WISE CHILDREN ANNOUNCES CAST FOR THE USA PREMIÈRE OF EMMA RICE’S WUTHERING HEIGHTS
★★★★★
“Emotionally epic entertainment from Emma Rice” The Times
Wise Children today announce full cast alongside tour dates for the USA tour of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, adapted and directed by Emma Rice. The co-production with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal, in association with Berkeley Repertory Theater, makes its US première at St Ann’s Warehouse, New York, on 14 October, before touring to Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and Chicago Shakespeare Theater, with more dates to be announced.
For the New York leg of the tour, Rice directs Sam Archer (Lockwood/Edgar Linton), Steph Elstob (understudy), Nandi Bhebhe (The Yorkshire Moor), Katy Ellis (swing), Lloyd Gorman (Mr Earnshaw/Robert), TJ Holmes (Dr Kenneth), Jordan Laviniere (Zillah), Lucy McCormick (Catherine), Katy Owen (Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff), Tama Phethean (Hindley Earnshaw/Hareton Earnshaw), Eleanor Sutton (Frances Earnshaw/Young Cathy), and Liam Tamne (Heathcliff), with music performed by Sid Goldsmith, Pat Moran and Jeevan Singh.
Joining the cast from Berkeley Rep onwards are Georgia Bruce (Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff), Leah Brotherhead (Catherine), Ricardo Castro (Jonathan) and Katy Ellis (Zillah), with Jordan Laviniere taking on the role of The Yorkshire Moor.
★★★★★
““a wildly imaginative, exhilarating piece of theatre” Daily Mail
The Yorkshire moors tell an epic story of love, revenge and redemption.
Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights. He finds a kindred spirit in Catherine Earnshaw and a fierce love ignites. When forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.
Shot through with music, dance, passion and hope, Emma Rice transforms Emily Brontë’s masterpiece into a powerful and uniquely theatrical experience. Lucy McCormick leads the company of performers and musicians in this intoxicating revenge tragedy for our time.
“I am Heathcliff! Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
With set and costume design by Vicki Mortimer; sound and video by Simon Baker; composition by Ian Ross; lighting design by Jai Morjaria; movement and choreography by Etta Murfitt.
Sam Archer returns to the company to play Lockwood/Edgar Linton – he previously appeared in Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour).His other theatre credits include An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre/Oscar Wilde Season), Wonderland (National Theatre/Châtelet Theatre, Paris), La Bohème (Royal Albert Hall), We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre), and The Red Shoes, Lord of the Flies, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Edward Scissorhands (Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Company).
Nandi Bhebhe returns to the company to play The Yorkshire Moor – she recently appeared in Bagdad Cafe (The Old Vic). Her theatre credits include A Monster Calls (The Old Vic), Fela! (National Theatre/Al Hirschfeld Theatre), Season in the Congo (Young Vic), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, 946 The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (Shakespeare’s Globe), Boy Breaking Glass (Sadler’s Wells), The Tin Drum (Bristol Old Vic), Ubu! A Singalong Satire (Shoreditch Town Hall).
Georgia Bruce plays Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff. Their theatre credits include Fisherman’s Friends (UK tour) and Bruce: Just a Pretty Face (Edinburgh Fringe). They are also a writer and their play Time, Like the Sea was shortlisted for the 2022 Papatango Prize.
Leah Brotherhead plays Catherine. Her theatre credits include Gulliver’s Travels (Unicorn Theatre), As You Like It (The Lamb Players), Lands, The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare’s Globe/Liverpool Everyman), Wolf Hall (The Winter Gardens/Aldwych Theatre/RSC), Another Place (Theatre Royal Plymouth), People Like Us (Pleasance Theatre), Dr Faustus (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Glasgow Citizens Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), DNA (UK tour), Product Placement (Nabokov Theatre Company), Victory Street and Eyes/Balls (Soho Theatre). Recent television credits include Whitstable Pearl, Hullraisers, Bridgerton, White Gold, Zomboat, Drifters, and Vera.
Ricardo Castro plays Jonathan. His theatre credits include Fame – The Musical (Tyrone Jackson Theatre), The Prodigals and Luv Esther (Inspire Arts Trust).
Katy Ellis returns to the company as a swing and plays Zillah – she previously appeared in Malory Towers. Other theatre credits include The Scarecrows Wedding (Leicester Square Theatre/UK tour) and Metamorphosis (Tristan Bates Theatre).
Steph Elstob is an understudy. Her theatre credits include Edward Scissorhands (Sadler’s Wells), La Boheme (Royal Albert Hall) and Amadeus (Chichester Festival Theatre). Her television credits include Mr Selfridge, The Hour and for film; Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Huntsman and Anna Karenina.
Lloyd Gorman plays Mr Earnshaw/Robert. His theatre credits include Whistle Down The Wind (Watermill Theatre), Arthur/Merlin (Irish Theatre), Once (UK tour), One Man, Two Guvnors (New Wolsey/Nuffield Theatre), The Hired Man (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and UK tour), The Snow Queen (Liverpool Everyman), The Jungle Book (UK tour) and Worst Wedding Ever (Salisbury Playhouse).
TJ Holmes plays Dr Kenneth. His theatre credits include One Man, Two Guvnors (UK tour), The Hired Man, Love, Lies and Lust (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), Mother Courage (Leeds Playhouse), Two Gentleman of Verona (Shakespeare’s Globe/Liverpool Everyman), La Strada (The Other Palace), Hansel and Gretel (Kneehigh), The BFG, I Was A Rat (Birmingham Rep), The Jungle Book, The Threepenny Opera (UK tour), Spend Spend Spend!, Some Like It Hotter (The Watermill Theatre), As You Like It (Curve), Cider with Rosie, Merchant of Venice (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds) and What To Do When You Find A Dinosaur (Oxford Playhouse).
Jordan Laviniere plays Zillah, and then The Yorkshire Moor. His theatre credits include All That (King’s Head Theatre), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo Theatre), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith), The Life (The English Theatre, Frankfurt) and We Will Rock You (European tour).
Lucy McCormick plays Catherine. Her previous theatre credits include Life: LIVE! (Battersea Arts Centre), Triple Threat and Post Popular (Edinburgh Fringe Festival/Soho Theatre/UK and international tours), Roller Diner, First Love is the Revolution (Soho Theatre), Dear Elizabeth, Effigies of Wickedness (Gate Theatre), Collective Rage (Southwark Playhouse), Cinderella (Oxford Playhouse), The Naked Truth (UK tour), Splat! (Barbican), and The House of Bernada Alba (Tristan Bates Theatre). Her television credits include This Time with Alan Partridge; and for film, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, and Uncle David 2.
Katy Owen returns to the company to play Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff – she previously appeared in Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour). Her other theatre credits include UBU Karaoke!, Rebecca (Kneehigh), The Little Matchgirl and Other Happier Tales (Bristol Old Vic/Shakespeare’s Globe/UK tour), Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tipps (Kneehigh/Shakespeare’s Globe/UK tour), The World of Work, The Night Before Christmas (Chapter Arts Centre), Apparitions of Spirits with the Forsythe Sisters (Gaggle Babble), Maudie’s Rooms, Plum – and Me, Will!, Cinders (Sherman Theatre), Ill Met by Moonlight (Wales Millennium Centre), The Tempest (Theatr Iolo) and The Moon Dragon & The Wounded Angel (Theatr Gwent). Her television credits include The Story of Tracy Beaker.
Tama Phethean plays Hindley Earnshaw/Hareton Earnshaw. His theatre credits include The Great Christmas Feast (The Lost Estate), Man Muck (Etcetera Theatre) and Night of the Living Dead Live (Pleasance Theatre).
Eleanor Sutton plays Frances Earnshaw/Young Cathy. Her theatre credits include Jane Eyre (Stephen Joseph Theatre/New Vic), Hungry (Soho Theatre), Black Love, Really Big and Really Loud (UK tour), The Wizard of Oz (Leeds Playhouse), The Crucible, A Little Night Music (Storyhouse Chester), Amadeus (National Theatre), Windows (Finborough Theatre), As You Like It (UK tour), The Master Builder and Future Conditional (The Old Vic).
Liam Tamne plays Heathcliff. His theatre work includes The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre – Grammy nomination for Original Cast Recording), Bonnie and Clyde (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Light in the Piazza (Royal Festival Hall/LA Opera), Spamilton (Menier Chocolate Factory), Mack and Mabel (concert – Hackney Empire), Working (Southwark Playhouse), The Rocky Horror Show (UK tour), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Les Miserables (Queen’s Theatre), Departure Lounge — the Musical (Perfect Pitch), HAIR (Gielgud Theatre), Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre) and Wicked (Apollo Victoria Theatre). For television, his work includes Doctors.
Emma Rice is the proud and excited Artistic Director of her company, Wise Children. She adapted and directed the company’s Bagdad Cafe (The Old Vic) Angela Carter’s Wise Children (The Old Vic/UK tour) and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers (Bristol Passenger Shed/UK tour). For the ENO she directed Orpheus in the Underworld. As Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (2016/18), she directed Romantics Anonymous, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). For the previous 20 years, she worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director. Her productions for Kneehigh include The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Tristan & Yseult, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages), and Steptoe and Son. Other work includes the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey), The Empress (RSC), and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre). In 2019 Rice received the UK Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
LISTINGS
St Ann’s Warehouse, New York
14 October – 6 November 2022
Berkeley Rep, California
18 November 2022 – 2 January 2023
Wallis Annenberg Center, California
11 January – 22 January 2023
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
25 January – 28 February 2023
ABOUT WISE CHILDREN
Created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in Bristol, we make ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tour across the world. In the dark days of 2020, we led the field in livestreaming, becoming the first UK company to broadcast a full staged production, without social distancing, from a UK theatre after lockdown. Alongside our shows, we run a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners.
Blog: www.wisechildren.blog
Twitter: @Wise_Children
Instagram: @Wise_Children
Facebook: @WiseChildrenCompany
