The Finborough Theatre will present the London premiere of John Osborne’s A Subject of Scandal and Concern from the 22nd May until the 7th June.
2016 mark the 60th anniversary of John Osborne’s renowned Look Back in Anger. In celebration of this anniversary, the Finborough theatre will present A Subject of Scandal and Concern, while the Garrick Theatre will present The Entertainer as well as various stagings and new radio production of Look Back in Anger.
Directed by Jimmy Walters, this Finborough Theatre commissioned production is the first theatrical staging of the play in over 40 years.
Cheltenham, 1842. George Jacob Holyoake is a poor young teacher, making his way from Birmingham to Bristol to visit a friend who has been imprisoned for publishing a journal that criticises the establishment. When he makes a stop in Cheltenham to address a lecture, his words and his overwhelming commitment to speaking the truth will change his life forever. Arrested and tried for blasphemy, and separated from his starving wife and child, Holyoake is faced with the choice of conforming or staying true to his beliefs in a time of injustice and intolerance.
A Subject of Scandal and Concern is based on a true story of the last man to stand trial for blasphemy in England and was originally written for television in 1960 starring Richard Burton and was first seen onstage in Nottingham in the early 1960’s.
Playwright John Osborne was born in Fulham in 1929. His best known works include Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, Luther, Inadmissible Evidence, West of Suez, A Sense of Detachment, Watch It Come Down, A Patriot For Me and The Hotel In Amsterdam, his screenplay for the filmTom Jones which won him an Oscar, and his autobiographies A Better Class of Person and Almost A Gentleman. Osborne died in 1994.
A Subject of Scandal and Concern will appear at the Finborough Theatre from the 22nd May and will run until the 7th June. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2016/a-subject-of-scandal-and-concern.php