Tuesday 16 June - Saturday 4 July

Pocket Punks Present

Nevermind

By Martin Sadofski

It is better to burn out than fade away.

This is a blackly funny play about loss, love and happy meals.

John, a music journalist for the NME is coming to terms with his own failings. He has failed as a writer, as a lover and as a son. Following the death of his father he returns home to face his domineering mother.

Struggling to finish a biography of Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain he is visited by Kurt himself. Kurt begins to torment him about his failure of a life.

Does Kurt want John to kill himself?

Can his girlfriend, Helen, a young sparky hairdresser from North London save him from despair?Or will his mother drive him over the edge.

This is a play about a terrible secret. A man with no hope.  A mother with no love. A girlfriend with no patience.  And a dead rockstar on a mission ...

I'm a failed writer dressed in my mother's clothes talking to the dead Lead singer of Nirvana in a small terrace house in Yorkshire.

The worst crime is faking it.

COMEDY DOUBLE BILL!

May 26 -June 13

Bowman Productions present

JESUS - THE WASTED YEARS

by Robert Meakin

directed by Andrew Neil

Original music by Adrian Colborne

It's more than 2,000 years since the crucifixion, and these are troubled times in the Kingdom of Heaven. Now all-too-fond of turning water into wine and dating female celebrities, a disillusioned Jesus reckons his Dad's past it. Matters soon come to a head when an increasingly forgetful God makes his debut on television, with disastrous consequences. Satan, meanwhile, appears to be going from strength to strength, having finally addressed his demons following a prolonged stint on the therapist's couch.

Starring:Helen Bang, Ariadne Blakey, Iain Dootson, Ryan Hurst, Tova Levy, Robert Meakin and Andrew Neil.

Live Wire Theatre Presents

Chauntecleer and Pertelotte

(A beasty-bable-fable)

By Dougie Blaxland

Directed By James Bounds

The Filthieth Funniest Show in Town!

A lovelorn hen hatches her revenge – and an all-too-cock-sure rooster gets his comeuppance – in this sex-storming farmyard romp. Inspired by Chaucer's ‘Canterbury Tales’, the play explores themes of sexual jealousy and animal lust, blending earthy humour, kinetic physical comedy with verbal dexterity. 

"This is comedic and literary gold." ***** Latest 7

Nominated for Best Show at the Brighton Festival Fringe

Cast: Tim Dewberry and Annie Hemingway

Tuesday 5 - 24 May

London Irish Theatre Present

Famine

Written and Directed by John Dunne

Famine was first produced by the late Syd Golder's Elephant Theatre over twenty-five years ago and London Irish Theatre are delighted to revive the play in this, the 150th anniversary of the ending of the Great Hunger in Ireland.

The facts of the hunger are well known. A million died and a million left for the New World over a four-year period. All this against a background of food being produced and exported to England and landlords taking the opportunity to rid the land of troublesome peasants.

Written and directed by John Dunne, the play takes a family crisis and turns it into a microscopic segment of those turbulent times. Dunne has written a trilogy of Irish history plays consisting of Famine, 1916 and Belfast as well as a critically received adaptation of Liam O'Flaherty's The Informer.

Tuesday 7 April - Saturday 2 May

Against the Grain Theatre Company present

The Woodsman

By Steven Fechter

Directed by Stuart Watson

The play that inspired the award-winning film starring Kevin Bacon has its European premiere in London.

“A long time ago, I was sent far away. When they let me come back, all my friends were gone.”

Walter is a quiet man. In the morning he watches the children arriving at the school opposite his apartment then takes the bus to his job in a warehouse. In the evening he returns home to sit alone in his shabby room, to write in his journal and to contemplate his shame.

Walter has a dark secret. After twelve years in prison he desperately wants to live a normal life, but he still wakes up screaming in the night. He is shunned by his friends and family.  But why should the world take pity on him, knowing what he has done?

The Woodsman is a story of one man trying to find a way back out of the darkness.

Cast: Lisa Came, Dominic Coddington, Mark Philip Compton, Richard Ings, Emma Pollard, John Samuel Worsey

17th March  - 4th April

Grassy Knoll Presents

HOWIE THE ROOKIE

By Mark O’Rowe

Directed by Benet Catty

A scabies-infested mattress burns in the backfields. Two dead prized Siamese fighting fish and a short-tempered gangster named Ladyboy are going to make for a very bad life for Howie Lee and The Rookie. Amongst a rowdy celebration, revenge sits heavy in the air. Loyalty, redemption and sacrifice are played out to their tragic end.

"When someone smells blood, you'd better make sure it's not yours. If someone's gonna end up dead, you'd better make sure it's not you."

In a frenetically paced urban thriller our two Howies find out that loyalty and honour are luxuries only afforded to the survivors. How do you out run the enemy when it’s your own fate chasing you down?

24th February-14th March

IsoProductions presents

Isfahan Calling

by Philip de Gouveia

Holed up at a remote desert outpost, a team of British journalists crafts covert radio propaganda for broadcast into Iran. Their mission: to discredit and demoralise the regime in Tehran. An eruption of international tensions coincides with the arrival of an idealistic new recruit – an exiled child of the Iranian Revolution. As the pressure to deliver victory mounts, how will the team reconcile their differences – and persevere in their task of ´telling lies to save lives´? 

Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 revolution and proposed new efforts by the Obama White House to engage with the Islamic world, Isfahan Calling explores the dark realities of psychological warfare, cultural exile and the challenge of choosing sides in a war of ideas.

The cast includes Zahra Ahmadi (EastEnders, Britz) and Paul McEwan (Emmerdale).

Tuesday 3 -21 February

Paper/Scissors/Stone present

Girls and Dolls

By Lisa McGee

Emma and Clare look back on a summer spent growing up in Belfast in the 1980s. It was the year of the Rubik's cube, the year the girls inherited a tree house – and the year their lives changed forever.

Two actors play over twenty characters, as the women – now in their late 20s – relive the events of that summer, trying to find where things went so wrong.

From hotly-tipped young writer Lisa McGee and the creative team behind Colourings, the ORL's most critically acclaimed show of 2008.

Tues 13 January – Saturday 31 January

Ronin Theatre presents

SIMPATICO

by Sam Shepard

Directed by Hannah Eidinow

Two childhood friends. The woman they love. A crime unpunished.Carter, rich, successful and with everything to lose.  Vinnie, his one time friend and partner calls him with a proposition. One that Carter can’t afford to ignore.

This darkly comic psychological thriller set against the cutthroat world of high stakes horse racing sets friendship against greed, and loyalty against truth. And while love can’t be bought, the past has a price.

First seen at the Royal Court in 1995. This marks the first major revival of a play by one of America’s greatest playwrights.

Cast Gabriel Butler-Lewis, Sonya Cassidy, Edward Clayton, Trudi Jackson, Danielle King and Phil Nichol. 

9 December 2008 – 3 January 2009

Osip Theatre presents

Stephen and the Sexy Partridge

By Lily Bevan and Finnian O’Neill

Ever had a problem that really only a Partridge could solve? A sexy one at that?  

Join Stephen on a Christmas spree...Two Turtle Doves, Three French Hens, Four Calling Birds later... he might end up with more than he bargained for.  Will it take Twelve Drummers Drumming to wake him up to the true spirit of Christmas? 

Inspired by The Twelve Days of Christmas, Stephen and the Sexy Partridge is a surreal tale of Christmas cheer, and love between one man and his bird.

Directed by award-winning Cal McCrystal (Mighty Boosh, Cirque du Soleil, Sacha Baron Cohen, Spymonkey).

"A one man laugh factory, the brains behind some of the best comedy in Britain" The Independent.

Cast: Lorna Beckett, Lily Bevan, Pandora Colin, Aimi Cree, Caroline Kilpatrick, Lucia McAnespie, Katie McGarry, Finnian O’Neill, Lucy Richards  Musical Director: Peter Salem

December 2 - 6

CP Theatre Productions Presents:

COMFORT AND JOY

BY MIKE HARDING

The traditional family Christmas gathering - the tree, the turkey, the presents, the family, the relatives you haven't seen for years. The grumpy old uncle, the pine needles, the Christmas lights that never work. The socks, the hankies, the soap. Or how about the daughter's weird boyfriend you've never met, the potty neighbours you can bear only once a year (and even that's once too many) or the carol singers who can't actually sing! The festive spirit flows (literally) in Mike Harding's comedy, Comfort and Joy, and everybody will recognise someone they know, or at least would dread meeting! 

Find out more about this show at: www.cp-theatre.org.uk

CAST

Pete Picton, Eammon Griffin, Holly Clark, Rachel Cohen, Emma Knott, Panny Skrivanos, Mark Harrop, Ruth Bond, Lucy Laing, Ben Easte, Caroline Boulton
and Kane Bixley

Director - Frances Bodiam
Producer - Sarah Hiscock 
Stage Manager - Rachel Goldsmith

November 24 -29

One Way - Eutopia Presents the British Premiere of   

Best Friends Forever

Written and Directed by Ioli Andreadi                                           

Translated by Deborah Pearson 

One Way-Eutopia is kindly supported by THE J.F. COSTOPOULOS FOUNDATION and affiliated with the One Roof Theatre 

Through an awkward love triangle between two middle-aged women and a Ghost, Best Friends Forever asks the question: Is the whole world a stage? Is it possible to create our personal stories, and not rehearse the same ancestral scenes? Or we are condemned to repeat the same parts, again and again, over and over, Amen?

The play takes as an example a story of friendship, love and betrayal, and encourages us to think about modern society and politics. How can a person or a society exit from a vicious circle, from what seems as a dark tunnel with no exit? Can a person or a society escape from repeating the same old mistakes, escape from “generations of poison”-social, political and emotional poison- and create something new?

November 4 –22

Weaver Hughes Ensemble presents

Pebbles on the Beach

by Joanna Pinto

Mum and Dad. I’m a Brighton now, and I’ve got myself a flat.  I’ve got myself a job. I’ve got a girlfriend.  I’m doing all right. I won’t be back for Christmas.  I’ll write again when I’m good and ready. Leo.

Leo’s number one rule is to leave someone before they leave you.  Ever since he found out he was adopted as child he has been living by that rule.  Now, he sits on Brighton Beach trying to remember how he got there.  He has questions and wants answers but all he has are pebbles in his hand.

PEBBLES ON THE BEACH is a touching, cathartic exploration of one man’s journey of self discovery and those affected by the lifelong impact of adoption, bringing to focus that you are not defined by others but by yourself. This production transfers from the Courtyard Theatre at this years’ Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the original cast.

Tuesday 14 October - Saturday 1 November

Reduced Circumstances Presents

Call Me If You Feel Too Happy

By Nicola Albon & Sophie Pelham

Bipolar is a buzz word in celebrity chic but what if you're not on the A-List?
Straight from a successful run at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this is a witty and candid account of life as a pill-popping twenty-something coming to terms with a mental illness in a modern world.

“Sophie Pelham gives a beguiling solo performance in this honest, autobiographical show... which provides an optimistic account of dealing with a feared and often misunderstood condition.” (The Herald)

“Pelham delivers a persuasive performance, winning the audience over with her natural humour. The show is funny, poignant and insightful” (The Stage)

Tuesday 14 October - Saturday 1 November

London Irish Theatre Presents

Johnjo

By Tom O'Brien

Johnjo is the poignant study of a man from the cradle to the grave. Forced to go on the run from his Irish hill-farm home at an early age, Johnjo washes up in Lincolnshire in war-time England. Working on farms and finding himself treated worse than the prisoners-of-war, he goes on the run again. And so begins a lifelong association with ‘the lump’; the underbelly of the construction industry. From building motorways and living in camps ‘you wouldn’t keep a decent dog in’, we eventually find him in London working for a ‘subby’ called Bannaher, not having been home to Ireland for more than thirty years. Disillusioned and bitter at having beenground down by the harshness of his life, he, nevertheless, retains a few sparks of defiance.

Tuesday 23rd September - Saturday October 11th

Yaller Skunk in association with secondglancetheatre present

Back of the Throat

By Yussef El Guindi

Yaller Skunk return to The Old Red Lion after their critically acclaimed box office hit, In My Name.

Winner of the Northwest Playwrights’ Competition, voted Best New Play by The Seattle Times, winner of LA Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting award, and subsequently performed across the US, Back Of The Throat has been described as 'an anxious, twisted parable for our time' (Los Angeles Times).

'FREEDOM...IT'S NEVER AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS YOU'D LIKE IT TO BE'

When a writer invites two government agents into his apartment to help them with their enquiries he has no reason to expect events will spiral out of control - but a series of misunderstandings highlight the ease with which individual rights can be taken away in the face of institutional paranoia; and how a life can be changed after just an hour-long interrogation.

Tues 2 - 20 September

Stretch Theatre Company Present

Painting by Numbers

By Simon Mawdsley

In this hilarious, but uncompromising comedy, four prison inmates await the arrival of an art teacher from the local college, but when she fails to arrive they endeavour to teach themselves how to paint. Their “journey of creation” takes them on a collision course with the prison authorities, and with each other. Doors are opened and imaginations run riot - and that’s when their problems really start.

Tues 5 - Sat 30 Aug

Croft Productions Present

Money From America

By Tom O'Brien

Money from America centres round the return of Jack Carey to his Irish home farm from America.  Having subsidised his brother Lardy over the years with money from America, Jack has returned to stake his rightful claim on the farm as elder brother.  However, Lardy proves less than willing to give way to change, having lived a solitary life of poitin-making with only Molly the pig farmer for company. 

When Jack’s fiancée Phyllis arrives from Dublin to set things right tempers flare and secrets are spilled. Jack is subsequently found murdered after a heavy drinking session with Lardy, and the police are determined to prove that Lardy is the culprit. It turns out to be not as simple as that, however.

July 8 - August 2 2008

The New Theatre present 

The Tailor and Ansty

By Eric Cross and adapted by Pj O'Connor

A true story about two people; the tailor, Timothy Buckley and his wife Ansty who lived in a small cottage in West Cork Ireland. The couple were immortalised in Eric Cross's "The Tailor and Ansty". When it was first published in 1943 it caused outrage and was banned by the censorship board, with three priests making the tailor burn the book in his own fireplace.

Now a powerful, touching and hilarious play, we are taken on a journey through bygone Ireland. Originally dramatised for the stage by P.J. O'Connor in 1967 the great Eamon Kelly and Brid Lynch played the title roles at the Abbey theatre Dublin and now, thirty years on the New Theatre Dublin present the play's exciting UK premier starring Ronan Wilmot (RSC & Royal Court) and Nuala Hayes (Abbey Dublin & Lyric Belfast) as the eponymous couple. Enjoy the stories of the tailor at his fireside and relive of innocence, fun and tragedy.