Eric Abraham

(19*-) Producer and theatre manager. * South African born, a former journalist and BBC Radio correspondent in South Africa, a former human rights activist banned and house-arrested by the apartheid government in 1976 and exiled for 15 years, he then became a producer of BBC TV’s Panorama programme for several years and then became a film and theatre producer - going on to form his own production company, Portobello.

He produced many acclaimed television dramas including John le Carre’s A Murder of Quality and the BBC TV crime series Dalziel and Pascoe. He produced Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World, Jan Svěrák’s Dark Blue World and Empties, Tim Roth’s The War Zone, Jez Butterworth’s Mojo and Birthday Girl, Jiri Menzel’s The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin and Quiet Chaos starring Nanni Moretti, and Joshua Marston’s The Forgiveness of Blood, winner of a Silver Bear at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. With his wife, publisher and philanthropist Sigrid Rausing, Eric Abraham co- founded the Portobello Books publishing house in 2005, and later that year they acquired the highly regarded literary journal Granta and Granta Books. As a theatre producer, credits include Hugh Whitemore’s adaptation of Pirandello’s As you Desire Me, starring Bob Hoskins and Kristin Scott-Thomas, Christopher Hampton’s stage version of Sandor Marai’s Embers, which marked Jeremy Irons’ return to the stage after twenty years and was directed by the Tony award-winning Michael Blakemore, Polly Stenham’s multi-award winning That Face, and the acclaimed West End transfer of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, winner of the Olivier Award for Best Play, 2011. He has commissioned new plays from, amongst others, Nicholas Wright, Hugh Whitemore, Frank McGuinness and Rebecca Lenkiewicz. In In October 2006, the company opened an office in Cape Town and set up Isango Portobello production company and in 2010 opened The Fugard theatre as their home base. 2006 and 2010, he set up and worked with Isango Portobello, a collaboration with director Mark Dornford-May to produce theatre and film productions with South African talent for South African and international audiences. Their first productions together were A Christmas Carol – Ikrismas Kherol and The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo. They premiered in Cape Town at the Baxter Theatre and at the Young Vic in London to major acclaim, with The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo transferring to the Duke of York’s theatre for a successful West End run and winning the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, 2008, before touring internationally. The company also presented an acclaimed revival of their production of The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso in Cape Town in 2009, prior to a West End transfer. Other productions include Aesop’s Fables and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. This partnership broke down in 2011

Eric Abraham is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and the European and Czech Film Academies. He produced the Academy Award-winning film Kolya and Olivier Award-winning South African production of The Magic Flute. Heads UK-based Portobello Pictures, an independent film, television and theatre production company with its head office in London. In October 2006, the company opened an office in Cape Town and set up Isango Portobello production company and in 2010 opened The Fugard theatre as their home base.

Sources

http://www.portobellopictures.com/About/Eric-Abraham

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