The Bush Theatre has today announced casting for the UK premiere of Hir, with Doctor Who and Broadchurch star Arthur Darvill leading the show.
Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Taylor Mac (24-Decade History Of Popular Music) and directed by Nadia Fall (Disgraced), Arthur will play Isaac, with Griffyn Gilligan (Teddy Ferrara) playing younger sibling Max, Ashley McGuire (Shopping and F***ing, The Suicide) as their mom Paige and Andy Williams (The 39 Steps) as her husband Arnold.
Hir sees Isaac get home from serving in the marines to find war has broken out back home. Fed up with her broken American Dream, mom Paige has stopped washing, cleaning and caring for their ailing father. Once the breadwinner, dad Arnold has suffered a stroke and toppled from the head of the household to a mere puppet in the new regime. Ally to their mother is Isaac’s sibling Max. Only last time Isaac checked, Max was Maxine.
In Central Valley, 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.
After winning acclaim in New York, this play from one of America’s most dynamic and distinctive voices comes to London in a new production. Pulitzer Prize finalist Taylor won rave reviews for the extraordinary 24 hour durational concert, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, which reframed and re-enacted 240 years of US history. In Hir, Mac tears apart the kitchen sink genre by challenging gender expectations and subverting all notions of the typical American family.
Hir is written by Taylor Mac, directed by Nadia Fall and designed by Ben Stones. Lighting design is by Eliott Griggs with sound design by Elena Peña. Fight direction is by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Ltd.
Hir plays at the Bush Theatre from 15 June – 22 July; you can book your tickets through the venue’s website.