Maddening Rain Press Release
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PRESS CONTACT: David Luff +44 (0) 7539 219 297 DL@davidluff.com
PRESS RELEASE
Darbourne Luff and Upstart Theatre present:
THE MADDENING RAIN
UK TOUR AND NEW YORK RUN 2011
“The City’s a constantly wide open field. A wish, or a pit. A running towards something. A crime.”
Following its 2010 London success, Matthew Dunster revives The Maddening Rain, the hit show by Cameron Mackintosh Award-winning playwright Nicholas Pierpan, for a UK tour and a New York run at the Brits off Broadway Festival. This darkly comic one-man play cuts to the heart of the global recession, following one man’s rise from a dead-end job in a bowling alley to the trading floors of the Square Mile. As he reaches the top in securities finance, he realises the only obstacles are the people in his way.
Following a run at the Brits off Broadway festival at 59 East 59 Theaters, New York City, Darbourne Luff and Upstart Theatre’s co-production of The Maddening Rain tours to the Salberg Studio at Salisbury Playhouse; the Theatre in the Mill, Bradford; Hull Truck Theatre; and Soho Theatre, London (tour dates and listings information below).
Nicholas Pierpan’s compelling, incisive and brutally funny play is performed by rising star Felix Scott (recently seen in Matthew Dunster’s acclaimed production of Doctor Faustus at the Globe Theatre as well as in the smash hit movie Inception), in what the Metro has described as “a star-making performance”.
The production is directed by Olivier-award nominee Matthew Dunster, whose previous productions include Love the Sinner (National Theatre), 1984 and Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Love and Money (Young Vic Theatre).
Praise for The Maddening Rain:
“An hour and a half of solo power at the Old Red Lion” The Observer
“A blistering performance … Felix Scott is fascinatingly watchable.” The Guardian
“A fine production from Matthew Dunster … a superb Felix Scott … his heroically committed performance is mesmerising” Time Out
“An astute and gripping play … Felix Scott gives a star-making performance” Metro
“This is a play that seeps in, gets under your skin, and goes deeper than you realise.” British Theatre Guide
Creative and Company Biographies
Matthew Dunster is a director, playwright and actor. Previous work as a director includes Love The Sinner (National Theatre); 1984 (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Macbeth (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Doctor Faustus and The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe); Testing the Echo (Out of Joint); The Member of the Wedding (Young Vic); Love and Money (Young Vic: nominated for Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre). He is an Associate Director of the Young Vic. Writing for the stage includes You Used To, Tell Me, The Glazier, Two Clouds Over Eden, The Band, You Can See the Hills.
Nicholas Pierpan writes plays, screenplays and poetry. He is the two-time winner of the Cameron Mackintosh Award for New Writing at Oxford for The Problem with the Seventh Year and Too Much the Sun. In 2009, Nicholas was a finalist for the Yale Drama Prize for Something Came Out, which was produced as part of the Off Cuts Short Play Festival. He is currently developing two film scripts and is part of the BAFTA/Script Factory year-long development scheme. He was also selected for the 2010 BBC Sparks Radio Scheme. His poetry has appeared in Poetry Review, The Guardian Review, Granta/British Council New Writing Tower Poetry Review and The Liberal, amongst other publications.
The Maddening Rain stars Felix Scott, most recently seen as Phiilip De Vos in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Stage work includes Faust (Shakespeare’s Globe) Sudden Loss of Dignity (the Bush); The Man Who Had All the Luck (Donmar Warehouse); In the Heart of America (John Gielgud Theatre). He plays Jason in the BBC Series Missing, and has also appeared in Holby City, Plus One, Lewis II, Wire in the Blood and was a regular in Family Affairs.
This is the second production from Darbourne Luff, whose Thyestes, directed by Polly Findlay at the Arcola, was met with widespread critical acclaim. The company was founded in 2009 by Richard Darbourne and David Luff. They have both previously produced in Berlin, New York and Edinburgh and both have won the esteemed Stage One Producer’s Bursary, awarded by the Society of London Theatre.
The Maddening Rain is a co-production between Darbourne Luff and Upstart Theatre, a critically acclaimed company which exists to produce new theatre work that deals with the most compelling issues facing the world we live in, at the same time as providing an exhilarating and entertaining night out. Previous productions include the critically acclaimed Oh Well Never Mind Bye (Union Theatre, 2009).
PRESS CONTACT: David Luff +44 (0) 7539 219 297 DL@davidluff.com
COMPANY INFORMATION
Written by Nicholas Pierpan
Directed by Matthew Dunster
Performed by Felix Scott
Design by Alison McDowall
Lighting Design by Emma Chapman
Sound Design by David Sharrock
Produced by Darbourne Luff and Upstart Theatre
Running Time: circa 80 mins
TOUR DATES AND VENUE LISTINGS
1-20 November Brits off Broadway 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, New York 6.30pm / 8.30pm 212-279-4200 www.59e59.org
24-26 November Salberg Studio Salisbury Playhouse Malthouse Lane, Salisbury 7.45pm 01722 320333 www.salisburyplayhouse.com
29-30 November Theatre in the Mill University of Bradford Bradford
7.30pm 01274 233200 www.brad.ac.uk/theatre
1-3 December Hull Truck 50 Ferensway, Hull
8pm 01482 323638 www.hulltruck.co.uk
5-10 December Soho Theatre 21 Dean Street, London
7.45pm 020 7478 0100 www.sohotheatre.com
Production Photographs available on request from David Luff – DL@davidluff.com or +44 (0) 7539 219 297.
Supported with Grants for the Arts funding by the Arts Council England, the Jerwood Space and the Stage One Producers Bursary awarded by the Society of London Theatre
