Theatre

'Grotesque fun and heart felt intensity’
– London Lite

'Powerful and inventive'
– Three Weeks

'Grotesque, fearless and jaunty'
– London Theatre Blog

'Outstanding'
– Time Out

 

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VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! for NIGEL BARTON
a play by DENNIS POTTER

'As deliciously funny as poisonous satire should be.' – BBC 4

Spin, sleeze and empty promises: Dennis Potter's razor-sharp satire is every bit as relevant today as when it first exploded onto British screens 40 years ago.

The local Tory MP has died in a foxhunting accident, and with a bi-election looming, what’s a well-meaning, politically active left-winger with marriage problems to do but stand for the post?

But ideals and elections are not happy bedfellows, and Nigel Barton is caught between a nagging wife who ‘thought your Socialism meant more to you than wanting to be a Labour candidate’ and a Machiavellian political agent desperate to turn Nigel into ‘the sort of bloke I’d never buy a second-hand car from’. As he begins to realise that people would rather stay at home and watch the wrestling than bother thinking about honest politics, Nigel’s world is spun into a fine web of lies and empty promises, until one day he has had enough…

Peppered with pythonesque caricature and bold physicality Finger in the Pie (‘powerful and inventive’ – Three Weeks) present a much-anticipated adaptation of Dennis Potter’s 1965 classic. As deliciously funny as poisonous satire should be, this was the play that established Potter’s reputation as one of the most important writers of his generation.

Upstairs at the Gatehouse | 4 – 8 October 2005