Leah Harvey Will Lead THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA at Stratford East

The production opens Thursday 22 September, with previews from 16 September, and runs until 15 October 2022.

By: Aug. 09, 2022
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Leah Harvey Will Lead THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA at Stratford East

Theatre Royal Stratford East today announces full cast for Anthony Neilson's poignant and comical delve into the nature of mental illness, The Wonderful World of Dissocia, directed by Emma Baggott. Leah Harvey, BAFTA nominated star of the Apple TV+ series Foundation and last seen on stage in The National Theatre's Small Island, will play Lisa.

Further casting includes Archie Backhouse (Goat), Leander Deeny (Victor), Michael Grady-Hall (Vince), Dominique Hamilton (Jane), Daniel Millar (Oathtaker), Phoebe Naughton (Britney) and Tomi Ogbaro (Insecurity Guard).

The production opens Thursday 22 September, with previews from 16 September, and runs until 15 October 2022.

In search of a lost hour that that has tipped the balance of her life, Lisa Jones is on a quest through a surreal world, filled with insecurity guards, flying cars, singing polar bears and wild-goose chases. The inhabitants of Dissocia are a curious blend of the funny, the friendly and the downright brutal. Anthony Neilson's cult play is a poignant and comical delve into the nature of mental illness.

As Neilson himself puts it, 'if you like Alice in Wonderland but there's not enough sex and violence in it, then Dissocia is the show for you'.

CAST

Archie Backhouse (he/him) plays Goat. Theatre includes: Telethon (UK Tour); Hunger (Arcola Theatre); The Listening Room (UK Tour); There is a Field (Theatre503); The Outsider (Print Room at the Coronet); The Gap in the Light (New Diorama Theatre); Romeo and Juliet and Blade Runner (Secret Cinema). Television includes: The Sandman; Save Me. Archie worked with theatre maker Christopher Green on their show No Show (The Yard) and recently worked with Complicité as an Associate Artist.

Leander Deeny (he/him) plays Victor. Theatre includes: The Tempest and Henry V (Shakespeare's Rose, York); Robin Hood (The Watermill Theatre); The Rover, Two Noble Kinsmen (Royal Shakespeare Company); Timmy Failure (Edinburgh Fringe); The Dying of Today (The Other Room, Cardiff); The Secret Agent (Young Vic / Traverse Theatre / UK Tour); The Misanthrope (Liverpool Playhouse / UK Tour); Dead Kid Songs (Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath); Bugsy Malone and Brief Encounter (Secret Cinema); The Man and The Representative (Finborough Theatre); Victory (Arcola Theatre); Dr Faustus (Watford Palace); How To Beat a Giant (Unicorn Theatre); The Merchant of Venice and Holding Fire! (Shakespeare's Globe); The Seduction of Almighty God (Riverside Studios / UK Tour). Television includes: Skins; Merlin; Endeavour; Doctors; Holby City. Film includes: Atonement; Captain America. He has written for several children's games published by Lawrence King, and his children's book Hazel's Phantasmagoria is published by Quercus.

Michael Grady-Hall (he/him) plays Vince. Theatre includes: House of Shades (Almeida Theatre); Venice Preserved, Imperium I&II, Oppenheimer, The Shoemakers Holiday, As You Like It, Hamlet, All's Well That Ends Well, Midsummer Night's Dream, The City Madam, and Cardenio (Royal Shakespeare Company); Othello (ETT Dubai); Julie (Northern Stage); Minotaur (Polka Theatre / Theatre Clwyd); Damned by Despair, Antigone, The White Guard, and Burnt by the Sun (National Theatre); Thyestes (Arcola Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Theatre of Memory, Middle Temple Hall); Later Showers and Play On Words (Three's Company / Edinburgh Fringe). Television includes: Jack Ryan; Casualty; Doctors; Doctor Thorne; Missing Something. Film includes: Clash of the Titans; Through the Larkin Glass; How Was Your Week?; Ruth; Silent Night; Venus and the Sun. Voice work includes: Three's Company's Adventure Department. Michael is co-founder of Three's Company and Smooth Faced Gentlemen.

Leah Harvey (they/them) plays Lisa. Theatre includes: Small Island (National Theatre); Emilia (Shakespeare's Globe); Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar at King's Cross). Television includes: Foundation (BAFTA nomination: Best Supporting Actress); Fighting with My Family. Film includes: Tuesday (upcoming); On the Road.

Dominique Hamilton (they/she) plays Jane. Film includes: Moon Moss. As Wigs, Hair and Makeup Artist, theatre includes: Oklahoma! (Young Vic); Wuthering Heights (National Theatre / Bristol Old Vic); Little Shop of Horrors (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre). As Wigs, Hair and Makeup Artist, film includes: Matilda (upcoming). Other credits include: Scare Actor (Tulleys Scream Park); Alice's Adventures Underground (Waterloo Vaults).

Daniel Millar (he/him) plays Oathtaker. Theatre includes: House of Shades (Almeida Theatre); Measure For Measure (Shakespeare's Globe); King Lear, Edward II, Frankenstein, The White Guard, A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Theatre); The Play That Goes Wrong (West End); The Winter's Tale (Royal Shakespeare Company); There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Royal Exchange Theatre); Against Captain's Orders, The Crash of the Elysium, The Black Diamond, The Night Chauffeur, The Drowned Man (Punchdrunk); Return to Elm House, Romeo and Juliet (Battersea Arts Centre); The Grift (Town Hall Hotel); Prom Kween (Underbelly Edinburgh); Goosebumps Alive (The Vaults); The Oresteia (HOME Manchester); Stink Foot (The Yard - Off West End Awards nomination: Best Actor); Accomplice (Menier Chocolate Factory); Intrigue/Love (Southwark Playhouse); Ker-Ching! (Frantic Assembly). Television includes: Casualty; London Kills; Britannia; Warren; Doctors; Trying Again; Beautiful Day; Psychoville; EastEnders; Grownups; Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps; Holby City. Film includes: Downton Abbey; The Current War.

Phoebe Naughton (she/her) plays Britney. Theatre includes: The Key Workers Cycle (Almeida Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Alexandra Palace); Scenes From The End Of The World (The Yard); Thank You For The Music (Southwark Playhouse). Television includes: The Third Day. Film includes: Hoard.

Tomi Ogbaro (he/him) plays Insecurity Guard). Theatre includes: Jane Eyre (New Vic, Newcastle / Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Book of Dust (Bridge Theatre); Seagulls (Octagon Theatre); An Act of Care (York Theatre Royal); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Sweet Charity (Watermill Theatre). Television includes: Temple; Endeavour. Film includes: See How They Run; Dao Hides, No Name.

CREATIVES

Anthony Neilson (Writer) is a ground-breaking playwright and director known for his collaborative way of writing and workshopping plays, characterised by their formal playfulness and often dark themes and humour. As Writer-Director, theatre includes: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Menu (National Theatre); The Séance (National Theatre Connections); The Prudes, Unreachable, Narrative, Get Santa!, Relocated, Penetrator (also Edinburgh Festival), The Lying Kind, The Censor (Royal Court), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Royal Court / Tron / Edinburgh Lyceum / Theatre Royal Plymouth / UK Tour); Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Realism (Edinburgh Lyceum); The Haunting of Hill House (Liverpool Playhouse); God in Ruins (Soho Theatre); Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Theatre Royal Plymouth / UK Tour); Stitching (Traverse Theatre / Bush Theatre). As Director, theatre includes: Marat/Sade (Royal Shakespeare Court); The Drunks (Courtyard Theatre); The Big Lie (Latitude Festival); The Death of Klinghoffer (Scottish Opera / Edinburgh International Festival).

Emma Baggott (Director) trained at Goldsmiths College and the Young Vic. She is an Associate Artist at Cardboard Citizens and National Youth Theatre, a mentor director for National Theatre Connections, and regular workshop facilitator for The National Theatre, Young Vic, RTYDS, Arts Ed, University of Kent, and Goldsmiths College. As Director, theatre includes: Face the Music: The Social Care Workers Play (Almeida Theatre); Neville's Island, Misfits, and Stiletto Beach (Queens Theatre Hornchurch); The Things We Leave Behind (Lyric Hammersmith); Dennis of Penge (Guildhall School of Music and Drama); Mr Burns, X, The Christians (LAMDA); She is Fierce (The Swirl, RSC); Leaving, How To Kill Your Mother, and Copper & Steel (The Bunker); Normal (Styx). As Associate and Assistant Director, theatre includes: As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company); This House (Headlong / National Theatre); The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Sound of Yellow, Victoria Station, One For The Road (Young Vic); McQueen (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Emma is a guest director at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, LAMDA, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Theatre Academy London. She taught and directed at the Brit School for six years.




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