Mad As Hell
Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6ST
Wednesday 7th February – Saturday 24th February
Documenting the scandalous relationship between Peter Finch and Eletha Barrett in Hollywood, Cassie McFarlane’s Mad As Hell will continue Jermyn Street Theatre’s Spring Scandal Season. A battle between race and prejudice and the courage of love, Mad As Hell will reveal for the first time how the backdrop to Finch’s iconic performance was as fiery as the role he played.
This explosive play will star Stephen Hogan (Redwater, BBC; Transformers, The Last Knight, Paramount; Peer Gynt, National Theatre), Vanessa Donovan (forthcoming films include I Love London and The Marker) and Alexandra Mardell (Mine, The Courtyard theatre; Vera, ITV).
Inspired by her mother’s retelling of the story of Finch and Barrett and the Jamaican reaction to Finch’s relationship with a local woman of the ‘wrong class’, Cassie McFarlane has researched and revisited Jamaica for Mad As Hell. Recipient of the Evening Standard Most Promising Newcomer for her role in the pioneering Black British film Burning an Illusion, McFarlane found a lack of roles for Black British actors at the time led her to instead write and produce short films for the BFI, Channel 4, and ZDF in Germany, and to direct plays at theatres including Soho Theatre.
A bar in Jamaica. The early 1960s. When womanising, hell-raising film star Peter Finch meets Eletha Barrett, a charismatic island girl, they both get more than they bargained for. As Finch begins his Oscar- winning performance in Network, racial and class tensions threaten to upstage the on screen narrative.
Writer and director Cassie McFarlane comments, Like many Jamaicans, I have known the story of Peter and Eletha since childhood. I think it will speak to many people about Hollywood, about prejudice, and about mixed-race relationships. I am excited to be bringing their amazing story to life in Mad As Hell, and to direct its world premiere in the middle of the West End.