The production will have its premiere from the 2nd to the 27th January 2024.
Full casting has now been announced for the upcoming production of Michael Healey’s political comedy 1979, which will begin performances at the Finborough Theatre in January 2024.
Jimmy Walters is set to direct Joseph May as Canada’s youngest ever prime minister Joe Clark, and Ian Porter and Samantha Coughlan will both play multiple roles including Pierre Trudeau, Maureen McTeer and Steve Harper.
In May 1979, Progressive Conservative Joe Clark was elected as Canada’s youngest ever Prime Minister.
By Christmas 1979, it looked as though it was all over.
But Clark is young and idealistic, resolute on making his mark in office, and governing for the whole country, not just his own party supporters. Faced with a critical decision, his colleagues – including his predecessor Pierre Trudeau – take the opportunity to steer him in completely different directions…
1979 opened to great critical acclaim on its première in Calgary in 2017, and received six Betty Mitchell Award nominations. The production subsequently ran at the Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto in 2019.
Michael Healey is a playwright and actor. His first play, Kicked, was produced at the Fringe of Toronto Festival in 1996, subsequently toured across Canada and internationally, and won Toronto’s most prestigious theatre award, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play. The Drawer Boy, his first full-length play, premièred in Toronto in 1999, and won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play. Healey’s other works include The Road To Hell (co-authored with Kate Lynch), Plan B, Rune Arlidge, The Innocent Eye Test, The Nuttalls, and Are You Okay. Finborough Theatre has presented three productions of his work including his UK debut with Generous, the London première of The Drawer Boy and the UK première of Proud.
The creative team behind this production includes: Designer: Mim Houghton; Sound designer: Edward Lewis and Lighting designer: Mark Dymock.
To book tickets visit: https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/