Friday 27 July 2012

Final Score & Is Anything Broken?

This time last year we were in the throes of getting Country Life up and running for the Camden Fringe. Well, here we go again, and this time P-P is back with a double bill. First up is Final Score  by Lisa Fulthorpe. Lisa, you may remember, had a big smash with Love and Other Gamesa at the Etcetera and this is the followup. Directed by Emma Blundell, it's about "friendship, parenthood and football collide in this darkly comic drama about failed ambition".

"Meet Keith and Christie – they’ve got it made: their son’s the rising star of the Premiership League. Meet their life-long friends, Eddy and Samantha: their son excels at nicking donuts and smoking dope.

With the kids out on the lash together, celebrating their joint sixteenth birthday, the parents throw a party of their own. But as the drinks flow, friendships fracture, leading to enmity, betrayal and disaster".

It's at the Tristan Bates Theatre from Monday 30th July to Saturday 4th August. (Mon to Wed 7.30pm, Thurs to Fri 9pm, Sat mat 5pm)

Tickets are £8. However, if you'd like to see 'Is Anything Broken?', as well on the same night, also produced by Player-Playwrights, at the same time, it will only cost you £14; only available through the box office on 020 7240 6283 or in person)

The second play, 'Is anything Broken?' is by Dan Davis and is adapted from his BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play. The stage version is directed by Maja Milatovic-Ovadia, and runs on the same dates, (Mon-Wed 9pm, Thu-Sat 7.30pm, Sat mat3.30pm)

This is a real-time comedy drama about the stress of modern life. "Ambitious architect Patrick is about to catch a flight to present a career defining project when his son has an accident at school. Go to him, or get on the plane? This thrilling satire explores the new 10th circle of hell, where the super connected are forced by instant communications to make crucial life-changing decisions at light speed.

How far do you go to get the job done?"

Tickets £8 (book to see 'Final Score', also produced by Player-Playwrights, at the same time and see both for £14, only available at Tristan Bates box office)

Book: 020 7240 6238 or tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

The Actors Centre, 1A Tower St, Covent Garden, WC2H 9NP

UPDATE: Both got fantastic reviews. Here's one, and here's another.

2 comments:

invertebrate first-nighter said...

THE FINAL SCORE: OUR GIRLS DONE BRILLIANT
This was a first night that really worked for me and my family. Two sixteen year old lads go clubbing while their parents celebrate the fact that one of the boys [whom we never see: but don’t lose sight of the plot line] has been invited to sign with a Premier League club. His father (played with tremendous energy by Tomi May) is a boring bully who is already spending the millions. Rob Maloney, the other father, plainly wishes he was somewhere else and insists that he will drink water; but Fiona McGee, his missus, has come in an irresistible purple ball-gown and wants to party. Natasha Staples, the schoolteacher mother of the rising star, is far from happy. But, hey, she’s up to something behind the kitchen curtain [brilliant set, by the way] while her husband is struggling with the ball-gown on the sofa. Soooo sad, but funny too. Final score 10-10; and our girls, including Emma Blundell, director, and the pony-smacking Lisa Fulthorpe, all done brilliant.

Anonymous said...

IS ANYTHING BROKEN?
“Is anything broken?” asks Simon Desborough. He is in the Luxury Departure Lounge about to board a plane for Tashkent with Victoria Johnston, his loyal assistant, when the school nurse telephones to say his spoilt brat of a son has been run over. Like FINAL SCORE, it is a modern comedy about bad parenting, with the mobile phone as principal villain. How can Simon deliver the presentation of the £200M plans for a stately pleasure dome in Azerbaijan and see that someone from the family goes to his son? It’s a great performance and we feel his pain. The nanny, lovely Lianne-Rose Bunce, is already on her way to the coast with her crane-driver boyfriend, nicely played by newcomer Lewis Goody. The wife, Sakuntala Ramanee, is working on something grisly in an operating theatre [more clamps, please] and scrubs up well as an impatient lounge steward and an angry school nurse. Grief all round. Other options involve Rent-a-Nanny and leaning on the crane-driver’s boss, a great cameo performance by Andrew Ward; but there has to be some undeserving casualty, so look out, Victoria!
A full house gave this fast-moving play a very warm reception last night and there may be some seats left for performances tonight and on Saturday.