BRITISH PLAYWRIGHT, FILMMAKER, DIRECTOR, AUTHOR, POET, ACTOR, COMPOSER AND SINGER RICK FRIEND BIOGRAPHY

Theatre: Friend’s first play Stuck, starring Olivier award-winning actress, Sara Crowe, received Time Out critics’ choice for Best Plays in London.
His stage show Victory? a musical dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict (wrote, directed and composed music for) was staged at London’s prestigious Donmar Warehouse Theatre in 2004. It brought together major actors: Raza Jaffrey, (leading man of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams and the films Eastern Promises and Sex and the City 2); Juliette Caton (leading lady of the film Courage Mountain and Martin Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ and lead in Cameron Macintosh’s Martin Guerre); Bertie Carvel (Olivier award nominee for Best Actor in a Musical 2008 for the Donmar’s Parade). It also brought together Rick with producer Daniella Gonella and musical director Andy Smith (London West End’s We Will Rock You and The Lion King).
Friend’s musical Atlantis was work-shopped at London’s National Theatre for director Bill Bryden, with actors Peter Straker and Carol Nielsson star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ‘Song and Dance’, (musical director and musical arrangements by Anthony Bowles – arranger of the original Lloyd Webber musical Evita).

Music: In the 1980’s, Friend made recordings under the patronage of British publisher and poet Felix Dennis, which led to him being signed as a recording artist by Trident Records in Soho, London. Along with acts Soft Cell and Visage, Friend was picked up as a songwriter by the Metropolis label and was contracted for three years with Warner Brothers Music. In the 1990’s he continued with his solo career and also collaborated on several songs with Denise Marsa the mystery lady who sang with Dean Friedman on the # 3 UK Hit, Lucky Stars. As a singer Friend has performed all around the world in venues as diverse as Stringfellows, the Barbican Centre and the Royal Academy of Music both as a solo artist and with various bands.

Acting: As an actor, Friend has played in featured roles at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Clwyd Theatr Cymru and appeared in various TV programmes including Keeping Up Appearances and The Bill. Friend appeared as Syd Barrett in Shine On You Crazy Diamond, in Pink Floyd’s P•U•L•S•E DVD taken from the 1994 concert at Earls Court, London in a tribute to their co-founder. A DVD edition was released in July 2006 and quickly topped the charts.

Current Film Projects include Stuck - an adaptation of Friend’s play which won Best Comedy Drama Screenplay at the Angel Film Awards – Monaco International Film Festival 2009, Non Possumus which won Best Epic/Historical Screenplay at the Angel Film Awards 2009, his poignant drama Bornholm and Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! which deals with the radical and controversial Stuckist art movement and the colourful life of Charles Thomson, its co-founder. He is also working on the thriller The Penance List adapted from Siobhan Cunningham’s The David Trilogy.

Other: As a film critic Friend reviewed over 800 films for 20 national radio stations, including Capital Radio. Jon Thoday of Avalon Productions (producer of Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned and Jerry Springer the Opera) took the name Avalon from one of the songs in Rick Friend’s musical Atlantis. Friend’s photo of Sir Nicholas Serota outside Tate Britain in December 2006, holding a postcard of Charles Thomson’s painting of him, taken during a Stuckist demonstration against the Turner Prize, was published in The Independent newspaper the following day. In 2010 Rick won a place at the Faber Academy for an intensive novel-writing programme offered by leading UK publishing house Faber & Faber.

Peace Campaigning: Through projects like Victory? Friend has been active in promoting peace and reconciliation. The Donmar Warehouse show benefited two charities which foster relationships and reconciliation between Arabs and Jews - Seeds of Peace and Neve Shalom.

www.productionfriend.com
info@productionfriend.demon.co.uk