Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Soho Theatre, Happy Birthday to you!!!

OK with me so far? The Soho Theatre celebrates its 40th Birthday in 2009 with some great pieces of work lined up amongst which is a new piece by Steve Thompson, the award winning debut play from model cum playwright In-Sook Chappell.

Perhaps the pertinent piece is that by Thompson whose new play “Roaring Trade” perhaps couldn’t have been shown at a better time with the current financial mess we all find ourselves in. It chronicles the fortunes (or perhaps misfortunes) of a group of totally ruthless Bond Traders. As we approach Global Financial meltdown, the question is asked.  Just how much would they sacrifice for the highest risk jobs in the City?

Playwright Thompson is the author of Damages and Whipping It Up, which both premiered at the Bush theatre, where he is Pearson writer-in-residence. Political satire Whipping It Up transferred to the Ambassadors in 2007, with a cast including Richard Wilson and Robert Bathurst, and received a 2008 Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play.