Ten years ago, Bella Soroush's life was ruined by one of her pupils - Kane McCarthy. She has gradually rebuilt things - new school, new town, new friends - and finally feels at home in the depths of the countryside. Now Kane is back in her classroom, armed with relics of the past and claiming to want forgiveness. As the truths they've clung to begin to collapse, teacher and pupil are forced to confront their prejudices and the shared history that has bound them together.
Set over a single evening, Jam is a relentless, incendiary new drama that interrogates social fault-lines in Britain today, and the tension between truth and justice. It gets its world premiere in a 4-week season at the Finborough Theatre, Tuesday, 23 May - Saturday, 17 June.
Harry Melling (King Lear, Old Vic, Hand to God, Vaudeville, The Angry Brigade, Bush Theatre, is Kane. Jasmine Hyde (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's Globe, Somniloquy and Why Can't We Live Together?, Theatre503) is Bella.
Jam is Matt Parvin's debut full length play. It is directed by Tommo Fowler, who returns to the Finborough Theatre following his acclaimed productions of Obama-ology and I Wish To Die Singing.
Jam is produced by W14 Productions in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.
The run will be accompanied by the FINBOROUGHFORUM, a series of informal post-show discussions and debates, on Wednesday evenings: 31 May and 7 June. All events are free to ticketholders for that evening's performance of the play. FINBOROUGHFORUM events will all be Twitter friendly with live tweets from @FinboroughForum. Using the hashtag #finfor, the speakers will also answer questions posed on Twitter so everyone can be included, no matter where they are in the world. The events will feature a Q&A session with Matt Parvin, the writer, Tommo Fowler, the director and members of the cast.
JAM POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS
Wednesday 31 May: Discussion with Matt Parvin and Tommo Fowler of the issues surrounding the play.
Wednesday 7 June: Q&A with Matt Parvin, Tommo Fowler and members of the cast.
Harry Melling (Kane)
Trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
His theatre credits include King Lear (Old Vic), Hand to God (Vaudeville), The Angry Brigade (Bush Theatre and Paines Plough), Peddling (HighTide, Arcola and 59E59 New York), King Lear (Chichester), The Hothouse (Trafalgar Studios), Smack Family Robinson (Rose Theatre Kingston), I Am A Camera (Southwark Playhouse), When Did You Last See My Mother (Trafalgar Studios), School for Scandal (Barbican), Women Beware Women and Mother Courage and Her Children (National Theatre). TV credits include Musketeers, Joe Mistry, Garrow's Law, Merlin, Just William and Friends and Crocodiles. Film credits include The Current War, Lost City of Z, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone, The Winds of Change, I Think Therefore and Felicity
Jasmine Hyde (Bella)
Trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Her theatre credits include Not Moses (Arts Theatre), Whose Life is it Anyway? and The Dog (Frinton Summer Theatre), Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (Jermyn Street), Death of a Cyclist (Arcola), Muswell Hill
(Orange Tree), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe),
Somniloquy and Why Can't We Live Together? (Theatre503), '06/'07/'05 and Gaugleprixtown (Menagerie), The Rivals (Theatre Royal Bath), Gifts of War/Two Into War (National Tour), Charlie's Aunt (Northcott Exeter), Singer (Oxford Stage Company), Waters of the Moon (Salisbury Playhouse), Pericles (RSC), Coast of Utopia (National Theatre), Tiny Dynamite (Paines Plough/Frantic Assembly). TV credits include Doctors, Holby City and Casualty. Film credits include The Unseen, The Truth Commissioner, Sins of a Father, A Distant
Mirage, Runt, Other, Undo and Restoration. Radio credits include many Radio 4 afternoon plays, Book at Bedtime, Book of the Week and Poetry Please. Jasmine plays Leonie Snell in The Archers and the young Hilda Rumpole in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey stories.
Matt Parvin (Playwright)
Matt Parvin trained at The Royal Court Theatre and Arcola Theatre Writers Programme, and was part of the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond,
Writers Collective. His professional debut Two Roads premiered at VAULT
Festival in 2015, and he has adapted Alice in Wonderland (Edinburgh Festival and National Tour). His short plays include Monster Party and You Maverick (Arcola Theatre), Everyday Horse (Theatre503), Roost (Oxford New Writing Festival 2013, and winner of Best Script Prize) and The Death of Riot Boy
(Nuffield Theatre, Southampton).
Tommo Fowler (Director)
Director Tommo Fowler returns to the Finborough Theatre where he directed I Wish To Die Singing (Winner of Studio Theatre Award for Best New Play) and Obama-ology, and was Resident Assistant Director on Harajuku Girls and Sommer 14: A Dance of Death. Theatre includes Griff Rhys Jones: Jones and Smith (National Tour), Mumburger (Archivist's Gallery, and OffWestEnd Awards nomination for Best Female Performance), Somewhere Else Entirely (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton), PLAY #13 (Vault Festival), Monster Party (Arcola
Theatre) and The (Accidental) Death of Alan Bishop (Pleasance London).
Assistant Direction includes Passin' Thru (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (The Print Room) and Rainbow (Edinburgh Festival, and winner of a Fringe First Award).
W14 Productions
W14 Productions was launched in 2014 by Producer Annabel Williamson and with a focus on new writing. Recent productions include The Brink (a co-
production with the Orange Tree), The Late Henry Moss and Upper Cut
(Southwark Playhouse).
For tickets and more information, visit www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.
Tuesday to Saturday evenings at 7.30pm.
Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm.
Saturday Matinees 3.00pm (from 3 June 2017).
Performance Length:
Approximately 90 minutes with no interval.
Prices until 4 June
Tickets £16, £14 concessions
except Tuesday Evenings £14 all seats, and Friday and Saturday evenings £16 all seats.
Previews (23 and 24 May) £12 all seats.
£10 tickets for Under 30's for performances from
Tuesday to Sunday of the first week when booked online only.
£12 tickets for residents of the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea on Saturday, 27 May 2017 when booked online only.
Prices from 6 June
Tickets £18, £16 concessions
except Tuesday Evenings £16 all seats,
and Friday and Saturday evenings £18 all seats
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