John Ferguson, Finborough Theatre

"A fragment of life, fully expounded and without conventionality or confusion…the best play you have done", so said poet W.B Yeats in a letter to St John Ervine after the 1915 production of John Ferguson at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Finborough Theatre's resurrection of this play – unperformed for the last 100 years – follows the successful  revival of another Ervine tragedy, Mixed Marriage in 2011.

Continuing in this rediscovery of one of Ireland's most esteemed playwrights, the Finborough has commissioned another gritty domestic tragedy, this time exploring ideas of faith (Ervine himself was an Irish Protestant). With the tumultuous backdrop of Ulster in the 1880s and a series of events that challenge title character John Ferguson's fundamental beliefs and threaten the balance of his family. The play's original run in Dublin, back in 1915 was so successful that it was transferred first to Broadway then to London, establishing Ervine as powerful and prominent playwright.

With director Emma Faulkner at the helm, we predict that the play is in safe hands. No stranger to Irish drama at the Finborough (her 2013 production of Sam Thompson’s Over the Bridge was well received), we are expecting a sensitive take on this tragic script. 

Quirky and powerful re-imaginings of classic works seem to be becoming the Finborough’s stock in trade. Most recently, Nona Shepphard’s macabre musical adaptation of Zola’s Therese Raquin was fantastically ambitious and very favourably reviewed. This trend in taking on huge pieces seems to be doing the trick in seriously putting the Finborough on the map as a London venue for cutting edge, enthralling theatre. Their most recent production (an adaptation of Jean-Jaques Bernard’s Martine) has receiving rave reviews and we predict a similar outcome for this revival of an Irish classic.