Finborough Theatre's Mr Gillie - casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
CASTING has been announced for James Bridie’s Mr Gillie, which runs at the Finborough Theatre on Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from June 25 to July 11, 2017.
The line up includes David Bannerman (as Mr Gibb), Andrew Cazanave Pin (Tom Donnelly), Emma D’Inverno (Mrs Gillie), Ross Dunsmore (Procurator), Caitlin Fielding (Nelly), Drew Paterson (Judge), Malcolm Rennie (Dr Watson) and Andy Secombe (Mr Gillie).
Previously Posted: Commissioned by the Finborough Theatre and continuing their rediscovery of James Bridie, one of the West End’s most successful dramatists of the 1930s and 1940s, the first London production of Mr Gillie since its 1950 premiere runs at the Finborough Theatre on Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from June 25 to July 11, 2017.
I find most good men occupied in designing and strengthening cages.
I do not like cages.
I think that the few minutes between the door of the cage and the jaws of the cat make life worth living.
Village headmaster William Gillie is killed by the furniture van coming to take away his possessions, as he is being evicted from his home when his school is closed down. He has spent his entire teaching career fighting the Education Board’s narrow idea of schooling, trying to inspire his pupils to strive for great creative lives.
Having lost his school and his home and with none of his pupils quite finding the wings to fly free, his life is examined by a heavenly Procurator and Judge. For all his efforts to inspire great artistic freedom, did he actually achieve anything in his life? Or is the very act of trying and hoping enough?
Combining lovingly drawn characters with James Bridie’s trademark dry wit, this wry comedy explores the impact one individual human life can have.
Mr Gillie was first produced at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, in 1950, starring Bridie’s regular collaborator Alistair Sim; transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London for a successful West End run and was subsequently filmed by Tyrone Guthrie for the BBC.
Playwright James Bridie (the pseudonym of Dr Osborne Henry Mavor) was born in Glasgow in 1888. He studied medicine at Glasgow University. His best known works include Dr Angelus (1947), recently a huge success when rediscovered by the Finborough Theatre; Tobias and the Angel (1930); The Anatomist (1931), Tyrone Guthrie’s first London production; A Sleeping Clergyman (1933), featuring a tour de force performance by Robert Donat; The King of Nowhere (1938), starring Laurence Olivier; Mr Bolfry (1943); and Daphne Laureola (1949), a huge hit for Edith Evans and Peter Finch which ran for a year at the Wyndham’s Theatre.
He also wrote memoirs, adapted Ibsen, Molière and Chekhov and collaborated on three screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock: The Paradine Case (1947), Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950). His commitment to Scottish theatre included co-founding both the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, and the first school of drama in Scotland (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). He was also instrumental in the creation of the Edinburgh Festival, and a tireless campaigner for a National Theatre for Scotland. He died in Edinburgh in 1951.
Mr Gillie is directed by Jenny Eastop, who is the Artistic Director and Producer of Mercurius for which she has directed The Waiting Room (Leicester Square Theatre/Above the Arts Theatre), The Alchemist, The Devil Is An Ass, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and A Trick to Catch the Old One (all at The Rose Playhouse, Bankside), Anton Chekhov’s Vaudevilles (Jermyn Street Theatre), and School for Wives (White Bear Theatre) for which she received an OffWestEndnomination for Best Director.
Mr Gillie is presented by Mercurius in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.
Tickets: £18, £16 concessions. (Group Bookings – 1 free ticket for every 10 tickets booked). To book, call the box office on 0844 847 1652 or visit www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/.
Times: Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm; Tuesday matinees at 2pm.
Also at the Finborough Theatre: the world premiere of Jam, starring Harry Melling and Jasmine Hyde (until June 17); the European premiere of Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter’s Footprints On The Moon (until June 13); and Steve Rodgers’ acclaimed Australian drama Food (June 20 to July 15, 2017).