The cast in rehearsals for Hir. Photo: Ellie Kurttz
Isaac (Arthur Darvill) gets home from serving in the marines to find war has broken out back home. In a nondescript town somewhere in Central Valley – America, Isaac’s mom Paige (Ashley McGuire) is blowing up entrenched routines.
Fed up with domestic patriarchy, Paige has stopped washing, cleaning and caring for their ailing father, who recently suffered a stroke. She reigns supreme.
Ally to their mother’s new regime is Isaac’s sibling Max (Griffyn Gilligan). Only last time Isaac checked, Max was Maxine. Once the breadwinner, Isaac’s dad (Andy Williams) has toppled from the head of the household to the bottom of the pile – a make-upped puppet emasculated by Paige once and for all.
In a cheap house made of plywood and glue, notions of masculinity and femininity become weapons with which to defeat the old order. But in Taylor Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it.
The New York hit from dynamic playwright and performance artist Taylor Mac (24-Decade History of Popular Music) arrives at the Bush Theatre for its European premiere.
Ben Stones is a stage designer who trained at Central St Martins. His work in theatre includes Breaking The Code (Royal Exchange), Still Game (2014 and 2017 tours), The Suicide (National Theatre), Good with People (Traverse Theatre and 59E59 New York), Creditors (Donmar and BAM, New York), The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre), Belong (Royal Court Upstairs), Arabian Nights (Tricycle Theatre), No Idea (Young Vic), Fool For Love, The Dazzle, Bug (Found111), An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible), Way Upstream (Chichester Festival Theatre), Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre), Paradise Lost (Headlong), The Mighty Boosh (tour), Speaking in Tongues (Duke of York’s), Crocodile (Riverside Studios, Sky Arts), The Lady in the Van (tour), Doctor Faustus, Edward II, A Taste of Honey and Salt (Royal Exchange), My Generation (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Burberry: London in Shanghai (Shanghai) and Hobson’s Choice and Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). For Dance; Kes – Ballet premiere (Sheffield Crucible), Into the Hoods: Remixed, Some Like it Hip Hop (Sadlers Wells), The Mad Hatters Tea Party (ROH). Upcoming shows include Julius Caesar (Sheffield Crucible), The Bear and The Proposal (Young Vic).
Elena Peña designed the sound for Hir by Taylor Mac and Islands by Caroline Horton at the Bush Theatre. Other theatre credits include: The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic, Royal & Derngate); Pixel Dust and Wonder (Edinburgh Festival); The Bear/The Proposal, Flashes (Young Vic); The Lounge (Soho Theatre – Offie Nomination For Best Sound Design); Boat (Company Three, Battersea Arts Centre); Years Of Sunlight (Theatre 503); Sleepless (Shoreditch Town Hall, Staatstheater Mainz); I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre); Patrias (Sadlers Wells Theatre, Eif); Thebes Land, Brimstone And Treacle (Arcola Theatre); The Christians (Gate Theatre, Traverse Theatre); Brainstorm (ICT, National Theatre); The Kilburn Passion, Arabian Nights (Tricycle Theatre); Not Now Bernard (Unicorn Theatre); Pim & Theo (Nie With Odsherred Teater, Denmark, Unicorn Theatre); Mass Observation (Almeida Theatre); Village Social (National Theatre Wales); Quimeras (Sadlers Wells, Eif); The 13 Midnight Challenges Of Angelus Diablo (RSC); Gambling (Soho Theatre); My Name Is Sue (Soho Theatre, Bristol Old Vic); Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate).
Sound installation includes: Have Your Circumstances Changed? and Yes These Eyes Are The Windows (Artangel). Television/Online includes: Brainstorm Live at Television Centre (BBC4 and iPlayer); The Astro Science Challenge (Online Television Episodes, Unlimited Theatre). Radio includes: The Meet Cute (Recordist /Sd/Editor/Musician, BBC R4) Twelve Years (Recordist / SD / Editor, BBC R4).
Nadia Fall trained at Goldsmiths College (MA Directing) and on the NT Studio’s Directors programme. Previous work at the Bush Theatre includes Disgraced. Directing credits include The Suicide, Our Country’s Good, Dara, Chewing Gum Dreams, Home, Hymn, The Doctor’s Dilemma (all National Theatre), Way Upstream (Chichester Festival Theatre), Hobson’s Choice (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), How Was it for You? (Unicorn Theatre), Sticks & Stones (Polka Theatre), The Maids (Lyric Hammersmith), Miss Julie (Croydon Warehouse Theatre), Wild Turkey (Site Specific).
She has directed at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Unicorn Theatre and led participation initiatives with partners such as the Young Vic, Clean Break, Soho Theatre and the Royal Court. She is also an acting coach, supporting professional actors for film and stage.
Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown are the fight directors for Hir.
Taylor Mac (who uses “judy”, lowercase sic, not as a name but as a gender pronoun) is a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, performance artist, director and producer. Judy’s work has been performed at New York City’s Lincoln Center, The Public Theatre and Playwrights Horizons, Los Angeles’s Royce Hall, Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, Boston’s American Repertory Theatre, Stockholm’s Sodra Theatern, the Spoleto Festival, San Francisco’s Curran Theater and MOMA, amongst others.
Judy is the author of seventeen full-length plays and performance pieces including A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Hir (placed on the top ten theater of 2015 lists of The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Out NY; published by North Western University Press and in American Theater Magazine), The Lily’s Revenge, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Young Ladies Of, Red Tide Blooming, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, and in collaboration with Mandy Patinkin, Susan Stroman and Paul Ford, and Mac created The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville.
Ashley plays Paige. She has previously worked with director Nadia Fall on several productions including The Suicide, Our Country's Good and Home (National Theatre). Further National Theatre credits include Light Shining in Buckinghamshire and An Oak Tree. Elsewhere, stage work includes the role of Falstaff in Henry IV (Donmar Warehouse), Shopping and F***ing (Lyric Hammersmith), Re-Charged - Fatal Light (Clean Break/ Soho Theatre) and Housekeeping (Theatre Uncut). For television, she has appeared in This Country, Decline and Fall, In the Club, The IT Crowd Special: The Internet is Coming, The Job Lot, Derek, Miranda and has played recurring roles in Man Down (Series 1-4), Dead Boss and Coronation Street. Film credits include David Brent: Life on the Road and Bridget Jones' Baby.
Griffyn plays Max. His theatre credits include Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse), directed by Dominic Cooke. He is a founding member of the ensemble Ponyboy Curtis (The Yard, New Diorama, Camden People’s Theatre). He has worked on various workshops and developments, including BULLISH (Milk Presents/Lyric Hammersmith/Camden People’s Theatre), Antigonna (Young Vic), Weaklings (Chris Goode & Company/Warwick Arts Centre), Jubilee (The Royal Exchange/Chris Goode & Company) and Galatea (Before Shakespeare). Griffyn trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
