“They said I was violent. You’re the ‘victim’ – what do you think?”
Ten years ago, Bella Soroush’s life was ruined by one of her pupils – Kane McCarthy. She has gradually rebuilt things – new school, new town, new friends – and finally feels at home in the depths of the countryside. Now Kane is back in her classroom, armed with relics of the past and claiming to want forgiveness. As the truths they’ve clung to begin to collapse, teacher and pupil are forced to confront their prejudices and the shared history that has bound them together.
Set over a single evening, Jam is a relentless, incendiary new drama that interrogates social fault-lines in Britain today, and the tension between truth and justice. It gets its world premiere in a 4-week season at the Finborough Theatre, Tuesday, 23 May – Saturday, 17 June.
Harry Melling (King Lear, Old Vic, Hand to God, Vaudeville, The Angry Brigade, Bush Theatre, is Kane. Jasmine Hyde (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s Globe, Somniloquy and Why Can’t We Live Together?, Theatre503) is Bella.
Jam is Matt Parvin’s debut full length play. It is directed by Tommo Fowler, who returns to the Finborough Theatre following his acclaimed productions of Obama-ology and I Wish To Die Singing.
The run will be accompanied by the FINBOROUGHFORUM, a series of informal post-show discussions and debates, on Wednesday evenings: 31 May and 7 June. All events are free to ticketholders for that evening’s performance of the play. FINBOROUGHFORUM events will all be Twitter friendly with live tweets from @FinboroughForum. Using the hashtag #finfor, the speakers will also answer questions posed on Twitter so everyone can be included, no matter where they are in the world. The events will feature a Q&A session with Matt Parvin, the writer, Tommo Fowler, the director and members of the cast.
