Rodney Ackland’s After October will be presented at London’s Finborough Theatre for a limited season from 22 November – 22 December 2016, the first time the play has been performed in central London for eighty years.
Hampstead, 1936. In a shabby basement flat, aspiring playwright Clive Monkhams dreams of a West End hit and winning Francie’s heart. His bankrupt mother Rhoda, a faded actress, frets about the bills and the fortunes of her penniless daughters while reminiscing about her glory days. Clive’s family and an entourage of bohemian dependants all need him to make it big. With opening night approaching and finances fast running out, everything rides on the success of the play and, for Clive, the future looks all too glittering…
Renown for his plays Absolute Hell and Before The Party, After October is Ackland’s most autobiographical play. It is both a fascinating portrait of an impoverished family on the brink of a glamorous new life and a bittersweet homage to the theatre.
The cast for After October includes Jasmine Blackborow, Adam Buchanan, Andrew Cazanave Pin, Peta Cornish, Josie Kidd, Beverley Klein, Allegra Marland, Jonathan Oliver, Patrick Osborne, Stephen Rashbrook and Sasha Waddell.
After October will be presented by Troupe in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre. The production will be directed by Oscar Toeman, set design by Rosanna Vize, lighting by Marec Joyce, costume design by Anna Lewis and sound design by Lucinda Mason Brown.
