Finborough Theatre Presents ALL GOOD MEN, Now thru May 14

The Finborough Theatre presents the first UK production in nearly 40 years of Trevor Griffiths' All Good Men, last seen at the Young Vic in a production by The National Theatre in 1975, and opening at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of eight Sunday and Monday evening performances tonight, 29 April 2012. Tickets £14, £10 concessions.

The cast includes Ben Deery, Sophie Steer, David Weston and Ben Whybrow. Directed by Rania Jumaily. Designed by James Turner. Lighting by Gareth Wide. Sound Design by Lydia Samuels. Presented by The Last Refuge Theatre Company in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.

A country house in Surrey, the home of Edward Waite, former miner and aging Labour grandee who served his apprenticeship during the General Strike. A young television producer prepares Waite for an interview on his past as a miner, union leader and politician. As Waite and his family wade deeper into the swamp of his past, the question is asked if the radical politician is all he seems... Does one bad judgement mean you are not a good man?

Originally a BBC Play for Today in 1974, All Good Men was Trevor Griffiths’ first television work, rewritten for the stage by Griffiths for the 1975 production at The Young Vic produced by The National Theatre.

All Good Men is presented alongside a short play by Trevor Griffiths, Thermidor, which was first performed by 7:84 Theatre Company at the 1971 Edinburgh Festival. Moscow 1937. Anya, a young mother, has offended the powers that be with her casual connections to betrayers of the ‘party’. As she is interrogated, it becomes clear her verdict is already decided, until a glimpse of human feeling penetrates the questioner’s authoritarian armour...

Playwright Trevor Griffiths has been writing for theatre, film and television for more than forty years. His stage plays include Comedians, Occupations, The Party, Piano, Real Dreams, Thatcher’s Children, a version of The Cherry Orchard, Who Shall Be Happy …? and The Gulf Between Us. Recent London productions include A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine (Shakespeare's Globe, 2009), a revival of Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith, 2009), The Wages of Thin (Old Red Lion, 2010), and Habaccuc Dreams (Bush Theatre's "66 Books", 2011). His television work includes All Good Men, Through The Night, Country, Sons and Lovers, The Last Place on Earth, Hope in the Year Two, the celebrated political series Bill Brand and Food for Ravens. Cinema films include Reds, with Warren Beatty, and Fatherland, directed by Ken Loach. Awards include the BAFTA Writers Award, the Writers Guild of America Best Screenplay award, and an Oscar nomination for Reds.

Director Rania Jumaily is Artistic Director at The Last Refuge. She trained at Bristol University and Birkbeck College. Her directing includes Oh! What a Lovely War (Oval House), Much Ado About Nothing (Oval House) The Threepenny Opera (Lost Theatre), West End Glee Club (Edinburgh Festival), Over The Moon (Wimbledon Studio Theatre), First Lady Suite (UK Premiere at the Union Theatre) and The Bully Composition (Southwark Playhouse). As Assistant Director, theatre includes The Flags (directed by Greg Hersov), A Conversation (directed by Jacob Murray), An Ideal Husband (directed by Braham Murray), Roots (directed by Jo Combes), The Children’s Hour (directed by Sarah Frankcom), Three Sisters (directed by Sarah Frankcom), Everybody Loves a Winner (directed by Neil Bartlett) (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and Kafka’s Dick (directed by Sarah Esdaile) (Watford Palace Theatre). As Associate Director, forthcoming theatre includes Wonderful Town (directed by Braham Murray) (The Lowry, Manchester, and National Tour).

Designer James Turner is Resident Designer at The Last Refuge. He trained on the Motley Theatre Design Course. Theatre design includes Execution of Justice (Southwark Playhouse), Oh What a Lovely War and Much Ado About Nothing (British American Drama Academy), Thrill Me (Charing Cross Theatre), Plain Jane (Royal Exchange Studio Theatre, Manchester), That Moment (Underbelly, Edinburgh), Some Stories (Templeworks, Leeds), Over the Moon (New Wimbledon Studio Theatre), Hair (Playbox Theatre), Matryoshka (Landor Theatre), No Wonder (Library Theatre, Manchester) and A Man of No Importance (Arts Theatre). James has worked extensively as a design assistant, regularly assisting Bunny Christie, and also working with Christopher Oram, Ultz, Tom Cairns, Jeremy Herbert, Miriam Buether and Soutra Gilmour. Work as a Design Assistant includes The Comedy of Errors (National Theatre), Haunted Child and Get Santa (Royal Court Theatre), Il Trittico (Royal Opera House), Evita (Broadway), Reasons to be Pretty and The House of Bernarda Alba (Almeida Theatre) and If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre). James is currently assisting Lucy Osborne on designs for The Recruiting Officer (Donmar Warehouse). Forthcoming work includes assisting Ultz on designs for Gloriana (Royal Opera House).

The Last Refuge Theatre Company is the in-house full time producing company of The Last Refuge, a brand new multi-use arts venue opening full time in August 2012 in Peckham Rye, London. The 100-seater venue will be the heart of the organisation. www.thelastrefuge.co.uk

The cast includes:

Ben Deery - Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Theatre includes The Woman in Black (Fortune Theatre), La Cage Aux Folles (Playhouse Theatre), Anne Boleyn, All’s Well That Ends Well, Henry VIII (Shakespeare’s Globe), Dangerous Corner, Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds) and The Importance of Being Earnest, Romeo and Juliet (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh),

Sophie Steer - Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Theatre includes O Brave New World (Retz), Sense (Hen and Chickens Theatre), Crystal Maze, Recalculating (Arcola Theatre), A Hole in the Earth (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), Is Everyone OK? (Nu Write Festival for Nabakov), Mansfield Park and Ride (Eastern Angles), Inches Apart (Old Vic New Voices Theatre at 503), Nine Lives of Bua Lydia (Underbelly at the Edinburgh Festival), Antigone at Hell's Mouth (Soho Theatre for Kneehigh and the National Youth Theatre), Henry V (Hackney Empire for the National Youth Theatre) and three plays by Marcelo Dos Santos: Births, Marriages and Deaths, Moshing Lying Down and Recalculating.

David Weston - At the Finborough Theatre, David appeared in The Goodnight Bird (2011). Theatre includes Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Murder in the Cathedral, Elgar’s Rondo, Venetian Twins, A Christmas Carol, The Tempest, Henry VIII, the world tour of King Lear (all Royal Shakespeare Company), Troilus and Cressida, Richard III, Summerfolk, The Merchant of Venice, Speer, Henry V, No Man’s Land (all National Theatre), Cyrano, Chimes at Midnight, Love for Love, Cyrano de Bergerac (all Chichester Festival Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Rick’s Bar Casablanca, Uncle Vanya, Democracy, The Accused (all West End), Julius Caesar, Don Pedro (Library Theatre, Manchester), The Cherry Orchard, The Devil’s Disciple, Henry IV (Ludlow Festival), Macbeth, Shoemaker’s Holiday, The Maid’s Tragedy (Mermaid Theatre), Hamlet (Birmingham Rep), Hamlet (Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead), Antony and Cleopatra, The Long and The Short and The Tall (Shaw Theatre), Macbeth, Toby Belch (St George’s Theatre), King Lear, A Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice (Young Vic), Rebecca (Churchill Theatre, Bromley), Bromley Hound of the Baskervilles (Plymouth), A Lesson from Aloes (Haymarket Theatre, Leicester), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, Julius Caesar (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), King Lear (National Tour for Compass Theatre Company), Dorian Gray (Theatre Royal Windsor), Richard II (The Old Vic), Falstaff (The Other Place, Stratford, World Tour, Edinburgh Festival and Cottesloe Theatre). Film includes The Heroes of Telemark, Masque of the Red Death, Witchcraft, The Red Baron and the title role in Disney’s Legend of Young Dick Turpin. Television includes King Lear, Doctors, The Gimlet Boys, Julian Fellowes Investigates, Barbara, Dr Who, Lovejoy, The Bill, Macbeth, By the Sword Divided, Softly Softly, Tomorrow People, Z Cars, Oranges and Lemons, Special Brunch, The Adventurer, Pathfinders, UFO, Dixon of Dock Green, Pere Goriot, The Heiress of Garth, The Idiot, Romeo and Juliet, Sergeant Cork and Tales of Mystery. His book Covering McKellen is shortlisted for this year’s Theatre Book of the Year Award.

Ben Whybrow - Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Theatre includes O Brave New World (Retz), Something Very Far Away (Workshop for National Theatre Studio), It’s Oh So Quiet (Theatre 503), Creditors (Unicorn Theatre), Midwinter Dream, A Christmas Carol, Death of a Salesman (Bridge House Theatre), The Gift (We.Buy.Gold and Old Vic New Voices), The Bitch from Brixton (Brockley Jack Theatre), The Bulley Composition (Southwark Playhouse), The Glass Menagerie (Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and Monsieur Venus (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Radio includes The Archers (BBC).

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