22nd to 27th April

When Henri Fed Oscar by Michael Gannon @ Various venues and dates (in association with Red Mick Theatre)

Thu 22nd April @ London Irish Centre, Camden Square NW1 9XB  @ 8pm
Fri 23rd April @ The Irish Club, 2-4 Tudor Street EC4Y OAA @ 7.30pm
26/27th April @ Brasserie Toulouse-Lautrec, 140 Newington Butts SE11 4RN 7pm for 7.30pm.

An exploration of the lives of two of the great artists of the late nineteenth century. Set initially in a Paris brothel, the two artists verbally joust and tease about their art. They are kept company by a prostitute, Yvette as well as Louise Weber (the Glutton), a mad cancan dancer. Dinner @ The Irish Club and Brasserie Toulouse-Lautrec.

A London Irish Theatre/Red Mick Theatre Co-Production featuring Adrian-Jon Barry as Henri, Nik Wood-Jones as Oscar and Rita Evelyn Smyth as Yvette/Goulue.
 
With an opening act in a “respectable” brothel in Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec created many of his most famous paintings, the two verbally joust and tease about their art. They are kept company by a prostitute, Yvette as well as Louise Weber (the Glutton), a mad cancan dancer. Wilde arrives in anticipation of a meal made by Toulouse-Lautrec who was well known and respected as a cook. But what had Henri in mind for his friend? You will be as surprised as Oscar was.

Both Henri and Oscar were in their prime but in the second act, the two are in a sorry decline with a short time to live.

The Irish Club and Brasserie Toulouse-Lautrec will be providing full sit down meals before and during the play at fantastically good prices based on Toulouse-Lautrec’s own recipes published after his death. Feed yourself on top quality French food and delight at the relationship between these two geniuses of paint and prose.

Thu 22nd April @ London Irish Centre, Camden Square NW1 9XB @ 8pm @ £5. Contact 0207 226 0524 or email or www.londonirishtheatre.com.

Fri 23rd April @ The Irish Club, 2-4 Tudor Street EC4Y OAA @ 7pm for 7.30pm. Dinner deal (French menu) @ £29 (£24 members) Non-dinner tickets @ £10 (£5 members).  Contact 0207 427 5801 or email or www.irishclub.co.uk.

Mon/Tue 26/27th April @ Brasserie Toulouse-Lautrec, 140 Newington Butts SE11 4RN @ 7pm for 7.30pm. Four course Toulouse Lautrec menu and play @ £29.50. Contact 0207 582 6800 or email or www.brasserietoulouselautrec.co.uk.

For menu details and alternative choices for both The Irish Club and The Brasserie Toulouse-Lautrec please contact the venues direct. 

The Company

Adrian-Jon Barry (Henri) A-J has played a wide variety of characters in classical, musical and touring theatre. With the Oxford Shakespeare Company he played Gremio in Taming of the Shrew and Sancho Panza in Don Quixote with Instant Classics. For the Theatre de L’ Atalante, Paris, A-J played Savely Gykin in Chekhov’s The Witch and Ivan Gromov in Ward No Six. With Anglo-Russian company Art-Vic he was the Idiot in The Idiot and the madman in Diary of Madman. He also played the evil Sir Mordred in Gawayne and the Green Knight with the Midsommer Actors Company. He has played musical character leads in over five National No 1 Theatre tours. His most recent role was playing NHS nurse Gareth in The Passing of Aunt Grace, at the Courtyard Theatre. He has featured in various commercials and films, and currently his show reel can be found at The Spotlight: View Pin: 5497-9058-9351

Nik Wood-Jones (Oscar) Played Lake District fell walker and guidebook author Alfred Wainwright in the BBC film The Man Who Loved the Lakes, also has now provided Wainwrights distinctive voice in three successful series of Wainwright Walks shown on BBC4 & BBC2. Has now played Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh in three separate well received productions for London Irish Theatre. 'On Raglan Road, which was first presented at The Old Red Lion Theatre, and then on a national tour of Ireland in 2008. Most recently in the new play Kavanagh, which toured Ireland in the Autumn of 2009. Other major theatre work includes Pistol in Henry V for Love & Madness (UK tour), Michael James in Playboy of the Western World, (Ireland tour), Dr Farquhar in Mindgame' Soho Theatre, and toured Italy with a new musical adaptation of Treasure Island in 2008.

Rita Evelyn Smyth (Yvette/Goulue) Rita is a native of Dublin and trained at Ireland's premier drama school, the Gaiety School of Acting and completed an internship at the Guthrie Theater Minneapolis. Theatre credits include: Glory be to the Father (Red Kettle), Miss Julie (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) Antigone Astriuchain Gaelige, (Splódar) An Triail (Aisling Ghéar), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Players TCD) Riders to the Sea/A Tinkers Wedding (Praxis), Divine Words (St. John's Mill). TV includes, The Take (Sky), Seacht, Give My Head Peace, I Fought the Law (BBC NI), Adharca Fáda, Marú (TG4) Rita is also the voice of Kathleen Lonsdale at the Science Museum, Royal Institution London.

Michael Gannon (writer) Michael Gannon is a journalist and playwright living in Fulham, West London. His first staged play was Uncle, Uncle, performed at the Baron’s Court Theatre in West Kensington in 2003. This was followed by a production by his Red Mick Theatre Company of Sean O’Casey’s rarely performed Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy. In 2009, his latest play was performed at the Baron’s Court Theatre, When Henri Met Oscar; the story of the real friendship between Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Oscar Wilde. When Henri Fed Oscar is a revised version, performed at various venues and dealing with the fact that Henri was very much a cook as well as a painter. In August, Gannon takes another of his plays to Baron’s Court Theatre. For You, Sasha is the true story of the remarkable Czech actress, Hana Pravda, who survived both Auschwitz and a death march. (Baron’s Court Theatre 2-22 August ).