Gilbert and Sullivan, Lincoln and General Election feature in Finborough spring season
The Finborough Theatre will stage four world premieres during its forthcoming spring season and mark the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination by staging the play he was watching when he died, WhatsOnStage can reveal.
The venue will also present the first London production in 20 years of Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida, which runs from 24 March to 18 April 2015.
The season opens with two world premieres. Set within the 'cosplay' subculture of 21st century Japan, Frances Turnly's Harajuku Girls plays for four weeks from 24 February to 21 March 2015.
Running alongside it, Chicken Dust, the professional debut of new playwright Ben Weatherill, plays on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, from 1 March to 17 March.
Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, the play Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated, plays on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays between 29 March and 14 April in honour of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death. The play is set in an English manor house which the owner is fighting to save.
The season culminates in April-May with two world premieres of "hard-hitting political dramas". I Wish to Die Singing – Voices from the Armenian Genocide, devised by Finborough artistic director Neil McPherson, runs from 21 April to 16 May.
It is accompanied on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays (26 April-12 May) by A New Play for the General Election, written in response to events as they happen by Chris Dunkley and Chris New.
There will also be a 'Finborough Forum' discussion of the election after every performance on Sunday and Monday evenings between 26 April and 11 May.
The Finborough Theatre is situated above the Finborough Arms pub, which is now under new management. Currently at the Finborough, Jerry Herman's The Grand Tour continues until 21 February.
