29 November 2022
Newsdesk
Cumulus Productions London and Finborough Theatre today announces the British stage première of Salt-Water Moon by Canadian playwright David French. The play opens 5 January, with previews from 3 January, and runs until 28 January 2023.
Peter Kavanagh directs Bryony Miller as Mary, and Joseph Potter as Jacob. A heartbreakingly romantic exploration of young love, set against the shores of Newfoundland at the edge of the British Empire in 1926.
Producer of Cumulus Productions, Alex Critoph, today says: “The UK première of Salt-Water Moon marks acclaimed director Peter Kavanagh’s return to the Finborough Theatre after the success of Not Quite Jerusalem. The production brings together performers Bryony Miller and Joseph Potter for this lyrical story which explores young love, set on a moon-filled night in Coley’s point in 1926.”
Alex Critoph for Cumulus Productions London presents
in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre
The UK première of
SALT-WATER MOON
Written by DAVID FRENCH
Director: Peter Kavanagh; Designer: Mim Houghton; Lighting Designer: Neill Brinkworth
3 – 28 January 2023
Press night: Thursday 5 and Friday 6 January 2023 at 7:30pm
It’s a splendid moon-filled night in Coley’s Point in 1926.
Young Jacob Mercer has returned home to the tiny and remote Newfoundland fishing village, desperate to win back his former sweetheart, Mary Snow.
But Mary has become engaged to wealthy Jerome McKenzie and is still hurt and bewildered by Jacob’s abrupt departure for Toronto a year earlier.
Even to speak to Jacob will put Mary’s wedding plans in jeopardy. Stubborn and independent, she is determined never to forgive Jacob…
Salt-Water Moon is a Canadian classic. First staged by Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, in 1984, it has received hundreds of productions around North America and the world since its première. It won the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Drama, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, the Hollywood Drama-Logue Critics’ Award, and was a finalist for the Governor-General’s Award for Drama. One of the plays that makes up David French’s semi-autobiographical ‘Mercer plays’ series, Salt-Water Moon now receives its UK première at the multi-award winning Finborough Theatre, known for producing more Canadian plays than any other theatre in Europe.
Playwright David French, one of Canada’s most critically acclaimed and widely produced playwrights, was born in Coley's Point, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1939. Although he moved from Newfoundland to Toronto with his family when he was six, the province and its people are a significant part of his works. He is perhaps best known for his semi-autobiographical “Mercer plays” which track the history of a Newfoundland family living in Toronto through three generations: Leaving Home, Of the Fields, Lately, Salt-Water Moon, 1949 and Soldier's Heart. His comedy about backstage life, Jitters, has enjoyed hundreds of productions across North America and abroad. Leaving Home was named one of 1000 “essential plays in the English language” by The Oxford Dictionary of Theatre, and was also named one of Canada’s “100 Most Influential Books” by the Literary Review of Canada. He was nominated for the Chalmers Award five times, and won it for Of the Fields, Lately. He won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Salt-Water Moon, which was also nominated for a Governor General’s Award. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001. His many other awards include a Toronto Drama Bench Award for Distinguished Contribution to Canadian Theatre, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal 2002, and he was the first inductee into the Newfoundland Arts Hall of Honour. He died in Toronto in 2010. www.davidfrench.net
Director Peter Kavanagh returns to the Finborough Theatre where he directed the sell-out 40th anniversary rediscovery of Paul Kember’s Not Quite Jerusalem. He is an award-winning director for theatre, film, television and radio. His theatre credits include Cyanide at 5 and Love and the Art of War (King’s Head Theatre), The Most Dangerous Woman in America (Windsor Fringe), The Labyrinth (Players Theatre, Dublin/Dublin Theatre Festival/Royal Court Theatre), A Door Must Be Either Open or Shut and The Boor (Chichester Theatre Festival), The Good Companions (Watford Colosseum), A Selfish Boy and After Prospero (INK Festival at the Tristan Bates Theatre), Vox Humana (Cockpit Theatre), Endgame (Players Theatre, Dublin), Play, Mrs Warren’s Profession (Project Theatre, Dublin) and The Exception and the Rule (Focus Theatre, Dublin). For film, his credits include Sightings of Bono, I Was The Cigarette Girl and The Rules of Palship.
Bryony Miller plays Mary. Her theatre credits Everything (Arcola Theatre), Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales (Unicorn Theatre), View From Here (Theatre503), Valley of the Weird (VAULT Festival), and Miss Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse). For television, her credits include Cursed, The North Water, Patrick Melrose, Killed By My Debt and Doctors; and for film: Peterloo, Indiana Jones 5, Sweet Sue, Birchanger Green, Rebecca and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Joseph Potter plays Jacob. His theatre credits include The Poltergeist (Arcola Theatre/Southwark Playhouse), The Dwarfs (White Bear Theatre) and Candida (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond). For television, his credits include Father Brown and Casualty; and for film: My Policeman.
SALT-WATER MOON
Finborough Theatre
118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
3 – 28 January 2023
Press night: Thursday 5 and Friday 6 January 2023 at 7:30pm
Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3pm
Box Office: 020 7244 7439
finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Tickets from £18
