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finboroughtheatre
[ saroyan centennial season ]
Snakebit Theatricals in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre presents
The Beautiful People
by William Saroyan.
Directed by Mel Cook. Designed by Saka Matsushita. Music by Steve Pretty. Sound Design by Cressida Klaces
Cast includes: Geoffrey Burton. Rachel Clare. Kevin Colson. Elizabeth Counsell. Paul Greenwood. Vincent Shiels. Kyle
Soller.
“I believed goodness was a coin for exchange more powerful than any coin minted by any government- the only coin.
I’m no longer sure.”
The Beautiful People refuse to play by the rules of a wicked world, steadfastly preserving their enchanted – and at times
illegal – innocence, by any means necessary. A philosophical father, a one-word boy novelist, and blessed Saint Agnes of
the Mice battle the breaking of dreams, accompanied by a ghostly cornet player, a nostalgic clerk, an octogenarian
drunk, a drunken priest, an almost-mother, and several literate vermin.
Cheques are stolen from a dead man. Mice are daringly rescued from the clutches of the church. Strangers become
family over stories over wine. The prodigal son returns to the fold. And lost loves are finally and forever found.
At the time of its publication, Saroyan wrote: “Putting on this play was the happiest experience in the theatre I have ever
known.” Unseen in London since 1956, The Beautiful People receives a long-overdue revival as the Finborough Theatre
celebrates the centenary of the birth of Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright William Saroyan (1908-1981). The
[saroyan centennial season], runs from September - December 2008, and features rare revivals of three of his plays –
The Beautiful People, Sam the Highest Jumper of Them All and The Time of Your Life.
“Almost anyone of sensibility is a pushover for old waltz songs on the cornet, and Saroyan is a master of many similar
nostalgias…the inventive, germinal quality in Saroyan is one of the most fertile forces in the U.S. Theater.” Time
Magazine review of The Beautiful People, 1941.
Director Mel Cook has staged work for SPID (Remember the Name, Walking Tales, In a Different Light ), New
Wimbledon Studio (Burying Your Brother in the Pavement), Theatre 503(Telltales), Southwark Playhouse (A Christmas
Carol), and several start night productions for Hampstead Theatre. In the last year, Mel has assisted Gregory Doran on
The Giant, Fiona Laird on Woyzeck, and Anthony Clark on Life After Scandal. A 2008 graduate of Birkbeck’s MFA in
Theatre Directing, and alumnus of RADA’s three-year Acting course, Mel has devised work for Shakespeare’s Globe, the
BAC, Glastonbury, Camp Bestival, ITV, and the BBC; and has been a finalist for both the JMK and the Channel 4 (ITV)
Theatre Director awards.
The cast includes:
Paul Greenwood – Since 1980, Paul has appeared regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing lead roles in
The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, The Wizard of Oz, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night,
Henry VIII, and Richard II. Other UK theatre includes Guys and Dolls, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice,
The Seagull, Hamlet, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Television includes the title role in Rosie (for which he wrote and sang
the theme tune), Captain Zep, Coronation Street, A Day Out, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, Spender, Heartbeat, The
Bill, Pie in the Sky, Holby City, Doctors, Casualty and Midsomer Murders.
Kevin Colson – A Finborough Theatre regular and Tony Award nominee, Kevin created the roles of Cliff Bradshaw in
Cabaret, Sir George in Aspects of Love, and Walter DeCourcey in Chess. Other theatre includes Rat Pack Confidential
(Whitehall Theatre), Mind The Gap (Soho Theatre), Annie (West End and National Tour), Divorce Me Darling (Chichester
Festival Theatre), Maddie (Lyric Theatre), Imagine This, (Plymouth Theatre Royal), Hanging By A Thread (Almeida
Theatre), and The Woman In White (Sydmonton Festival Theatre).
Continued
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone +44 (0)20 7244 7439 Fax +44 (0)20 7835 1853
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Artistic Director Neil McPherson
e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.
Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.
Press Information
finboroughtheatre
Elizabeth Counsell - Theatre includes Salad Days (Vaudeville), The Great Big Radio Show (Watermill Theatre,
Newbury), Valentine’s Day (Globe Theatre), M Butterfly (Shaftesbury Theatre), The Corn is Green (Old Vic), Jean Seberg
(National Theatre), Present Laughter (Vaudeville Theatre),The Glass Menagerie (Lyric Theatre, Belfast),The Haunted
Hotel (No.1 Tour), 101 Dalmatians (Nuffield Theatre), Blythe Spirit (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Noel and Gertie (Jermyn
Street), and The Lost Musicals (Sadler’s Wells), as well as seasons at Billingham and the Bristol Old Vic.
Television includes ER, Doctors, Lock Stock, Nelson’s Column, Blue Heaven, 37 episodes of Brush Strokes, and 19
episodes of Executive Stress. Film includes If Tomorrow Comes and Claudia’s Story.
Geoffrey Burton - UK theatre work includes Gaddafi (English National Opera), One Under (Tricycle Theatre), Wrong
Place (Soho Theatre), Driving Miss Daisy (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds). Television and Film work includes The Bill,
Outlaws, Defender, and White Light. Theatre work in the USA includes Spoon River Anthology, Zoo Story, The Catcher in
the Rye and Deathwatch (Gene Frankel Repertory Theatre), The Pajama Game and Spring in Manhattan (The All-Souls
Players), The Death of Bessie Smith, For Esme With Love of Squalor, The Negro Giant, Red Eye Of Love and A Taste Of
Honey (Off-Broadway).
Vincent Shiels – Theatre includes Next Door’s Baby and Nutmeg and Ginger (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Dance
Hall Days (Riverside Studios), The Erpingham Camp (Greenwich Playhouse), The Barber of Seville (Royal Opera House),
Jesus Christ Superstar (European Tour), West Side Story (Theatre Royal York), and The Pirates of Penzance (National
Tour). Television includes Prince John, First Love, The Outcasts, and Rough Treatment.
Rachel Clare – A 2006 Drama Centre graduate. Theatre includes Dead Language (ICA), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare
in Syria), Three Sisters (Vahktangov Institute, Moscow), and As You Like It (Globe Theatre and Drama Centre London).
Her latest film, K, is currently in post-production.
Kyle Soller – Graduated from RADA this year. Theatre at RADA includes Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Laurie
Laurence in Little Women, Matt in Tomorrow, Jamie O'Brien in Dolly West's Kitchen, Bernard in A Number, Gulliver in
Gulliver’s Travels, and Hotspur in Henry IV Part I.
PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2008 AT 7.30PM
PHOTOCALL: BY ARRANGEMENT. PLEASE EMAIL press@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Monday, 6 October; Sunday, 12 October, Monday, 13 October; Sunday, 19 October, Monday, 20 October
2008
Evenings at 7.30pm. Tickets £13, £9 concessions.
Performance Length: Approximately 2 hours.
For more information, interviews and images, please contact
Neil McPherson on e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk or 07977 173135
Full press releases including listings information are available to download from
http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/pressresources/pressreleases/1pressreleases.htm
or go to www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk, go to ‘Contact’ in the top right hand corner of the home page and follow the
links.
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone +44 (0)20 7244 7439 Fax +44 (0)20 7835 1853
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Artistic Director Neil McPherson
e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.
Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.