Meet the Cast – Jonathon George

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
Jonathon George, Yorkshire.

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
George Tesman.

3. What’s your favourite play?
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. But that can shift pretty frequently.

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
Iago in Othello (when I’m the right age); because he’s the bad guy you hate to love.

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
How the characters will interact when the play shifts up a gear.

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
Off stage: seeing Billy Elliot back in the 90s. On stage: playing an anonymous cloaked figure in Man of La Mancha.

7. Who is your inspiration?
In life? My fiancé (I know, sappy. Get over it). Theatrically: Bryan Cranston.

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
Pretending to be far more interesting people than myself.

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
Dear Evan Hanson. The cast are incredible.

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
With fire. I think Hedda has the right idea.

 

Meet the Cast – Bony Fonseca

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
My name is Bony Fonseca and I’m from Ivory Coast, Cape Verde and Portugal.

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
Eilert Loveborg

3. What’s your favourite play?
Blue orange

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
Richard III , would love to play a charming villain , who falls from power

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
I’m excited to see how far we push the boundaries of Ibsen

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
Sucker punch at the royal court when I was 13

7. Who is your inspiration?
My mum

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
The Freedom to do anything

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
A week ago to see Death of England

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
Shred it and spread it across London

Meet the Cast – Edward Crook

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
My name’s Edd, and I’m originally from Nottingham.

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
Judge Brack.

3. What’s your favourite play?
My favourite play that I’ve read is ‘Our Boys’ by Jonathan Lewis, but my favourite play I saw was ‘1984’ by Duncan Macmillan and Robert Icke. It’s the play that made me think ‘I want to be an actor’.

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
Probably Hamlet. It’s such an incredible role and would be a huge challenge for a number of reasons, but it’s always really appealed to me. I think the play is timeless, and it touches on some really important issues.

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
It’s such a brilliant play, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this version works in a modern setting.

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
I think it’s when I saw Fireman Sam in Panto when I was a kid, but the first play I was in was Bugsy Malone at school. I had the tiniest role, but that’s where my love for theatre started.

7. Who is your inspiration?
River Phoenix inspired me to become an actor when I was younger, but I recently saw Ian McKellen on stage at the Nottingham Playhouse. He was so captivating and looked like he was having the best time. I think if I can have even a fraction of the longevity and variety that his career has done I’d consider myself very lucky.

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
It’s so much fun! There’s a lot of rejection and hardship, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I love the rehearsal process and working on the piece with the company, and I’ve always craved the adrenaline rush of the live shows.

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
I saw ‘An Enemy Of The People’, directed by Adam Penford (and also written by Ibsen!)

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
Feed it to my dog. He eats anything and knows how to keep a secret.

Meet the Cast – Bethan Maddocks

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
Bethan, from Cardiff.

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
Thea.

3. What’s your favourite play?
Table by Tanya Ronda.

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
King Lear – Aside from the excitement of being able to explore such a complex emotional journey, I would love to see how the character’s behaviour and choices throughout the play leading up to his penultimate breakdown would feel as a female actor, and how an audience would receive it in this way.

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
A way to turn the predictable qualities of each character on its head and portray them in a way we haven’t seen before; finding a whole new way to explore the piece without losing the traditional essence of the play.

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
Cats in London when I was 3 (I was ill, took all my clothes off and invited everyone to my birthday party) but I still remember the magic of the cats coming up to me and thinking, ‘I want to have an affect on people like that one day!’.

7. Who is your inspiration?
Viola Davis for her fearlessness in her performances and Maggie Smith…because she is simply hands down wonderful in every way.

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
Never knowing where I’ll be or what to expect from each day. I’m very lucky!

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
RSC’s Kunene and The King – awe inspiring.

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
Burn it on the barbecue, using his hair gel as fuel lighter.

 

Meet the Cast – Tracy Coogan

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
Hello, I’m Tracy Coogan and I’m from County Meath, Ireland

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
I play Julia Tesman

3. What’s your favourite play?
I have so many favourites both old and new. Medea, Macbeth, Anna Christie, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing.

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
It would have to be Medea. I think it is probably one of the most challenging roles for an actress to ever play. The idea of taking on that thrills me beyond words.

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
Ohhhh, I can’t wait to get into the underbelly of this play and Ibsen. What cages we put ourselves in? The same cages exist today? Society? Why?

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
Juno and the Paycock, Séan O’Casey

7. Who is your inspiration?
Tristan and Lucian, my children. Gena Rowlands, Cate Blanchett, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Michael Haneke and many more.

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
Playing all the time. Losing myself in my work. Living all these incredible lives. Learning, constantly.

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
I just saw Nora: A Dolls House at the Young Vic and I saw the sublime Dame Margaret Smith in A German Life last year that I’m still thinking about, Amazing!

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
I would, over time remove pages from his manuscript so that it would never be complete. (That’s the first thought that came to mind, so mean)

Meet the Cast – Sophia McLean

1. What’s your name and where do you come from?
I’m Sophia McLean and I come from Grampian in the Scottish Highlands.

2. Who are you playing in Hedda Gabler?
Hedda Gabler

3. What’s your favourite play?
Tricky! Anything by Tena Štivičić or Chekhov.

4. If you could play any role in any play who would you play and why?
Mrs Hardcastle in ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ as she’s a total fruitcake and love her for it.

5. What are you most excited about discovering in this new production of Hedda Gabler?
The shifting power dynamics.

6. What was your first ever theatrical experience?
The Royal Lyceum’s ‘Beauty & The Beast’ in Edinburgh. I was 7 and the idea of going to Edinburgh was pretty exotic, then being met with such magic, I completely fell in-love with theatre.

7. Who is your inspiration?
My Grannie Vera; Middlesbrough Spot-Welder, not to be messed with. And Patti Smith.

8. What’s the best thing about being an actor?
Getting to jump inside other folk’s heads and end up researching the oddest/ most brilliant things.

9. What did you see the last time you went to the theatre?
David Greig’s adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s ‘Solaris’ at Lyric Hammersmith.

10. If you were going to destroy Lovborg’s manuscript how would you do it?
Dowse it in lamp oil and burn it in a fire-pit. Dig the ashes into the flowers, and then something good’s come of it!