F*CKING MEN Returning to King's Head Theatre

The King's Head are very proud to announce that F*cking Men, Joe DiPietro's serio-comic contemporary adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde set within the gay subculture of a big city, will be playing at the King's Head in August.

The play is a moving portrayal of hunger and desire as it follows the erotic encounters of 10 men in their interconnected search for sexual satisfaction. Each scene in the play is a frank, candid and sometimes brutally honest depiction of the lustful transaction between two men. It is a loose adaptation of the 19th century play La Ronde in which pairings of characters are featured in scenes preceding and succeeding sexual encounters. It's a structure that lends itself to strong characterizations and oodles of dramatic irony.

The premiere run of F*cking Men began at the Finborough Theatre, from which it transferred to the King's Head to play for 9 months (the longest ever Off West End run of a play). It then transferred into the West End to the Arts Theatre, where DiPietro is enjoying a current revival with a new production of his musical I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.

La Ronde is no stranger to controversy, having been originally banned until 30 years after being written for its depiction of sexuality, as well as to adaptation and interpretation, with modern versions including David Hare's The Blue Room and Michael John LaChiusa's musical Hello Again.

Director Geoffrey Hyland, who directed the South African premiere of The Blue Room, returns to the King's Head after his smash-hit Between, which toured internationally before playing with us in August last year and January this year.

Artistic director of the King's Head Adam Spreadbury-Maher says: "F*cking Men is an incredible, important part of the history of LGBTQ theatre, especially at the King's Head. It represent what we stand for - taking smaller, less commercial productions and giving it a longer life. F*cking Men in particular asks many important questions, covering the fine detail as well as the big picture when it comes to LGBTQ issues - while also being a lot of fun! The piece also does an excellent job of appealing to a wide range of people, despite focusing on gay subculture, using a the celebrated and oft repeated model of La Ronde."

F*cking Men will run from August 5th - 30th at the King's Head Theatre.

Now in its 45th year, The King's Head Theatre is celebrating this anniversary with an exciting new artistic policy after the departure of OperaUpClose, becoming a crucible for new writing and critical rediscoveries. Work from Irvine Welsh, Richard Cameron, Richard O'Brien and Arthur Miller, as well as Mike Bradwell directing for the first time since the 1970s, guarantees that if it's on here, you won't see it anywhere else. Led by Adam Spreadbury-Maher, second artistic director following Dan Crawford (who set up the King's Head as the first pub theatre in 1970), the theatre is the first unfunded venue to have an Equity agreement to pay theatre- makers fair wages since 2011, and continues to do so despite receiving no public funding.

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