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finboroughforum

Monday, 30 July 2007-
THEATRE AND THE OLYMPICS: VALUE FOR MONEY?

finboroughforum is a monthly discussion forum, bringing artistic practitioners and voices from various other disciplines together to challenge the practice and meaning of theatre. Encouraging dialogue across all art forms, finboroughforum aims to be an accessible and non-pretentious opportunity to exchange opposing viewpoints as well as a birthplace for new collaborations. The forum is deliberately designed so that the audience actively participate in the discussion from the beginning.

“Utterly unpretentious, hugely entertaining and totally accessible to all…You will find yourself…sitting hunched with delight as writer/performer Jack Klaff chairs 4-minute opening salvos from a panel of practitioners followed by the floor being thrown well and truly open to a lively exchange of views between audience and panellists.”

Sofie Mason, OffWestEnd.com

Chaired by Jack Klaff
Jack Klaff is a writer/performer. He has held visiting professorships at Princeton University and at Starlab, a Brussels-based think tank. He edits Shebang, a science and culture magazine, is helping establish Frontier TV and has written and presented for all media. Jack’s recent stage appearances have been as the Blind Man in Carver, as Claudius, as Toby Belch, as the Cardinal in The Representative and as Bohr in Copenhagen. Other credits include RSC and West End seasons, Star Wars, For Your Eyes Only, King David, Vanity Fair, Road Rage and Last Duel. His one-man shows have won several awards.
The panellists will include, subject to availability:

Mark O’Thomas

Mark is Director of IPAD (Institute for the Performing Arts Development) at the University of East London, whose campuses sit in the hub of London’s new Olympic zone. As a playwright, Mark has had plays produced by Soho Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Birmingham Rep and Bristol Old Vic. He also works as a script advisor and translator for the Royal Court Theatre, which has produced and published a number of his translations. Mark is on the board of UEL’s London East Research Institute commissioned by the Greater London Authority to write the report Lasting Legacy for London? Assessing the Legacy of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. He is also on the board of the East End musical hall theatre Hoxton Hall and is the Creative Director for the recently established East London Theatre Archive project. His show about the life of Chet Baker premieres at the London Jazz Festival in November.

Emma Stenning

Emma Stenning is Head of Theatre for Arts Council England, London, a position she has held since January 2007. Previously, over the past two years, Emma worked flexibly between a Fellowship with the Clore Leadership Programme, as a Cultural Ceremonies Advisor with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, and as Executive Producer with her production company Schtanhaus, in partnership with Tom Morris, working primarily in mid scale touring and on commission from the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the Complete Works Festival.

From 2002–2005, Emma was Executive Director of BAC, through 2001 was administrator at Complicite delivering world tours of Mnemonic and The Noise of Time, and from 1999–2000 was producer at Oxford Stage Company (now Headlong).

Emma has been a Trustee of the Royal and Derngate in Northhampton, was recipient of a Stage One producer’s Bursary, and is a graduate of both the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Programme for Not for Profit Leadership in the Arts, and Common Purpose 20:20.

Continued/

Nick Sweeting

Starting a freelance career with a short spell at the Chicago International Theatre Festival in 1993, Nick worked with a broad range of national and international companies, including the David Glass Ensemble, Phoenix Dance, LipService, Wierzalin Theatre (Poland), Nada Theatre (France) and Mouthpeace (South Africa). Since the mid 1990’s he has played a key role in the development of Told by an Idiot and Stan’s Café. In 1995 he co-founded Improbable and over the last few years has concentrated more and more on his work there, as they tour more widely, working in collaboration with a series of key presenting partners in Europe and North America.

Future finboroughtalktheatre events will be held on:

Monday, 24 September 2007 at 7.30pm: What’s in a Name? Theatre and Celebrity

Monday, 22 October 2007 at 7.30pm: The Novel on Stage: Adaptation or bastardisation?

Monday, 19 November 2007 at 7.30pm: Does Musical Theatre Matter?

Monday, 17 December 2007 at 7.30pm TBA

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED

Box Office 0870 4000 838 www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

All events begin at 7.30pm

Tickets £2 all seats

For more information, please contact
Marie Bobin on email or 07951 630018

Neil McPherson on email or 07977 173135

You can now download press releases and images from our website at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
(Go to ‘Contact’ in the top right hand corner of the home page and follow the links)

118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED Telephone +44 (0)20 7244 7439 Fax +44 (0)20 7835 1853

e-mail www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk Artistic Director Neil McPherson

The Finborough Theatre is managed by The Steam Industry. Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 3448268.

Registered Charity no. 1071304. Registered address: 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. A member of the Independent Theatre Council.