Spontaneity Shop Presents KINGMAKER, 30 July - 25 August

This summer the writers of previous Edinburgh Fringe hits Coalition and Making News and multi-award winning director of Instinct For Kindness and Lockerbie - Unfinished Business are set to team up with one of the most respected actors of his generation to present a satirical tale of political intrigue, gamesmanship and ambition in the corridors of power. Alan Cox is to be directed by Hannah Eidinow in Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky's Kingmaker, the story of a fictional yet strangely familiar political figure whose bumbling bonhomie disguises a fierce determination and a heart of steel.

Former Mayor of London Max Newman is a seasoned politician, scruffy, energetic, seemingly chaotic immensely charming and very ambitious. As the top job becomes vacant, Max knows his time may well have come. He needs to make his move but he also needs someone to stand against so it doesn't appear to be a shoo-in. Into the frame comes Dan Regan. Young and impressive, he has risen through the ranks very quickly but, some may say, he is a little naïve And then there is Eleanor Hopkirk, a seasoned Tory Whip who sees straight into Max's soul and will do everything to stand in his way. Is Dan a dupe, a decoy or Max Newman's nemesis, can Eleanor do anything to stop the former Mayor and will Max's comic and colourful past return to destroy him?

Set in a stuffy office in the House of Commons in a time quite close to the present, Kingmaker takes a sly satirical look at the ruthless game of politics and reveals a man behind a myth and a myth behind a man.

Alan Cox most recently appeared in Hannah Eidinow's production of Playing with Grown Ups at the Brits Off- Broadway festival at 59E59, where he previously performed the critically acclaimed Cornelius by J. B. Priestley. His work in this neglected classic, which started at London's Finborough Theatre, was described as 'monumental' by The Guardian and " Wonderful!" and "Virtuosic" by The New York Times. His other theatre work includes seasons at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Chichester Festival Theatre. He made his West End debut in Strange Interlude, and recent appearances include The Creeper and The Importance of Being Earnest. Off- West-End he appeared in the London premieres of Longing, The Earthly Paradise, The Flu Season, The Rubenstein Kiss and Passion Play. His film credits include The Dictator, Contagion, August, The Auteur Theory, Mrs. Dalloway, An Awfully Big Adventure and Young Sherlock Holmes. A long list of television credits include starring opposite Laurence Olivier in John Mortimer's A Voyage Round My Father in 1982 and as Alan Bennett in the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore dramatisation Not Only But Always.

Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky met at university and have written together on-and-off ever since.

Robert Khan read law at the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge and was called to the Bar in 1995. Since then he has worked variously in Parliament, policy and politics. He is also currently a Councillor in Islington.

Tom Salinsky is the artistic director of improvisation company The Spontaneity!Shop, co-author of the book The Improv Handbook and he teaches presenting, public speaking and storytelling for a wide-range of corporate clients. He was in the cast for the improvised Radio 4 Drama A Time To Dance, which was nominated for a Sony Award.

Hannah Eidinow is a multi-award winning director. Her awards include five Scotsman Fringe First Awards at the Edinburgh Festival for An Instinct for Kindness 2011 (UK Tour & Trafalgar Studios 2012; Argus Angel Award 2012); Lockerbie: Unfinished Business 2010 (UK Tour); What I Heard About Iraq 2006 (UK Tour & West End 2007); Somewhere Beneath it All, A Small Fire Burns Still 2011 and Gone (New Ambassadors 2004). She was recipient of 2010 Vauxhall Collective Award for Theatre. Further credits: A British Subject (Arts Theatre 2011; Edinburgh Festival & Brits off-Broadway Season NY 2009); The Lady From The Sea, a new version by Frank McGuinness starring Lia Williams (Arcola; BBC Radio 3 with Hugh Bonneville); plays by Anthony Neilson, April de Angelis, Dave Florez and Lucy Kirkwood in The Terror Season 2009, 2010, 2011 (Southwark Playhouse and Soho Theatre); New Israeli Political Drama Platform Series (Royal National Theatre).

Pleasance Beneath
https://www.pleasance.co.uk
0131 556 6550
July 30 to August 1 £7.50 (previews)
August 2-3, 8-10, 15-17, 21-24
£14 (£13)
August 4-7, 8, 13, 14, 20, 21, 26 £13 (£12)
August 12,18,19, 25
£12 (£11)
Day off 11

For more information visit www.kingmakerplay.co.uk.

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