News

July 2010

The Urban Girl's Guide To Camping and other plays - now on sale!

June 2010

Come and see what has been keeping me so preoccupied all year... Tickets to the SILKWORKS Festival at Southwark Playhouse are now on sale.

Read a feature length article on my blog going behind the scenes at the Festival.

Read my Guardian blog about theatre artists working in the community here.

Pre-order your copy of The Urban Girl's Guide To Camping and other plays.

October 2009

I'm back at Goldsmiths this term, teaching on the MA Writing for Performance, plus working on a new play which I've received Arts Council funding for...more to follow as it takes shape.

Also, a theatre in Chicago are producing How To Disappear for a six-week run over November, December and January, details here.

August 2009

THE UNRAVELLING has won a Scotsman Fringe First Award! Read all about it here, here, here and here.

July 2009

THE UNRAVELLING, my third play for Mulberry Theatre Company, receives its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival next month, for one week only. Click here to book.

I've also written a feature-length article on developing a trilogy of plays for Mulberry on my blog here.

January 2009

HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND gets its US premiere at Portland Center Stage later this month.

September 2008

I'm pleased to announce that HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND finally gets its London premiere at Southwark Playhouse next month - tickets are on sale now and can be booked here.

Half Moon Young People's Theatre are also reviving my 2006 play for teenagers, and runner-up in this year's Brian Way Award, LOCKED IN. It will be embarking on a national tour in October, you can see where it will be playing and book tickets here.

August 2008

STOLEN SECRETS, my latest play for Mulberry School opens at the Edinburgh Fringe this coming Monday 11th August, and runs until the 16th August. It's already been featured in Fringe previews by Lyn Gardner here, and View From The Stalls here.

Read more about the show here, or book tickets here.

July 2008

My play UNSTATED for The Red Room opens at Southwark Playhouse tonight! I've done a blog about it for Guardian blogs here, plus a couple of interviews here and here.

If you want to come and see it you'll have to be quick - it's only on in London until 12 July, then doing a few nights in Manchester and Liverpool.

I've also created a web page for this year's Edinburgh play for Mulberry School, it's called Stolen Secrets and you can read more about it here. It's a really exciting and unusual little piece, more news on that as it deveops.

June 2008

UNSTATED for the Red Room is shaping up to be a really interesting piece, a sort of experiential multimedia theatre installation. I'm very excited about it. We're taking over the whole of Southwark Playhouse and turning it into an Immigration Removal Centre. Some details have just been put up on their website here.

May 2008

HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND is opening in Melbourne, Australia this Friday. More details here. It's been getting quite a bit of interest so I've been doing various interviews for it, which you can read here, here, here and here. (Though after the first couple you probably get the general gist.)

I'm also working with The Red Room on their latest project UNSTATED, a devised multimedia performance about UK immigration. It opens at Southwark Playhouse in July before touring to Manchester and Liverpool.

As if that wasn't enough, work on this year's Edinburgh Festival play for Mulberry School continues apace. More details soon...

April 2008

My play for teenagers LOCKED IN has won the runners-up prize in this year's Brian Way Award. The show is also touring again this autumn, keep an eye on Half Moon's website for where you can catch it.

HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND is also getting its Australian premiere next month in Melbourne, and its US premiere next January.

Lots of other stuff going on, keep an eye on this page for further news...

January 2008

This year looks set to be very busy. I've just finished a first draft of my contemporary Jacobean tragedy for Liquid Theatre, provisionally entitled CHIMERAS. I'm flat out on a first draft of my first ever radio commission, entitled CAESAR PRICE OUR LORD, to be transmitted on Radio 4 in June. I'm writer-in-residence again at Mulberry School, working on various projects but the largest of which will be another new play for their kids to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

There are also potential collaborations with the Red Room and Southwark Playhouse, but funding isn't yet in place, so more on those if it comes through.

I'm also leaving London at the end of the summer to live in Brighton ... you heard it here first.

15 Nov 2007

I've been quoted in a feature in The Stage on theatre funding and new writers. It isn't on their website but the journalist sent me a copy so I've posted it here.

08 Nov 2007

HOW TO DISAPPEAR has won the Mark Marvin Rent Subsidy Prize at this year's Peter Brook Awards, bringing that elusive London production a step closer. Watch this space for more details ...

22 Oct 2007

WE ARE SHADOWS has now finished its tour, and its back to the coalface working on the next thing... In the meantime, I've published one of the nine monologues from the play here.

10 Sept 2007

My latest play for teenagers WE ARE SHADOWS opens at Half Moon Young People's Theatre this month, before embarking on a month-long tour.

Click here to see where you can catch the show.

22 July 2007

I'm away on a BBC training scheme until 28 July.

After that you can catch my play MEHNDI NIGHT at the Edinburgh Fringe from 2-11 August. You can book online here.

My new play for Half Moon Theatre WE ARE SHADOWS is also currently booking for its autumn tour. More details here.

9 May 2007

I have updated the Teaching & Community Work section to include some new pages about my work as playwright-in-residence at Mulberry School.

You can now read about the various courses I am running there, as well as more about MEHNDI NIGHT, the exciting new play about East London Bangladeshi women which I am writing for ten students to perform at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In the same section there are also links to some of the extraordinarily accomplished scripts written by my Year 10 Playwrighting students.

4 May 2007

There is an important petition which has appeared on the Downing Street website, a list of those opposing arts funding cuts to pay for the Olympics.

Please go and sign it here.

31 March 2007
Some reviews for HOW TO DISAPPEAR have come out:

The Guardian here.
The Stage here.
And something called MusicOMH.com here.

27 March 2007
Nice feature in The Guardian today. You can read it here.

HOW TO DISAPPEAR officially opens tonight. See below for how to book.

12 March 2007
Just a reminder that my play HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND opens in Sheffield Theatres Studio at the end of this month.

“What makes you who you are? A name? An address? A random collection of experiences, a few memories? You are who you can prove you are. You are what people think.  And that’s the easiest thing in the world to change.”

When a young executive reaches breaking point and decides to disappear, he pays a visit to a master of the craft in a seafront fortune tellers' in Southend.

Haunted by visitations from a pathologist who swears he is already lying flat out on her slab, he begins a nightmarish journey to the edge of existence that sees him stripped of everything that made him who he was.

This extraordinary new play follows one man’s desperate attempts to buck the system, and asks what really makes us who we are in the 21st century.

How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found is the winner of the 38th Arts Council John Whiting Award for New Theatre Writing.

Friday 21 March to Saturday 14 April 2007

Tickets: £1 - £12

Box Office: Telephone bookings are available Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 8pm by calling 0114 2496000.

Or book tickets online here.

For bookings of 10+ please contact the Ticket Office on 0114 249 6060 to take advantage of our group discount (subject to availability).

Young People's Ticket (16 - 26 year olds) - £6.50

For those of you coming from London note that it is possible to make a day trip if you see a matinee.  These are at 3pm on Sat 31st March, Thurs 5th April, and Sat 14th April.  Trains to Sheffield take 2 hours 20 mins from St Pancras and tickets can be booked from Midland Mainline in advance here.

Alternatively, the script will be available from Nick Hern Books in a couple of weeks' time, and you can order a copy here.

Hope to see some of you there.

13 Feb 2007
A large Arts Council grant has been awarded to Matt Peover and Mark Bell of Liquid Theatre to continue to develop our modern Jacobean play which we started work on last summer. The money covers a substantial workshop process with up to 10 actors and a full commission for me to write a full-length five-act lyrical blood-and-sex revenge tragedy for the 21st century.

Watch this space.

09 Jan 2007
After the success of the national tour of Locked In, Half Moon Young People's Theatre have commissioned me to write another play for teenagers. Not sure what it'll be about yet but I've been knocking some provocative ideas around with director Chris Elwell ...

In other news, I'm having my first day as writer-in-residence at Mulberry School next Monday. Amongst other things I'll be running regular playwrighting classes for 15-18 year olds, as well as writing a new show for the students to perform which they want me to take to Edinburgh this summer ... watch this space.

01 Dec 2006
It's looking increasingly likely that, amongst other things, I'll be working next year as playwright-in-residence at Mulberry School in Tower Hamlets. It's all very exciting, I've done quite a few one-off projects there before and Mulberry is my favourite school to teach in.

We're still working out the details but more news as I get it.

05 Nov 2006
It's the last week of the tour of Locked In this week, and we have a week-long slot at Hampstead Theatre to round off a great two months. I gather the remaining shows are almost sold out, so get in quick if you haven't already seen it ...

I'm also turning 30 on 8th November, a bit of a landmark. Unfortunately it falls on a Wednesday this year and I'm teaching all day, so instead I'll be having drinks at Hampstead Theatre after the show on Friday 10th. Come and say hello if you're there. (I'm intrigued by who reads this stuff ... anyone?)

30 Oct 2006
I'm doing a radio interview tonight on London-based artsy radio station Resonance FM. It's a magazine show called On The Fringe, and I'll be talking about my play Locked In with the director Angela Michaels.

If you live in Greater London you can catch it tonight at 9pm on 104.4FM.

11 Oct 2006
I've had a letter published on The Stage website. You can see it here. Not sure if this means it will make it into this week's print edition, but keep an eye out.

09 Oct 2006 (update)
Just got back from Half Moon youth theatre (what a lovely group) and the feedback on Locked In was overwhelmingly positive. A couple of them said they were doing reviews of it for their GCSE coursework and would send them my way, so if they're reading this - Hello! and send me your reviews here.

In the meantime, there is a review appearing in Croydon Advertiser this week, written by one of their 16 year old peer reviewers Irony In Motion (aka Maddie Wilson) for the Croydon Now weblog. But I have an advance copy and it is so good I have given it its own page here.

Thank you Maddie! Really glad you liked it. Drop me a line if I've got any of your details wrong.

09 Oct 2006
Locked In has got a 3 star review in today's Guardian - respectable, and my first review by the lovely Lyn Gardner. But as she acknowledges herself, the real test for the show is whether the young audience recognise their lives, and I'm confident they have been.

I'm off to Half Moon's youth theatre tonight to run a session on the play, and the week after I'm in Mulberry School in Tower Hamlets doing the same. It'll be my first period of extended time with groups who have seen the show, so interesting to get their thoughts. I think some of them might even have had to write a review of their own ... watch this space.

05 Oct 2006
We have our first rave review! It's on The Stage website but reproduced in full below. I think it came out just too late for this week's paper edition but presumably will be in next week's ...

Locked In

An astonishing, enthralling production that successfully blends hip hop and theatre and manages to address ethnic and social issues without being patronizing. Set at East End pirate radio station FM 110, the two ‘wise men’ DJ Tariq and MC Blaze battle out the issues of British black and asian cultures - until gorgeous, sassy Zahida comes along to challenge their arguments. What started as a tolerant easy-going friendship between Tariq and Blaze soon becomes a cultural war. Tales of dissociation is a new form of genre and too often the resulting works are full of cardboard cut-outs with applique issues coloured in with unconvincing psycho-babble (see Not The Love I Cry For at the Arcola). In less than an hour, Fin Kennedy manages to give Zahida, Tariq and Blaze real identities and narratives whose fates we care about. Their actions aren’t always entirely rational, their issues don’t all stem back to some childhood horror, the plot doesn’t all lock neatly together. This is what makes it so good. It’s human, believable and utterly compelling. Visually it is an imposing production and the impeccable choreography is mesmerising. DJ Billy Biznizz’s bangra and hip hop beats and the clever, complex lyrics are the icing on the cake.
Zoe Green

Zoe, we love you!

02 Oct 2006
Bit of advance publicity for Locked In from today's Metro Liverpool, reproduced here for those of you living in the south, or further afield:

We're in Liverpool this Wednesday 4th October at the Unity Theatre. Maybe see you there?

25 Sept 2006
My long-awaited play for teenagers Locked In opens this week, before embarking on a national tour. Thanks to everyone who's already said they'd come. I gather the earlier dates on the tour are getting quite full but that you might still be able to get in towards November.

Sheffield Crucible have also come up with a rather nice marketing image for How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found:

The phone number is for the theatre box office, which is a great touch. I'm wondering whether this is the start of one of those cryptic marketing campaigns, with posters all over the country. Hope so.

Apologies in advance to anyone really called Charlie Hunt who might get caught up in it.

09 Sept 2006
I have added a new page with a questionnaire for Iraqis about the looting of the Iraq Museum. If you are an Iraqi or from the Arab world, I'd be extremely grateful if you could spare a bit of time to help. Please pass it on!

01 Sept 2006
I've updated the blog a bit. My brother suggested I should combine the News and Blog sections which might be an idea. I had wanted to keep News about my work and my own musings and opinions about things separate, but its such a fine line they are starting to merge... Anyway, watch this space.

Rehearsals for Locked In start on Monday, which is very exciting. There, that's a bit of news.

26 Aug 2006
Back from hols now, which unfortunately weren't great. Portugal is like a crap version of Spain, bland and lifeless, and full of miserable people. The only theatre I noticed over there were Portuguese versions of Stones In His Pockets and a Ray Cooney farce, which I suppose says it all.

However I did come back to find a snapshot of this in my inbox, from some friends in Sheffield:

or if you look more closely ...

... which is quite exciting!

More news as I get it.

02 Aug 2006
I'm off on holiday today with Mrs Fin - woohoo! Won't be back till 21 August. If you need to get in touch I'll be checking email maybe once a week, but not available on the phone at all. You can always contact my agent Joe Phillips at Curtis Brown if it's to do with work. See you when I get back.

PS. If you have received a letter from me requesting an interview please be assured I will contact you in the week beginning 21 August.

01 Aug 2006
I've had a great meeting with Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorm. See blog for details.

The main people I need to speak to now are the Met Police Art Crime Unit, and any British Iraqis. I've sent out some letters but if you have any contacts in either field please get in touch!

31 July 2006
There is an extremely prejudiced and hysterical article about pirate radio by someone called Mark Flanagan in this week's Stage newspaper (Criminal Wave, page 30). It hasn't yet appeared on their website I think because the paper version is still current, but I'll add a link to it as soon as it does.

As I've just finished writing a play on this very subject (see below) I feel I have some expertise in this area. I approached The Stage's editor Brian Attwood about writing an article in response but I haven't had a reply. But the great thing about having a website is that you can publish your work anyway!

I've put a copy in the Articles section here.

12 July 2006

Two great bits of news about my play for teenagers Locked In:

The tour dates have been announced by Half Moon. See here for the full listing of where you can catch the show.

The legendary DJ Biznizz has been confirmed as the composer of the soundtrack! Check out his biog here.

DJ Biznizz and the Locked In flyer

10 July 2006

My brother has taught me how to update my own site, so I'm now officially a Webmaster! Amazing, I never thought I'd get my head round this sort of thing.

Anyway, there are now lots of new bits, especially pictures. The Theatre, Teaching & Community Work and Workshops sections in particular have had an overhaul. Look, I've put in links and everything!

3 June 2006

finkennedy.co.uk went online. Thanks to my brother Seb for doing such a damn fine job. If anyone wants anything similar done you can get a quote from him here.

Me and my brother Seb, earlier today.

2 May 2006

How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found has been commissioned by Sam West for Sheffield Crucible. Details at the Sheffield Theatre website.

Sheffield Crucible, yesterday.

23 April 2006

Locked In national tour now booking for Half Moon Young People’s Theatre. Details at the Half Moon website.

Half Moon Young People's Theatre, the day before yesterday.

12 April 2006

Selling Babylon, about the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion, has been commissioned by Nick Kent for the Tricycle Theatre.

The Tricycle Theatre, last week.

4 April 2006

Liquid Theatre run by Matt Peover and Mark Bell of LAMDA have had a successful Arts Council application for us to work together in a series of intensive workshops to write a new Jacobean play for the 21st century.

22 March 2006

The winning plays of the Almeida Theatre’s WRITE! competition, whose writers I tutored, will be staged at the Almeida Theatre 28th and 29th July 2006. Details at the Almeida Theatre website.

The Almeida Theatre, last year.

4 Feb 2006

My short film Babes, written with teenage mums for All Change Arts , has won a First Light Award for Best Documentary.

Click here to read more.