Musicals by John Farndon
Apart from a year spent in the captivity of nuns on the Isle of Wight at the age of ten, John Farndon was raised conventionally in a variety of London suburbs.
After doing his degree in Cambridge, he went to Sheffield for a teacher training course in drama, only to get distracted by working with South Yorkshire Theatre Workshop – acting, writing plays and running playschemes in some of the region’s more deprived areas.
In London in the early 1990s, he founded the theatre company TNT, which staged various productions in London and Edinburgh, including his own well-received translation of Lope de Vega’s “Dog in a Manger” (Edinburgh Festival, Soho Theatre London). In 1992, he created a new venue at the Edinburgh Festival, The Arc, which staged a unique range of productions from all over the world, and created a tremendous buzz with its all-night entertainment sessions where reggae musicians jammed with the likes of Nigel Kennedy. Sadly, the cost of bringing in all these acts was so high that the venue proved to be a one-off.
While studying playwriting at Central School of Speech and Drama the following year, he wrote the play “High Risk Zone”, which premiered with a cast including Martin Freeman (‘The Office’), and was then staged at the Almeida, London. It was at this time, that he joined the National Student Theatre Company to devise plays, as well as writing his own plays such as “Hard House”.
In the mid-90s, among various writing commissions were a modern libretto for Mozart’s “Il Seraglio” (Plymouth Theatre Royal, Salisbury Playhouse, Riverside London), “Crazy Days” (a musical based on Nancy Mitford’s “Christmas Pudding”) and a children’s play explaining the mysteries of light (“The Lightmaster”, Theatrelab tour).
After graduating from the Actors’ Company at the London Centre for Theatre Studies in London, he lectured there for a while in theatre studies before setting up the theatre company Animus with actress Angela Koo. He acted and directed with Animus, but his main role was to write plays, including “Mad for Love” (a translation of Lope de Vega’s ‘La Dama Boba’, Riverside London), “The Naked Guest” (The Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival) about the poet Pushkin and “Numismata” (Bridewell) about Peter the Great and John Evelyn.
It was then that he began to focus on writing musicals, beginning with “In Love and War” in collaboration with composer Marc Folan. This was staged to sell-out audiences at Wyllyotts Theatre, Potters Bar, and showcased at the Greenwich Theatre, London. He became one of the advisers to Mercury Musical Developments. At first, he concentrated mostly on the words – book and lyrics – but now he writes most of his own music too.
He is now working on a variety of musical projects as composer, lyricist and bookwriter including on “The Fifth Duchess” with American playwright Howard Ginsberg, “The Dreamweaver” with Irish composer Bernard Reilly (first developed with MMD/Queens University Belfast Musicalab), and “Anya”. Both “The Dreamweaver” and “Anya” were showcased at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London in December 2006, and one of the songs from “Anya”, “When I was young” was selected for the inaugural Stephen Sondheim Prize (The Venue, London) earlier this year.
Among other current projects are translations of the poems of Pushkin.
Of John Farndon’s work for stage, the critics said:
“Another superb work... the translation by John Farndon is fresh and fluent... capturing the vigour, suprises and range of this exhilirating play” Alastair Macaulay The Financial Times of John Farndon’s translation of Lope de Vega’s Dog in a Manger
“Farndon’s translation is wittily direct” The Guardian of John Farndon’s translation of Lope de Vega’s Dog in a Manger
“John Farndon’s verse translation...sparkles” Adrian Turpin The Independent of John Farndon’s translation of Lope de Vega’s Mad for Love.
“one is spellbound...high-class” The Scotsman of John Farndon’s play The Naked Guest
“a brilliant treat” Salisbury Journal of John Farndon’s version of Mozart’s Il Seraglio
“John Farndon - one to watch” Baz Bamigboye Daily Mail