First Priority Club - March 2018 by Mint Theater Company

CONFLICT A Love Story

By Miles malleson Directed by jenn thompson

Conflict is a love story set against the backdrop of a hotly contested election. Miles Malleson combines his two great passions: sex and politics. The result is a provocative romance that sizzles with both wit and ideas.

Conflict by Miles Malleson Directed by Jenn Thompson The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd Street) May 25, 2018 through July 8, 2018 Tue - Sat 7:30PM Sat & Sun 2:00PM Wed 2:00PM: 6/20

Benefit Reading: Liliom By Ferenc Molnár Directed by Jesse Marchese Monday, June 11 7:00PM Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St)

Further Reading:

Black ‘Ell and D Company By Miles Malleson Directed by Matt Dickson

“Entertaining and Exciting.” It’s the Roaring 20’s, London. Lady Dare Bellingdon has everything she could want, yet she craves something more. Dare’s man, Sir Major Ronald Clive, is standing for Parliament with the backing of Dare’s father. Clive is a Conservative, of course, but he’s liberal enough to be sleeping with Dare, who’s daring enough to take a lover, but too restless to marry him. Clive’s opponent, Tom Smith is passionate about social justice and understands the joy of having something to believe in. Dare is “the woman between” two candidates who both want to make a better world—until politics become personal, and mudslinging threatens to soil them all.

“Thoroughly Enjoyable” “I won’t say that it is necessary to be quite so good an actor as Miles Malleson to be a good playwright; but it is obviously a help. Mr. Malleson’s stage experience has enabled him not only to turn his economics to good conversational account, but to hinge excitingly dramatic situations upon them. His argument may not bring converts tumbling into the Socialist fold, but it should at least pave the way to sound and sensible discussion. He avoids political bigotry with the same dramatic skill; and though the play’s sympathies are left rather than right, he gives the old regime a sporting run. Politics are not the only string to his interestingly didactic bow. The other is Love. His frank handling of the relations between the sexes is again so cunning that it is the dramatic, rather than the debatable, aspect that engages one’s interest.” The Observer, 1925

“An Excellent Entertainment.” The play premiered in London in 1925, where critics heaped it with praise: “A skillfully and strongly written piece”, the dialogue “is neat and spare, always natural and often witty;” while complimenting “the expert way in which it is put together.” Conflict was adapted for the movies in 1931, under the title The Woman Between (changed to The Woman Decides when an American movie with same title also was released in 1931.) “There is so much cleverness in this picture that it makes me wish all the more that British produces would avoid such unnecessarily “sexy” subjects,” lamented Picturegoer Weekly.

Monday, July 16 7:00PM Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St)

Call the FPC Hotline at: 212.315.0231

Tickets on sale now exclusively to FPC members! Call: 212.315.0231

3UPCOMING ENRICHMINT EVENTS EnrichMINT Events are supported in part by a grant from the Michael Tuch Foundation. All events take place immediately after the performance, usually last about fifty minutes, and they are free and open to the public. Speakers and dates subject to change without notice.

Post-Show Discussion: SATURDAY, JUNE 02 after the matinee CONFLICT IN CONTEXT Susan Pedersen, Columbia University Professor Pedersen will discuss politics in England in the early 1920’s, helping to put Malleson’s play into a historical context. She is the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia and specializes in British history, the British empire, comparative European history, and international history. In 2014, Pedersen founded a graduate training collaboration in Twentieth-Century British history with Guy Ortolano of NYU and Peter Mandler of Cambridge University. PhD students working in this field participate in regular dissertation workshops and book discussions across all three institutions.

Post-Show Discussion: SATURDAY, JUNE 16 after the matinee “IT’S RATHER A WAY OF LOOKING AT THINGS:” THE POLITICAL VISION OF MILES MALLESON Maya Cantu, Theater Historian and Dramaturg Maya Cantu is a theater historian, scholar and dramaturg. She received a D.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama. Her book American Cinderellas on the Broadway Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from ‘Irene’ to ‘Gypsy’ is now available through Palgrave Macmillan. Maya will discuss the life, work and politics of Miles Malleson.

SPECIAL BRUNCH EVENT:

MY FATHER: MILES MALLESON with Andrew Malleson

Sunday, June 10 at 12pm, prior to the matinee Chez Josephine (414 West 42nd St.) Andrew Malleson, born 1931, is the son of Miles Malleson and his second wife, Joan Billson. If you saw Yours Unfaithfully, you may be able to imagine some of the challenges he faced growing up. Andrew is the family historian and the author of Discovering the Family of Miles Malleson 1888 to 1969. Andrew will share stories of his childhood, talk about his father and share what it was like for him to see Conflict, as well as Yours Unfaithfully in 2017. $40 Brunch Limited Availability

BLACK ‘ELL and D COMPANY By Miles Malleson

Directed by Matt Dickson

Monday, July 16 7:00PM in the Beckett Theatre

Miles Malleson began his playwriting career in 1916, when wrote two one-acts about his experiences in WWI called Black ‘ell and Company D. Police seized the scripts, which were described as a calumny on the British soldier and banned. Neither play was produced until 1925. In 2003, Michael Billington of The Guardian reviewed a Finborough production, stating that Malleson’s plays serve as “a potent reminder that anti-war protest is not a modern prerogative.”

For more information or to reserve your place, call: 212.315.0231

BENEFIT READING

LILIOM

By Ferenc Molnár

Directed by Jesse Marchese Monday, June 11 7:00PM

Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd St

Before Carousel, there was Liliom: “One of the most exhilarating plays in the modern theater” Brooks Atkinson, New York Times Liliom tells the story of a shiftless carousel barker (“Liliom” is the Hungarian for lily, and the slang term for “a tough”). Ferenc Molnár’s mystical drama charts Liliom’s ill-fated love-affair with a servant girl named Julie, and his attempt to recompense her in the afterlife. Liliom was a failure when first produced in Budapest in 1909—Molnár’s daring blend of gritty realism and poetic fantasy baffled audiences—but was incredibly well-received when revived there ten years later. In 1921, the play was produced on Broadway by the Theatre Guild in an English translation by Benjamin Glazer. The production was a success, and Liliom remained wildly popular in America throughout the early 20th century—until Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein re-fashioned the play into their hit musical Carousel. Molnár was generally opposed to adaptation of his plays and Liliom was no exception. He was first approached by composer Giacomo Puccini, who wanted to use the play as the basis for an opera. Molnár refused, saying, “I want it to be remembered as Molnár’s Liliom, not Puccini’s Liliom.” But Rodgers, Hammerstein, and their esteemed producers at the Theatre Guild were determined to wrestle the rights from Molnár’s grasp. The Guild decided that the best means of persuasion was to have the playwright see their tremendously popular production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA! The idea worked; Molnár was charmed by the musical and agreed to have his play adapted by the famous team. Carousel opened in 1946 and became a benchmark classic of American musical theater, overshadowing Molnár’s early masterpiece. Though Carousel remains the more oft-produced work, Liliom provides its own unique rewards. Mint Theater is pleased to present Molnár’s “wise and beautiful” (New York Times) meditation on human limitation and the power of love, as a special installment of our Further Reading series.

Tickets: $35: Regular Seating

$100: Premium Seating and a post-show reception with the cast.

Tickets on sale now exclusively to FPC members! Call: 212.315.0231

CONFLICT A Love Story

BY MILES MALLESON DIRECTED BY JENN THOMPSON May 25, 2018 through July 8, 2018 Tue - Sat 7:30PM Sat & Sun 2:00PM Wed 2:00PM: 6/20

3 UPCOMING ENRICHMINT EVENTS:

BENEFIT READING:

Susan Pedersen, Columbia University

Monday, June 11 at 7pm Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd St Tickets: $35 or $100 for Premium Seating and a post show reception with the cast.

Maya Cantu, Bennington College

A Special EnrichMint Event Brunch at Chez Josephine, prior to the matinee

Reserve your FPC Tickets now! FPC Hotline: 212.315.0231