An English premiere On McQuillan’s Hill by Joseph Crilly starts at the Finborough Theatre in Earl’s Court on 4 February running through to the 29 of the month. Currently running the world premiere of Scrounger by Athena Stevens giving a major boost to the start of the Finborough’s 40th anniversary year.
Scrounger, starring Leigh Quinn and Athena Stevens is based on real events and a lawsuit initiated by Stevens herself.
‘On the streets of Elephant and Castle, everyone likes to make speculations about Scrounger. She needs help, she must be aware of the complexities of the world, she is sent from the demons to torture her mum…… at least according to her Nigerian Uber driver. Scrounger doesn’t care. A successful online personality, she’s got more power from her bedroom than anyone on the Southwark estate could dream of. She’s educated, she’s ballsy, and with a huge network of online allies. Scrounger is a woman who knows how to make change happen. That is until an airline destroys her wheelchair!’
On McQuillan’s Hill is based in Ireland and when ‘proud IRA man Fra Maline is released early from prison, his daughter throws a welcome home celebration at the local community hall. Unknown to the revellers, the hall has been bought by Fra’s sister, Loretta, who turns up ready to demolish it after a twenty-year absence across the water.’ The reunion descends into a pitch-black farce. It is described as a vicious satire from a playwright described as Ulster’s Martin McDonagh by The Guardian. And, ‘it gets under the dirty fingernails of small-town Northern Ireland, confronting the horrors of abuse and the corrosive legacy of the conflict with explosive wit and an insider’s eye for detail’.
Finborough Theatre starts 40th Anniversary Year with Bold New Performances