by Mikhail Bulgakov in the world premiere of a translation by Michael Glenny
Directed by Blanche McIntyre.
Designed by Alex Marker.
Lighting by Jon Winn.
Costume Design by Penn O’Gara.
Music by Plaster of Paris.
Sound by Gemma Harrison.
Presented by Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre and JQ Productions in association with the National Theatre Studio.
Cast
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière, playwright and actor – Justin Avoth
Jean-Jacques Bouton, theatre factotum – Paul Brendan
Philibert du Croisy, actor – Gyuri Sarossy
Mariette Rivale, actor – Emma Jerrold
Madeleine Béjart, actor – Elizabeth Moynihan
Charlatan – Tom Davey
Charles Varlet de la Grange, actor – Mark Desebrock
Armande Béjart, actor – Antonia Kinlay
Marquis d’Orsigny, known as One-Eye, musketeer – Tom Davey
Zacharie Moirron – Kett Turton
Marquis de Lessac – Mark Desebrock
Louis XIV, King of France – Gyuri Sarossy
Just Shoemaker, Louis’ jester – Paul Brendan
Marquis de Charron, Archbishop of Paris – Ben Warwick
Father Bartholomew, a preacher – Kett Turton
Brother Faith – Mark Desebrock
Brother Strength – Paul Brendan
Woman – Emma Jerrold
The second only UK production, the first London revival in 25 years and the world premiere of a new translation of the modern classic
**** Four Stars Whatsonstage
**** Four Stars The Guardian
**** Four Stars London Theatre Reviews
Critics' Choice The Guardian
One of the Best Plays of 2009 History Today
Tuesday, 24 November – Saturday, 19 December 2009
The first London revival in 25 years - and only the second UK production ever - of the modern classic Bulgakov’s Molière or The League of Hypocrites, directed by Blanche McIntyre – the inaugural winner of the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors. The Leverhulme Bursary is an exciting new award, partnering the National Theatre Studio with the Finborough Theatre, supporting a six month attachment at the internationally acclaimed National Theatre Studio, and a production at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre.
Jean-Baptiste Molière is on top of the world – at the centre of Louis XIV’s court, author of countless popular hits, and in love with a woman half his age. But what the audiences see as sparkling satire, the authorities see as dangerous and subversive. As soon as he takes a wrong step, his fall from grace is assured.
Assailed by rumours and tracked by the secret police, Molière's private life starts to fall apart. In this world of whispers and distortions, everyone is vulnerable. But not everyone has a theatre to run.
Inspired by real-life events and written under the shadow of Stalin, Molière is about a man's fight to keep his integrity under a repressive regime.
Playwright and novelist Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was the most original writer of the Stalinist era, turning out outspoken, satirical works, even as his contemporaries were arrested and killed. He is probably best known for The Master And Margarita, published 26 years after his death and now the favourite book of four out of five Russians. He also wrote the plays The White Guard (which Stalin saw seventeen times) and Black Snow, a savage spoof of Stanislavsky and his Method which was inspired by Bulgakov’s difficulties in getting Molière staged. Productions of Bulgakov’s work in the UK have included Black Snow and Flight at the National Theatre, The Master and Margarita at Chichester Festival Theatre, and The White Guard for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Molière was last seen in London in 1983, at the Barbican’s Pit Theatre, in a Royal Shakespeare Company production starring Antony Sher.
Translator Michael Glenny (1927-1990) was one of the most prolific and highly respected translators of Russian works in the 20th century. He was professor of Russian studies at the Universities of Birmingham, Southern Illinois and Bristol. Glenny translated ten works by Bulgakov, including Black Snow, The White Guard and The Master and Margarita. His other translations include works by Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Gorky and the first volume of Boris Yeltsin’s memoirs.
Director Blanche McIntyre is the first recipient of the Leverhulme Directors’ Bursary, and is currently Director in Residence at the National Theatre Studio and the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes Bulgakov’s The Master And Margarita (Greenwich Playhouse), Three Hours After Marriage (Union Theatre), Wuthering Heights (National Tour), The Revenger’s Tragedy (BAC), Birds (Southwark Playhouse), Doctor Faustus, The Devil Is An Ass, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde As Told To An Inmate Of Broadmoor Asylum (White Bear Theatre), and Lost Hearts, The Invention of Love and Cressida (Edinburgh Festival).
Alex Marker is Resident Designer of the Finborough Theatre where his acclaimed designs have included Soldiers, Trelawny of the ‘Wells’, Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, Albert’s Boy, Lark Rise To Candleford, Red Night, The Representative, Eden’s Empire, Love Child, Little Madam, Plague Over England, Hangover Square, Sons of York, Untitled and Death of Long Pig.
Justin Avoth’s many credits include Jaques in As You Like It for Tim Supple at the Curve Theatre, Leicester, this summer, and Cassio in Othello for Greg Doran at the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as roles in Dead Hands, 13 Objects and Gertrude – The Cry (The Wrestling School), Edward II (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Ash Girl, True Brit (Birmingham Rep), Venice Preserved (Almeida Theatre), Nathan The Wise (Hampstead Theatre), Chains, De Montfort (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), The Government Inspector (Harrogate Theatre), King Arthur (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester). Television credits include Midsomer Murders, Merlin, Spooks, Judge John Deed and Coronation Street.
Paul Brendan’s recent credits include Complicit, The Norman Conquests (The Old Vic), A Month In The Country, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar (The Tobacco Factory) and The Threepenny Opera (Bristol Old Vic).
Tom Davey’s credits include roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Comedy of Errors (Royal Shakespeare Company), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Royal Shakespeare Company at the Novello Theatre) and Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe). Television includes Victoria Cross, A Serpent In Eden, Plenty Of Fish and The Ruby In The Smoke.
Mark Desebrock graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama this summer. His credits already include the lead in A Little Neck (Hampton Court Palace) and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare’s Globe, Australia) and the feature films Bright Star and The Course.
Emma Jerrold’s credits include Macbeth (National Theatre), Miss Julie (Bristol Old Vic), The School for Scandal (Redgrave Theatre, Bristol), The Changeling (Queen’s Theatre) and numerous productions for the Gate Theatre. Her television credits include roles in EastEnders and Bad Girls.
Antonia Kinlay’s credits since leaving RADA include the lead in The Eternal Not (National Theatre) and Arden of Faversham (Shakespeare’s Globe). Television credits include Consuming Passion and How New Amsterdam Became New York.
Elizabeth Moynihan's theatre credits include August: Osage County (National Theatre), Muhmah (HighTide), Short The Season (Gate Theatre), An Ideal Husband, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Salomé (Gate Theatre, Dublin), C Mother Teresa is Dead, Frozen (Project Arts Centre, Dublin), Proof (Andrews Lane Theatre, Dublin), and The Chastitute (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin). Film includes Veronica Guerin, The Magnificent Ambersons, Last Mango in Dublin, The Making of A Prodigy, Meeting Che Guevara and the Man from Maybury Hill, Tilly and the Teeth, All Souls Day, 48 Angels, How about You and Little White Lies. Television includes The Bill, The Clinic, Fair City, No Tears, Trouble in Paradise, The Whistleblower and Jenny was a Friend of Mine. Radio includes The Haymaker, Sweet Smell of Cigarette Smoke and The Wasps Nest.
Gyuri Sarossy’s numerous credits include Hangover Square at the Finborough Theatre as well as Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company), Twelfth Night, Uncle Vanya (Donmar Warehouse), Balmoral, Man and Superman, Galileo’s Daughter, Don Juan (The Peter Hall Company), Coriolanus, Macbeth (The Tobacco Factory and Barbican), The Hypochondriac (Almeida Theatre), Rope (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), The Promise (Tricycle Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Leicester Haymarket) and Luther (National Theatre). Film credits include Another Life and After Death. Television credits include The Bill, Holby City, EastEnders, Judge John Deed, Egypt, Casualty, Doctors and Kavanagh QC.
Kett Turton’s film credits include work for Warner Bros., United Artists, MGM and 20th Century Fox including A Simple Curve, Blade: Trinity, Firewall, Gypsy 83, Rollercoaster, Saved! and Walking Tall. Television credits include The X Files, Dark Angel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and series regulars or leads on 24, Dead Last and Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital.
Ben Warwick's credits include Hamlet for Stephen Unwin (English Touring Theatre), as well as Miss Julie Crisp (Soho Theatre),The Marquise (National Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Theatre Royal York), House and Garden (Northampton Royal Theatre), and Arms And The Man, The Captain’s Tiger, Saint’s Day and The Road to Ruin (all Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond). Television credits include I Wanna Be Adored, Five Years and Mary Queen of Scots.
The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Lord Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £50 million every year. For further information about the schemes that The Leverhulme Trust fund visit their website at www.leverhulme.ac.uk
The Press on Mikhail Bulgakov
“Bulgakov is one of the greatest modern Russian writers, perhaps the greatest” The Independent
“One of the great writers of the 20th century” A S Byatt
“Mikhail Bulgakov… is one of the great names of 20th century Russian literature” John Gross, The Telegraph
“The statues of Stalin have been pulled down, but on the page and the stage Bulgakov lives on” Paul Taylor, The Independent on Sunday
“There were glorious writers in the Stalin period, and some people think Bulgakov was the greatest” Doris Lessing
The Press on Director Blanche McIntyre
“The great achievement of Blanche McIntyre’s production is to recreate the chilling world of Stalin’s Russia in which everyone fears the knock on the door’ Jane Edwards, Time Out, on The Master and Margarita
“An ebullient but coherent production of Mikhail Bulgakov’s magnum opus” Evening Standard on The Master and Margarita
“It is cheering to find a revival of this odd, inventive comedy... it gets maximum laughs” Michael Billington, The Guardian, on Three Hours After Marriage
The Press on Moliere or The League of Hypocrites
Critics' Choice The Guardian
**** Four Stars WhatsOnStage
**** Four Stars The Guardian
**** Four Stars London Theatre Reviews
One of the Best Plays of 2009 History Today
“A gem…Exceptional theatre.” Blanche Marvin, LondonLondonTheatReviews
“The Finborough is renowned for unearthing neglected gems and this production, by Leverhulme Bursary recipient Blanche McIntyre, continues that tradition in grand style.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“No London theatre achieves more with less than the Finborough in Earl’s Court. This tiny, scruffy room…is a constant wonder of design and inventiveness and has suddenly, thanks to resident designer Alex Marker, been resourcefully transformed into a perfect miniature gilt-edged court theatre in 17th-century France. It also visits, in the space of two fast hours, the rooms of King Louis XIV at Versailles, the home of playwright Moliere, a church and a cathedral. And even better, it is all in the service of a play, being seen in only its second ever UK outing.” Mark Shenton, The Stage
“The joy of Blanche McIntyre’s richly inhabited production is how well it plays out as theatre today.” Mark Shenton, The Stage
“It’s a play dripping with dramatic history, and it’s remarkable that its only previous UK production was at the RSC in 1982.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“The National Theatre Studio and the Finborough were able to produce this epic piece because of their special relationship in the establishment of the Leverhulme bursary for emerging directors.” Blanche Marvin, LondonLondonTheatReviews
“Bulgakov’s play, written at the height of Stalinist Russia, details the struggle of an artist to keep his integrity under the pressure of a tyrannical regime. In a post-Sachgate Britain where all but the most docile writer often find their hands tied, the subject matter could not be more timely.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“If you want proof of the power of dramatic code, look no further than this play by Mikhail Bulgakov. Written in 1929, it is ostensibly about the travails endured by Molière after he penned his satire on religious hypocrisy, Tartuffe. Its real subject, however, is the plight of the artist in Stalin's Soviet Union.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Magnificently layered and coded report from the frontline of trying to create plays in Stalinist Russia.” Mark Shenton, The Stage
“Both Blanche McIntyre's production and Michael Glenny's translation (performed for the first time) never let us forget that what we are watching is a form of political masquerade.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Michael Glenny’s lucid translation” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“Michael Glenny's…admirable new translation.” Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London
“Bulgakov’s 1929 play is full of wonderful theatrical surprises and besides giving it the necessary momentum, McIntyre’s cast of ten ably bring its rich canvas of characters into close-up focus.” Mark Shenton, The Stage
“A possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to see Molière on the British stage.” Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
“This is a production that is unafraid to go for broke; there are big performances and even bigger costumes on display throughout...though farce and humour are an integral part of the play, this is ultimately a piece of drama with a very serious point to make and each of the weighty themes and allusions are given appropriate attention.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
““Dark and terrifying…The staging of the last scene, during which Molière’s company perform Le Malade Imaginaire, is particularly powerful.” Kathryn Hadley, History Today Magazine
“McIntyre's production conveys admirably Bulgakov's mix of satire and seriousness: a spitting contest between an archbishop and a musketeer is as absurd as the portrait of hooded clerics operating like the secret police is terrifying.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Excellently staged and performed in this production directed by Blanche McIntyre, a powerful and thought provoking play” Kathryn Hadley, History Today Magazine
“There is excellent work from Justin Avoth as Molière, Antonia Kinlay as his wife and Ben Warwick as a venomous prince of the church. But it is Bulgakov's bravery that impresses, not just in writing the play but in informing the Soviet authorities that a writer who says he has no need of freedom is ‘like a fish publicly declaring it has no need of water’.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“All are superb in sustaining the intensity and high energy of performances with a sense of truth.” Blanche Marvin, LondonTheatReviews
“Justin Avoth…captures all the anger and pathos of an artiste who feels himself to be betrayed and degraded.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“Justin Avoth enthuses his Moliere with a charming wit and arrogance right to the last, when, his career in tatters, he meets his death onstage to a chorus of boos and jeers. This is a strong portrayal of a man struggling for artistic greatness amid impossible circumstances.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“In a large and uniformly strong cast, Elizabeth Moynihan gives a beautifully measured performance as Molière’s lover, Madeleine.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“There is good work from Antonia Kinlay and Paul Brendan as Molière’s young lover and faithful foil respectively.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“Paul Brendan excels in the dual roles of theatre factotum and court jester.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“Paul Brendan is droll in the parallel roles of Moliere's dresser and the King's jester.” Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London
“The King could easily have been portrayed as a colourless two-dimensional character, but Gyuri Sarossy gives him a laconic, mischievous quality that is utterly compelling.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“Gyuri Sarossy subtly shows us that the King is smarter and sharper than anyone around him realises.” Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London
“Gyuri Sarossy’s whimsical King Louis lends an appropriately arbitrary callousness to his affections.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“Gyuri Sarossi's brilliantly sardonic Louis XIV.” Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
“Tom Davy makes the not-very-bright musketeer still dashing and oddly loveable.” Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London
“A solid ensemble populate the still-witty script with pleasingly larger than life characters.” Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
“Director Blanche McIntyre, who not only manoeuvres a sizeable cast around the Finborough's tiny stage, but guides several of them to attractive and textured performances.” Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London
“Director Blanche McIntyre – the inaugural recipient of the Finborough’s Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors – has succeeded in distilling the corruption and hypocrisy of both Bulgakov’s Russia and Moliere’s France into an entertaining and decadent revival, the first in London for twenty-five years.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“The play works like a dream. The direction is well paced and staged with such a large cast.” Blanche Marvin, LondonTheatReviews
“Both McIntyre’s accomplished direction and Michael Glenny’s translation allow the broader satirical moments of Bulkagov’s riposte to Stalinist censorship enough room to breathe alongside the serious narrative, ensuring that the play’s bold support of artistic freedom rings out clearly.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“Set and costume design, by Alex Marker and [Penn O’Gara] respectively, are outstanding.” Giles Cole, WhatsOnStage.com
“Alex Marker's set evokes the splendour of the Palais-Royal and Versailles.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Alex Marker’s design is wonderful, transforming the modest space of the Finborough into a version of 17th century Paris that oozes excess in every way. We are whisked impressively between backstage at the Palais-Royal to the court of King Louis via the caverns of Notre Dame, an unmoved proscenium arch dominating each scene and serving as a constant reminder that this is, at its core, a play about theatre.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“The set is amazing as the ingenious Alex Marker in one set gives us the church by lighting two stain glass windows, the palace ante chamber by a throne, the archbishop’s room by a lighted cross, the entire theatre wrapped in gold and red velvet with Moliere’s theatre dramatised by a curtain.” Blanche Marvin, LondonTheatReviews
“The atmospheric and unnerving scene in a leaky and echoing church crypt stands out as a particularly immersive triumph.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
“The boldness and intelligence of Bulgakov’s message will stay with you long after leaving this enthralling production, as good a demonstration as any that a deft directorial touch can often allow a grand theatrical statement to achieve greater clarity within the intimacy of a small-scale theatre.” James Fritz, Extra!Extra!
