Finborough Theatre

West End Transfers 2006
The following productions transferred to the West End and other venues in 2006.

Fair

Year 10

Schwartz It All About

Gates of Gold

Other Productions in 2006

MY AIN FOLK
The workshop of a new play by David Hutchinson
Directed by David Robb
Produced by Susannah Stevens for the Finborough Theatre
Cast: Kenny Ireland. Katie McKnight. Andrew Neil. Gary Mackay.

The Finborough Theatre Wins the Pearson Award Bursary for the Third Year Running – and our Literary Manager’s work to be produced by the Royal Court

We are pleased to announce that Al Smith has just won a Pearson Award bursary for new writing as Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre. This is the third year running that the Finborough Theatre has won this prestigious new writing award and - again for the third year running - the Finborough Theatre is the only unfunded theatre to win a Pearson bursary – alongside such companies as the Hampstead Theatre, Soho Theatre, the National Theatre and the Royal Court – whose bursary winner, Mike Bartlett, has had two plays produced at the Finborough Theatre.

The Pearson Playwrights’ Scheme awards five bursaries a year to writers of outstanding promise. Each award allows the playwright a twelve-month attachment to a theatre and commissions the writers for a new play. Judges of the Pearson Award include Sir John Mortimer CBE QC, Dame Beryl Bainbridge, Catherine Johnson (previous bursary winner and writer of Mamma Mia), Sue Summers, Thelma Holt CBE, Michael Billington, John Tydeman OBE and Jack Andrews MBE.

Previous recipients of the Pearson bursary over the last thirty years include Richard Bean, Alan Bleasdale, Gregory Burke, David Edgar, David Eldridge, Lee Hall, Jacqueline Holborough, Catherine Johnson, Charlotte Jones, Fin Kennedy, Hanif Kureshi, Nick Leather, Martin McDonagh, Gary Mitchell, Chloe Moss, Gary Owen, Joe Penhall, Winsome Pinnock, Billy Roche, Simon Stephens, Sue Townsend and Timberlake Wertenbaker.

Previous winners for the Finborough Theatre include Laura Wade in 2005 for Colder Than Here (which also won the Pearson Award for the Best Play written by a bursary winner), and James Graham in 2006 for Albert’s Boy.

Playwright Al Smith is 24 years old. His first play Chalk was performed by the Edinburgh University Theatre Company in February 2005. His second Enola premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2005, before touring to the Arches Theatre, Glasgow, and the National Student Drama Festival 2006 where he won the Sunday Times Playwriting Award. His third play The Astronaut Wives Club was shortlisted for the Old Vic New Voices Award before playing at the Soho Theatre in August 2006. His fourth play Radio premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2006 and will be produced Off Broadway in 2007. He is on attachment at Paines Plough, is a playwright in residence at the Finborough Theatre, has been selected for the Old Vic 24 Hour Plays, is a young writer at the Royal Court Theatre and is currently on the Writers Academy at the BBC.

Earlier this year, we set up a new literary department under Literary Manager Alexandra Wood – who, in a playwright in her own right, has just won the Royal Court Young Writers Festival. Her winning play, The Eleventh Capital, will be produced for a full production at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in February 2007.

Interview with Artistic Director Neil McPherson and Literary Manager Alexandra Wood from Writernet Magazine, 2006

Neil….
1. What did you do before you took on the post of Artistic Director in 1999? What in particular attracted you to working at the Finborough Theatre?
Before the Finborough, I trained and worked as an actor, and then was Artistic Director of the New End in Hampstead for a year. I had worked as a freelance producer after the New End, but preferred working in a venue and so took the Finborough opportunity when it came up. And I greatly prefer working in fringe where – despite the financial constraints – there’s a lot more freedom.

2. When you took on the role, were there any changes that you wanted to make? And what developments have you implemented during your time there?
Plenty! For the first couple of years there, I was somewhat constrained by the practicalities of running an unfunded fringe theatre in that there was a resident company producing for half of the year and the other half of the year had to make enough profit to support the resident company’s work. As time went on, the resident company’s members all moved on to bigger venues as their careers developed - and I could then concentrate on building our reputation and establishing a coherent artistic policy.

3. As well as your policy of staging new British work, can you tell me a little bit your decision to stage new international drama, particularly from the US and Canada, as well as neglected work from the last 150 years?
The Finborough has always been best known for new British writing – particularly in the 1990’s with such writers as Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Phil Willmott, Naomi Wallace and so on. However, I’ve never believed in just doing new writing for the sake of it, and there’s little fulfilment in just presenting the rejects of the bigger funded houses, so I decided to broaden the policy into new writing from abroad – particularly from countries like Canada where there is much good work which is ignored or maybe even the victim of some colonial prejudice – as well as neglected work from the last 150 years. There are so many plays that deserve to be seen again and have been forgotten in the constant quest for the “new”. I soemtimes argue that when a piece hasn’t been seen for 50 or 75 years that it’s so old, it IS “new” again.

4. Before the appointment of a Literary Manager earlier this year, how did you identify new work? Would you be more likely to stage a play if it came from a production company rather than an unsolicited script?
We accepted unsolicited scripts for a short time when I started at the Finborough, but made a company decision not to accept them anymore. With no funding, it wasn’t fair on the writers or us – and, bluntly, the standard of unsolicited scripts was so atrocious that it wasn’t helpful to anyone. Nearly all of our new work came through production companies, although I did for a year or so run a Scriptreading service privately through which James Graham – now our Pearson Playwright-in-Residence – first came to my attention.

5. You have operated a writers in residence scheme which in 2004 saw Laura Wade win the Pearson Award Bursary to continue in that role. Could you tell me a little bit more about the scheme and is it still in operation?
It is. It’s usually for playwrights who I’ve commissioned to write something for us – so Laura Wade adapted W.H. Davies’ Young Emma for us on my suggestion, and likewise James Graham is now writing a new play, Eden’s Empire, again at my suggestion, on Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis for the 50th anniversary later this year. And some of our Playwrights in Residence are just people I think are really talented – like our latest one, Al Smith. New writers don’t come from nowhere and it’s about taking the time to put the development work in.

6. All the new plays produced at the Finborough during 2005 have been published. How important do you consider it to be for the plays to be published?
It’s not essential, but of course if possible, it’s wonderful to offer the playwright that opportunity. Theatre – and particularly fringe theatre – is ephemeral – and if publication means that one of our plays has a longer potential life span than that’s all to the good.

7. What have been your highlights so far during your time at the theatre?
The awards and things have been very nice, but my favourite highlights I guess would have to be smaller things – like the number of regular audience members who come and see ALL of our productions, or maybe the couple who came out of our production of Soldiers by Rolf Hochhuth – another “neglected” play – screaming at each other and then sitting downstairs in the pub arguing, both about the issues of the play itself and its relevenace to today. I felt that we had done our job in winning an emotional and intellectual response from the audience – and also proved that the older neglected plays often have as much to say to us now as the modern work.

8. What made this the right time to employ a Literary Manager for a 6 month trial period?
I’ve felt for sometime that we should try taking unsolicited work again and certainly I did feel it deeply unfair that we were only accepting new work through production companies or through people who could afford my Scriptreading service – which I wanted to stop anyway. To a large extent, it’s pragmatic. We are being absolutely clear about the kind of plays we want – i.e. absolutely NO plays about twentysomething University graduates in a flat in Camden Town moaning that their lives are meaningless with a revelation of child abuse in the middle of Act Two(!) – and hope that we may find our next Playwright-in-Residence through the process.

9. What are your plans for the future?
Really just continuing on the path we are on. There are a lot more forgotten plays that deserve to be seen again, and a lot more new writers to discover. As a digression, I prefer to say “new” rather than “young” – we welcome older writers as much as young ones, and indeed are currently developing a play with a playwright who recently retired which should be presented next year – though, having said that, there are some older writers who can write just as badly as younger ones – and be unhelpfully bitter into the bargain! So, generally, just moving forward as we have done. Personally, I’m always slightly offended that just as the theatre has started to do well, people ask me when I’m leaving! For myself, I don’t see the Finborough as just a stepping stone to somewhere else. I’m happy where I am.

Alexandra...
1. What attracted you to the role of Literary Manager at The Finborough? And what did you do prior to this post?
I got involved at The Finborough when I did an internship here last October. I had been reading scripts and attending performances for Neil, when the opportunity arose for setting up the literary department – which I promptly snapped up! On a personal level, I’m also a writer, and this is a great chance to see what theatre is out there, and the more plays you read / see the more understanding you get as to what works and what doesn’t. Also, I’m passionate about new writing and get a buzz out of helping a writer to develop his/her work.
Previously I was studying for a Masters in Playwriting at Birmingham University, and before that I did my BA in English Lit at York Uni, and although university gave me lots of analytical and dramaturgical skills etc I was keen to put them into practice!

2. What types of plays are you hoping to receive?
Big dramatic plays from inspired and passionate writers would be nice!

3. What should writers do if they are interested in sending you their scripts?
Check out our website for what kind of thing we’re looking for, and if you think your play is suitable then send us a copy, along with a synopsis and a SAE for a response. If you aren’t sure, you can send a synopsis to me at finboroughliterary@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll let you know if it sounds up our street!

4. How long should writers expect to wait before receiving a response?
At the moment we’re managing to keep on top of things, and I aim to have the scripts read within 2 months at least. If you’re waiting longer it probably means the script is being re-read or considered by Neil, so that’s a good thing!

5. What advice would you give to writers before they send their script to you or any other theatre?
Make sure your script is something that fits in with the artistic policy of the theatre, as far as you can tell. That’s not to say that you should write your play with a specific theatre in mind, but just that not every theatre will be interested in your style or themes. If possible, try to visit the theatre you’re sending your play to.
On a boringly practical level, make sure you do everything the theatre asks, for example, send a synopsis or a SAE if that’s what they want – it’ll only annoy them if you don’t!

6. Who are your favourite playwrights and why?
I admire Martin Crimp for his humour and experimentation with form and character. Mamet for the intensity he manages to create, for example in Glengary Glen Ross, and his brilliant dialogue. Beckett for his economy of language. The American playwright, Will Eno, for his totally engaging monologues. I thought Anthony Neilson’s ‘The Censor’ was brilliant. I recently read Far Away and fell in love with Churchill’s style – I admire how she approaches a huge theme, such as war and genocide, from such an unusual angle - the hat-makers’ perspective! - making the play all the more effective and powerful.

7. What are your plans for the future?
I want to work in this industry, and hope to develop my own writing, and further my career in that direction. But I’m also enjoying the literary manager side of things, so if I can carry on doing this I’ll be happy too!