Rediscovered Tony Harrison Play Opens 2017 at the Finborough Theatre

In a new production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, the rediscovery of Tony Harrison's The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus in its first London production for nearly 30 years opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 3 January 2017 (Press Nights: Thursday, 5 January and Friday, 6 January 2017 at 7.30pm).

Egypt, 1907. Two archaeologists, Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, are searching for ancient fragments of poetry and plays, next to an old rubbish heap.

Until the Greek God, Apollo, descends from the skies...

Apollo is furious that they have failed to unearth the fragmentary text of a lost Satyr play by Sophocles. As he forces the two papyrologists to find the lost play, Grenfell and Hunt become part of the story they have discovered.

Multi-award-winning poet and playwright Tony Harrison remakes the ancient Greek original into a play for our times - and rediscovers the satyr play. Originally written to follow performances of all the great Greek tragedies, the satyr play is a short tragicomedy featuring a chorus with goat-like features and erect phalluses which is an essential and often neglected part of ancient Greek theatre.

Originally written for a unique one-performance world premiere in the ancient stadium of Delphi in 1988 with a cast including Jack Shepherd, Barrie Rutter and Juliet Stevenson, and subsequently seen at the National Theatre in 1990, this production is the first London production in nearly 30 years.

Playwright Tony Harrison was born in Leeds in 1937. He has written extensively for the National Theatre, New York Metropolitan Opera, BBC, Channel 4, Royal Shakespeare Company, and for ancient spaces in Greece, Austria and Japan. His volumes of poetry include The Loiners (Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize), v. (Royal Television Society Award), The Gaze of the Gorgon (Whitbread Prize for Poetry) and Laureate's Block. His film Black Daisies for the Bride won the 1994 Prix Italia. He was awarded the PEN/Pinter Prize 2009, the European Prize for Literature 2010 and the David Cohen Prize for Literature 2015.

Director Jimmy Walters returns to the Finborough Theatre following his acclaimed production of John Osborne's A Subject of Scandal and Concern. Other direction includes Julius Caesar (Saatchi Gallery and Chelsea Theatre), Improbable Fiction (Courtyard Theatre), A Naughty Night With Noël Coward (Old Red Lion Theatre), Hamlet (United Arab Emirates Tour and Network Theatre), I the Jury (Hen and Chickens Theatre), Breaded Butler (Troubadour) and Dear Ray (Edinburgh Festival). Assistant Direction includes Young Shakespeare Company tours of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet (Bloomsbury Theatre), Othello (Riverside Studios) and Knock Yourself Out (Courtyard Theatre).

The cast
Peta Cornish | Kyllene
Productions at the Finborough Theatre include After October.
Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Theatre includes Play/Silence (The Other Room, Cardiff), Future Conditional (The Old Vic), Fever (Jermyn Street Theatre), 10 Women (Ovalhouse), To Sir With Love (Royal and DernGate Theatres, Northampton), The Dugout (The Tobacco Factory, Bristol), Oscilloscopes (HighTide Festival Theatre), The Welsh Boy (Theatre Royal Bath) and The Great Gatsby (King's Head Theatre). Workshops include Keep The Aspidistra Flying (Royal Shakespeare Company), Lucy (Tricycle Theatre) and Testament (Arcola Theatre). Rehearsed Readings include Air Swimming (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Eva (HighTide Festival Theatre) and Water Wings (Ovalhouse).
Film includes Two Feet and Frail.
Television includes Queens: Virgin and Martyr, Victoria Wood Christmas Special and William and Mary.
Voiceovers include Dr Who: And You Will Obey Me, Mohammed and Bristol M-Shed Museum.

Nik Drake | Fellaheen/Satyr/Football Hooligan
Trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Theatre includes Confusions and Heroes Welcome (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Wine, Wit and Mrs Wellfed (Wilton's Music Hall), Rough Justice (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford), Julius Caesar and The Tempest (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Impotent (Lion and Unicorn Theatre), The Wild Goose Chase (White Bear Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bridge House Theatre, Warwick), The Cherry Orchard (Greenwich Theatre), Ordinary Lads (Etcetera Theatre), The Shadow Within (Edinburgh Festival), Obama On My Mind (Hen and Chickens Theatre), The Choir (Above The Stag Theatre) and Much Ado About Nothing (The Old Sorting Office Arts Centre). Rehearsed Readings include Hanging Ayaz and Chimeraz.
Film includes Hounded, Do You Feel Like Punk? and Waiting For The Window.
Voiceover include Britain's Venues.

Richard Glaves | Hunt/Silenus
Trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes King Charles III (Almeida Theatre), Oh! What A Lovely War (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Enjoy (Theatre Royal Bath and Gielgud Theatre), The Oresteia (Bard SummerScape), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park), As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company), Scuffer (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Tempest (Liverpool Playhouse), Journey's End (National Tour), Candida (Oxford Stage Company), Twelfth Night, Richard II and Edward II (Shakespeare's Globe), Habitat (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), The Accrington Pals (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Clandestine Marriage (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), Spike (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton), The Boy Who Left Home (Actors Touring Company) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Neuss Globe Theatre, Germany).
Film includes Atonement.
Television includes Black Mirror, Doctors, Holby City, The Tudors, Housewife, The Roman Mysteries - Assassins of Rome, Conscript and Oxygen of Terror.
Television includes Call The Midwife, Catastrophe and The Honourable Woman.

Sacha Mandel | Fellaheen/Satyr/Football Hooligan
Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre includes As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet (National Tour) and Passing By and Frankenstein (Chocolate Factory 2). Rehearsed Readings include Between Empires (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
Film includes Starvecrow and Rubbish.

Dylan Mason | Hermes/Satyr/Football Hooligan/Fellaheen/Pale Boy
Trained at Arts Educational Schools, London.
Theatre includes 42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Wind In The Willows (National Tour), wonder.land (National Theatre), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park), Anything Goes (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), Flowers For Mrs Harris (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and The Old Vic) and Son Of Rambow (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton).
Workshops include Helen, Love and The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre Studio) and Wildwood.

Tom Purbeck | Grenfell/Apollo
Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Foxfinder.
Trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes Tender Napalm (Southwark Playhouse), The Tempest (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Salome (Headlong Theatre), Les Parents Terrible (Donmar Warehouse), None But Friends (Rose Theatre, Kingston), The Spanish Tragedy (Arcola Theatre), The Revenger's Tragedy and Major Barbara (National Theatre), Almost Near (National Theatre Studio) and Playtime (Hampstead Theatre).
Film includes Grand Street.
Television includes: Tyrant, The Hollow Crown, A Room With A View and The Bill.

Dannie Pye | Fellaheen/Satyr/Football Hooligan
Trained at East 15 Acting School.
Theatre includes Pride and Prejudice The Panto (Cockpit Theatre), Everybody's Talking About Jamie (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), Madame X (Theatre Royal Stratford East), London Tales (Lost Theatre), Belfry (The Space), Marquis de Sade and The Seagull (The Lord Stanley Theatre) and Revolting Rhymes (Corbett Theatre, Loughton).
Film includes Sauna The Dead, Life And Death Of The Invisible Man, The Guest and Brace.
Television includes Unforgotten, Blue Steel and Lol.

James Rigby | Fellaheen/Satyr/Football Hooligan
Theatre includes Young Bloods (Gielgud Theatre), Struck and Word Play Revolution (Arcola Theatre), The Boss Of It All (Soho Theatre), Fragments (Riverside Studios), The Railway Children (Waterloo Station), Medea (Camden People's Theatre), Exterminating Angels (The Lowry, Manchester, and Theatre503), Love Bites (Southwark Playhouse), Pages (Union Theatre), Eric's (Liverpool Everyman), The Wizard of Oz (Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke), The Floods (BAC) and Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs (Warwick Arts Centre). Rehearsed Readings include The Colony (BAFTA), Fencing (Soho Theatre), 1996 (Nottingham Playhouse) and The Messiah (English Touring Theatre).
Film includes Gourmet, The Fool, The Guest and Locked Up.

Adam Small | Fellaheen/Satyr/Football Hooligan
Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre includes A Feast With The Gods (Almeida Theatre) and Paper Hearts (Edinburgh Festival).
Theatre whilst training includes Jane Eyre, Kiss Me Kate, First Lady Suite, Steel Pier, As You Like It, The Winter Guest and Oklahoma. Workshops include American Jesus.
Film includes Christmas Lights.

Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.

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