Neil Fleming's THE CONSULTANT Premieres at Theatre503, 3/23

Olivier-Award winning Theatre503 continues its commitment to new writers with the world premiere of Neil Fleming's The Consultant (23 March - 16 April), a Faustian tale for the age of austerity which explores the usefulness and value of management consultants against the backdrop of George Osborne's cuts.

Hugo Shackleton is a man in trouble, and the trouble is: he doesn't even know it.  Chief Executive of a struggling company, hounded by competitors, despised by his own Board, Hugo needs a Big Idea to turn his business around. But saving his business could cost his marriage. Into his world rolls James Ross, a charismatic management consultant with a dark past. Wheelchair-bound, furious with all mankind, and brilliant at everything, James promises Hugo he can change him forever. But once you sign up with The Consultant, he never leaves.

In this political comedy Neil Fleming writes from experience, inspired by a prominent consultancy firm's advice that businesses should emulate Enron, only six months before its notorious collapse. In 2009, Labour's last full year in office, government spending on consultants hit a staggering £1.8 billion. The Consultant satirises the hierarchies of the workplace, the language of business and the nature of consultancy. Exposing the destructive potential of power without accountability, this piece marks a new direction for award-winning company Hydrocracker; its first foray into new writing.

Over the past four years Hydrocracker has developed a growing national reputation for ‘site specific theatre with a purpose'. The company's previous three productions have been staged on Brighton Pier, a pizza restaurant and in an old town hall. The Consultant is the company's first production as part of its new writing strand, developed by founders Geoff Church (director) and Neil Fleming (writer).

Situated above the Latchmere pub in Battersea, South London, Theatre503 has been in the last few years a training ground for such hugely successful playwrights as the Olivier-award winning writers Katori Hall (The Mountaintop) and Mike Bartlett (Cock, Earthquakes in London). Under Artistic Directors Paul Robinson and Tim Roseman, and without any regular government funding, Theatre503 has established a formidable reputation as a producer of fearless new writing to match any theatre of its size in the country.

The Consultant is directed by Geoff Church and designed by Agnes Treplin.

Geoff Church is an artistic director of Hydrocracker. He has directed Hydrocracker's production of Macbeth in Kazakhstan, a co-production between the German Speaking Theatre of Almaty, Hydrocracker, the British Council and the Goethe Institute. The production remained part of the repertoire at the theatre for two years. He has also directed pubic readings of Sphinx and The Consultant for the company as part of the Ipswich Pulse Festival.

His other directing work includes assisting Peter Hall on Amadeus in the West End with David Suchet, several Shakespeare productions on the American University circuit, as well as projects for the National Theatre's Education department. He is also a company director of corporate theatre training experts, Dramatic Resources. In this capacity he has coached a number of senior executives, CEOs and CFOs but his approach is a little gentler than that of James Ross, The Consultant of Neil Fleming's savage satire.

The Consultant is written by Neil Fleming, a former journalist and publishing executive. Neil writes and translates stage plays, films and poetry. An award-winning journalist for 17 years, Neil worked in East Africa, South Africa, the Middle East and Britain, variously covering war, famine, wildlife, politics, business news, and the international energy industry. From 1997 to 2002 he was the Editorial Vice President of the world's largest energy information provider, Platts. He won the 2005 Kent & Sussex International Poetry prize and was shortlisted for the 2008 Bridport Prize. In 2002, after a successful production of Musik, a lost Wedekind play, Neil resigned from his increasingly corporate vice-presidential life to focus on writing drama. Having been a management consultant himself, The Consultant is in part Neil's revenge on all those offsite strategy meetings and consultancy projects he was once forced to take part in...

The cast includes Pip Donaghy, Sian Webber and Helen Millar.

Pip Donaghy has had a wide and varied stage career, including roles in An Inspector Calls (West End), Amadeus (Old Vic), Taking Sides/Collaboration (Chichester Festival Theatre and West End) and most recently, The Master Builder (Chichester Minerva Theatre). He originated the role of Ian in Blasted (Royal Court).

Sian Webber is best known for her extensive work in television, including roles in Silent Witness, Casualty, EastEnders, Trial and Retribution and Waterloo Road.

Helen Millar's recent theatre credits include: The Spies in Room 502 (Old Vic), Dying (The Gate Theatre) and Breakfast with Emma (Rosemary Branch and tour), for which she has been nominated for Best Female Performance in this year's Off West End Awards. She is part of the Old Vic New Voices Company.

Theatre503 is located above ‘The Latchmere' Pub at  503 Battersea Park Road London SW11 3BW. For more information, call the box office at 020 7978 7040 or visit www.theatre503.com.

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