Zora Bishop, Nick Blakeley and More Set for Finborough Theatre's HARD FEELINGS, Beg. Tonight

Doug Lucie's Hard Feelings plays the Finborough Theatre. Artistic Director of Defibrillator, James Hillier directs a young cast of rising talents - Zora Bishop (Jane), Nick Blakeley (Baz), Margaret Clunie (Annie), Jesse Fox (Rusty), Isabella Laughland (Viv) and Callum Turner (Tone).

"We're supposed to be having a party. It's s'posed to be fun. This is my house, and when I say everybody have fun, then everybody have fun."

Acclaimed at its premiere, the core of Hard Feelings is as relevant today as it was then. The production opens at the Finborough Theatre on Thursday 13 June at 7.30pm, with previews from tonight 11 June, and runs until 6 July.

Brixton, April 1981, and tensions mount. In the safety of their home a group of Oxford University Graduates barely notice what's happening on the streets outside as police and rioters clash, shops are looted and buildings set on fire. In both worlds there is a fight for rights... a fight for respect...a fight for control. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will make the strongest cocktail? And when the dust finally settles the question remains... Will things ever change?

Hard Feelings was first staged at the Oxford Playhouse in 1982, before transferring to the Bush Theatre in 1983, directed by Mike Bradwell. It was later broadcast as a BBC Play for Today.

Zora Bishop plays Jane (As You Like It - Manchester Royal Exchange, The Complaint, Hampstead Theatre); Nick Blakeley plays Baz (Damned by Despair, 13 and A Woman Killed with Kindness - all National Theatre, The Sunshine Boys - West End); Margaret Clunie plays Annie (My Name is Caroline Korby - Theatre503, The Best Years of Your Life - nabakov, The Syndicate- Chichester Festival Theatre. For TV, Pramface and Phoneshop; and for film, Johnny English Reborn); Jesse Fox plays Rusty (Fox graduated from Central last year); Isabella Laughlandplays Viv (The Last of the Haussmans - National Theatre, Wanderlust - Royal Court, and for the screen, Richard II as part of the The Hollow Crown Season, and the Harry Potter series), andCallum Turner plays Tone in his professional stage debut. For TV, The Borgias, The Town andLeaving).

Playwright Doug Lucie was born in 1953. His plays include Progress (Lyric Hammersmith and Bush Theatres), Fashion (Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London), Doing the Business (Royal Court Theatre), Force and Hypocrisy (The Young Vic), Gaucho (Hampstead Theatre), The Shallow End (Royal Court Theatre) and Pass It On (National Theatre Connections). For television, his work includes Headhunters, Shellshock, A Life of His Own and Funseekers.

Artistic Director of Defibrillator James Hillier returns to the Finborough Theatre where he was nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for his performance in the sell-out Blue Surge. He now directs his first full-length play. He produced The Hotel Plays, directing Green Eyes as part of the trilogy, which was presented late last year at the Grange Hotel in Holborn. For film, Hillier has directed a number of shorts, winning awards at Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Cannes Film Festival and SXSW. He trained at RADA and has worked extensively as an actor in theatre, film and television.

The Finborough Theatre is located at 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. Box Office 0844 847 1652. Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk. The production runs tonight 11 June - 6 July 2013, Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm. Saturday matinees at3.00pm (from the second week of the run).

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