by Howard Brenton
Directed by Nathan Curry
Designed by Alistair Turner
Lighting by Tom E. White
Music by Sarah Llewellyn
Presented by Caroline Smith for Fabian Productions Ltd in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Cast in order of appearance
Josef Franz, Czech worker in factory – Hilton Mcrae
Ralph Makepeace, the factory owner – Anthony Keetch
Billy, a worker in the factory – Matthew Fraser Holland
Ken, a worker in the factory – Benjamin Davies
Janice, a worker in the factory – Kaite Cotterell
Liz, a worker – Abigail Hood
Alf, a worker – Christopher Terry
Sylvia Makepeace, Ralph’s wife – Samantha Lynch
Mr Stanley, Foreman of factory – Mike Aherne
Inspector Miller, Police detective - Mike Aherne
Hicks, Union rep – Martin Pirongs
Doubek, Russian interrogator – Martin Pirongs
Kohoutek, Russian interrogator – Ben Nathan
Clementis, Czech foreign minister – Hayward Morse
Stalin – Christopher Terry
Commentator, in Planetarium – Ben Nathan
Guards, in Ruzyne Goal – Benjamin Davies and Matthew Fraser Holland

30 January – 23 February 2008

“We’re going to change this f**king country”
“Nothing will change in England. Decay yes, change no.”.
“We’re going to have a revolution”
“There will never be revolution in England.”

The first ever revival of the audacious epic drama by one of the UK’s most celebrated modern playwrights with an outstanding cast including Hilton McRae, Olivier Award winner Benjamin Davies and Tony Award nominee Hayward Morse.

As the New Year dawns on 1976, the Labour Party is in power but the country is running out of control. Industrial unrest grows, an economic crisis looms. Change is coming: but will it be to the left or to the right?

With tensions running high, workers at a London factory storm the building in a bid to save their jobs and change their lives. Their struggle is complicated by the presence of a Czech worker, Josef Frank, still deeply traumatised by his experiences of Stalinism.

Set against the harsh memories of Frank’s brutal torture under the Communist purges, a generation of young workers fight back against a government that has neglected them. Could Britain have a revolution?

Weapons of Happiness was the first play to be performed at the Lyttleton Theatre space at the National Theatre in 1976 and won the Evening Standard Best Play award. Exciting young director Nathan Curry - having served his apprenticeship under Howard Davies – directs.

Playwright Howard Brenton has written or co-written more than 40 plays including most recently In Extremis at Shakespeare’s Globe, and Paul which caused a furore at the National Theatre. His other plays include Christie in Love, Magnificence, The Churchill Play, Epsom Downs, The Romans in Britain, Bloody Poetry, and Pravda (with David Hare). He is currently working on a television drama for BBC2 and a new play for the National Theatre.

Director Nathan Curry has recently returned from New York where he assisted Howard Davies on A Moon for the Misbegotten starring Kevin Spacey and Eve Best, having previously been the Assistant Director on the original Old Vic production. Nathan was Staff Director at The National Theatre on The Life of Galileo with Simon Russell Beale, also assisting Howard Davies. He is the Artistic Director of the award-winning theatre company, Tangled Feet, which have toured the UK and Europe. With the company, he has directed Game? (Nominated Total Theatre Awards for Best Original Work), Emily’s Kitchen, and Lost Property (Nominated for The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence for Best Ensemble).

Designer Alistair Turner was Associate Designer on A Moon for the Misbegotten (Old Vic and Broadway), Phaedra (Donmar Warehouse) and Lovesong (West End) and as Assistant Designer on Don Carlos (Covent Garden), Mary Poppins (West End and Broadway), Tarzan (Broadway), National Anthems (Old Vic), Porgy and Bess (Washington Opera) and Aristocrats, The History Boys, Chatroom/Citizenship (all National Theatre).

Hilton McRae has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. Having started his acting career in radical 70’s theatre company 7:84 he has since been a regular performer at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and in The West End. He has recently returned from Broadway where he revived his role in the Award Winning Rabbit by Nina Raine and last year played in Mr Spotnick in the much-lauded Caroline or Change at The National Theatre. Other credits include Feste in Twelfth Night,The Comedy of Errors (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), My One And Only (Piccadilly Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Royal Exchange Theatre), Mamma Mia (Prince of Wales), The Front Page (Donmar Warehouse) and many roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Benjamin Davies is the recipient of an Olivier Award for Best Newcomer - his credits include Mojo Mickybo (Trafalgar Studios), F**King Games (Royal Court Theatre), and Rookery Nook (Oxford Stage Company National Tour). Hayward Morse was nominated for a Tony for his performance in the Broadway production of Simon Gray’s Butley, while his many stage credits include the first stage versions of both What The Butler Saw and The Rocky Horror Show – as well as Eden’s Empire at the Finborough. Katie Cotterell’s credits include M_SS_NG (Talawa Theatre Company), Les Enfants Du Paradis (Arcola). Anthony Keetch’s many credits include One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
(Gielgud Theatre), and TV credits include Tony Blair in The Hutton Inquiry (Sky News).Mike Aherne's many credits include The Hot House and Philistines (National Theatre), as well as The Beaver Coat and Loyalties at the Finborough Theatre. Matthew Fraser Holland has appeared in Edward II, Carousel, Frankenstein, Merrily We Roll Along (Haymarket Theatre Leicester). Abigail Hood's credits include Alice in That Face (Royal Court). Samantha Lynch has been seen in Bed and Breakfast (Gate Theatre and Royal Court), King Lear, Four Portraits of Mothers, The Two Noble Kinsmen (Bristol Old Vic). Ben Nathan's credits include Mariana Pineda, Elsewhere (Arcola Theatre), and Dan in Closer (Lowry and National Tour). Martin Pirongs has been seen in Nude with Violin (Royal Exchange Manchester) and Equus (Salisbury Playhouse). Christopher Terry's credits include The Comedy of Errors (UK and European tour), The Skin Game (Orange Tree Theatre), and Hecuba for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Press on the original production of Weapons of Happiness
“He (Howard Brenton) has a vision of revolution which is quite extraordinary in its creative ambiguity, its richness, its power to stimulate, to threaten, and to inspire… an electrifying evening” Harold Hobson, The Sunday Times
“Images and ideas that lodge in the mind like shrapnel…strongly recommended” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Highly charged scenes that speak directly about the quality of life in England today” Michael Coveney, Financial Times
“A thoroughly impressive revolutionary drama…the closest our theatre has come to the Brechtian ideal” Punch
“Majestic and imaginative…the play smells of urgency and a vital compression of thought and action” Time Out

The Press on Director Nathan Curry
“Nathan Curry focuses the vision beautifully” **** Four Stars The Scotsman
“Nathan Curry’s production is a refreshing and dynamic piece” ***** Five Stars The List
“Inspired directing” The Stage

The Press on Weapons of Happiness
“The tiny Finborough Theatre in Earls Court is one of the most stimulating venues in London, fielding a programme that is a bold mix of trenchant, politically thought-provoking new drama and shrewdly chosen revivals of neglected works from the past.” Paul Taylor, The Independent

“The little Finborough is a disproportionately valuable component of the London theatre ecology. Its programme combines new writing and revivals, in selections intelligent and audacious. ”
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

"A timely revival of Brenton’s 1976 play...Political through and through and brilliantly staged, this is another winner from the Finborough; this not to be missed production with its marvellous cast is a real play for today."
The News Line

“Worth seeing for McRae's performance and the wildness of Brenton's theatrical imagination.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian

“Fabian Productions’ revival of this 1976 play (an early National Theatre premiere) displays the vigour of Howard Brenton’s argument with society.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“...uncomfortably powerful.” Andrew Haydon, Time Out

“In Hilton McRae's fine performance, it is Josef Frank who dominates the play. With his seamed features and slow, arthritic movement, McRae uncannily conveys the sense of a man who has suffered Stalinesque persecution without entirely losing his belief in the original dream.” Michael Billington, The Guardian

“Hilton McRae as Josef Frank has a haunted, broken quality.” Sam Marlowe, The Times

“A committed central performance by Hilton McRae as Frank.” Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

“Hilton McRae gives the proceedings a powerful spiritual centre as the wrecked, ghostly Frank.”
Paul Taylor, The Independent

“Thanks to Katie Cotterell's finely tuned, hard-yet-sensitive performance as the smartest of the young Trots, the weird scenes ache with a sense of thwarted Romantic yearning.” Paul Taylor, The Independent

“Katie Cotterell’s Janice is…luminously forceful.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate

“Katie Cotterell as the tough Trotskyite Janice also has the right stubby ferocity.” Michael Billington, The Guardian

“Nathan Curry's resourceful and devoted production" Paul Taylor, The Independent

“In the hands of director Nathan Curry in this production, [the play] hasn’t lost its bite.” Marion Drew, Extra! Extra!

“The fine cast of Nathan Curry’s dynamic production create strong contrast between youthful energy and middle-aged resignation.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate

“A production by Nathan Curry that makes good use of the Finborough space with a set composed of pallets and crates.” Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

“Nathan Curry's production and Alistair Turner's design, based on an assortment of slatted wooden crates, adapt it with great ingenuity to the tiny Finborough.” Michael Billington, The Guardian

“Alistair Turner’s suitably industrial set, its stack of palettes ingeniously used, also creates a suitably dark and looming surround.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate