The Finborough has just announced it’s summer season, continuing the trend of rediscovering plays from the last century. They’ve been on a roll with one brilliant production after another and tickets usually sell out since the theatre has been so well recognized lately and it’s quite small.
Some summaries from the Finborough website:
EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN
The first London production in over 45 years
Germany, 1954. A bitterly cold winter in the early years of the Cold War. In a wind-swept corner of a British Army base, six soldiers are posted to guard an obsolete anti-aircraft gun. Their task is futile and the gunners know it. Placed under the command of an inexperienced teenager, their boredom turns to frustration and their thoughts turn to trouble as the banter and squabbles of the barrack room harden into a battle of wills between a callow NCO who just wants to serve out his time and a disillusioned fighting man with his finger on the self-destruct button…
MERRIE ENGLAND
Originally written for the Savoy Theatre in 1902 and a longtime British musical classic, this rediscovery celebrates both the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as well as the 150th anniversary of the birth of composer Edward German. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of eight Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening on Sunday, 27 May 2012 (Press Night: Monday, 28 May 2012 at 7.30pm).
Edward German’s patriotic pageant deals with love and rivalries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I as the monarch visits the townsfolk of Windsor to celebrate May Day. With a plot that includes such historical personages as Sir Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Essex, murder plots and tales of witchcraft unravel to the background of the May Day revels…
An English light opera in the style made famous by Gilbert and Sullivan, Merrie England features a prominent chorus and a range of principal numbers including ballads, patter songs, duets and quintets. German’s engaging score, evoking the colourful Tudor period, includes the ballad Dan Cupid hath a Garden; Queen Elizabeth’s song, O Peaceful England; and the stirring The Yeomen of England which was performed at Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.
THE DRAWER BOY
The London Premiere
“The Drawer Boy is a beautifully written play. It moves from toughness and hilarity to something devastating and tender…It is one of the few plays to create an authentic tradition in our culture.” Michael Ondaatje
The London premiere of the multi-award-winning play from one of Canada’s leading playwrights, Michael Healey.
Miles, an energetic and idealistic young actor, knocks on the door of an isolated farmhouse in rural Canada, seeking material for a new play he’s working on. He discovers Morgan, a gruff farmer working tooth and nail to survive, and Angus, his lifelong friend, who has long since lost track of the world. But when the farmers let the city-boy into their home, Miles’ search for a story gradually unearths a devastating truth that threatens to destroy the tranquil lives of his hosts forever.
Beautifully written, funny and moving, The Drawer Boy is a multi-award-winning bitter sweet tale of the power of storytelling, friendship, and the very thin line between truth and fiction.
Productions – Finborough Theatre
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