Park Theatre has announced its Autumn / Winter season, including the previously announced adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, and a mini-festival supporting emerging writers with two-week runs of their shows paired into double bills. For Christmas, the venue presents an Outer Hebridean mystery based on a true story set on Boxing Day 1900.
Opening the season in Park200 is a new adaption of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man (19 Oct – 26 Nov). A darkly amusing study of grief, love and loneliness from the celebrated writer of Goodbye to Berlin – the inspiration for Cabaret – A Single Man is the story of college professor George grieving the death of his long-term partner Jim in 1960s California. The novel is known to many through Tom Ford’s film adaptation, and was considered one of the 100 Best Novels Written in English by the Guardian.
Meanwhile in Park90, Gloria Williams’ King Hamlin (19 Oct – 12 Nov) will be exploring young Londoners and gang culture. After his dad dies, Hamlin’s goal is to build a better life for him and his mum. When his friends Quinn and Nic offer him easy money in return for some county line drug trafficking, his dreams and the friendship of the three are put to the test.
Next up, Park Theatre have programmed a new strand of work, Make Mine a Double, to give emerging artists and companies a chance to present their work in short run double bills. From 14 – 26 Nov, the first double bill sees the return of Pickle after a sold out run as part of Come What May earlier in the year. Pickle is a darkly comic one-woman show about being Jewish and secular in the UK today. Paired with it, Anything with a Pulse: spotting each other from across the dance floor, a man and a woman hit it off. In a world where we hide behind games, their story doesn’t play out like it should.
The second pairing (28 Nov – 10 Dec) explores darker themes: Tunnels is set at the height of the Cold War, introduces cousins Paul and Freddie who are trying to escape East Berlin. Told with live music and based on real-life stories of men and women who made it, Tunnels tells of their struggle to burrow under the Berlin Wall. The final of the four shows is Press, the confessional story of an ex-tabloid hack. It’s time to bring his skeletons out of the closet, but how can so much have been done with so few consequences?
For Christmas, Park Theatre will be presenting Wickies, based on the true story of James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald MacArthur: a supernatural thriller that seeks to unravel the enduring mystery of the Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor. Wickies is from the team behind When Darkness Falls (Park Theatre 2021), taking their audience from the Guernsey based ghost story to an Outer Hebridean mystery set on Boxing Day 1900.
Park Theatre presents exceptional theatre in the heart of Finsbury Park, boasting two world-class performance spaces: Park200 for predominantly larger scale productions by established talent, and Park90, a flexible studio space, for emerging artists. In nine years, it has enjoyed eight West End transfers (including Daytona starring Maureen Lipman, The Boys in the Band starring Mark Gatiss, Pressure starring David Haig and The Life I Lead starring Miles Jupp), two National Theatre transfers, 25 national tours, six Olivier Award nominations, has won multiple OffWestEnd Offie Awards and won a Theatre of the Year award from The Stage. Park Theatre are grateful to all those who have donated to the Park Life fund, supporting the venue through the pandemic.
Listings information
Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP
19 Oct – 31 Dec
www.parktheatre.co.uk | 020 7870 6876*
* Telephone booking fee: 10% capped at £2.50 per ticket (no booking fee online)
Park200 19 Oct – 26 Nov
A Single Man | Presented by Troupe in association with Park Theatre
A world premiere of a new adaption
Based on the book by Christopher Isherwood | Adapted by Simon Reade | Directed by Philip Wilson
Press night: Fri 21 Oct, 7pm
‘I make myself remember. I am afraid of forgetting. I will have to forget if I want to go on living.’
California, 1962. College professor George is grieving the death of his long-term partner Jim. As a middle-aged gay Englishman living in the Los Angeles suburbs, he is an outsider in every way. Haunted by his past and unable to move forward, we follow him on one very ordinary day. But for George, this is going to be a day like no other…
A Single Man features in the Guardian’s 100 Best Novels Written in English, where it is described as ‘a work of compressed brilliance.’ Known to many through Tom Ford’s film, Christopher Isherwood’s masterpiece is now given a wry and compassionate retelling in Simon Reade’s new adaptation for the stage.
Powerful and sexy, A Single Man is a darkly amusing study of grief, love and loneliness from the celebrated writer of Goodbye to Berlin, the inspiration for Cabaret.
Mon – Sat 7.30pm, matinees Thu and Sat 3pm
£32.50 - £16.50 (conc.), Previews 19 & 20 Oct £18.50, £10 Park Up (16 – 26 years) 19 & 20 Oct
Running time: 90 mins | Age recommendation: 16+
Audio described performance: Sat 12 Nov 3pm, touch tour at 2pm
Park90 19 Oct – 12 Nov
King Hamlin | Presented by Naiad Productions & Freedom Tongues in association with Park Theatre
World Premiere
Written by Gloria Williams I Directed by Lara Genovese
Cast includes: Inaam Barwani, Harris Cain, Kiza Deen and Andrew Evans
Press night: Mon 24 Oct, 7pm
Hamlin, Quinn and Nic are young friends trying to get ahead in inner city London.
After his dad dies, Hamlin’s goal is to finish school, get a good job after school and build a better life for him and his mum. When live-wire Quinn and troubled Nic offer Hamlin easy money in return for some county line drug trafficking, his dreams and the friendship of the three are put to the test. Will Hamlin stand his ground or end up on the wrong side of the tracks?
In a maze of inequality, unemployment and gang culture, it’s a struggle to know where to make a right turn and how to undo a wrong one.
King Hamlin is the brand-new play from the team that presented Bullet Hole, by Gloria Williams, in 2018.
Mon – Sat 7.45pm, 3.15pm matinees Thu & Sat
£18 - £16.50 (conc.),Previews 19 & 20 Oct £14.50, £10 Park Up (16 – 26 years) until 26 Oct
Running time: 120 mins I Age recommendation: 12+
Captioned performance: Mon 4 Nov, 7.45pm
Park90
Make Mine a Double 14 Nov – 10 Dec
A new mini season of two double bills to give emerging artists and companies a chance to present their work in short run double bills
7pm & 8.30pm on alternating nights, matinees Thu and Sat 2.30pm & 4pm
Tickets: Standard £20, Early Bird £15, Multibuy £15, Early Bird Multibuy £10 I Access Conc: 50% off up to two tickets I £10 Park Up (16 – 26 years) for every performance
14 – 26 Nov
DOUBLE BILL 1:
Press night TBC
Anything with a Pulse | Presented by Wonky Donkey in association with Park Theatre
Written and directed by Eliana Ostro
A man and a woman meet in a club.
Spotting each other from across the dance floor, they hit it off. Their story should be simple enough. But in a world where we hide behind games and personas, it doesn’t always play out like that.
He tries to fit in with his macho group of friends - ‘some of the biggest dickheads to grace this planet’. And she is torn between feeling comfortable with the unexciting ‘nice guy’, or facing the games and pretences of modern dating.
60 mins
Pickle | Presented by Tanya Truman Productions in association with Park Theatre
Written by Deli Segal, directed by Kayla Feldman
Here’s the shtick: Ari is caught between two worlds. Still living at home in North-West London, she has her Jewish life, dominated by overbearing parents, traditions, and expectations. Then there’s her day-to-day life - the job, the pub, the foreskins.
Written and performed by Deli Segal and produced by Tanya Truman, Pickle is a darkly comic uproarious simcha of a one-woman show about being Jewish and secular in the UK today. Expect smoked salmon, guilt and a large dose of self-deprecation.
After a sold-out run at Park Theatre’s Come What May festival, Pickle returns to Park90 for a limited two-week run this November.
60 mins | 16+
Anything with a Pulse performance schedule
7pm: 14th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 25th, 26th | 8.30pm: 15th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 24th
2.30pm: 19th, 24th | 4pm: 17th, 26th
Pickle performance schedule:
7pm: 15th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 24th | 8.30pm: 14th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 25th, 26th
2.30pm: 17th, 26th 4pm: 19th, 24th
Park90 28 Nov – 10 Dec
DOUBLE BILL 2:
Press night: TBC
Tunnels | Presented by Further Theatre in association with Park Theatre
Written by Oliver Yellop I Directed by Colin Ellwood
Cast includes: Lewis Bruniges, Oliver Yellop
It's 1968. The Cold War is at its height. Cousins Paul and Freddie Metz want to escape East Berlin; the only thing in their way is a 20 metre ‘death strip’, hundreds of landmines and the East German secret police. With live musical accompaniment and based on the real-life escape stories of the men and women who made it to the other side, Tunnels tells of their struggle to burrow under the Berlin Wall. With strong resonances in the UK today Tunnels is a show about love, loyalty, family, nationhood and of course … digging.
Tunnels returns to London after a critically acclaimed sell-out run at the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Tunnels is presented by Further Theatre.
Written by Oliver Yellop, directed by Colin Ellwood ( RSC, Traverse, Globe Theatre, Soho Theatre) performed by Oliver Yellop (The Prince of Denmark Royal National Theatre So Here we Are, Queens Theatre Hornchurch) and Lewis Bruniges (WhoDunnit: Unrehearsed and Whodunnit 2, Park Theatre So Here We Are, Queens Theatre Hornchurch and Trial By Laughter UK Tour). Live music written and performed by Benji Hooper.
60 mins | 14+
Press | Presented by Park Theatre
Written by Sam Hoare I Directed by Romola Garai
Cast includes: Sam Hoare
Bertie doesn’t need you to like him. He doesn’t care. He’s done some terrible things and his attempts to remedy them have come to no good either.
Maybe it’s the journalist in him, but he needs someone to listen. To his story, as an ex-tabloid hack who made a living doing whatever was necessary, whatever the cost. But things have gone badly wrong and now it's time to bring his skeletons out of the closet. How can so much have been done with so few consequences? And how can the telling of truth be so much more dangerous than the telling of lies? Might his one attempt to be a ‘good person’ end in him losing everything dear to him. Will you laugh with him - or at least at him - for a moment; he needs someone to understand.
This new play takes a look at the freedoms afforded to the press in the UK compared to some other countries. How do you weigh protecting your family and safeguarding the truth?
1hr | 12+
Tunnels performance schedule:
7pm: 28th, 30th, 1st, 6th, 9th, 10th | 8.30pm: 29th, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th
2.30pm: 3rd, 8th | 4pm: 1st, 10th
Press performance schedule:
7pm: 29th, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th | 8.30pm: 28th, 30th, 1st, 6th, 9th, 10th,
2.30pm: 1st, 10th | 4pm: 3rd, 8th
Park200 30 Nov – 31 Dec (Christmas Run)
Wickies: The Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor | Presented by Paul Morrissey, Christopher Wheeler and Molly Morris in association with Park Theatre
World Premiere
Written by Paul Morrissey I Directed by Shilpa Hyland
Press night: Mon 5 Dec, 7pm
On 26th December 1900, a small ship was making its way to the Flannan Islands in the remote Outer Hebrides. Its destination was the lighthouse at Eilean Mor; a remote island which (apart from its lighthouse keepers) was completely uninhabited. When the ship arrived on the island, the lighthouse was unlocked and two of three oil skinned coats belonging to the men were missing. The fire was out – and had been for some days - the kitchen area had half eaten food, the chairs were overturned, and the clock had stopped. More importantly, the light was out. The three men had vanished. Wickies is based on the true story of James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald MacArthur: a supernatural thriller that seeks to unravel the enduring mystery of the Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor.
90 mins approx. | 12+
Captioned performance: Fri 16 Dec 7.30pm | Audio described Wed 21 Dec 3pm (touch tour 2pm)
30 Nov – 31 Dec (exceptions below): Mon – Sat 7.30pm, matinees Thu and Sat 3pm | £32.50 - £16.50 (conc.), previews 30 Nov – 2 Dec £18.50
Exceptions:
21 Dec: additional 3pm | 24 Dec 1pm only | 25 & 26 Dec no show | 27 Dec additional 3pm | 31 Dec 1pm & 5.30pm