PRODUCTION FRIEND
Production Friend is the umbrella name for the works of Rick Friend in Film, Theatre and Music Production. Based in London, Production Friend was originally set up by Rick Friend as a Theatre Production Company. Its debut production was Stuck, Friend’s first play, which starred Olivier award-winning actress and comedienne Sara Crowe and received Time Out Critics’ Choice for Best Plays in London.
“…Outrageous and highly enjoyable satire on the filofax set…
a zappy debut which marks Friend as a writer of some punch…” Time Out
Production Friend is now branching out into Film Production, with three films in various stages of development.
Production Friend is also involved in Music Production. In the 80’s, along with acts Soft Cell and Visage, Rick Friend was signed up as a songwriter by the Metropolis record label and was contracted for three years with Warner Brothers Music. As a singer, Friend has performed all around the world, as a solo artist and with various bands, in venues as diverse as Stringfellows, the Barbican Centre and the Royal Academy of Music. Rick Friend has also worked as an actor. Click here for Rick Friend’s Biography.
FEATURED PROJECTS
Following over 20 years of research, Rick Friend’s debut novel The Pope’s Son is based on fact and Non Possumus, his screenplay of the book, won Best Epic/Historical Screenplay at the Angel Film Awards at the Monaco International Film Festival in 2010. He has currently adapted the revised novel as a script for both TV and Film.
Rick Friend’s controversial musical Victory? deals with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Friend directed Victory? as a workshop charity performance at London’s Donmar Warehouse Theatre, with leading actors Bertie Carvel, Raza Jaffrey and Juliette Caton.
Friend’s musical Atlantis was work-shopped at London’s National Theatre for director Bill Bryden, in a workshop produced by Jon Thoday of Avalon Productions (Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned and Jerry Springer the Opera) with leading actors Peter Straker and Carol Neilsson.
When his father dies, Eddie, a 12 year-old Jewish schoolboy from North London is taken by his estranged mother Irina, a Danish actress, to her birthplace, the small town of Gudhjem on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.
Rick Friend’s debut play, Stuck was first staged by Production Friend at the Latchmere Theatre Battersea. Starring Olivier award-winning actress and comedienne Sara Crowe, it received Time Out Critics’ Choice for Best Plays in London.
Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! tells the story of the radical and controversial Stuckist art movement and the colourful life of Charles Thomson, its co-founder. Thomson had a turbulent marriage to artist and former stripper Stella Vine and coined the name Stuckism in response to a comment made by artist Tracey Emin’s boyfriend, the movement’s other co-founder Billy Childish.
As a singer Rick Friend has performed as a solo artist and with various bands. Along with acts Soft Cell and Visage, he was signed as a songwriter by the Metropolis record label and was contracted for three years with Warner Brothers Music. Rick made demo recordings under the patronage of publisher and philanthropist, Felix Dennis, which led to his signing by Trident Records in Soho, London.