The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ) under artistic director Neil McPherson . The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language , alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre .
53-485: Florodora is an Edwardian musical comedy . After its long run in London, it became one of the first successful Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall , the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens , and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones, George Arthurs and Rubens. The original London production opened in 1899 where it ran for
106-572: A Hunter by Rolf Hochhuth . Directed by Anthony Shrubsall. UK and English language premiere production from 2018. 1 October – 12 November 2020. Adding Machine (musical) by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt . Directed by Josh Seymour. UK premiere production from 2016. 1 November – 31 December 2020. I Wish To Die Singing – Voices From The Armenian Genocide by Neil McPherson . Directed by Tommo Fowler. World premiere production from 2015. 1 December 2020 – 1 February 2021. S-27 by Sarah Grochala . Directed by Stephen Keyworth. The world premiere of
159-667: A design by George Godwin and his younger brother Henry. It was one of five public houses built by Corbett and McClymont in the Earls Court area during the West London development boom of the 1860s. The pub opened in 1871. The ground floor and basement of the building was converted into The Finborough Road Brasserie from 2008 to 2010 and The Finborough Wine Cafe from 2010 to 2012. The pub reopened under its original name of The Finborough Arms in February 2014. June Abbott opened
212-486: A dozen languages, the show toured extensively with numerous local touches. London's West End staged two successful revivals in 1915 and 1931, and several Broadway revivals were staged, the first being mounted only a year after the closing of the original production in 1901 followed by another three years later. Among later revivals, a young Milton Berle played one of the Florodora Boys in a production mounted for
265-499: A highly respected phrenologist, Gilfain plots to marry off his clerks to the heads of the Florodora farms (all young island girls), thereby attaining even more control of the island. Tweedlepunch plays along, duly examining everyone's cranial bumps of love to pronounce the proper marriage couples. Frank refuses to marry Angela, and Gilfain discharges him. Gilfain, based on the fraudulent pronouncements of Tweedlepunch, has decreed that
318-469: A husband – specifically, Frank. She is accompanied by Gilfain, his daughter Angela, who is betrothed to Captain Arthur Donegal, Lady Holyrood's brother, and several of Angela's friends (the "English Girls"), who intrigue Gilfain's clerks. Also aboard the ship is Anthony Tweedlepunch, a detective who is searching for the girl who rightfully owns the perfume business. He comes to the island disguised as
371-601: A millionaire." Florodora ' s famous double sextet, "Tell me pretty maiden", became the most successful show tune of its time. Other songs ranged from traditional waltzes such as "The Silver Star of Love" and "The Fellow Who Might" to the more quirky rhythmic and long-lined dance numbers for which Stuart was known. An original cast album featured all six original sextet members from the New York Cast: Marie Wilson, Agnes Wayburn, Marjorie Relyea, Vaughn Texsmith, Daisy Green and Margaret Walker. Recorded on
424-586: A record setting 1,074 performances in London and 376 in New York. The story concerns couples who honeymoon in China and inadvertently break the kissing laws (shades of The Mikado ). Later enormously popular hits included Chu Chin Chow (1916), which ran for 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), Theodore & Co (1916), The Boy (1917), Yes, Uncle! (1917) and The Maid of
477-409: A resident company of artists, and the greatest stars of the era included actresses Marie Tempest , Gertie Millar , Lily Elsie , Ellaline Terriss and Phyllis Dare , leading men such as Hayden Coffin and Harry Grattan , and comics such as Rutland Barrington , George Grossmith, Jr., Huntley Wright and Edmund Payne . One critic wrote of Joseph Coyne that, like other stars of musical comedy, "It
530-1152: A result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom , the Finborough Theatre temporarily closed, cancelling its remaining productions for 2020. From May 2020, the Finborough Theatre began its #FinboroughForFree programme of archive productions streamed online: 7 May – 7 July 2020. It Is Easy To Be Dead by Neil McPherson . Directed by Max Key. World premiere production from 2016. 18 May – 31 December 2021. Continuity by Gerry Moynihan. Directed by Shane Dempsey. World premiere production from 2017. 5 June – 5 August 2020. Jane Clegg by St John Ervine . Directed by David Gilmore. First London production in over 75 years from 2019. 2 July – 2 September 2020. Blueprint Medea by Julia Pascal . Directed by Julia Pascal. World premiere production from 2019. 1 – 3 and 31 August 2020. Scrounger by Athena Stevens. Directed by Lily McLeish. World premiere production from January 2020. 7 September – 7 October 2020. Death of
583-540: A series of six 78 RPM gramophone records with a full libretto enclosed, the album was a first for musical theatre at that time. The Florodora Girls included Edna Goodrich , Evelyn Nesbit and Clarita Vidal . The original production toured for years in the U.S. and was revived on Broadway in 1902, 1905, and 1920. In addition to the numerous local productions mounted throughout the English-speaking world and beyond, including productions translated into more than
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#1732793086924636-603: A training ground for numerous rising stars of the British theatre. After opening at the Casino Theatre on Broadway on 12 November 1900, it moved to the New York Theatre on 14 October 1901 and finally closed on 25 January 1902, a run of 552 performances – the first instance of a London production achieving such a Broadway run, and the third-longest run on Broadway of any theatre piece up to that time. The show
689-416: A traveling showman, phrenologist , hypnotist, and palmist. Gilfain discovers that Frank and Dolores have fallen in love. In an effort to thwart Dolores' rightful claim to the Florodora fortune, Gilfain plans to marry her himself. He hires Tweedlepunch, who he thinks is an actor, to break up the love affair between Dolores and Frank, thereby making Frank available to marry Angela. By presenting Tweedlepunch as
742-1475: A unique rediscovery. In September 2021, the Finborough Theatre reopened for live performances: 28 September – 23 October 2021. How To Survive An Apocalypse by Jordan Hall . Directed by Jimmy Walters. UK premiere production from 2016. 26 October – 20 November 2021. The Sugar House by Alana Valentine . Directed by Tom Brennan. The European Premiere. 23 November – 18 December 2021. Yes So I Said Yes by David Ireland . Directed by Max Elton. The Great Britain premiere. 28 January – 25 February 2022. An Earl's Court Miscellany devised and directed by Catherine Harvey. The online world premiere. 31 January – 28 February 2022. How To Make A Revolution by Einat Weizman with Issa Amro . Directed by Tommo Fowler. The online world premiere. 1 March – 2 April 2022. Bacon by Sophie Swithinbank. Directed by Matthew Iliffe. The world premiere. 19 April – 14 May 2022. The Straw Chair by Sue Glover. Directed by Polly Creed. The English premiere. 17 May – 11 June 2022. Bliss by Fraser Grace. Directed by Paul Bourne. The world premiere. Online from Monday, 30 May 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: Otvetka by Neda Nezhdana. Translated by John Farndon. The online premiere. Online from Monday, 6 June 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: The Peed-Upon Armored Personnel Carrier by Oksana Gritsenko. Translated by John Freedman. The online premiere. Online from Monday, 13 June 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: A Dictionary of Emotions in
795-477: A very successful 455 performances. The New York production, which opened the following year, was even more popular, running for 552 performances. After this, the piece was produced throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. The show was famous for its double sextet and its chorus line of "Florodora Girls". The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, into the 1950s. Florodora
848-579: Is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical theatre, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of American musicals by Jerome Kern , Rodgers and Hart , George Gershwin and Cole Porter following
901-473: Is no good their pretending to be any one else. We go to see themselves, and all we ask is that the authors and others shall give them every chance of being themselves in the most pronounced and personal fashion". The Arcadians is generally regarded as the masterpiece of the genre. The composers were Monckton and Talbot, both at the height of their powers. The story, about the havoc wreaked when truth-telling Arcadians arrive in corrupt London, neatly parallels
954-652: The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh ); Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams with Linda Bassett , Albert's Boy by James Graham starring Victor Spinetti , Peter Oswald ’s Lucifer Saved with Mark Rylance, Blackwater Angel , the UK debut of Irish playwright Jim Nolan with Sean Campion , the first London revival for over seventy years of Loyalties by John Galsworthy , the world premiere of Plague Over England by Nicholas de Jongh which subsequently transferred to
1007-652: The First World War . Between In Town in 1892 and The Maid of the Mountains , premiering in 1917, this new style of musical theatre proliferated across the musical stages of Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world. The popularity of In Town and A Gaiety Girl (1893), led to an astonishing number of hits over the next three decades, into the 1920s, the most successful of which included The Shop Girl (1894), The Geisha (1896), Florodora (1899), A Chinese Honeymoon (1901), The Earl and
1060-581: The West End at the Duchess Theatre , the first revival of Hangover Square , adapted by Fidelis Morgan from the novel by Patrick Hamilton , the UK premiere of the musical Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon and a season of plays by William Saroyan . In March 2010 the theatre presented the world premiere of A Day at the Racists , a new piece of political theatre by Anders Lustgarten , charting
1113-550: The "girl" musicals, the Gaiety also presented a series of what could be described as "boy" musicals, such as The Messenger Boy (1900), The Toreador (1901), The New Aladdin (1906) and Theodore and Co. (1916) . Edwardes expanded his empire to other theatres and presented slightly more complex comedy hits beginning with An Artist's Model (1895). The Geisha (1896) and San Toy (1899) each ran for more than two years and found great international success, capitalizing on
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#17327930869241166-632: The 1920–21 Broadway season. More recently, the show was revived once again at the Finborough Theatre in January 2006 for the first professional London production that it had enjoyed in many years. In Florodora, a small island in the Philippines , the popular fragrance "Florodora" is manufactured from the essence of the Florodora flower. The perfume factory, along with the island itself, is owned by Cyrus W. Gilfain, an American who finagled
1219-1007: The British craze for all things oriental. Other Edwardes hits included The Girl from Kays (1902), The Earl and the Girl (1903) and The Quaker Girl (1910). The chief glories of Edwardian musical comedies lie in their musical scores. At their best, these combined the delicacy and sophistication of operetta with the robust tunefulness of the music hall . The major composers of the genre were Sidney Jones ( The Geisha ), Ivan Caryll ( Our Miss Gibbs ), Lionel Monckton ( The Quaker Girl ), Howard Talbot ( A Chinese Honeymoon ), Leslie Stuart ( Florodora ) and Paul Rubens ( Miss Hook of Holland ). Scores were constantly refreshed with "additional" or "specialty" numbers and re-arranged, often by several different composers and lyricists, to keep audiences coming back. Important writers included Adrian Ross , Harry Greenbank , Percy Greenbank , Owen Hall , Charles H. Taylor and Oscar Asche . Generally,
1272-768: The Finborough Theatre awarded the Leverhulme Emerging Directors Bursary in collaboration with the National Theatre Studio . The recipients of the award were Blanche McIntyre , Ria Parry and Andrea Ferran . Productions in 2020: 7 January – 1 February 2020. Scrounger by Athena Stevens. Directed by Lily McLeish. World premiere. 4 February – 29 February 2020. On McQuillan's Hill by Joe Crilly . Directed by Jonathan Harden . English premiere. 3 March – 15 March 2020. Not Quite Jerusalem by Paul Kember. Directed by Peter Kavanagh. First new UK production in 40 years. As
1325-600: The First World War. The Gaiety Theatre 's well-loved but racy burlesques were coming to the end of their popularity, and so was the phenomenally successful series of family-friendly Gilbert and Sullivan operas. These two genres had dominated the musical stage in English-speaking countries since the 1870s. A few lighter, more romantic comic operas , beginning with Dorothy (1886) found success and showed that audiences wanted something lighter than operetta, but more coherent in construction than burlesque, that featured
1378-729: The Garden , which transferred to the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh ; the London premiere of Larry Kramer 's The Destiny of Me ; The Women's War – an evening of original suffragette plays; Steve Hennessy ’s Lullabies of Broadmoor (about the Finborough Road murder of 1922); the Victorian era comedy Masks and Faces ; Etta Jenks with Clarke Peters and Daniela Nardini ; The Gigli Concert with Niall Buggy , Catherine Cusack and Paul McGann which transferred to
1431-484: The Girl (1903), The Arcadians (1909), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Quaker Girl (1910), Betty (1914), Chu Chin Chow (1916) and The Maid of the Mountains (1917). Edwardian musical comedy began in the last decade of the Victorian era and captured the optimism, energy and good humour of the new century and the Edwardian era , as well as providing comfort to audiences seeking light entertainment during
1484-597: The Great War drama Red Night , and five first plays by new writers: Jason Hall 's Eyes Catch Fire ; Chris Dunkley ’s Mirita ; Dameon Garnett 's Break Away , Simon Vinnicombe 's Year 10 , Joy Wilkinson 's Fair which transferred to the West End; Waterloo Day with Robert Lang ; Sarah Phelps ’ Modern Dance for Beginners , subsequently produced at the Soho Theatre; Carolyn Scott-Jeffs ' comedy Out in
1537-405: The Mountains (1917, the second longest-running Edwardian musical, with 1,352 performances). Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it. George M. Cohan 's sentimental Little Nellie Kelly (1922) was considered a late example of Edwardian musical comedy. Bibliography Finborough Theatre The Finborough Arms was built in 1868 to
1590-852: The Ocean by Godfrey Hamilton; and three plays by Anthony Neilson : The Year of the Family ; Normal: The Düsseldorf Ripper ; and Penetrator , which transferred from the Traverse and went on to play at the Royal Court Upstairs. From 1994, the theatre was run by The Steam Industry under Artistic Director Phil Willmott . Productions included new plays by Tony Marchant , David Eldridge , Mark Ravenhill , and Phil Willmott. New writing development included Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and F*cking (Royal Court, West End and Broadway ) and Naomi Wallace's Slaughter City ( Royal Shakespeare Company ),
1643-504: The UK première of David Mamet ’s The Woods , and Anthony Neilson's The Censor , which transferred to the Royal Court . Productions since 2000 have included the UK premières of Brad Fraser ’s Wolfboy ; Lanford Wilson ’s Sympathetic Magic ; Tennessee Williams ’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear ; and Frank McGuinness ’ Gates of Gold with William Gaunt and the late John Bennett in his last stage role which transferred to
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1696-424: The West End; the London première of Sonja Linden ’s I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda ; the specially commissioned adaptation of W.H. Davies ’ Young Emma by Laura Wade and directed by Tamara Harvey ; the first London revival for more than 40 years of Rolf Hochhuth ’s Soldiers ; Keith Dewhurst 's Lark Rise to Candleford , performed in promenade and in repertoire;
1749-449: The book, lyrics and music were each written by different people, which was a first for the musical stage, although now this is the usual way of doing things. Adrian Ross wrote the lyrics for well over 50 Edwardian musicals. Besides Edwardes, American producer Charles Frohman and actor-managers like Seymour Hicks , Robert Evett and George Grossmith, Jr. were responsible for many of these shows. The musicals were frequently built around
1802-493: The business away from Dolores's family and is now the island's reigning sovereign and sole employer. Although Dolores is now forced to work for Gilfain, she remains optimistic. Frank Abercoed, who is really Lord Abercoed in disguise, has arrived on the island to act as Gilfain's manager. He is immediately smitten with Dolores, and she with him. Aboard a ship docked at the Florodora harbor are Lady Holyrood, titled but penniless, who has come to Florodora at Gilfain's suggestion to find
1855-490: The clerks will wed the island girls or be discharged. Everyone is upset. Frank must now return to England, and he tells Dolores he must go but will return for her if she waits patiently. Everyone meets at the dock to see Frank off. Six months later, Gilfain has managed to become the owner of Abercoed Castle, Frank's ancestral home in Wales, and everyone has travelled there. Gilfain's clerks, having been discharged rather than marry
1908-401: The evening's entertainment. Lady Holyrood, with no prospective husbands in sight, decides that Gilfain will become her next husband. Frank, who has been refused entrance to the castle by Gilfain, defies orders and maneuvers his way inside the courtyard. There he sees Dolores for the first time since he left the island. After some confusion, Frank tells Dolores that he is really Lord Abercoed and
1961-512: The island girls, finally meet up with their English girls (Angela's friends). Tweedlepunch has finally realized that Dolores is the rightful heir to the Florodora fortune. He tells her that her father was his only friend, and that he will help her retrieve her family business. They break into the Abercoed castle but are surprised by a chorus of lords and ladies who demand to know who they are. In desperation they try to convince everyone that they are
2014-575: The modern fashions and culture of the day. The father of the Edwardian musical was George "The Guv'nor" Edwardes . He took over London's Gaiety Theatre in the 1880s and, at first, improved the quality of the Gaiety Theatre's earlier burlesques. Perceiving that their time had passed, he experimented with a modern-dress, family-friendly musical theatre style, with breezy, popular songs, snappy, romantic banter, and stylish spectacle. These drew on
2067-464: The musical and visual fun. These shows were immediately widely copied at other London theatres and then in America. The first Edwardian musical comedy was In Town in 1892. Its success, together with the even greater sensation of A Gaiety Girl in 1893, confirmed Edwardes on the path he was taking. These "musical comedies", as he called them, revolutionized the London stage and set the tone for
2120-411: The next three decades. According to musical theatre writer Andrew Lamb , "The British Empire and America began to fall for the appeal of the [Edwardian] musical comedy from the time when A Gaiety Girl was taken on a world tour in 1894." Edwardes' early Gaiety hits included a series of light, romantic "poor maiden loves aristocrat and wins him against all odds" shows, usually with the word "Girl" in
2173-586: The position of Edwardian musical comedies in theatrical history, with operetta -singing Arcadians, representing the past, meeting with music hall -singing Londoners, representing the future. This is an example of a common feature of shows of this period: sophistication with a common touch. Florodora (1899) by Leslie Stuart and Paul Rubens made a splash on both sides of the Atlantic, as did A Chinese Honeymoon (1901), by British lyricist George Dance and American-born composer Howard Talbot , which ran for
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2226-721: The rise of the BNP in Barking. In 2011 productions included a critically acclaimed production of Mixed Marriage by St John Ervine , as well as Dawn King's Foxfinder , as well as revivals of Emlyn Williams 's Accolade and Caryl Churchill 's Fen . Air conditioning was also installed in 2011. In 2012 productions at the theatre included John McGrath's Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun and revivals of Arthur Miller 's The American Clock and J. B. Priestley 's Cornelius which subsequently transferred Off-Broadway . In November 2012,
2279-467: The stage and captivated New York for no other reason than they were utterly stunning." More than 70 women, each 5 ft. 4 in. (about 1.63 m) tall and weighing 130 lb (59 kg), played these roles in the first run of the play. These women were also the object of a great deal of popular adoration, and many male admirers persuaded chorines to leave show business and settle down. According to W. A. Swanberg : "Each member of its original sextette married
2332-701: The theatre above the Finborough Arms Public House in June 1980. In its first decade, artists working at the new theatre included Clive Barker , Kathy Burke , Ken Campbell , Mark Rylance , and Clare Dowie who appeared in the world première of her own play Adult Child/Dead Child . From 1991 to 1994, the theatre was best known for new writing with Naomi Wallace ’s first play The War Boys ; Rachel Weisz in David Farr ’s Neville Southall's Washbag , Elton John ’s Glasses ; Holding Back
2385-482: The theatre presented twelve new plays as part of its fourth annual Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights . The plays include The Andes by Alexandra Wood , The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie by Anders Lustgarten and Pig Girl by Colleen Murphy . 2012 saw transfers of London Wall by John Van Druten to St James' Theatre, and Cornelius by J.B. Priestley to Off-Broadway . From 2009–12,
2438-426: The title. After A Gaiety Girl came The Shop Girl (1894), The Circus Girl (1896) and A Runaway Girl (1898) and eleven other "girl" musicals followed. The heroines were independent young women who often earned their own livings. The stories followed a familiar plot line – a chorus girl breaks into high society or a shop girl makes a good marriage to a wealthy aristocrat (who is often in disguise). There
2491-514: The traditions of Savoy opera and also used elements of burlesque and of Americans Harrigan and Hart . Their plots were simple, and they included elaborate displays of contemporary fashion and settings, and lighthearted parody of modern social convention and topical issues. He replaced the bawdy women of burlesque with his "respectable" corps of dancing, singing Gaiety Girls who wore the latest fashions, and also showed off their bodies in chorus lines and bathing attire, as well as singing, to complete
2544-522: The winner of Amnesty International’s first Protect The Human Playwriting Competition. From January 2021 the Finborough Theatre began to produce new original online content as part of its #FinboroughForFree programme: 1 February – 30 April 2021. Late Night Staring At High Res Pixels by Athena Stevens. Directed Lily McLeish. The world premiere of a new play repurposed for online viewing. 1 April – 8 April 2021. Playfight by Julia Grogan. Directed by Blanche McIntyre. The world premiere rehearsed reading of
2597-549: The winner of the 2020 ETPEP Competition. 24 May – 20 June 2021. A Brief List of Everyone Who Died by Jacob Marx Rice. Directed by Alex Howarth. The world premiere rehearsed reading. 22 June – 20 July 2021. Leather by Peter Scott-Presland. Directed by Patrick Kealey. The first production in more than thirty years. 28 July – 25 August 2021. Masks and Faces or, Before and Behind the Curtain by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor . Directed by Matthew Iliffe. The online premiere of
2650-469: Was always a misunderstanding during act one and an engagement at the end. In the words of a contemporary review, Edwardes’ musicals were "Light, bright and enjoyable." Later Gaiety Theatre "girl" musicals included The Orchid (1903), The Spring Chicken (1905), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Sunshine Girl (1912) and The Girl on the Film (1913). Perhaps to balance
2703-546: Was subsequently mounted in Australia in 1900 by J. C. Williamson , where it enjoyed another long run. A good part of the success of the musical was attributed to its chorines , called "the English Girls" in the score, but soon popularly dubbed the "Florodora Girls". They consisted of a "sextette of tall, gorgeous damsels, clad in pink walking costumes, black picture hats and carrying frilly parasols [who] swished onto
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#17327930869242756-550: Was the first of a series of successful musicals by Stuart, including The Silver Slipper (1901), The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and Havana (1908). Upon opening in London on 11 November 1899 at the Lyric Theatre , the show starred Evie Greene , Willie Edouin and Ada Reeve . Its original run of 455 performances was unusually long for the time, and it closed in March 1901. The show would prove
2809-535: Was unable to return to her in Florodora because he was trying to keep Gilfain from acquiring his ancestral home. Tweedlepunch finally confronts Gilfain and spins a wild ghost yarn that terrifies Gilfain into admitting that he has stolen the perfume business. Gilfain returns the properties he has taken from Dolores and Frank. Frank marries Dolores; Gilfain marries Lady Holyrood; and Angela marries Captain Donegal. Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy
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