Finborough Theatre

TIME OUT SHOW OF THE WEEK

A Future Fair For All - The Labour Party

A Fair Deal For Everyone - The Conservative Party

Fighting For A Fairer Burnley - The British National Party

A love and hate story for blazing summer, inspired by events in the northern towns where the BNP has gained a foothold. When a festival is set up to unite the community a year after race riots, the clash between plans to celebrate multiculturalism or hold a traditional English fair lead to a rollercoaster ride for young lovers Railton and Melanie whose relationship implodes when they discover each others politics. Set amidst the dizzying whirl of the fairground, the play sears off the skin of racism to explore the towns and the countrys search for identity.

Award winning playwright Joy Wilkinson is from Burnley. Her first play, Felt Effects, was joint winner of Soho Theatres prestigious Verity Bargate Award. Her other plays include Interior Design for the Undead, winner of the International Student Playscript Competition, and The Aquatic Ape, performed in the 5065 Lift at last years Edinburgh Festival: Outlandishly brilliant . . .It is well written, sparky, clever and funny ****Three Weeks. This is Joys first full production in London.

Floodtide is an award winning new writing company, concentrating on commissioning new political theatre. Previous acclaimed productions include HyperLynx (Tricycle), Wild Raspberries (Glasgow Citizens), The Cure at Troy (BAC and Tour), Wolf Game (Union Theatre) and the recent Project Change, a series of new work on the runup to the General Election.

Exciting young director Helen Eastman returns to the Finborough Theatre following her acclaimed production of Colleen Wagners The Monument in 2003. Her theatre credits include The Cure at Troy, Wild Raspberries with Elizabeth MacLennan, and Wolf Game for Floodtide, as well as assisting Michael Attenborough on Brighton Rock at the Almeida. She has also won acclaim for her work in opera including directing Hansel and Gretel for Cork Opera House as part of the citys European Capital of Culture celebrations. Her revival of Adrian Osmonds production of The Turn of the Screw in Dublin was nominated in the Irish Times Awards for Best Opera.

The script is published by Methuen. Copies are available at the Finborough Theatre Box Office, from major theatre bookshops or online.

THE PRESS ON FAIR
FAIR - TIME OUT - SHOW OF THE WEEK
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What's On in London

“WITH ITS THOUGHT-PROVOKING POLITICS, WARM-HEARTED HUMANISM AND IDEAS ABOUT ENGLISH IDENTITY,
THIS IS AN EVENING THAT’S AS NEAR TO BLISS AS YOU CAN GET.”
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“A VERY GOOD PLAY FOR TODAY.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian

“A PLOT THAT TWISTS AS OFTEN AS A FAIRGROUND RIDE, AND A STRUCTURE AS IMAGINATIVE AS A POEM.”
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“JOY WILKINSON SKILFULLY EXPOSES THE SHARED PSYCHOLOGICAL FLAWS OF HER DUAL PROTAGONISTS.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian

“THIS SEARING YET SUBTLE EXAMINATION OF OUR MODERN ‘FAIR’ BRITAIN.”
Benjamin Davis, Time Out

“JOY WILKINSON’S WICKEDLY HUMOROUS NEW PLAY”
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“INTENSE THEATRE”
Sean Cosgrave, The Morning Star

“JOY WILKINSON’S POWERFUL DRAMA… A SCRUPULOUSLY BALANCED PIECE OF THEATRE FILLED WITH EXCITING, POETIC DIALOGUE.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“AN ABSORBING DEPICTION OF THE RISE OF RACISM IN THE NORTH.”
Sharon Garfinkel, What’s On in London

“WOULD YOU RATHER LISTEN TO THE VIEWS OF A BEAUTIFUL BLONDE LIBERAL OR A THUGGISH RACIST SKIN-HEAD?...IT IS A BRILLIANT DEVICE, AND EXPRESSES GREAT INTELLIGENCE ON THE PARTS OF THE WRITER, JOY WILKINSON, AND THE DIRECTOR, HELEN EASTMAN.”
Benjamin Davis, Time Out

“SUPERBLY DIRECTED BY HELEN EASTMAN”
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“HELEN EASTMAN'S PRODUCTION INCORPORATES FAIRGROUND RIDES AND MAINTAINS THE PLAY'S SCRUPULOUS MORAL BALANCE.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian

“DIRECTOR HELEN EASTMAN KEEPS THE PACING TIGHT AND SOME CLEVER SOUND DESIGN AND LIGHTING MAKE FULL USE OF THE INTIMATE FINBOROUGH STAGE.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“THE WONDERFUL INTIMACY OF THE PERFORMANCES.”
Benjamin Davis, Time Out

“THE CASTING OF THE TWO MAIN PLAYERS IS EXCELLENT.”
Sharon Garfinkel, What’s On in London

“THE ACTING FROM THE THREE CAST MEMBERS IS TOP-NOTCH”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“MATTHEW WILSON’S COMMANDING AND SYMPATHETIC PERFORMANCE…COMPELLING AND MOVING…”
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“MATTHEW WILSON IS EXCELLENT AS RAILTON: SKIN-HEADED AND IMPOSING, INTELLIGENT, BUT FRUSTRATED”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“MATTHEW WILSON GIVES A PHYSICALLY PERSUASIVE IMPRESSION OF A RAW YOUNG BNP ACTIVIST”
Jeremy Kingston, The Times

“REBECCA EVERETT… A FRESH AND WINNING PERFORMANCE THAT ENGAGES THROUGHOUT.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“REBECCA EVERETT EXUDES THE RIGHT SPOILT SULKINESS”
Michael Billington, The Guardian

”JONATHAN JAYNES…PROVIDING A SUITABLY MALEVOLENT PRESENCE.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

“THE STRENGTH OF WILKINSON’S ENJOYABLE AND DISTURBING DRAMA IS THAT SHE POKES FUN AT THE PLATITUDES AND PREJUDICES OF BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CREATING A STORY THAT IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY CREDIBLE AND EMOTIONALLY TRUE"
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

“WILKINSON HAS A GOOD EAR FOR AMUSING DIALOGUE.”
Sharon Garfinkel, What’s On in London

“JAMES COTTERILL’S SUPERB SET…THE ACTORS GAZE OVER THE TOWN HUNG UPSIDE DOWN, OR FROM THE IMAGINED SPIN OF THE WALTZER.”
Benjamin Davis, Time Out

“THE SCAFFOLDED SET IS A SPARSE, INDUSTRIAL, UNCHANGING LANDSCAPE, RECONTEXTUALISED BY SCRIPT AND ACTORS.IN RAILTON'S SITTING ROOM, A WALTZER BECOMES A NOVELTY SOFA AND THE RIFLE RANGE'S STACKED CANS BECOME A BAR.”
Sean Cosgrave, The Morning Star

“WILKINSON TAKES WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A VERY SIMPLISTIC PREMISE AND INVIGORATES IT WITH SUBTLE CHARACTERISATIONS AND SURPRISING PARALLELS.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH

"FAIR IS UNCOMFORTABLE, BECAUSE…WE ARE NEVER CONVINCED THAT RAILTON IS "A RACIST THUG.” HE IS MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT, WHICH MEANS THAT WE UNWILLINGLY COMPREHEND AND EVEN LIKE HIM…HE IS A HAMLET FEELING SOLD OUT BY A TREACHEROUS MOTHERLAND.
Sean Cosgrave, The Morning Star

“IT DEALS WITH POWERFUL, TOPICAL THEMES IN A REFRESHINGLY SUBTLE AND INTELLIGENT MANNER AND, AS SUCH, IT'S THE PERFECT ANTIDOTE FOR THEATREGOERS CURRENTLY SUFFERING FROM EDINBURGH ENVY.”
Natasha Tripney, Music OmH