MOLIERE
or THE LEAGUE OF HYPOCRITES

by Mikhail Bulgakov in the world premiere of a translation by Michael Glenny
Directed by Blanche McIntyre.
Designed by Alex Marker.
Lighting by Jon Winn.
Sound by Gemma Harrison.
Costume by Penn O'Gara. 
Music by Plaster of Paris

Cast:
Justin Avoth
Paul Brendan
Tom Davey
Mark Desebrock
Emma Jerrold
Antonia Kinlay
Elizabeth Moynihan
Gyuri Sarossy
Kett Turton
Ben Warwick

The first London revival in 25 years and the world premiere of a new translation of the modern classic

Finborough Theatre London

Tuesday, 24 November - Saturday, 19 December 2009
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm.
Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm. Saturday Matinees at 3.00pm (from 5 December).
Tickets £13, £9 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £9 all seats, and Saturday evenings £13 all seats.
£5 TICKETS FOR UNDER 30'S FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF THIS PRODUCTION WHEN BOOKED ONLINE ONLY
Previews (24 and 25 November) £9 all seats.
Performance Length: Approximately 2 hours.

The first London revival in 25 years of the modern classic Bulgakov's Molière or The League of Hypocrites, directed by Blanche McIntyre - the inaugural winner of the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors. The Leverhulme Bursary is an exciting new award, partnering the National Theatre Studio with the Finborough Theatre, supporting a six month attachment at the internationally acclaimed National Theatre Studio, and a production at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre.

Jean-Baptiste Molière is on top of the world - at the centre of Louis XIV's court, author of countless popular hits, and in love with a woman half his age. But what the audiences see as sparkling satire, the authorities see as dangerous and subversive. As soon as he takes a wrong step, his fall from grace is assured.

Assailed by rumours and tracked by the secret police, Molière's private life starts to fall apart. In this world of whispers and distortions, everyone is vulnerable. But not everyone has a theatre to run.

Inspired by real-life events and written under the shadow of Stalin, Molière is about a man's fight to keep his integrity under a repressive regime.

Playwright and novelist Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was the most original writer of the Stalinist era, turning out outspoken, satirical works, even as his contemporaries were arrested and killed. He is probably best known for The Master And Margarita, published 26 years after his death and now the favourite book of four out of five Russians. He also wrote the plays The White Guard (which Stalin saw seventeen times) and Black Snow, a savage spoof of Stanislavsky and his Method which was inspired by Bulgakov's difficulties in getting Molière staged. Productions of Bulgakov's work in the UK have included Black Snow and Flight at the National Theatre, The Master and Margarita at Chichester Festival Theatre, and The White Guard for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Molière was last seen in London in 1983, at the Barbican's Pit Theatre, in a Royal Shakespeare Company production starring Antony Sher.

Translator Michael Glenny (1927-1990) was one of the most prolific and highly respected translators of Russian works in the 20th century. He was professor of Russian studies at the Universities of Birmingham, Southern Illinois and Bristol. Glenny translated ten works by Bulgakov, including Black Snow, The White Guard and The Master and Margarita. His other translations include works by Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Gorky and the first volume of Boris Yeltsin's memoirs.

Director Blanche McIntyre is the first recipient of the Leverhulme Directors' Bursary, and is currently Director in Residence at the National Theatre Studio and the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes Bulgakov's The Master And Margarita (Greenwich Playhouse), Three Hours After Marriage (Union Theatre), Wuthering Heights (National Tour), The Revenger's Tragedy (BAC), Birds (Southwark Playhouse), Doctor Faustus, The Devil Is An Ass, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde As Told To An Inmate Of Broadmoor Asylum (White Bear Theatre), and Lost Hearts, The Invention of Love and Cressida (Edinburgh Festival).

Alex Marker is Resident Designer of the Finborough Theatre where his acclaimed designs have included Soldiers, Trelawny of the 'Wells', Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, Albert's Boy, Lark Rise To Candleford, Red Night, The Representative, Eden's Empire, Love Child, Little Madam, Plague Over England, Hangover Square, Sons of York, Untitled and Death of Long Pig.

The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Lord Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £50 million every year.

The Press on Mikhail Bulgakov
"Bulgakov is one of the greatest modern Russian writers, perhaps the greatest" The Independent
"One of the great writers of the 20th century" A S Byatt
"Mikhail Bulgakov… is one of the great names of 20th century Russian literature" John Gross, The Telegraph
"The statues of Stalin have been pulled down, but on the page and the stage Bulgakov lives on" Paul Taylor, The Independent on Sunday
"There were glorious writers in the Stalin period, and some people think Bulgakov was the greatest" Doris Lessing

The Press on Director Blanche McIntyre
"The great achievement of Blanche McIntyre's production is to recreate the chilling world of Stalin's Russia in which everyone fears the knock on the door' Jane Edwards, Time Out, on The Master and Margarita
"An ebullient but coherent production of Mikhail Bulgakov's magnum opus" Evening Standard on The Master and Margarita
"It is cheering to find a revival of this odd, inventive comedy... it gets maximum laughs" Michael Billington, The Guardian, on Three Hours After Marriage