Spy thriller Our Man in Havana comes to Exeter
Innovative theatre company Creative Cow from Devon brings an evening of hilarity and satire to Exeter in this witty adaptation of Graham Greene’s spy thriller ‘Our Man in Havana’. Known as one of Greene’s ‘entertainments’, the play tells the tale of a luckless vacuum cleaner salesman who gets sucked in to a dirty world of espionage and double agents when the chance of helping out MI6 with a job or two proves too good an offer to resist.
Touring venues around the UK following a hugely successful Autumn tour of another Graham Greene popular classic ‘Travels with my Aunt’, this riotous play comes to the Northcott Theatre, Exeter between 4 and 8 July.
Set in 1950’s Cuba, Our Man in Havana is a compelling and subversive spy play with many references to present day life, despite being created almost 60 years ago! It has such relevance today, more so with the political uncertainty in the world. Audiences will revel in Greene’s sending up of the intelligence services, including M16. At the centre of the tale is Jim Wormold and there are many rich and colourful characters who, together, create a wonderfully captivating night out.
The storyline of Our Man in Havana not only mirrors Greene’s own real life obsession with travelling, often to the most dangerous spots on the planet, but also other aspects of his life; his secret service work, his brushes with criminals, his constant itinerancy, among others.
Says actor and co-founder member of Creative Cow Theatre Company, Katherine Senior; ‘After the success we had with Greene’s Travels With My Aunt, which we brought to the Northcott as part of a tour last year, the Greene estate offered us the rights to Our Man in Havana and we thought it the perfect accompanying piece to follow Travels. We’re delighted to be touring another popular Greene classic and to be returning to Exeter. It’s a home city for our company where we’ve built up some very loyal audiences whist touring Devon over the past ten years.’
Continues Katherine; ‘We feel we’ve taken the company to a new level with Our Man in Havana - working with set, lighting and sound designers and a new team of actors to bring a fresh, new creativity adding to the audience experience. We’ve had great fun producing this clever adaptation by Clive Francis and he has been very much involved in the process. Our audiences are going love it.’
Creative Cow is a touring theatre company created in the farm yards of Devon in 2007 by founders Amanda Knott, Matthew Parish and Katherine Senior. Their aim has always been to present the most exciting, daring and fun night out possible, touring the length and breadth of the country and performing in spaces ranging from the very large to the most intimate. The company’s huge successes to date have included most recently Greene’s Travels With My Aunt, Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt, Dickens’ Hard Times, Harold Pinter’s The Lover, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, Sheridan’s The Rivals and Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer. For Christmas 2015, Creative Cow presented a magical new adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Our Man in Havana is produced by Creative Cow in association with Malvern Theatres and Buxton Opera House, adapted for stage by Clive Francis and directed by Amanda Knott.
Event information: 4 - 8 July
Exeter Northcott Theatre.
Times: 7.30pm, with Green Matinee 2.30pm 5th and Sat Matinee 2.30pm, 8th.
Prices: A£25 B £22 C £19.50 D £16.50, Wed Green Matinee: £15, Sat Matinee: £17, Concs: £2 off, Student Standby: £5, Schools: £9 for groups 10+, Groups 10+ get 11th ticket FREE.
Members – multibuy discount available.
Booking/venue info: www.exeternorthcott.co.uk | 01392 72 63 63.
Age: 12 + Running Time: 2 hours 20 mins
Company: https://www.creativecow.co.uk/
Twitter @creativecowuk
