Photo Flash: 1st Look at Kissing Sid James at Brits Off Broadway

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Red Lion Theatres and Cracking Up Productions to 59E59 Theaters with KISSING SID JAMES, written by Robert Farquhar and directed by Jason Lawson. KISSING SID JAMES begins performances on Tuesday, December 13 for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 1. Press opening is Sunday, December 18 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM and 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM. Single tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org. For more information, visit www.britsoffbroadway.com.

Please note the following Holiday performance schedule, from December 20 – January 1: Tue, Wed & Thu 7:30, Fri 8:30, Sat 2:30 & 7:30, Sun 3:30. There is an additional performance Thursday, December 29 at 2:30. There is no performance on Sunday, December 25.

Eddie and Crystal - two lonely no-hopers - throw caution to the wind and decide to spend a festive weekend together in an English seaside town. Hoping to find love amongst warm beer and cold fish & chips, the mismatched lovers fight to find some common ground. But should Eddie have stayed at home to play scrabble with his mum? Direct from a sold-out run in London, this new British comedy about the eternal search for true love takes the humbug right out of the holiday season.

The cast features Charlotte McKinney (from the film The Diary of Tommy Crisp, which won Best Comedy at the 2011 New York Film Festival) and Alan Drake (Endgame at the BAC in London; and in the forthcoming Universal Pictures comedy A Fantastic Fear of Everything).

Jason Lawson (director) directing credits include Kissing Sid James by Robert Farquhar (New Red Lion); Unimaginable and Some White Chick by Neil LaBute (Southwark Playhouse); Christmas Concerts adapted by Philip Franks (Chichester Festival Theatre); Charlie & Henry by Peter Maddock (New End); Danny’s Wake by Jim Sweeney (New End, King’s Head, Sound Theatre, Edinburgh Pleasance); Huge by Jez Butterworth, Ben Miller & Simon Godley (King’s Head, Edinburgh Pleasance) Sleeve Notes by Duncan McMillan (Southwark Playhouse, Theatre 503, Union); Some Afternoons, Red Sky, Blue Sky, and Quinto Quarto all by Nick Brown (Union/Hen & Chickens). He was Associate Director on Backbeat by Stephen Jefferies, directed by David Leveaux (London West End). Jason was assistant director on Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, directed by David Leveaux (Broadway, NYC); Through a Glass Darkly adapted by Jenny Worton, directed by David Leveaux (Atlantic Theatre, NYC); In A Dark Dark House by Neil LaBute, directed by Michael Attenborough (Almeida); Nicholas Nickleby adapted by David Edgar, directed by Jonathan Church & Philip Franks (London West End, Chichester Festival Theatre & UK Tour); The Syndicate adapted by Mike Poulton, directed by Sean Mathias (Chichester Minerva Theatre & UK Tour); Triptych by Edna O’Brien, directed by Sean Mathias, The Tempest directed by Tom Wright, and Romeo and Juliet directed by Thomas Hescott (all Southwark Playhouse). Residency Director - Almeida; Old Vic Theatre.

Robert Farquhar’s (playwright) plays include You Are Here, The Angry Kitchen Sink, Empty the Thought-Bubble, Almost Forever But, Kissing Sid James, God’s Official, Dust to Dust, Bad Jazz and Dead Heavy Fantastic, the last five of these were published by Josef Weinberger Plays. They have mostly received their first performances in Liverpool’s Unity Theatre, but have since been performed in theaters around the UK, including Liverpool Everyman, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Hull Truck, Edinburgh Traverse Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Stephen Joseph Scarborough, Oldham Coliseum and the Drum Theatre, Plymouth. They have also been performed internationally in countries such as the United States, Italy, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Malta and Slovakia. Robert has also written Something to Believe In for Lime Pictures and Channel 4. He is a member of Big Wow Theatre Company, and scripts and directs all of their shows, including Swanky Geezer Nonsense, Dark Grumblings, Insomnobabble and The Friendship Experiment. He is currently completing a new show for Big Wow called The Art of Falling Apart. Big Wow was recently commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to develop Insomnobabble into a four-part series.

Photo credit: Carol Rosegg

Charlotte McKinney

Alan Drake and Charlotte McKinney

Alan Drake and Charlotte McKinney

Charlotte McKinney and Alan Drake

Charlotte McKinney and Alan Drake

Charlotte McKinney and Alan Drake

Charlotte McKinney and Alan Drake