Cast announced for PINK MIST
PINK MIST by Owen Sheers
Directed by John Retallack and George Mann
Bush Theatre
Presented by Bristol Old Vic
21 January – 13 February 2016, Press night 26 January 2016
Casting has been announced for award-winning writer Owen Sheers’ acclaimed play Pink Mist, about the mental and physical scars of war, which opens at the Bush Theatre in January 2016 before a run at the Bristol Old Vic.
Five of the six original cast members from the play’s 2015 run will return – Phil Dunster, Peter Edwards, Rebecca Hamilton, Zara Ramm and Alex Stedman – with Rebecca Killick joining the company.
Pink Mist tells the story of three young Bristol men deployed to Afghanistan. Returning to the women in their lives who must now share the physical and psychological aftershocks of their service, Arthur, Hads and Taff find their journey home is their greatest battle.
Owen Sheers’ Pink Mist was inspired by thirty interviews with returned servicemen and first staged at Bristol Old Vic in July 2015. This moving production, directed by John Retallack and George Mann (Theatre Ad Infinitum) matches Sheers’ haunting verse with dynamic movement.
Cast: Phil Dunster, Peter Edwards, Rebecca Hamilton, Rebecca Killick, Zara Ramm and Alex Stedman.
Phil Dunster trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 2014. Theatre includes:Pink Mist (Bristol Old Vic); Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (Reading Between the Lines); The Man in The River (Tobacco Factory Theatres). Film includes: Leavey, The Rise and Fall of the Krays. TV includes: Catastrophe (Channel 4), Lucky Man (Sky 1).
Peter Edwards graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2015 and was highly commended for the 2015 Peter O’Toole Prize. Theatre includes: The Crucible, Pink Mist (Bristol Old Vic). Credits whilst training include: The Boy on the Swing, The Grand Gesture, The Merchant of Venice, Alice in Wonderland, Sauce for the Goose (West Country Tour), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Speaking in Tongues.
Rebecca Hamilton graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2015 and is the winner of the BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award 2015 and highly commended for the 2015 Peter O’Toole Prize. Theatre includes: Pink Mist (Bristol Old Vic); City Of Strangers (Tron Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Lemontree Theatre). Credits whilst training include: The Merchant of Venice, Alice in Wonderland (Redgrave Theatre); The Grand Gesture (Tobacco Factory). Rebecca has also been a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company appearing in numerous productions for BBC Radio 4.
Rebecca Killick trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. She has also represented Wales in gymnastics. Theatre includes: Performer/Puppeteer in One Snowy Night (Norden Farm Productions); Catherine Denham in One Minute (Delirium); Emilie/Baby Joey/Annie Gilbert inWar Horse (National Theatre); Moth in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Meyer Theatre); Patty Symcox in Grease, Elvira in Blithe Spirit (Turner Auditorium); Brink in When Do We Start Fighting? (Courtyard Theatre); Psychiatrist in 4.48 Psychosis (Royal Academy of Music); Madge Syers in Swifter, Higher, Stronger (The Roundhouse); Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard, Clara inA Vampire Story (Richard Burton Theatre Co.). Film includes: Jemima in Fugue State (FireParty Films), Fiona in short film Vertical Drop (Sci-Fi 48 Hour Film Festival). Radio includes: Buddug inThe Minister (BBC Radio 4).
Zara Ramm trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes: Alice in Wonderland (The Watermill); Life Raft, Pink Mist, Swallows and Amazons, World Cup Final 1966, Treasure Island, Beasts and Beauties, Pheadra’s Love (all Bristol Old Vic); My Mother Said I Never Should (The Theatre, Chipping Norton); The Last Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor (Tobacco Factory Theatres); The Nutcracker (Bath Theatre Royal/The Egg); Into the West (Travelling Light Theatre Co); Skellig (Birmingham Stage Co); Macbeth (Northcott); Othello (Ludlow); The Tempest (Arts Threshold); A Chorus of Disapproval (Colchester Mercury); Saigon Rose: The Case of Rebellious Susan (The Orange Tree Theatre); Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Sleeping Beauty (Cheltenham Everyman); State of Grace (Reckless Kettle Theatre); Dalston Songs (Helen Chadwick Song Theatre). Film includes: The Merchant of Venice, Crazy Hands. TV includes: Grandpa in My Pocket (five series); Teachers, Being Human, Afterlife 2, Passer By, Doctors, The Bill, Dead Gorgeous. Zara has also recorded numerous audio books and is a regular reader of audio books for the BBC, Audio Go and Chatter Box Audio.
Alex Stedman graduated from ALRA in 2012. Theatre includes: Pink Mist (Bristol Old Vic);Honest (Theatre West, Alma Tavern); Boom (Bush Theatre); Do You Speak British (Camden People’s Theatre); Little Pieces of Gold (Southwark Playhouse). TV includes: Skins, Casualty. He is also a writer and has had his work performed at Theatre503 and at the Theatre Royal Plymouth as part of the Plymouth Fringe Festival.
Owen Sheers has been described as “the war poet of his generation”. He is an author, poet and playwright whose first novel, Resistance was translated into eleven languages and adapted into a film. His latest novel, I Saw a Man, was published in June 2015. Owen’s writing for theatre includes National Theatre of Wales’ site-specific production in Port Talbot, The Passion; TheTwo Worlds of Charlie F, which won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, and NTW’s Mametz. His verse drama Pink Mist was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and won the Hay Festival Poetry Medal and the Wales Book of the Year 2014. He has been Artist in Residence for the Welsh Rugby Union and is currently Professor in Creativity at Swansea University.
John Retallack was the founding director of Company of Angels, producing new work for young audiences. He was formerly Artistic Director of Oxford Stage Company and was the founding director of Actors Touring Company (ATC). John’s own plays for theatre are translated into several languages and published by Oberon and Methuen. John is currently Tutor in writing for performance at Ruskin College Oxford.
George Mann is Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic, and Co-Artistic Director of Theatre Ad Infinitum. Highlights include Translunar Paradise (director, writer, co-deviser, and performer) a sell-out at Barbican as part of the London International Mime Festival (LIMF) 2012, which picked up nine awards and toured the globe for three years; Light (director, writer, co-deviser, performer of live vocals) met with critical acclaim, its London premier sold out at Barbican as part of LIMF 2015. In December 2014, George won the Quercus Trust Award becoming Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic in partnership with National Theatre; he continues his role at Ad Infinitum part time.
FORGET ME NOT by Tom Holloway, a co-production between the Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre, is currently playing at the Bush until 16 January 2016.
