The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays both in translation and from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language, alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre.
The Finborough Arms The Finborough Arms was built in 1868 to a design by George Godwin and his younger brother Henry. It was one of five public houses built by Corbett and McClymont in the Earls Court area during the West London development boom of the 1860s. The pub opened in 1871. The ground floor and basement of the building was converted into The Finborough Road Brasserie from 2008 to 2010 and The Finborough Wine Cafe from 2010 to 2012. The pub reopened under its original name of The Finborough Arms in February 2014 and closed again during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened after an extensive refurbishment in January 2025 as a bar and restaurant.
1980s June Abbott opened the theatre above the Finborough Arms Public House in June 1980. In its first decade, artists working at the new theatre included Clive Barker, Kathy Burke, Ken Campbell, Mark Rylance, and Claire Dowie who appeared in the world première of her own play Adult Child/Dead Child.Claire Dowie's page on doollee.com. Retrieved 17 April 2011
1990s From 1991 to 1994, the theatre was best known for new writing with Naomi Wallace’s first play The War Boys; Rachel Weisz in David Farr’s Neville Southall's Washbag,Neville Southall's Washbag – Finborough Arms, London, The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2011 Elton John’s Glasses;There's much ado, and it's all in perfect order, The Independent. Retrieved 17 November 2011 Holding Back the Ocean by Godfrey Hamilton; and three plays by Anthony Neilson: The Year of the Family; Normal: The Düsseldorf Ripper; and Penetrator, which transferred from the Traverse and went on to play at the Royal Court Upstairs. From 1994, the theatre was run by The Steam Industry under Artistic Director Phil Willmott. Productions included new plays by Tony Marchant, David Eldridge, Mark Ravenhill, and Phil Willmott. New writing development included Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and F*cking, The Stage. Retrieved 17 November 2011 (Royal Court, West End and Broadway) and Naomi Wallace's Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), the UK première of David Mamet’s The Woods,The Woods Finborough Theater, London, The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2011 and Anthony Neilson's The Censor, which transferred to the Royal Court.
2000s Productions since 2000 have included the UK premières of Brad Fraser’s Wolfboy; Lanford Wilson’s Sympathetic Magic; Tennessee Williams’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear; and Frank McGuinness’ Gates of GoldGates of Gold, British Theater Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2011 with William Gaunt and the late John Bennett in his last stage role which transferred to the West End; the London première of Sonja Linden’s I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda;I Have Before Me... Finborough, London, The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011 the specially commissioned adaptation of W.H. Davies’ Young Emma by Laura Wade and directed by Tamara Harvey; the first London revival for more than 40 years of Rolf Hochhuth’s Soldiers;Soldiers, Finborough Theater, London, The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011 Keith Dewhurst's Lark Rise to Candleford, performed in promenade and in repertoire; the Great War drama Red Night,Red Night, Finborough Theater, London, The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011 and five first plays by new writers: Jason Hall's Eyes Catch Fire; Chris Dunkley’s Mirita; Dameon Garnett's Break Away ,Break Away, Finborough Theater, London, The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011 Simon Vinnicombe's Year 10, Joy Wilkinson's Fair which transferred to the West End; Waterloo Day with Robert Lang; Sarah Phelps’ Modern Dance for Beginners, subsequently produced at the Soho Theatre; Carolyn Scott-Jeffs' comedy Out in the Garden, which transferred to the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh; the London premiere of Larry Kramer's The Destiny of Me; The Women's War – an evening of original suffragette plays; Steve Hennessy’s Lullabies of BroadmoorLullabies of Broadmoor: A Broadmoor Quartet, British Theater Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2011 (about the Finborough Road murder of 1922); the Victorian era comedy Masks and Faces;Masks and Faces, British Theater Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2011 Etta JenksEtta Jenks, British Theater Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2011 with Clarke Peters and Daniela Nardini; The Gigli ConcertThe Gigli Concert, British Theater Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2011 with Niall Buggy, Catherine Cusack and Paul McGann which transferred to the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh); Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams with Linda Bassett, Albert's Boy by James Graham starring Victor Spinetti, Peter Oswald’s Lucifer Saved with Mark Rylance, Blackwater Angel, the UK debut of Irish playwright Jim Nolan with Sean Campion, the first London revival for over seventy years of Loyalties by John Galsworthy, the world premiere of Plague Over England by Nicholas de Jongh which subsequently transferred to the West End at the Duchess Theatre, the first revival of Hangover Square, adapted by Fidelis Morgan from the novel by Patrick Hamilton, the UK premiere of the musical Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon and a season of plays by William Saroyan.
2010s In March 2010 the theatre presented the world premiere of A Day at the Racists, a new piece of political theatre by Anders Lustgarten, charting the rise of the BNP in Barking. In 2011 productions included a critically acclaimed production of Mixed Marriage by St John Ervine, as well as Dawn King's Foxfinder, as well as revivals of Emlyn Williams's Accolade and Caryl Churchill's Fen. Air conditioning was also installed in 2011. In 2012 productions at the theatre included John McGrath's Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun and revivals of Arthur Miller's The American Clock and J. B. Priestley's Cornelius which subsequently transferred Off-Broadway. In November 2012, the theatre presented twelve new plays as part of its fourth annual Vibrant – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. The plays include The Andes by Alexandra Wood, The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie by Anders Lustgarten and Pig Girl by Colleen Murphy. 2012 saw transfers of London Wall by John Van Druten to St James' Theatre, and Cornelius by J.B. Priestley to Off-Broadway. From 2009–12, the Finborough Theatre awarded the Leverhulme Emerging Directors Bursary in collaboration with the National Theatre Studio. The recipients of the award were Blanche McIntyre, Ria Parry and Andrea Ferran.
2020s Productions in 2020:
7 January – 1 February 2020. Scrounger by Athena Stevens. Directed by Lily McLeish. World premiere.
4 February – 29 February 2020. On McQuillan's Hill by Joe Crilly. Directed by Jonathan Harden. English premiere.
3 March – 15 March 2020. Not Quite Jerusalem by Paul Kember. Directed by Peter Kavanagh. First new UK production in 40 years.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Finborough Theatre temporarily closed, cancelling its remaining productions for 2020.
From May 2020, the Finborough Theatre began its #FinboroughForFree programme of archive productions streamed online:
7 May – 7 July 2020. It Is Easy To Be Dead by Neil McPherson. Directed by Max Key. World premiere production from 2016.
18 May – 31 December 2021. Continuity by Gerry Moynihan. Directed by Shane Dempsey. World premiere production from 2017.
5 June – 5 August 2020. Jane Clegg by St John Ervine. Directed by David Gilmore. First London production in over 75 years from 2019.
2 July – 2 September 2020. Blueprint Medea by Julia Pascal. Directed by Julia Pascal. World premiere production from 2019.
1 – 3 and 31 August 2020. Scrounger by Athena Stevens. Directed by Lily McLeish. World premiere production from January 2020.
7 September – 7 October 2020. Death of a Hunter by Rolf Hochhuth. Directed by Anthony Shrubsall. UK and English language premiere production from 2018.
1 October – 12 November 2020. Adding Machine (musical) by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt. Directed by Josh Seymour. UK premiere production from 2016.
1 November – 31 December 2020. I Wish To Die Singing – Voices From The Armenian Genocide by Neil McPherson. Directed by Tommo Fowler. World premiere production from 2015.
1 December 2020 – 1 February 2021. S-27 by Sarah Grochala. Directed by Stephen Keyworth. The world premiere of the winner of Amnesty International’s first Protect The Human Playwriting Competition.
From January 2021 the Finborough Theatre began to produce new original online content as part of its #FinboroughForFree programme:
1 February – 30 April 2021. Late Night Staring At High Res Pixels by Athena Stevens. Directed Lily McLeish. The world premiere of a new play repurposed for online viewing.
1 April – 8 April 2021. Playfight by Julia Grogan. Directed by Blanche McIntyre. The world premiere rehearsed reading of the winner of the 2020 ETPEP Competition.
24 May – 20 June 2021. A Brief List of Everyone Who Died by Jacob Marx Rice. Directed by Alex Howarth. The world premiere rehearsed reading.
22 June – 20 July 2021. Leather by Peter Scott-Presland. Directed by Patrick Kealey. The first production in more than thirty years.
28 July – 25 August 2021. Masks and Faces or, Before and Behind the Curtain by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor. Directed by Matthew Iliffe. The online premiere of a unique rediscovery.
In September 2021, the Finborough Theatre reopened for live performances:
28 September – 23 October 2021. How To Survive An Apocalypse by Jordan Hall. Directed by Jimmy Walters. UK premiere production from 2016.
26 October – 20 November 2021. The Sugar House by Alana Valentine. Directed by Tom Brennan. The European Premiere.
23 November – 18 December 2021. Yes So I Said Yes by David Ireland. Directed by Max Elton. The Great Britain premiere.
28 January – 25 February 2022. An Earl's Court Miscellany devised and directed by Catherine Harvey. The online world premiere.
31 January – 28 February 2022. How To Make A Revolution by Einat Weizman with Issa Amro. Directed by Tommo Fowler. The online world premiere.
1 March – 2 April 2022. Bacon by Sophie Swithinbank. Directed by Matthew Iliffe. The world premiere.
19 April – 14 May 2022. The Straw Chair by Sue Glover. Directed by Polly Creed. The English premiere.
17 May – 11 June 2022. Bliss by Fraser Grace. Directed by Paul Bourne. The world premiere.
Online from Monday, 30 May 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: Otvetka by Neda Nezhdana. Translated by John Farndon. The online premiere.
Online from Monday, 6 June 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: The Peed-Upon Armored Personnel Carrier by Oksana Gritsenko. Translated by John Freedman. The online premiere.
Online from Monday, 13 June 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: A Dictionary of Emotions in a Time of War by Yelena Astasyeva. Translated by John Freedman. The online premiere.
14 June - 9 July 2022. Darkie Armo Girl by Karine Bedrossian. Directed by Anastasia Bunce. The world premiere.
Online from Monday, 4 July 2022. #FinboroughFrontier: Stand Up For Ukraine Written and Performed by Bréon Rydell. The online premiere.
9 August - 3 September 2022. Two Ukrainian Plays. Take The Rubbish Out, Sasha by Natal’ya Vorozhbit. Directed by Svetlana Dimcovic. The English Premiere. Pussycat in Memory of Darkness by Neda Nezhdana. Directed by Polly Creed. The first production outside Ukraine.