Geraldine Somerville Stars in World Premiere of Debut Play CHECKPOINT CHANA

Originally seen as a staged reading as part of Vibrant 2017 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, the world premiere of Checkpoint Chana by Jeff Page starring Geraldine Somerville runs at the Finborough Theatre, playing Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from Sunday, 4 March 2018 (Press Night: Monday, 5 March 2018 at 7.30pm).

Poet Bev Hemmings is in the eye of a storm after she publishes a poem that the world seems to believe is anti-Semitic. She's convinced she's innocent, but everyone else - including her PA, Tamsin - wants her to apologise. A press interview is planned to begin her public rehabilitation, but Bev's dying father, erratic behaviour and tendency to drink make her public contrition a complex process.

Checkpoint Chana examines the point where pro-Palestinian criticism of the government of Israel and anti-Semitism blur.

Playwright Jeff Page is a writer and voluntary sector worker. He is a graduate of the John Burgess playwriting course at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. Plays include Attack of the A&E Zombies (Descent Theatre and Irlam Festival Fringe).

Director Manuel Bau is originally from Italy where he graduated in Theatre Directing in Venice and then trained at the London Film Academy and at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Direction includes Questions of Terrorism and Repression (Lion and Unicorn Theatre), A Feyre Tale (The Space, Edinburgh Fringe), The Man with The Flower in His Mouth (Christ Church College, Oxford), How Does That Make You Feel? (Lion and Unicorn Theatre), Soft the Moon Rose (Etcetera Theatre) and The White Room (Courtyard Theatre). Direction of short plays includes Girls Just Want to Have Fun-Damental Human Rights, Girl of My Dreams and The Lottery (Theatre503 and Southwark Playhouse). Associate Direction includes Le Grand Mort (Trafalgar Studios), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Royal Festival Hall) and Allegro (Southwark Playhouse). Manuel was recently language consultant on Do I Hear A Waltz? (Encores at New York City Center) and Director on Attachment on Porgy and Bess (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park).

The cast is:
Ulrika Krishnamurti | Tamsin
Trained at Guildford School of Acting and Act One Studios in Chicago.
Theatre includes Made in India for which she was nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for Best Female in a Play (Soho Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and National Tour) Pink Sari Revolution (The Curve, Leicester, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and West Yorkshire Playhouse), Sanguine Night (RADA Festival), Commencing (Tristan Bates Theatre) and Twelve (Kali Theatre).
Film includes The Anushree Experiments, London Paris New York and Rockford.

Matt Mella | David
Trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Theatre includes The Merry Wives of Windsor (Theatre N16), The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Drayton Arms Theatre), In the Dead of the Night (Landor Theatre), Grease, Company, Edmond, Hamlet and Antigone (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama).
Film includes Par for the Course.
Voiceover includes The World's End, Prisoners and Goosebumps.

Geraldine Somerville | Bev
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes Power, Remember This, Blue Remembered Hills (National Theatre), I Am Yours, The Treatment, 3 Birds Alighting on a Field, A Jamaican Airman Foresees His Death (Royal Court Theatre), Yerma (New Vic, Bristol), More Than One Antoinette (The Young Vic), Epsom Downs, Romeo and Juliet (Bristol Old Vic), Lady Audrey's Secret (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), The Glass Menagerie for which she was nominated for the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actress (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Serenading Louise (Donmar Warehouse and National Tour) and A Doll's House (Birmingham Rep). Film includes Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Goodbye Christopher Robin, The Hippopotamus, Kids in Love, The Riot Club, Grace of Monaco, Automata, My Week with Marilyn, Sixty Six, Gosford Park, Rough Auntie, Jilting Joe, True Blue, Haunted, A Business Affair, Close My Eyes, Augustine and Bathing Elizabeth.
Television includes Cracker for which she was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, The Children, Daphne, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Jericho, Murder in Mind, The Safe House, New Tricks, Silent Witness, Quirke, Inspector George Gently, Survivors, Heaven on Earth, Daylight Robbery, The Aristocrats, Heaven on Earth, After Miss Julie, The Deep Blue Sea, Romeo and Juliet, Poirot, Casualty and The Black Velvet Gown.
Forthcoming productions include Netflix and Channel 4's new drama Kiss Me First.

Nathaniel Wade | Michael
Trained with the National Youth Theatre Rep Company.
Theatre includes Cinderella (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), DNA, Pigeon English, Romeo and Juliet (Ambassadors Theatre) and Boys (The Vaults).

Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
No booking fees on online, personal or postal bookings
By Telephone - Box Office 01223 357851. (Calls are free. There will be a 5% booking fee.) Lines are open Monday- Saturday 10.00am-6.00pm
Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 March 2018
Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm. Tuesday matinees at 2.00pm.
Tickets £18, £16 concessions. (Group Bookings - 1 free ticket for every 10 tickets booked.)
Performance Length: Approximately 80 minutes with no interval.

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