ARMSTRONG'S WAR - Finborough Theatre

Press Information
The Finborough Theatre is fully air conditioned
VIBRANT NEW WRITING | UNIQUE REDISCOVERIES
Summer Season | June to August 2013
ABG Productions and Flying Bear Productions in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre present
ARMSTRONG’S WAR
by Colleen Murphy.
Directed by Jennifer Bakst.
Designed by Philip Lindley. Lighting by Jack Weir. Costume Design by Maud Dromgoole. Music by Angus MacRae.
Cast: Jessica Barden. Mark Quartley.
A Finborough Theatre commission, Colleen Murphy’s Armstrong’s War opens at the Finborough Theatre as a fully
staged workshop production (prior to its official World Premiere in October 2013 at the renowned Arts Club Theatre,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada) for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances from
Sunday, 11 August 2013 (Press Night: Monday, 12 August at 7.30pm).
Written by multi-award-winning former Canadian Playwright in Residence at the Finborough Theatre, Colleen Murphy,
Armstrong’s War is the tale of a twenty one year-old Canadian soldier who has been wounded in Afghanistan. As the
young soldier recovers in hospital, feisty Halley Armstrong - a twelve year-old girl guide eager to earn every possible
badge - announces that she has volunteered to read for him.
Despite initial misgivings, a relationship develops between this most unlikely of couples who find that they have
something in common beyond storytelling...
Playwright Colleen Murphy is the former Canadian Playwright in Residence at the Finborough Theatre where her
previous productions have included The December Man (L’homme de decembre),The Goodnight Bird, The Piper and
Beating Heart Cadaver. Since 2010, Colleen has been guest playwright at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Canada and
was Playwright-in-Residence at The Factory Theatre in Toronto in 2011/2012. She is currently working on three new
plays, as well as libretti for new operas with composers Aaron Gervais and Andrew Staniland. Murphy’s play, The
December Man (L’homme de décembre), won the 2007 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. Her large opera,
The Enslavemant and Liberation of Oksana G, composed by Aaron Gervais, will be produced by Tapestry New Opera in
Toronto in 2015. Murphy is also an award winning filmmaker and her films have played in festivals around the world
including Putty Worm, The Feeler, Shoemaker, Desire, War Holes, Girl with Dog and Out in the Cold.
Director Jennifer Bakst is currently Resident Assistant Director at the Finborough Theatre, where she has assisted Lisa
Blair on I Didn’t Always Live Here, Andrew Keates on Rooms: A Rock Romance and Max Pappenheim on Nothing Is the
End of the World (Except for the End of the World). Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, her directing
includes The Collectors (Courtyard Theatre), Bash (Etcetera Theatre), Tiny Dynamite (Cockpit Theatre), Precious Little
Talent (Karamel Club) and Fallen Angels (Theatro Technis). Assistant Direction includes assisting Patrick Kinmonth
on Samson et Dalila (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Jasmin Solfaghari on Albert Herring (Leipziger Musikhochschule) and Jacqui
Somerville on A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre in Education Tour). Jennifer also produced Letters, Signs and
Songs (Shakespeare’s Globe), a charity gala performance for and about Gaza.
The cast is:
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone 020 7244 7439 e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk Artistic Director Neil McPherson
The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.
Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.

Press Information
Mark Quartley as Corporal Michael Armstrong
Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Theatre includes Malcolm in Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios), the title role in Private Peaceful (National Theatre at Theatre
Royal Haymarket), Claudio in Measure for Measure (Royal Shakespeare Company), Lysander in A Midsummer Night's
Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company), Written on the Heart (Royal Shakespeare Company and Duchess Theatre) and The
Tempest (Theatre Royal Bath).
Jessica Barden as Halley Armstrong
Theatre includes Pea in Jerusalem (Royal Court Theatre and Apollo Theatre).
Film includes Jody Long in Tamara Drew, Hanna, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution, Mindscape, Lay Me Down, The Dark,
Comedown and The Dark Half.
Television includes Coronation Street, Vera, My Parents are Aliens, No Angels, The Chase and the forthcoming Sammy's
War.
The Press on Playwright Colleen Murphy
The Press on The Goodnight Bird
“A happy end to the Finborough’s discovery of a playwright overdue for production in Britain… Murphy’s play is well
worth seeing.” Timothy Ramsden, Reviewsgate
“Murphy's script is full of sharp wit and great lines.” Emma Berge, British Theatre Guide
"Makes the small Finborough stage bubble with liveliness and hilarity.” Emma Berge, British Theatre Guide
The press on Beating Heart Cadaver
"Beautifully moving. Wondrously humorous. In an extraordinary examination of the sudden and tragic death of a child,
Murphy has managed to express the inexpressible." Jury Citation, Governor General's Award for English Language Drama
"Beautifully crafted… So staggeringly painful to watch that few will be able to bear it...As difficult as her play is to watch,
Murphy has written a powerful, wrenching call to love while you can." Variety
"Colleen Murphy tackles the subject with grace and toughness in her uncompromising new play.” Now Magazine
PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY, 12 AUGUST 2013 AT 7.30PM
PHOTOCALL: By arrangement. Please email admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 August 2013
Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm. Tuesday matinees at 2.00pm.
Tickets £14, £10 concessions.
For more information, interviews and images, please contact
Neil McPherson on e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk or 07977 173135
Download press releases and images at http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/press-resources.php
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone 020 7244 7439 e-mail admin@finboroughtheatre.co.uk
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk Artistic Director Neil McPherson
The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.
Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.