The full casting has been announced for The Haunting of Hill House at Liverpool Playhouse. Emily Bevan plays Eleanor and will be joined by Chipo Chung, Jane Guernier, Joseph May and Martin Turner as Dr Montague. The production is a collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and HAMMER to create the first major U.K. stage adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel. The production will play at the Williamson Square venue from Monday 7th December to Saturday 16th January.
This Christmas at the Playhouse, following the international and West End success of Ghost Stories, the horror genre makes a return with The Haunting of Hill House.
Emily Bevan plays Eleanor. Emily can currently be seen in I.T.V.’s Doc Martin and she is also known for her roles in J K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy (B.B.C.) and playing one of the leads in the B.A.F.T.A .award-winning supernatural dr.ama series In The Flesh (B.B.C.). Her other credits include The Ark (B.B.C.), The Thick of It (B.B.C.) and Phone Shop (Channel 4).
Chipo Chung plays Theodora. Chipo is a well-known face from stage and screen, her theatre credits include Fu Manchu Complex (Oval House Theatre) and Phaedre (National Theatre) and for the Everyman & Playhouse she has appeared inThe Mayor Of Zalamea and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Her many television and film roles includeFortitude (Sky), Camelot (Channel 4), Black Mirror (Channel 4) andIn the Loop.
Jane Guernier plays Mrs Dudley and Celia Markway. Jane has worked extensively with Told by an Idiot including the productionsAnd the Horse You Road In On and Beauty and the Beast. Her other stage and screen credits includeBrand (RSC), Shelf Life (National Theatre of Wales) and The Bletchley Circle (ITV).
Joseph May plays Luke. Joseph is well known for the role of Andy Button inEpisodes (BBC), while his other screen credits include I Live with Models (Comedy Central),Holby City (BBC) and Mistresses (A.B.C.) His theatre credits include No Naughty Bits (Hampstead Theatre) and Serious Money (Birmingham Rep.)
Martin Turner plays Dr Montague. Renowned for his stage and screen roles, Martin’s most recent stage roles include The King’s Speech (Chichester Festival Theatre), Medea (National Theatre),Twelve Angry Men (Garrick Theatre) and A Life of Galileo (R.S.C.) On screen he has appeared inNew Tricks (BBC) and Law and Order: UK (I.T.V.) Martin is well known for playing the role of Banquo in Rupert Goold’s production ofMacbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre, the West End, Brooklyn Academy of Music and on film.
This stage version of The Haunting of Hill House is adapted by Anthony Neilson. His previous theatre credits include The Wonderful World of Dissocia (National Theatre Scotland), Realism (Edinburgh International Festival), Narrative (Royal Court Theatre) and The Censor (Finborough Theatre). The production is directed by Olivier and Tony Award nominee Melly Still. Her credits as director and co-designer include From Morning To Midnight and The Revenger’s Tragedy (both National Theatre) and Coram Boy (National Theatre and Broadway);Rats’ Tales, Manchester Royal Exchange (also adaptor); Rusalka and The Cunning Vixen, Glyndebourne Opera.
Shirley Jackson established herself as one of America’s leading horror authors of the 20th Century thanks to a writing style of cryptic symbolism in the Gothic mold in which abnormal behaviour seemed perilously ordinary. As well as The Haunting of Hill House, her notable works includeThe Hangsaman and The Lottery. Such is the standing of The Haunting of Hill House in the horror cannon that Stephen King, in his bookDanse Macabre, calls the novel “one of the finest books ever to come out of the genre”.
An alternative theatre experience over the festive period, the 150-year-old Playhouse is the perfect setting for this terrifying psychological thriller.
Tickets are priced at £14 – £25*and are available from the Box office, by telephone on 0151 7094776 or online at www.everymanplayhouse.com.