Southwark Playhouse, "The Fifth Column" by Ernest Hemingway

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Join us for a lavish production of Ernest Hemingway’s The Fifth Column.

One of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century, Hemingway wrote The Fifth Column in Madrid, 1937, whilst Franco laid siege to the city.

Based on real events and real people, the play appears in London for the first time and marks the 80th year since the Spanish Civil War began.

The Fifth Column is a life and death story of counter-espionage set at the height of the Spanish Civil War.

STORY

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Madrid, 1937 – the height of the Spanish Civil War.

In a hotel during the bombardment by Franco’s artillery, two American war correspondents fall passionately in love.

Around them, people are struggling, often comically, to survive; and the idealism of the young men who came to fight is contrasted with the ruthlessness of civil war.

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Cast

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Elliot Brett
Elizabeth Jane Cassidy
Catherine Cusack
Simon Darwen
Alix Dunmore
Michael Edwards
James El-Sharawy
Sasha Frost
Carl Gilbey-McKenzie
Joshua Jacob
Harvey Steven Meneses
Michael Shelford
Stephen Ventura

DISCOUNT AND TIMES

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Play starts: 7.30pm

Running time: 150 minutes with interval

Ticket price: £20 / £16 concessions

For us exclusively - £13

Meet at the venue from 6.40pm, stay for drinks after.

The performance is in Southwark Playhouse's main space, The Large.

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ERNEST HEMINGWAY

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Ernest Hemingway did more to change the style of English prose than any other writer in the twentieth century.

A former journalist and World War I ambulance driver, he became internationally renowned as an author, his main protagonists always men and women of courage and conviction.

He covered the Spanish Civil War, portraying it brilliantly in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway witnessed the Civil War up close with his lover Martha Gellhorn (see photo above), one of the first women war correspondents.

His classic novella The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953.

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SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

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“You’ll feel the buzz of excitement just walking into Southwark Playhouse and the bar provides a perfect setting for pre- and post-theatre drinks.” Everything Theatre UK

‘Churns out arresting productions at a rate of knots’ Time Out

In the 2015 Theatre Awards, Southwark Playhouse was winner of 'Most Welcoming Theatre' and 'Best Theatre Bar'.

This year, Time Out put Southwark Theatre into their top ten London theatres, saying: 'The busiest and biggest theatre on the London Fringe, Southwark Playhouse has a lively bar and a formidable reputation for everything from new writing to obscure musical revivials.'

It is located in the heart of Southwark and is close to a variety of transport routes. The nearest tube stations are Borough (5 minutes) and Elephant and Castle (3 minutes).

‘An astounding venue’ The Guardian

‘High-achieving, life-giving spirit’ Evening Standard

‘A hit factory’ Evening Standard