Full Cast Announced For The World Premiere Of HEDDA TESMAN

Headlong today announce the full cast for Hedda Tesman which will receive its world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre before playing at The Lowry, Salford.

Leading the cast is the previously announced Haydn Gwynne in the title role of Hedda. She is joined by Anthony Calf as George Tesman, Jonathan Hyde as Brack, Jacqueline Clarke as Julie Tesman, Natalie Simpson as Thea Tesman, Irfan Shamji as Elijah and Rebecca Oldfield as Bertha.

Hedda Tesman, by Cordelia Lynn, breathes new life into Ibsen's classic, asking what we inherit, what we endure and how we carry our history. Headlong's Associate Director Holly Race Roughan directs this vital exploration of motherhood, power and sabotage. Completing the creative team are designer Anna Fleischle, lighting designer Zoe Spurr, composer Ruth Chan and sound designer George Dennis.

A doting husband. A troubled writer. A loaded gun. It's 2019 and Hedda Tesman returns to a life she can't seem to escape. After thirty years of playing wife, Hedda is bitter and bored. When her estranged daughter, Thea, suddenly reappears asking for help, the present begins to echo the past and Hedda embarks on a path of destruction.

Check out the trailer below!

Cordelia Lynn was the recipient of the 2017 Harold Pinter Commission. Her writing credits include Three Sisters (Almeida Theatre), One for Sorrow and Lela and Co (Royal Court) and the libretto for Miranda (Opéra Comique, Paris). Her plays Best Served Cold (Vaults Festival) and Believers Anonymous (Rosemary Branch) were both directed by Holly Race Roughan.

Haydn Gwynne's stage credits include The Way of The World (Donmar Warehouse), Coriolanus (RSC), The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Boston), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre, West End), The Audience (Gielgud Theatre, West End), The Memory of Water (Hampstead), Richard III (Old Vic/BAM New York), Becky Shaw (Almeida Theatre), Billy Elliot: The Musical (West End, Broadway). Television credits include The Windsors (NOHO/Channel 4), The Midnight Gang (BBC) Urban Myths: The Trial of Joan Collins (Sky Arts), Ripper Street (BBC/Amazon), The C Word (BBC), Sherlock (BBC), Rome (BBC), Peak Practise (BBC), Mersey Beat (BBC), Drop the Dead Donkey (Channel 4), Lewis (ITV), Midsomer Murders (BBC), Silent Witness (BBC), Uncle (Baby Cow Productions). Haydn's film credits include Beauty and the Beast (Walt Disney Pictures), Hunky Dory (Working Title) and Remember Me?

Anthony Calf's stage credits include Plenty, For Services Rendered, Private Lives, The Deep Blue Sea (Chichester Festival Theatre), Racing Demon (Theatre Royal Bath), Twelfth Night (Manchester Royal Exchange), King Charles III (Broadway), The Hard Problem, The White Guard, The Power Of Yes (National Theatre), Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse), Stephen Ward (West End), My Fair Lady (Sheffield Theatres), Death and Maiden (Harold Pinter Theatre, West End). Television credits include Poldark (BBC), Anne (ITV), Power Monkeys (Channel 4), Call the Midwife (Neal Street/BBC), Dracula (Carnival Productions), Home Fires (ITV), Restless (Romer Films/Endor Productions), Upstairs Downstairs (BBC), New Tricks (Wall to Wall), Lewis (ITV), Identity (ITV), Doc Martin (Buffalo Pictures/ITV) Fashion (Carnival), New Tricks (Wall to Wall), Trinity (BBC), Mistresses (Ecosse Films for BBC). Anthony's film credits include King Lear (Amazon Studios/BBC2), The Children Act (BBC Films), The Man Who Knew Infinity (Animus Films), Anna Karenina (Icon Entertainment), Dead Cool (Psychology News Ltd), Fairytale (Icon Entertainment), Oxford Blues (Winkast Film Productions), Straightheads (Straightheads Ltd), The Madness of King George (The Samuel Goldwyn Company).

Jonathan Hyde's Theatre credits include Gently Down the Stream (Park Theatre - Olivier Award Nominated) Frost/Nixon, Julius Caesar (Crucible Theatre Sheffield) Travels With My Aunt (Menier Chocolate Factory) The King's Speech (West End/UKTour) Rattigan's Nijinsky (Chichester Festival Theatre) Peter Pan (London, San Francisco, L.A.) King Lear, The Seagull (RSC Stratford, World Tour, London), Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, Richard 11, Richard 111, As You Like It, The Roaring Girl, The Swan Down Gloves (RSC) Sleep With Me, Jumpers, The Duchess of Malfi, The Real Inspector Hound/ The Critic, The Cherry Orchard (National Theatre) Macbeth (Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh) Antigone (Old Vic) The Importance of Being Earnest, Mirandolina (Edinburgh Festival - Olivier Nominated) The Good-Humoured Ladies, The Country Wife, Figaro, What the Butler Saw, Masquerade, The Seven Deadly Sins, Woyzeck, The Government Inspector, Sailor Beware, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Coriolanus, Indians, St. Joan of the Stockyards (Glasgow Citizens Theatre) The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward ( SF Theatre of Liverpool). TV credits include A Very English Scandal (BBC), The Strain (FX) Tokyo Trial (Netflix) Trollhunters (Netflix), Shadow of the Noose (BBC), Spooks (BBC), Endeavour (ITV), Sherlock Holmes. Film credits include Titanic, Jumanji, Richie Rich, The Mummy, Caravaggio, Anaconda, The Contract, Breathe, Firstborn, Deadly Advice, Crimson Peak and Breathe. Jonathan's directing credits include In and Out of Love (Almeida Theatre) and In Flanders Fields (Bath International Music Festival, St Magnus Festival).

Jacqueline Clarke's stage credits include Allelujah! (Bridge Theatre), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (West End), Singin' In The Rain (UK Tour), Sister Act (UK Tour), Dinnerladies (UK Tour), Marrying the Mistress, The Full Monty, The Shell Seekers, Pool's Paradise (Mill at Sonning), Harvey; Oliver! (Cameron Mackintosh), Don't Dress for Dinner, It Runs In The Family (UK Tour), Out of Order, Run for your Wife (Theatre of Comedy), Woman In Mind. Television credits include Doc Martin (ITV), Most Mysterious Murders, Last of the Summer Wine, Murder in Mind, Heartbeat, The Dreamstone, Chish 'n' Fips, The Young Ones, A Sharp Intake of Breath, Dave Allen at Large, Second Time Around.

Rebecca Oldfield's stage credits include Phoenix Rising (The Big House), Poppy and George (Watford Palace Theatre), Love Girl & The Innocent (Southwark Playhouse), Worst Wedding Ever (Salisbury Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Faith, Hope and Charity (Southwark Playhouse), Taken and That Almost Unbearable Lust (Soho Theatre), Labour Pains (Bush Theatre). Television credits include Silent Witness, Witless, Doctors, The Silence, Doctor Who III, Afterlife II, Holby City (BBC). Rebecca's film credits include Edge of Tomorrow, Gecko, Powder Room, Beautality.

Natalie Simpson's stage credits include The Cardinal winner of the Ian Charleson Award (Southwark Playhouse), Boudica (Shakespeare's Globe), Honour (Park Theatre), Hamlet, King Lear, Cymbeline (RSC), Measure for Measure (Young Vic), God (Edinburgh Fringe), The Vagina Monologues (Bloomsbury Theatre). Television credits include Mallorca Files (Cosmopolitan Pictures), Outlander (Starz!), Les Miserables (Lookout Point for BBC). Natalie's film credits include 23 Walks and Tula: The Revolt.

Irfan Shamji's stage credits include Mayfly (Orange Tree Theatre), One for Sorrow (Royal Court), Dance Nation (Almeida). Television credits include Urban Myths (Sky Arts), Informer (BBC), Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix). Irfan's film credits include Red Joan and Murder on the Orient Express.

Holly Race Roughan's directing credits include Prurience (Southbank Centre, co-director), Clickbait (Theatre 503), The Low Road (Central School of Speech and Drama), Animal (Gate Theatre/Royal Welsh College of Speech and Drama), Eye of a Needle (Southwark Playhouse), A First World Problem (Theatre503), Pages from my Songbook (Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester), Waiting For Alice (Pleasance Courtyard), After the War (Cambridge ADC Theatre). Associate/Assistant Director credits include Headlong's People, Places & Things (National Theatre/West End) Status Update (Lyric Hammersmith, Education dept.), Stuff Happens (National Theatre - rehearsed reading), The Cane (National Theatre Studio - R&D), The Shoemaker's Holiday (RSC), Hotel (National Theatre), The Pass (Royal Court), The Birthday Party, A Doll's House, Rats Tales, The Country Wife (Royal Exchange), Three Birds (Bush Theatre/Royal Exchange).

Hedda Tesman is a co-production between Headlong, Chichester Festival Theatre and The Lowry (Week 53).

To post a comment, you must register and login.