisbury Playhouse), The Three Sisters and The Crucible (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), When We Are Married and The Seagull (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) and Anna Karenina (Shared Experience at the Lyric Hammersmith). William Whymper’s credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Henry IV(Parts 1 and 2) and Richard II (Royal Shakespeare Company), She Stoops to Conquer (Birmingham Stage Company), Frankenstein (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton) and The Revenger’s Tragedy (Southwark Playhouse). Chris Moran’s credits include Animaux en Paradis and Dead Hands (The Wrestling School), Donkey’s Years ( West End) and several seasons for BBC Radio. Rosalind Porter’s credits include Feeding Time (BAC), Peapickers (Eastern Angles) and Clean (Union Theatre). Tracy Kearney’s credits include The Ladies’ Cage (Finborough Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange), Closer (Gateway Theatre Company), and The Donor (King’s Head). Robert Emms has recently graduated from LAMDA. His credits include rehearsed readings at the National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe.
The Press on Elizabeth Kuti’s previous productions
“A strikingly intelligent and subtle piece of work” Time Out on The Sugar Wife – Time Out Critics’ Choice
“A genuinely wonderful piece of comic theatre sparkling with wit and invention” The Sunday Times on The Whisperers
“It’s as though Kuti is looking out across the landscape of the human heart – and can see with startling clarity…Ibsen crossed with Shaw, with Kuti supplying a lyricism that’s all her own.” The Daily Telegraph on The Sugar Wife
The Press on Jamie Harper’s previous productions
“Superb performances and Jamie Harper’s thoughtful direction turns this play into one that leaves the audience not a little shaken.” The Stage on The Things Good Men Do
“Jamie Harper’s production is as elegant as it is subversive." Metro on The Infant ****
“Jamie Harper takes on one of Shepard’s most challenging numbers with panache…strong performances make this a production that certainly stays in the mind.” The Stage on A Lie of the Mind
The Press on The Six-Days World
“The play offers a graphic picture of seasonal dismay.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Jamie Harper's production is well-acted.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Chris Moran lends variety to the vehemently angry Eddie, who makes Osborne's Jimmy Porter look a bit of a softie.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“William Whymper and Katharine Barker as the truth-denying parents and Robert Emms as the hapless Tom also hit exactly the right note.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Kuti makes you glad that your own mild upsets [at Christmas] over who forgot to order the nuts, are nothing compared to this family's relentless strife.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Who would have thought that the place to find such top quality new writing would be above a trendy wine bar?”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“The script…is modern, easily capturing the audience with clever humour and touching moments of heartbreak.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“The cast do more than justice to this play.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“Chris Moran…shows a startlingly varied performance, from intelligently played comedy to powerful emotional distress.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“The performance of the character Tom (Robert Emms) provides an interesting reprieve from the power and gusto of the surrounding cast. Delicate and painfully sensitive, this quiet portrayal adds poignancy to the story.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“The part of the long-suffering husband, Ralph, is played quirkily by William Whymper, [adding] a touch of relish at being naughty and rebelling against his controlling wife.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“The use of projection is evocative and an ingenious way of evoking the 80’s era in which the family’s world changed forever.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“What is so refreshing about it [is] the chance to be thrown into an exciting and troubled family drama that has all the quality of careful research and all the exuberance of new writing.”
Kirsty Harris, Extra! Extra!
“Tracy Kearney, Rosalind Porter and Robert Emms are impressively nuanced as Cat, Kirsty, and her painfully shy brother of dubious parentage, Tom.”
Lucy Powell, Time Out
“Kuti’s gentle, enlivening talent shines.”
Lucy Powell, Time Out
“[Kuti’s] new play The Six-Days World confirms that she combines a gift for combative dialogue with a strong moral and, at times, religious sense.”
Benedict Nightingale, The Times
“The acting in Jamie Harper’s production is always good and holds the attention even before the inevitable revelations arrive.”
Benedict Nightingale, The Times
“It’s…clear that Kuti is a dramatist to watch.”
Benedict Nightingale, The Times
“The language is excellently crafted to be a natural conversation – overlapping [and] intertwining.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“Kuti is thorough in her exploration of relationships.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“There are few family issues not touched upon in this play…These issues may have been staged a thousand times, but this production does well to bring them to life in a very contemporary way, without the usual reliance on vulgarity and shock.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“A Six-Days World is wrought with emotion…There are few periods which are not fuelled by high drama and weighted words, so the two hours is an impetuous rollercoaster for the audience.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“Under the tight direction of Jamie Harper the acting is spot on, carrying that emotion effectively.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“Chris Moran’s Eddie is wizened with unbridled anger, which manifests itself in desperate, cruel outbursts. This, closely followed by a melee of recriminations and admissions from all parties, makes it hard not to be moved by the bleak reality of the family’s pain.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“With this premiere of Kuti’s latest play, the Finborough Theatre proves itself to still be at the forefront of fringe theatre. Its reputation for showcasing talented new playwrights remains intact.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
“The intimacy of the space gives a rawness and intensity which this play benefits from and the audience is moved by these desperate relationships - brimming with resentment and bitterness because of an inability to vocalise what they really mean.”
Emily Kate Stephens, MyVillage.com
