SYNOPSIS
Rain Stops Play is a modern day comedy of errors which addresses the key issues of mistaken identity, modern technology and female ageism. Although we see the world from a male perspective through our protagonist Adam, it is a story for a female audience with searingly current themes.
The basic action of Rain Stops Play is the portrayal of a man who, in mid-life, falls into an extreme fantasy about a younger woman, Alice. The story exposes a husband in crisis whose desperate quest for something other hilariously backfires.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
The experience I'm most trying to communicate with Rain Stops Play is that of a feeling of breaking something open. While this film has a serious undertone it also exposes how deeply funny life can be in its most humiliating moments. I have used female beauty and comedy as a weapon to try and teach us about ourselves and expose man’s fallibility. It is really a social analysis of sex in society today so in some ways a very big film although here, told through a very small intimate story. It is definitely a film for a female audience, but hopefully it is an invitation to laugh at our humanity and compulsive behaviours. I feel very strongly that it’s important that, in the face of a period of heightened confessions, blame and change, that we can also maintain a lightheartedness and sense of humour about the sex and the sexes.
Rain Stops Play staring Tara Fitzgerald, Joe McGann, Imogen Waterhouse and Sharon Maughan is a comedy short written produced by Jackie Green and Roberta Moore.
In 2019 it was selected for Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, That Film, Underwire, Portobello, Houston Film Festival and Milwalke International Film Festival.
TRAILER
Watch the trailer for Rain Stops Play
There is no fool like an old fool.
CAST & CREW
Tara Fitzgerald - Catherine
Tara Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage. She won the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia opposite Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St Columb in Frenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald's appeared in the West End production of The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre with Damian Lewis and Keira Knightley, and in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television series Waking the Dead and played the role of Selyse Baratheon in the HBO series Game of Thrones.
Imogen Waterhouse - Alice
Imogen Waterhouse is an English model and actress known for Nocturnal Animals and Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (2016) and Braid (2018). She is currently filming The Outpost.
Joe McGann - Adam
Joseph McGann is an English actor. His most well known role is the lead role of Charlie Burrows, the "housekeeper" in the TV comedy series The Upper Hand (1990–96). He was also a key character in ITV's soap Night and Day, who had an affair with the underage main character Jane Harper before her disappearance.
Joe has most recently been on tour with multi Grammy award winner Sting’s new play, The Last Ship.
Sharon Maughan - Alice
Sharon Maughan is an actress and producer, known for The Bank Job (2008), She's Out of My League (2010) and Time Lapse (2014). In 1993, Maughan received excellent reviews for her debut directorial production of Widowers' Houses in London. In 1997 she and Trevor Eve founded Projector Productions with Charles Haswell. With Trevor as producer, she went on to Executive Produce and star in Cinderella alongside Kathleen Turner, and Executive Produce Twelfth Night, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Mika Simmons - Writer / Director
Mika Simmons is a British actress and writer known for her roles in a diverse range of work on stage and screen - including television dramas ITV's Frenchman's Creek and Unforgotten, the BAFTA award winning Falling Apart and the ongoing role of Queen Anora in the animation game Dragon Age. In 2016 Mika played Kate in Film London’s Balcony which went on to win the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2019 she will be seen in Dictynna Hood’s Us Among The Stones.
Rain Stops Play is Mika Simmons’ Directorial debut.
Jackie Green - Producer
Roberta Moore - Producer
Nick Ball - DOP
Graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2000 where he studied Fine Art and Film. Since then he has worked extensively in the Film and Television industry in a wide variety of roles including: writer, producer, photographer, camera assistant, focus puller, camera operator and DOP. Nick has worked extensively with the likes of Chris Cunningham and Fatboy Slim. Nick is also an award-winning director. His skills and experience lie in writing, shooting and directing both short and long form film, TV and music videos.
Daniel Heath - Composer
Dan Heath is an accomplished songwriter, producer and film composer. He is also one of Lana Del Rey’s main collaborators having co-written and produced many of her singles including “Blue Jeans”, “Ultraviolence” and “Once Upon A Dream” from Disney's Maleficent. Dan recently collaborated again with Lana to co-write and produce the Golden Globe nominated title track for Tim Burton's newest film, Big Eyes. After earning two degrees in film scoring and composition, he went on to work for Hans Zimmer as a part of the musical team responsible for Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Da Vinci Code and The Holiday. He has also worked alongside of Blake Neely doing sound design and additional music for the television shows “The Mentalist” and “Traveler”.
Tom CC - Music Supervisor
Tom CC is a London based music editor and composer who has worked on multiple films including Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake staring Daniel Craig, Alfie staring Jude Law and Kingdom of Heaven staring Orlando Bloom.
STILLS
