Brits Off Broadway Festival 2014
Celebrating its tenth season, Brits Off Broadway is an annual festival of British theater in New York City presented by 59E59 Theaters. It has a reputation for bringing over strong work by emerging and veteran British artists and prides itself for being host to “the UK’s most innovative and provocative theater in New York City.”
This year, Brits Off Broadway will present 13 productions, including including three NYC premieres by Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright Alan Ayckbourn (The Norman Conquests, Bedroom Farce) running in rep, over the course of 12 weeks from April to June 2014.
LOCATION
59E59 Theaters
59 East 59th Street
New York City
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DATES
April 1, 2014 – June 29, 2014
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
TICKETS & SHOWS
$25 – $70 (Tickets go on sale February 28, 2014)
Descriptions provided by the festival’s organizers:
Don’t Wake Me (April 1 – April 20)
By Rahila Gupta
Don’t Wake Me is the true story of the life and death of acclaimed British journalist Rahila Gupta’s much-loved son. Performed by Best Solo Performer nominee (Edinburgh Festival 2013) Jaye Griffiths, the play is ‘a beautifully constructed piece with a heart-aching sense of authenticity.’ (London Evening Standard ****)
A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity (April 2 – April 26)
By Douglas Maxwell
and
Clean (April 2 – April 26)
By Sabrina Mahfouz
A double bill of two new short plays from Scotland’s renowned Traverse Theater Company, both celebrating brilliant, brazen women.
Clean introduces audiences to the world of London’s top female underground criminals on their biggest job yet. Zainab, Chloe and Katya are three fast-talking, no-nonsense criminal heroines who mean business.
In A Respectable Widow Takes To Vulgarity, Annabelle, mourning her husband’s death, strikes up an unlikely relationship with his potty-mouthed employee, Jim. Entering into Jim’s un-finishing school, Annabelle finally finds her own voice.
Peddling (April 23 – May 18)
By Harry Melling
A young door-to-door salesman wakes up in a field, somewhere in London, surrounded by the burnt and empty remnants of the night before. With no memory, he knows he must go back to ‘the very start of it all.’ His attempts to retrace events lead him on a haunting journey where everything comes into question: his life, his world, and his future.
Playing with Grown Ups (April 29 – May 18)
By Hannah Patterson
Late thirties, careers under their belts and a new baby just arrived. Isn’t that what everybody wants? A wry, provocative look at what it is to be a woman today, in a society that tells us we can have it all and our ambitions can be unlimited.
The Lovesong of Alfred J. Hitchcock (May 1 – 25)
By David Rudkin
David Rudkin’s poetic new play takes an unprecedented look at the life and mind of one of the century’s most fascinating cultural icons. With great insight and stunning lyricism, this critically acclaimed character study reveals the story of the Hitchcock you never knew.
Simon Green: So, This Then is Life (May 20 – June 1)
By Simon Green and David Shrubsole
So, This Then is Life explores paths un-trod, mistakes repeated and ridiculous responses to an ever-changing world. Simon Green and David Shrubsole cast their uniquely British gaze over life’s rude awakenings. As in their Drama Desk nominated Traveling Light, they concoct a theatrical marriage of word, music and truths that aim to transport audiences to a former, more innocent incarnation of themselves.
Chalk Farm (May 21 – June 8)
Written by Kieran Hurley & AJ Taudevin
Through a mother’s desire for safety and acceptance and a young boy’s need to be recognized as part of something, Chalk Farm offers an uncompromising and ultimately heartbreaking examination of a fractured society. This explosive new play about love and blame during the 2011 London riots was hailed as ‘Brilliant, sharp, poetic, passionate, full of searing insight into the politics of blame’ in The Scotsman when it premiered at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Ayckbourn Ensemble (May 29 – June 29)
By Alan Ayckbourn
One company, two major bittersweet comedies and two frivolous shorts, all written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn, run in rep.
Time of My Life
It is Laura Stratton’s birthday and, to celebrate the event, the whole family is gathered for an evening out in their favorite restaurant. The dinner turns out to be a significant moment in all their lives. The NYC premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1992 comedy.
Arrivals & Departures
At a London rail terminus an elaborate trap is deployed to capture a dangerous and elusive terrorist. The Strategic Simulated Distractional Operations Unit is ready to pounce. Their witness, garrulous traffic warden, Barry Hawkins and troubled young female soldier Ez Swain, his minder, are on hand. What can possibly go wrong?
Farcicals: A Double Bill of Frivolous Comedies
In Chloe with Love, Teddy and Lottie’s marriage is in difficulty. Cue neighbors Penny and Reggie to the rescue. But who is Chloe? Lottie and Teddy return in The Kidderminster Affair! Will Lottie discover the awful truth about Kidderminster? Will Teddy burn the barbeque?
Blink (June 3 – 29)
By Phil Porter
This is the tale of Jonah and Sophie. It’s a love story. A dysfunctional love story, but a love story all the same. Against the lonely backdrop of London, the worlds of two shy individuals collide, and a charming, delicate and darkly funny story unfolds before your eyes.
Pat Kirkwood is Angry (June 10 – 29)
By Jessica Walker
Jessica Walker (from last year’s sublime The Girl I Left Behind Me) stars in this hilarious and heart-breaking new play with songs about the turbulent life of the actress and singer Pat Kirkwood. Britain’s first wartime star (in 1939) and Noel Coward’s muse, Kirkwood’s fortunes took a nose-dive after a fateful meeting with HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, the repercussions of which were to last her whole life.