by Patrick Hamilton
Adapted for the Stage by Fidelis Morgan
Directed by Gemma Fairlie
Designed by Alex Marker
Lighting by Trevor Wallace
Costume Design by Penn O’Gara
Sound by Steve Mayo
Presented by Swoop Productions, The Earls Court Festival 2008 and Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Cast in order of appearance
Netta – Caroline Faber
Netta – Clare Calbraith
George Harvey-Bone – Matthew Flynn
Peter – Gyuri Sarossy
Eddie Carstairs – Jonathan Kemp
Waiter – Antony Eden
Johnnie Littlejohn – Jamie De Courcey
Barman – Gyuri Sarossy
Woman’s Voice – Caroline Faber
S.Y.M – Antony Eden
Train Porter – Jonathan Kemp
Night Porter – Jamie De Courcey
Receptionist – Clare Calbraith
Lady – Caroline Faber
Girl – Clare Calbraith and Caroline Faber
Mrs Chope – Caroline Faber
Drexel – Gyuri Sarossy
Hobbs – Antony Eden
Man – Jonathan Kemp

9 July – 2 August 2008

Time Out Critics' Choice

**** Four Stars
The Times Evening Standard Time Out Whatsonstage Financial Times

“One of the great books of the twentieth century” The Independent on Sunday

Set in darkest Earls Court just before the outbreak of the Second World War and written by local author Patrick Hamilton, Hangover Square is at last performed in its natural home – at Earls Court’s Finborough Theatre.

A classic story of loneliness, obsession and addiction in pre–war Earls Court, set against an atmospheric film noir backdrop. Alcoholic George Harvey Bone is hopelessly infatuated with a young actress, Netta, who is cool, hopelessly desirable and utterly contemptuous of him. As Bone faces “the end of hope and love” as he falls under Netta’s spell, he is cast adrift in an unsettling, seductive, darkly comic world of seedy saloon bars, lodging houses and boozing philosophers – except in his "dead" moments, when something goes click in his head and he realizes, without doubt, that he must kill her....

Patrick Hamilton (1904-1962) was the author of Rope (filmed by Alfred Hitchcock) and Gaslight (recently revived at The Old Vic). His work has undergone a huge revival in recent years and, in 2007, the audio version of Hangover Square was Book of the Week in The Sunday Times. The novel is adapted by actress and writer Fidelis Morgan. Her stage plays include adaptations of famous novels including Pamela and Hangover Square (last seen at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1990). Her non-fiction includes The Female Wits, the first study of female playwrights of the Restoration stage.

Director Gemma Fairlie returns to the Finborough Theatre after her world premiere production of James Graham’s Eden’s Empire, a Finborough Theatre commission. Other directing work When to Run by (national tour, Soho Theatre and sell out dates at the Royal Festival Hall), Silence (The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Arcola Theatre), For Every Passion Something and Julius Caesar project (Royal Shakespeare Company Education in USA), Protect Me From What I Want – devised piece (Young Vic Studio). She has assisted on the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of King Lear and The Seagull, directed by Trevor Nunn (world tour and sell out runs in Stratford and London), the Royal Shakespeare Company's regional tour of Julius Caesar and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a national tour of Carousel (UK Productions) Happy Yet? (Gate Theatre, London), and Anthony Neilson’s Realism (National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival). She won the Gate Theatre’s directing bursary in 2004 and was invited to take part in the National Theatre’s Directors Course in 2006. She is an Associate Practitioner with the Royal Shakespeare Company's Education department.

The cast includes Clare Calbraith, Jamie De Courcey, Antony Eden, Caroline Faber, Matthew Flynn, Jonathan Kemp, Gyuri Sarossy. Claire Calbraith’s many credits include The Devil’s League (Derby Playhouse), The Merchant of Venice, King Lear and The Mysteries (Northern Broadsides), Dracula (Dukes Playhouse Lancaster), The Cherry Orchard and Don Juan (English Touring Theatre). She was also a regular on Coronation Street. Jamie De Courcey’s many credits include A Voyage Round My Father (Wyndham’s Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse), Alphabetical Order (Salisbury Playhouse), The Rivals (Theatre Royal Bath), Hamlet (Northampton Theatre Royal), The Importance of being Earnest and Great Expectations (Royal Exchange, Manchester), and An Inspector Calls (National Theatre and Birmingham Rep). Antony Eden’s credits include Mrs Warren’s Profession (Edinburgh Lyceum and Nottingham Playhouse), Treasure Island (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Great Expectations (Unicorn Theatre) and Les Miserables (Royal Shakespeare Company). Caroline Faber's many theatre credits include Frankenstein (Frantic Assembly), Paradise Lost (Headlong), Last Easter (Birmingham Rep), Keepers of the Flame, Edward III and The Malcontent (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Mill on the Floss (Shared Experience), Tender (Hampstead Theatre), Dangerous Corner (Garrick Theatre) and The Heiress (Royal National Theatre). Matthew Flynn’s many credits include Our Friends of the North (Northern Stage), Macbeth and How Many Miles to Basra (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Winters Tale, The Comedy of Errors, Henry V and Twelfth Night (Propeller), Romeo and Juliet (Derby Playhouse),The Mayor of Zalameyer (Liverpool Everyman Theatre), and Othello (Newbury Watermill). Jonathan Kemp’s many credits include Aladdin (Buxton Opera House), The Handmaid’s Tale (Basingstoke, Newmarket), Volpone (Wilton’s Music Hall), Map of the Heart (Salisbury Playhouse), The Invisible Man (Oldham Coliseum) and Peter Pan (Royal National Theatre). Gyuri Sarossy’s many credits include Rope (Watermill Theatre), The Hypochondriac (Almeida), Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya (Donmar Warehouse), Luther (Royal National Theatre), The Promise (Tricycle Theatre), Coriolanus (Shakespeare at Tobacco Factory) and Romeo and Juliet (Leicester Haymarket).

Novelists on Patrick Hamilton and Hangover Square
“A masterly novel…you can almost smell the gin.” Keith Waterhouse
“One of the most widely admired novelists of his generation.” J B Priestley
"A marvellous novelist." Nobel prize-winner Doris Lessing
“If you are looking to fly from Dickens to Amis with just one over night stop then Hamilton is your man.” Nick Hornby

The Press on Fidelis Morgan’s adaptation of Hangover Square
“Morgan's stylish adaptation…This is a whydunnit at its best.” City Limits
“Fidelis Morgan's skilful adaptation.” Michael Coveney, The Observer
“Hangover Square has been well served by its adapter Fidelis Morgan... It is not a realistic staging of its parent novel, but an expressionistic nightmare hung on its bones...” Hugo Williams, Sunday Correspondent
“Theatrical in the best sense, atmospheric, inventive and highly enjoyable.” Clare Bayley, What's On