PFP presents Gay UK 2011

A Series of Staged Readings Celebrating LGBT Work from the United Kingdom

The series includes the

Chicago Premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell'sTHE PRIDE directed by Nick Bowling of Timeline Theater.

 

Pride Films and Plays celebrates Pride Month in Chicago with its third reading series Gay UK, featuring five provocative works by British authors.  The pieces include Kevin Elyot's haunting comedy MY NIGHT WITH REG; MAURICE,a play by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham from the novel by E. M. Forster; BLOWING WHISTLES, a bittersweet comedy by Matthew Todd; PIG, a sensational drama by Tim Luscombe; and the Chicago premiere of  Alexi Kaye Campbell's compelling drama THE PRIDE.

 

The series runs June 1, 2011 to June 19, 2011 at Theatre Wit, 1229 West Belmont. All performances are at 7:30, with tickets $12 for each reading, or $50 for a five-play pass. With the pass you can see each show once or use your tickets in any combination you like. The pass can be purchased directly from PFP here.

 

Tickets for film and theater industry members and students are $6. Tickets for each individual show are available only through Brown Paper Tickets and can be purchased by clicking the name of each show below, or by calling at 1800 838 3006.

 

The performance schedule is:

●Wednesday June 1 My Night With Reg by Kevin Elyot, directed by Michael Ryczek

●Sunday June 5 Maurice, a play by Roger Parsley and Andy Graham from the novel by E. M. Forster, directed by John Nasca
●Wednesday June 8 Blowing Whistles, a hilarious comedy by Matthew Todd, directed by Andrew Souders
●Wednesday June 15 Pig, a shocking drama by Tim Luscombe, directed by Derek Bertelsen

●Sunday June 19 The Pride, Alexi Kaye Campbell's drama which contrasts Pride in the past and today, directed by Nick Bowling

 

Kevin Elyot's My Night With Reg premiered in London's Royal Court Theater in 1994, and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy the following year. This affectionate and bittersweet work portrays a group of friends gathering for a flat-warming, and later after a funeral, as they share the various events and connections that brought them together, yet kept them apart.

 

E.M. Forster's novel Maurice was written in 1913, but published only after the author's death in 1971, and follows Maurice Hall from school days through University days, and beyond. Roger Parsley and Andy Graham's remarkably faithful adaptation brings all the contradictions of love in this period alive in a work about family, loyalty, and love.  

 

Tim Luscombe's provocative drama Pig has not yet been produced.  In this piece, three actors play 10 characters involved in complicated exchanges of drugs, sex, love and death.  Dominic Cook, Artistic Director of London's Royal Court Theater says "I think it's a fierce, brave piece. It's incredibly inventive, formally and thematically, and holds its gaze with unusual tenacity and confidence."

 

In Matthew Todd's comedy Blowing Whistles we meet Nigel and Jamie, who have been in a relationship for many years.  When Nigel meets 17-year old Mark on Gaydar.com, the ensuing hilarity of Act 1 gives way to some powerful surprises in Act 2.   

 

The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell premiered to great success in London in 2008, and was seen off-Broadway in 2010.  In this remarkable drama which alternates between 1958 and 2008, The Pride examines changing attitudes about sexuality, as well as themes of love, lust, and betrayal as Campbell etches compelling portraits of our complicated relationships in two very different time frames.