Martine, Finborough Theatre

The Finbourough Theatre prides itself on reviving the long forgotten plays that once thrilled British audiences.

Originally written in 1922, Martine has been produced all over the world during the twenties with countless leading actresses such as Madeleine Renaud in the title role. This production sees Game of Thrones Star Hannah Murray, who shot to fame in E4's cult drama Skins, play Martine.

 Jean-Jacques Bernard, son of novelist and playwright Tristan Bernard, is the leader of “l’école du silence” (the school of silence), an artistic strand also called the art of the unexpressed, where the character's psyche is perceived by that which is unsaid, rather than the play's dialogue. Bernard belonged to a group of artists called La Chimère, who attacked the prevailing melodramatic theatre (which they described as ‘an armchair between dinner and bedtime’) and pioneered drama that was domestic in action and naturalistic in style.

 In Martine, Bernard takes us to post war rural France in the 1920’s where a tragic love story between a young local girl and a returning soldier is just beginning. This melancholic play draws on themes of romance, longing and the confusion of youth.

 Translated by John Fowles (The Collector, The Magus, The French Lieutenant’s Woman which was later made into an Oscar-nominated film with a screenplay by Harold Pinter) Martine is returning to UK audiences courtesy of the Finborough Theatre under the watchful eye of director Tom Littler (Jingo: A Farce of War by Charles Wood, The Confidential Clerk by T.S. Eliot),  an associate director at new writing Theatre 503 in Battersea.

Bernard’s plays, often compared to Chekhov, make space for suggestive silences and moving performances. Book soon, the Finbourough only has 80 seats to offer per night.