TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD Begins September 1 At The Finborough

Too True To Be Good by Bernard Shaw, perhaps one of the first absurd comedies in English, and one of Shaw's least performed works, opens for a four week limited season on 1 September 2009 (Press Night: Thursday, 3 September) at London's Finborough Theatre.

A rich young woman catches a pair of burglars in her bedroom, but instead of calling the police she decides to run off with them, and live off the proceeds of her own burglary. The three embark on a permanent beach holiday, a life of fabulous wealth and total freedom.

Written in 1932, during the last great economic collapse, Too True To Be Good asks what it means to spend yourself sick. A bizarrely hilarious and very contemporary analysis of out-of-control wealth, involving a giant amoeba and Lawrence of Arabia, this is a side of Shaw we rarely see - as the grand old man of the theatre leaves the drawing-room for the beach.

First performed in New York and London in 1932, it has not been seen in London since 1975 (in a Royal Shakespeare Company production with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench that transferred to the West End) and 1986 (Mike Alfreds' Shared Experience production at the Riverside Studios). In 2006, it played to great acclaim at Canada's Shaw Festival.

Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) remains the only person ever to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. His major plays include Pygmalion, Saint Joan, Major Barbara, You Never Can Tell, Heartbreak House, Misalliance, The Doctors' Dilemma, Androcles and the Lion, Arms and the Man, Candida and John Bull's Other Island, written across an astonishingly long and prolific career which began before women had the vote and ended during the Korean War. Self-educated, he was a founding member of the Fabian Society, and a controversial political and social figure. Too True To Be Good was written when he was 76.

Director Sarah Norman is originally from Zimbabwe, where she was a founding member of the country's first multi-racial theatre troupe, which has toured widely internationally. In the UK, she has assisted on Enjoy (Gielgud Theatre), Tom and Viv (Almeida Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare's Globe), Lady Be Good, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park) and Single Spies (Theatre Royal Bath and National Tour), assisting Chris Luscombe , Lindsay Posner, Ian Talbot and Edward Kemp. Her directing work includes Shaw's O'Flaherty VC (Courtyard Theatre), David Mamet's Duck Variations (King's Head Theatre and the Studio at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park), the UK premiere of Wole Soyinka's King Baabu (Edinburgh Festival), Black Light (St Andrew's Crypt, Holborn), 13 Grape Street (Pleasance London), The Interview (Pleasance Edinburgh), The Geometry of Love (Baron's Court Theatre), and rehearsed readings at the Arcola, Hampstead and Tristan Bates Theatres. She was a finalist for the JMK Award in 2006 and selected for Cheek by Jowl's Summer Shakespeare programme for young directors in 2008.

www.bitterpillproductions.com

Steven Alexander recently appeared in Sir Peter Hall's Pygmalion in London and Hong Kong, while other stage credits include Enjoy (Watford Palace) and Russian Doll Theory (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford), and on television Silent Witness and Waking the Dead; Alex Blake's credits include Julius Caesar (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Depth (Arcola), Hamlet (The Factory), and on television The Palace, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders;

Emily Bowker's credits include Poor Cousin (Hampstead Theatre), Present Laughter (Clywd Theatr Cymru) and Lie of the Land (Arcola Theatre) and on television, Shameless, Torchwood, and Holby City; Roger Braban's credits include Jingo and The Beaver Coat at the Finborough Theatre, Electra (Donmar Warehouse), The Spanish Curate (Shakespeare's Globe), and Chimes at Midnight (Chichester Festival Theatre);

James Clarkson's credits include The Rivals (Theatre Royal Bath), Blithe Spirit (York Theatre Royal), A Month in the Country (Salisbury Playhouse) and Edward II (BAC); James Hogg's credits include the A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Theatre), Twelfth Night (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), and Enjoy (Watford Palace Theatre);

Tai Lawrence is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama whose credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (Oxford Playhouse) and Blood Wedding (Southwark Playhouse).

Jenny Lee's credits include The Normal Heart (Royal Court Theatre), Anne of Green Gables (Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells), Lady Windermere's Fan (Bristol Old Vic), and on television, regular appearances on Monarch of the Glen;

Olivia Lumley's credits include Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Derby Playhouse), and on television Law and Order: UK, Holby City, The Forsyte Saga and Prime Suspect VII;

Graham Seed's extensive credits include: Me and my Girl (West End), Design For Living (English Touring Theatre), The Skin Game (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Confusions (National Tour), A Chaste Maid of Cheapside (Almeida Theatre on Tour), and TV and film credits including Wild Target, Midsomer Murders, Band of Brothers, Victoria Wood As Seen on TV, Brideshead Revisited , I Claudius, Gandhi, and on radio, Nigel Pargetter in The Archers.

Tickets £13, £9 concessions
except Tuesday Evenings £9 all seats, and Saturday evenings £13 all seats.

Previews (1 and 2 September) £9 all seats. £5 tickets for under 30's for the first week of this production when booked online.
Performance Length: 2 hours with one interval.
Box Office: 0844 847 1652

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.