Presented by 31Productions, Handsome Dog Productions and Jagged Fence in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.

“So all the time, while you were pretending to work, you’ve been having the most astonishing adventures in that corner?”

A forgotten masterpiece from one of Britain’s greatest dramatists, J.B. Priestley, which played for four weeks in June at Off-Broadway Theatre 59E59 to sold-out houses, breaking box office records.

Written for Ralph Richardson in 1935, Priestley observes the politics and tensions of daily office life with searing wit and humanity in this hilarious and heart-breaking story of friendship, unrequited love and business.

Cast Emily Barber, Alex Bartram, Robin Browne, Pandora Colin, Alan Cox, David Ellis, Andrew Fallaize, Col Farrell, Beverley Klein, Jamie Newall, Xanthe Patterson, and Simon Rhodes

Production Images

Written by J.B. Priestley
Directed by Sam Yates
Designed by David Woodhead
Lighting Designed by Howard Hudson
Composed by Alex Baranowski

Reviews

THE NEW YORK TIMES | Ben Brantley (Critics’ Pick) “Expertly directed by Sam Yates…Cornelius, given virtuosic life by Mr. Cox, exudes an infectious, vital engagement with the world around him and a self-aware distance from it…As designed by David Woodhead and acted with in-the-moment precision, Mr. Yates’s production is a work of straightforward naturalism, with subtle suggestions of the numinous provided by Howard Hudson’s lighting and Alex Baranowski’s music…Wonderful.”

NEW YORK POST | Frank Scheck “Impeccably staged by Sam Yates on David Woodhead’s realistic, ’30s-era office set, the production features superb work by the ensemble… The play’s final moments, in which he unveils a dizzying array of emotions after revealing his love for a much younger woman, won’t be easily forgotten.”

HUFFINGTON POST | David Finkle  “The marvelously inventive J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was last represented on Broadway by Stephen Daldry’s elephantine revival of An Inspector Calls, but that was practically an anomaly. The sui generis scribe has barely been noticed locally since his 1930s heyday. So the arrival at 59E59 of his little-known 1935 Cornelius is an opportunity to seize with both hands.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Jennifer Farrar “Yates renders the manners and mores of the period with faithful attention to details, keeping his proficient cast of 16 in orderly motion as events transpire in a large, one-room office. The play was considered edgy when it premiered, and remains relevant nearly eight decades later.”

THEATER MANIA | Brian Scott Lipton “Director Sam Yates and his sterling cast, led by the extraordinary Alan Cox, have brought out every nuance of this deeply humane tale, set in the office of a foundering metals import firm.”

THE NEW YORKER “Jamie Newall’s spectacular turn, as Murrison, shifts the play’s focus from an economic crisis to an existential one.”

THE EVENING STANDARD | Tom Teodorczuk Cornelius by J.B. Priestley “is the most commercially successful Off-Broadway production.”

THEATER TALK with Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins, June 2013, PBS and Cuny TV Sam Yates and Alan Cox interviewed about Cornelius by J.B. Priestley

THE NEW YORK TIMES | Ben Brantley, May 31st 2013 | Preview “Nobody paid much attention when “Cornelius” opened in London in 1935, though the play was written by the popular novelist and dramatist J. B. Priestley and starred no less an actor than Ralph Richardson. But this portrait of capitalism, as one character calls it, a “game of snakes and ladders — without the ladders,” was perhaps too tough-minded for escapist Depression audiences and survived for a mere seven weeks before fading into the twilight of forgotten flops.

“Flash forward to 2012, when the tiny but mighty Finborough Theater, known for pulling neglected plays from the shadows (like Emlyn Williams’s “Accolade,” a study in scandal and celebrity), gives “Cornelius” its first London revival. It’s a smash, hailed by critics as “painfully prescient” and “eerily relevant.” So eight decades after its inception, “Cornelius” has at last crossed the Atlantic for its American premiere. Now in previews at 59E59 Theaters, Sam Yates’s production for the Finborough has Alan Cox repeating his acclaimed performance in the title role. It is part of what has thus far been an exceptionally strong edition of the annual Brits Off Broadway festival. (Through June 30, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org.)”

4**** THE GUARDIAN | Michael Billington “A monumental leading role, which Alan Cox here fills to the brim, conveying the pipe-smoking decency of a man who will do anything to stop the firm going bust out of loyalty to his partner. At the same time, Cox suggests Cornelius is a poet and dreamer who sees through the futility of petty commerce and yearns for a life of adventure. It is a wonderfully two-toned performance well supported in Sam Yates’s lively production.”

4**** THE TIMES | Sam Marlowe  “Sam Yates’s production is beautifully modulated and played to perfection, its atmosphere of deadening routine offset by the petty politics and personal quirks that characterise office life, now as then…Piercingly relevant, compassionate and delivered, like Cornelius’s bons mots, with great style.”

4**** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | Dominic Cavendish “Cornelius, played in the original production by Ralph Richardson and here, in Sam Yates’s splendidly cast staging at the Finborough by Alan Cox, is one of two chief partners in an aluminium import business called Briggs and Murrison…Blessed with a philosophical air of carefree detachment and a theatrically declamatory manner, Cornelius – unruffled and raffish in Cox’s richly nuanced performance.”

4**** THE INDEPENDENT | Paul Taylor “Sam Yates’s engaging and well-judged revival, it emerges as an intriguing period piece that speaks to our times”

4**** MAIL ON SUNDAY | Robert Gore-Langton “Cox is a joy as the boss…in this beautifully staged and fascinating production.”

4**** THE SUNDAY TIMES | Maxie Szalwinska “Everyone in this play has their own modest yearnings, and the director, Sam Yates, takes them seriously.”

4**** THE EVENING STANDARD | Fiona Mountford “It’s rare that a “rediscovered theatrical gem” lives up to its pre-billing. But just this once, just maybe, the always intrepid Finborough won’t be breaking the Trade Descriptions Act, with this superb revival of an all but forgotten 1935 JB Priestley piece.”

4**** TIME OUT MAGAZINE (Critics’ Choice) | Tom Wicker “Sam Yates’s sensitive, well-judged production sees ‘Cornelius’ wearing its age lightly.”

4**** THE ARTS DESK | Matt Wolf  “The most exciting reclamation from the English theatrical canon since the same venue produced Emlyn Williams’s startling and welcome Accolade…Funny and endearing…and the young director Sam Yates and his hugely accomplished cast do the occasion proud.”

4**** WHAT’S ON STAGE | Michael Coveney “This attractively strange and surprising 1935 play by J B Priestley, acutely well cast and directed by Sam Yates, has the added chill relevance of being about economic collapse and unemployment in a recession.”