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First Impressions by Tim Stimpson is returning in full to Theatre Royal Margate on 24th and 25th September, 7.30pm (matinee on Saturday also)

‘Wow! How pertinent can one get! Let’s have a full length version of the truth PLEASE!’ - Audience member at Theatre Royal Margate, May 2009

‘First Impressions’, a new comedy about the town’s current regeneration and its history as inspiration for William Turner, returns to Margate on September 24th and 25th, after winning the audience vote at the Theatre Royal last year.

Satirical yet romantic; sharp but affectionate, First Impressions asks if “culture” really can be imposed on a dilapidated seaside town – or if it should be imposed on a town which has already inspired some of this country’s greatest art.

‘First Impressions’ is written by Tim Stimpson (Archers, BBC), directed by Mel Cook (Snakebit, Coney) and produced by Net Curtains Theatre Company.

The play:  an incognito William Turner enters a Margate b&b, to meet the widow who will become the model for some of his raciest work.  Increasingly consumed by ambition and resentment, he is determined, once and for all, to stamp his name upon the nation’s consciousness.

Two centuries later, a previously unknown Turner masterpiece is discovered in a dead woman’s Margate flat. Featuring a scene of the local bay, it quickly sparks an international bidding war. When Thanet council enters the fray, attempting to buy the painting in a bid for local regeneration, what seemed beautiful on the surface rapidly turns sour.

Margate’s past, present and future collide in a satirical investigation into identity, art, and the great British seaside.