BARROW HILL Opens at Finborough Theatre Tonight, Aug 20

The world premiere of Barrow Hill, a first play by new playwright Jane Wainwright, starring Janet Henfrey, and directed by Abbey Wright – whose recent work includes the multi-four star production of Dublin Carol  as part of the Donmar at the Trafalgar Studios season – opens at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances tonight, Monday, 20 August 2012 at 7.30pm.

Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 2012. Kath is 86 years young and still going, but as her friends keep dying around her, her only tie to the world is her beloved chapel.

When Kath discovers that the chapel is to be converted into luxury flats for young professionals and that her own son, Graham, has won the contract for the rebuilding work, she is forced into a bitter battle between the past and the future.

In the Big Society that's just waiting for her to die, Kath is confronted with the fragility of family loyalties and the pain of learning to let go...

Playwright Jane Wainwright was born in Derbyshire. She was a member of The Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers Programme, their Invitation Group for Playwrights and their 'Supergroup' of twelve specially selected writers. Plays include Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre – Start Night), Barrow Hill, performed as part of Vibrant – An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights (Finborough Theatre), In World, performed as part of Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights (Finborough Theatre), Hands Free, part of 'AVE IT!, in the Coming Up Later season (The Old Vic Tunnels) and Pet's Corner (The Miniaturists at the Arcola Theatre). She was shortlisted for the WritersRoom 10 scheme and the BBC Heartlands new writing scheme, and her play In World was part of the final shortlist in last year's PapaTango New Writing Competition. Jane is 'fostered' by OffWestEnd.com's Adopt A Playwright Award.

Director Abbey Wright has directed a string of critically acclaimed productions including Dublin Carol (Donmar Warehouse at Trafalgar Studios), Sixty Six Books (Bush), Rose (Edinburgh Festival), Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien (Arcola Theatre), The Occupied Times (Arcola Theatre), National Theatre Connections 2012 (National Theatre),The Song of Deborah (The Lowry, Manchester), Hidden Glory (The Lowry, Manchester, and Tour), The Ones That Flutter (Theatre 503), Restoration Sketch Show (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and The Gay Man's Guide (The Drill Hall). Abbey was Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse from 2008-09 during which time she worked with such notable directors as Michael Grandage, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Herrin, Peter Gill, Sean Holmes, Jamie Lloyd and John Tiffany. She was also Staff Director to Danny Boyle on Frankenstein (National Theatre).

Janet Henfrey plays Kath.

Theatre includes Autobiographer (Tour and Toynbee Studios), Charged (Soho Theatre), Tons of Money (Theatre Royal Windsor and National Tour), The Black Rider (Barbican Theatre  and International Tour), Separate Tables for which she won the Manchester Evening News award for Best Supporting Actress, The Happiest Days of Your Life and Tartuffe (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Perfect Days (Library Theatre Manchester, and Watford Palace Theatre), Orpheus Descending (Donmar Warehouse), Lettice and Lovage (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Richard III (Haymarket Theatre, Leicester), The Canterbury Tales (Gielgud Theatre), Steel Magnolias (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch), Candide (Gate Theatre), The Fire Raisers (Northcott Theatre, Exeter), Medea (Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway), Trelawny of the Wells (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and West End), The Rules of The Game (Almeida Theatre), All's Well That Ends Well, The Good Person of Sichuan (National Theatre), Too Clever By Half and Andromache (The Old Vic), Lloyd George Knew My Father (Savoy Theatre), The Dresser (Queen's Theatre), Salonika (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Turkey Time (Bristol Old Vic), Man and Superman (Savoy Theatre), Ella (ICA), Zigomania (Bush Theatre),  Ladybirds (King's Head Theatre), Hans Christian Anderson (UK Tour), Mother Courage and her Children (Paris), Great Expectations (Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Madwoman of Chaillot and Dr Knock (Oxford), Present Laughter (Leicester), The Seagull and The Tiger and the Horse (Hampstead Theatre), Lady Windermere's Fan (Nottingham Playhouse) and The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Winter's Tale, Pericles, The Two Gentleman of Verona, Major Barbara and Bewitched (Royal Shakespeare Company).

Film includes Never Better, Ever More, , Les Miserables, Jiltin Joe, Dual Balls, Dragonworld, A Pin for the Butterfly, The Tamarind Seed, Reds, Mark Gertler, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, She'll be Wearing Pink Pyjamas, Lady Jane Grey, Handel and Foreign Body.
Television includes playing Mrs Bale in seven series of As Time Goes By, the Teacher in The Singing Detective, as well as Tipping the Velvet, The Worst Witch, The Prince and the Pauper, No Bananas, One Foot in the Grave, Alice in Wonderland, Simon and the Witch, Dr Who, Stand Up Nigel Barton, Great Expectations, Unfair Exchanges, Weather in the Street, Wood and Walters, Oliver Twist and Lovejoy, Uncle Silas, Frankie Stein's Robot, Cone Zone and The Treasure Seekers, The Famous Five, Fatal Obsession, Boon, The Jewel in the Crown and Chocky.

Snapdragon Productions was founded by Artistic Director Eleanor Rhode and Producer Sarah Loader in 2009. Their productions include the European premiere of Michael Healey's Generous (Finborough Theatre) which enjoyed two sell-out runs and was named Time Out's Critics' Choice; Michael Healey's The Drawer Boy (Finborough Theatre); the award-winning European premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Me and Juliet (Finborough Theatre); Anna Karenina (Arcola Theatre); and a co-production of the world premiere of Anders Lustgarten's A Day at the Racists (Finborough Theatre and the Broadway Theatre, Barking) which was nominated for the 2010 TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Regional Theatre and won the playwright the Inaugural Harold Pinter Award for Playwriting. Forthcoming productions include the first London revival in over thirty years of Hugh Leonard's A Life at the Finborough Theatre in October 2012.

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