JODIE MCNEE AND DANNY LEE WYNTER CAST IN FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN
A Headlong and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre co-production,
in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Jodie McNee (Venice Preserved, Anatomy of a Suicide) and Danny Lee Wynter (The Maids, Comus) have been cast in Faustus: That Damned Woman, a new play from award-winning playwright and theatre maker Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge), directed by Caroline Byrne (All’s Well That Ends Well). Jodie McNee will play the title role of Johanna Faustus with Danny Lee Wynter cast as Mephistopheles. This is the first work to be commissioned as part of Headlong and the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre’s long-term commitment to commissioning and producing work of scale by women playwrights.
Faustus: That Damned Woman will premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre on 22 January 2020 before playing at Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 26 February 2020. The production will then tour throughout the Spring visiting Bristol Old Vic, Leeds Playhouse and Northern Stage from March to April 2020.
Drawing on the works of Marlowe, Goethe, and other versions of the Faustus myth, Chris’ urgent reimagining asks what we must sacrifice to achieve greatness and the legacy that we leave behind.
“My name is Johanna Faustus. I was born almost four hundred years ago.
I gave my soul to achieve the impossible.
I watched this city grow sick and I swore to heal it.
I might be damned, but I would save the world to spite the Devil.”
Caroline Byrne directs this radical new work in which the iconic character of Faustus is reimagined as a woman who makes the ultimate sacrifice to traverse centuries and alter the course of history. The creative team include set designer Ana Inés Jabares-Pita, costume designer Line Bech, lighting designer Richard Howell, sound and composition designer Giles Thomas, video and projection designer Ian William Galloway, Movement Director Shelley Maxwell and casting director Annelie Powell CDG. Further casting will be announced shortly.
Jodie McNee is a critically acclaimed actress known for her work on stage and screen. Her extensive theatre credits include Venice Preserved (RSC), Anatomy Of A Suicide (Royal Court Theatre), The Night Watch, Hamlet, Orpheus Descending, A Taste of Honey (Royal Exchange, Manchester); An Oak Tree, Our Country’s Good, Three Winters (National Theatre); Game (Almeida); A Life of Galileo, Written on the Heart, Measure for Measure (RSC); Hobson’s Choice (Regent’s Park Open Air); Canary, When We Are Married, Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman Playhouse); The Empty Quarter (Hampstead Theatre); When We are Married (West End); The Frontline, King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe); Seagull, Knives in Hens, Double Portrait, Jenufer (Arcola) Cymbeline, The Changeling (Barbican/ International tour); Mother Courage, This Happy Breed (ETT) and The Burial at Thebes (Playhouse, Nottingham).
Jodie’s television credits include Britannia series 1 & 2, Vera, Little Boy Blue, Ripper Street, Criminal Justice, Poirot and The Liverpool Nativity. Her film credits include Judy, Official Secrets, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool and The Physician, whilst her radio credits include Zola: Blood Season and With Great Pleasure.
Danny Lee Wynter is an actor known for his work across stage and screen. He is the founder of the campaign and charity Act For Change. Danny’s theatre credits include The Maids (HOME, Manchester), Cell Mates (Hampstead Theatre), Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre), Deathwatch (The Print Room), The Glass Menagerie (Nuffield Southampton), Much Ado About Nothing (Old Vic), St John’s Night (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Miser (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Changing Room (Royal Court Theatre), Comus, Bedlam, Henry IV Part II, Henry IV Part 1, King Lear, The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Danny’s TV and film credits include the lead in Stephen Polaikoff’s Joe’s Palace & Capturing Mary, Luther, Hot Fuzz, Walliams and Friend, The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth, Partners in Crime, Holby City, Mr Stink, Episodes, Beat Girl, Trial and Retribution and the forthcoming film Censor.