Martin Foreman's CALIFORNIA LIVES Begins Tonight at the King's Head Theatre

How well do you know those who are closest to you? In three powerful and moving monologues, Martin Foreman lays bare the lives of three very different Californians in CALIFORNIA LIVES. Press Night is tonight 22 April at 7.15pm.

In Los Feliz, Robin Holden is a salesman in a diner who knows the freeways and side streets of Los Angeles like the back of his hand. Then on one of these side streets he meets the woman of his dreams...

Ben and Joe's, starring Barry Clarke, is set in a San Fernando Valley bar, where a group of older men spend their days shooting the breeze, watching TV and flirting with the bartender. Life is quiet until a young man enters...

The final monologue is Sunset, starring Carolyn Lyster. As the sun sets in the Cascade Mountains a grandmother remembers her first date, the man she married and their life together.

Robin Holden was nominated for Best Actor at the 2011 Off West End Awards for Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde in The Scandalous Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at the Union & Tabard theatres. He played the title role in Macbeth, Marc Antony in Julius Caesar and Iago in Othello, all at the Blue Elephant Theatre. He premiered Los Feliz at the Solo Festival 2012. Barry Clarke's theatre credits include: Alencar in The Maias, Mr Erpingham in The Erpingham Camp, Polonius in Hamlet and Castruchio and Doctor in The Duchess of Malfi, all at the Greenwich Playhouse. He premiered Ben and Joe's at the Solo Festival 2012. Carolyn Lyster's theatre credits include West End appearances as Barbara in Run For Your Wife at the Duchess, Mary in Caught In The Net at the Vaudeville, Jane in It Runs In The Family at The Playhouse, Susan in No Sex Please, We're British at the Strand and Polly in The Bandwagon at the Mermaid.

Writer Martin Foreman is the author of two novels (Weekend and The Butterfly's Wing), two collections of short stories (A Sense of Loss and First and Fiftieth) and a play (The Benefactor). Born in Scotland, he has spent much of his life living and working and in other countries, including three years in Los Angeles. The monologues in Californian Lives first appeared in longer versions in First and Fiftieth, a collection of first-person narratives that span the globe, genders, ages and sexual orientations. Two of the monologues were first performed at the Solo Festival in Camden in 2012, for which Martin won the New Writing Award.

Director Emma King-Farlow is the founder and Artistic Director of Shadow Road Productions. Her directing credits include a double-bill of Lucille Fletcher's chillers Sorry, Wrong Number and The Hitch-Hiker, a sell-out production of Guy van der Westhuizen's new comedy Oswald's Return, Martin Foreman's one-man plays Angel and Los Feliz, David Ives' award-winning comedy Time Flies, C.S. Lewis' children's classic The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Jean Anouilh's powerful retelling of Antigone and the self-penned short film Absolution.

For more about the show, go to www.californianlives.co.uk.

Arbery Productions presents Californian Lives by Martin Foreman, directed by Emma King-Farlow, at King's Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, London N1 1QN, Sunday 21 April to Sunday 26 May. Press night tonight 22 April at 7.15pm.

SCHEDULE:

Sunday 21 April at 7.15pm
Monday 22 April at 7.15pm
Sunday 28 April at 7.15pm
Monday 29 April at 7.15pm
Sunday 5 May at 7.15pm
Monday 6 May at 7.15pm
Sunday 12 May at 7.15pm
Monday 13 May at 7.15pm
Sunday 19 May at 7.15pm
Monday 20 May at 7.15pm
Sunday 26 May at 3.00pm
and 7.15pm

Tickets: £11.50 - £19.00. Box office: 020 7478 0160 or www.kingsheadtheatre.com.

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