THE DRAWER BOY Makes Its London Premiere, 8/10

Snapdragon in association with Neil McPherson at the Finborough Theatre present The London Premiere of The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey. Directed by Eleanor Rhode. Cast includes: Kenneth Bryans. Neil McCaul. Simon Lee Phillips.

"The Drawer Boy is a beautifully written play. It moves from toughness and hilarity to something devastating and tender...It is one of the few plays to create an authentic tradition in our culture." Michael Ondaatje

Miles, an energetic and idealistic young actor, knocks on the door of an isolated farmhouse in rural Canada, seeking material for a new play he's working on. He discovers Morgan, a gruff farmer working tooth and nail to survive, and Angus, his lifelong friend, who has long since lost track of the world.

But when The Farmers let the city-boy into their home, Miles' search for a story gradually unearths a devastating truth that threatens to destroy the tranquil lives of his hosts forever.

Beautifully written, funny and moving, The Drawer Boy is a multi-award winning bitter sweet tale of the power of storytelling, friendship, and the very thin line between truth and fiction.

The Drawer Boy premiered at Toronto's acclaimed Theatre Passe Muraille, winning the Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada's leading theatre award) for Best New Play, as well as the Chalmers Canadian Playwriting Award and the Governor General's Literary Award. It has been produced across North America and internationally, and has been translated into German, French and Japanese.

Playwright Michael Healey trained as an actor at Toronto's Ryerson Theatre School. He began writing for the stage in the early nineties and his first play, Kicked, was produced at the Fringe of Toronto Festival in 1996. He subsequently toured the play across Canada and internationally, and in 1998 it won Canada's leading theatre award - the Dora Mavor Moore Award - for Best New Play. His plays include The Road To Hell (co-authored with Kate Lynch), Plan B (which again won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play in 2002), Rune Arlidge (nominated for the Governor General's Award in 2004), The Innocent Eye Test (Manitoba Theatre Centre and Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre 2006), and Generous (winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play in 2007) which received its European premiere at the Finborough Theatre in August 2009 and was revived by popular demand for a full length run in January 2010 and was named Time Out Critics' Choice.

Director Eleanor Rhode is an Associate Artist and a former Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre where she has directed both runs of Generous by Michael Healey, The December Man (L'homme de décembre) for 2009's Vibrant - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, and Barrow Hill for Vibrant - An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights in 2010. She was also Assistant Director on Trying and S-27. She trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the National Theatre Studio. Other directing includes The Error of Their Ways (Cockpit Theatre), A Number (Camden People's Theatre), This Lime Tree Bower (Edinburgh Festival) and Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre). As Associate Director, she has worked on Lie of the Land (Arcola Theatre), and as an Assistant Director on Lie of the Land (Pleasance Edinburgh), African Gothic (White Bear Theatre) and Terrorism (Oval House Theatre).

Kenneth Bryans ' theatre credits include Henry V, Henry IV Parts I and II (Royal Shakespeare Company), Tutti Frutti (National Theatre of Scotland), Passing Places (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh), All My Sons (Bristol Old Vic), The Cosmonauts Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), You'll Have Had Your Hole (London Astoria), The Colour of Justice (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Justifying War (Tricycle Theatre), Julius Caesar, Tartuffe (Edinburgh Lyceum), Good Things (Tron Theatre, Glasgow). Film credits include The Near Room, Shallow Grave, Mojo, Macbeth, Urban Ghost Story, The Half Life of Timofey Berezin, Into the Storm, Godforsaken. Television credits include The Bill, Takin' Over The Asylum, A Mugs Game, Deacon Brodie, Looking After Jo Jo, Wycliffe, People Like Us, EastEnders, Heart and Sole, Life Support, Rockface, Taggart, Dear Green Place, Wire in the Blood and Spooks.

Neil McCaul 's theatre credits include Oedipus (National Theatre), Calendar Girls (Noël Coward Theatre), Sylvia (Apollo Theatre), June Moon (Vaudeville Theatre), Privates on Parade (Piccadilly Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, Trelawny of the ‘Wells' (Old Vic Theatre), Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi (Liverpool Playhouse), Flying Under Bridges, Cor Blimey (Watford Palace), Brighton Rock (Almeida Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (English Touring Theatre), Blackbird (Southwark Playhouse), Mr England (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), Spend Spend Spend (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Sus (Greenwich Theatre), Spin (White Bear Theatre and BAC), Habeus Corpus (Oxford Playhouse). Film credits include The Pirates of Penzance, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire. Television credits include Holby City, Foyle's War, Doctors, Blue Murder, Nostradamus, Most Mysterious Murders, Fifty Five Degrees North, Crossroads, Hearts and Bones, Lock, Stock, People Like Us, Where The Heart Is, A Wing and a Prayer, Father Ted Christmas Special, Get Real, Comedy Nation, Does China Exist?, Time After Time, Class Act, Up the Garden Path, Titus Andronicus, Take Me Home, The Upper Hand, The Peter Principle, Into the Fire, Casualty, Mary Rose and Minder.

Simon Lee Phillips' previously appeared at the Finborough Theatre in the original run of Michael Healey's Generous (2009) and Oohrah! (2009). Other theatre credits include Inherit the Wind (The Old Vic), Dog Fight (Arcola Theatre), Salsa Saved the Girls (Old Red Lion Theatre), Carve (Tristan Bates Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night (Guildford Shakespeare Company), The Infant (Old Red Lion Theatre and Edinburgh Festival), Resistance (National and European Tours). Film credits include Me and Orson Welles, Burlesque Fairytales, Vacation Hunter. Television credits include Ocean of Fear, The First True Olympics, Blood in the Water and Banged Up Abroad: Saddam's Iraq.

Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Tuesday, 10 August - Saturday, 4 September 2010
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Saturday matinees at 3.00pm (from 21 August 2010). Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm.

Prices for Weeks One and Two (10-22 August 2010) - Tickets £13, £9 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £9 all seats, and Saturday evenings £13 all seats. Previews (10 and 11 August) £9 all seats.
£5 tickets for Under 30's for performances from Tuesday to Sunday of the first week when booked online only.
£10 tickets for residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on Saturday, 14 August 2010 when booked online.
Prices for Weeks Three and Four (24 August-4 September 2010) - Tickets £15, £11 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £15 all seats, and Saturday evenings £18 all seats.
Performance Length: Approximately two hours.

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