A brand new version by Daniel Raggett of Jean Cocteau’s classic text La Voix Humaine, opens Ellen McDougall’s second season at the Gate Theatre, 34 years since it was first produced at the venue. The Human Voice, directed by Daniel Raggett and starring Leanne Best opens on 13 September (press night 18 September) and runs until 6 October.
‘I’m whispering in your ear – and we couldn’t be further apart.’
A woman, a phone call, a final conversation
In this extraordinary and prophetic monologue, a woman fights for the person she loves. Jean Cocteau’s iconic play explores our desperate need for human relationships – and the machine that changed them forever.
Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a French poet, librettist, novelist, actor, film director and painter. Some of his most important works include the poem L’Ange Heurtebise, the play Orphée, the novels Les Enfants Terribles and La Machine Infernale and his surrealistic motion pictures Le Sang d’un Poéte and La Belle et la Bête.
Leanne Best takes the role of the woman. Her television credits include: Carnival Row (Amazon Studios); Tin Star (Sky Atlantic); Cold Feet (Big Talk/ITV); Babs (BBC); Good Karma Hospital (ITV); Black Mirror (Channel 4); Home Fires (ITV); Undercover (BBC); HG Wells – The Purple Pileus (Sky Arts); Line of Duty 3 (BBC); From Darkness (BBC); The Outcast (BBC); Ripper Street (BBC); Fortitude (Sky Atlantic); New Tricks (BBC); The Driver (BBC); Shetland (BBC); Lucan (ITV); Worricker: Salting the Battlefield (BBC); Stepping Up (BBC); Good Cop (BBC); Moving On (BBC); Mobile (Granada/ITV); New Street Law (Red Productions); Heatwave (BBC); Wire in the Blood (Coastal Productions); Casualty (BBC). Film credits include: Little Joe (COOP99 Filmproduktion); Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Eon Productions); The Infiltrator (Good Films Ltd); Native (Film First Productions); Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Lucasfilm); The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (Exclusive Media); The Be All and End All (Whatever Films); Casbah – A Documentary (Best Wishes Prods).
Leanne’s theatre credits include: Educating Rita (Liverpool Everyman); The Matchbox (Tricycle Theatre, Liverpool Everyman); Backbeat (Theatre LA); Damned by Despair (National Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Liverpool Playhouse); My Zinc Bed (Royal Theatre Northampton); The Hypochondriac (Liverpool Everyman); Horse Marines (Plymouth Drum); Drowning on Dry Land (Salisbury Playhouse); Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello Theatre); The May Queen (Liverpool Playhouse); Our Country’s Good (Liverpool Playhouse); Fleet Street Nativity (Liverpool Everyman); The Way Home (Liverpool Everyman); Unprotected (Liverpool Everyman); The Morris (Liverpool Everyman); Macbeth (Liverpool Everyman); Popcorn (Liverpool Playhouse).
Short film credits include: Cotton Wool (Quinn Productions).
Leanne was nominated for the TMA Award for Best Performance for The Matchbox at Liverpool Everyman.
Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, Ellen McDougall said; ‘Leanne Best is an incredible actress and I am so thrilled to welcome her to the Gate for the first time, to open my second season in ‘The Human Voice’. This is an iconic role and I can't wait to see her get under the skin of it in Daniel Raggett's production.’
Director Daniel Raggett’s work in theatre includes, as a Director A Marked Man for HighTide, Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic, The Seagull at Bloomsbury Theatre and Mr Kolpert at the Edinburgh Fringe. As an associate director his work includes Network and The Red Barn at the National Theatre, Hamlet at the Almeida and in the West End, 1984 on UK tour, international tour, at the Almeida, in the West End and on Broadway, Mary Stuart, Iliad and Odyssey at the Almeida and Bad Jews in the West End.
Designer Sarah Beaton studied at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, graduating in 2011 with First Class Honours. Later that year she was awarded the Linbury Prize for Stage Design. From 2015 – 2016, she was the Designer on Attachment at The Old Vic Theatre. Her work has been exhibited at the National Theatre, World Stage Design (Cardiff), the Victoria and Albert Museum and World Stage Design 2017 (Taiwan). Sarah has designed for venues in the UK and internationally including Sadler’s Wells, Manchester Royal Exchange, Trafalgar Studios, Hampstead Theatre, The Oxford Playhouse, The Lowry, Altes Schauspeilhaus (Germany), Theatre Rigiblick (Switzerland), Freedom Theatre (Palestine) and Lit Live Festival (India). She is an Associate Artist of Engineer Theatre Collective and a visiting lecturer at the RCSSD.
Lighting Designer Jessica Hung Han Yun is a UK-based lighting designer, using light as a tool to transform spaces in a variety of productions, from theatre through to dance, circus and installation. Most recently Jessica has designed for productions such as Hive City Legacy by Hot Brown Honey and Roundhouse, The Party’s Over by Nonsuch Theatre Company, Gypsy Disco at Boomtown Festival, Becoming Shades by Chivaree Circus and Nine Foot Nine by Sleepless Theatre Company for which she was nominated for the Off West End Award for ‘Best Lighting Designer 2018’.
Sound Designer Mike Winship trained at Goldsmiths College, London and was a member of the National Theatre’s Sound & Video department for over a decade. His sound designs include:
The Winter’s Tale; Another World - Losing Our Children to Islamic State; Macbeth; Comedy of Errors; Romeo and Juliet; The Holy Rosenbergs; Three More Sleepless Nights; Lolita;Berlin; A Slight Ache; Landscape; De Profundis; Intolerance; Crime and Punishment (National Theatre), Shadows (Eurydice Speaks) (Schaubuhne, Berlin), The Jumper Factory(Young Vic Taking Part @ HMP Wandsworth), Zoo (Assembly Studios, Edinburgh), Julius Caesar, Buster’s (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts @ Bernie Grant Art Centre); The Shadow of a Gunman; John Bull's Other Island (Tricycle); The God Botherers; Christmas (Bush); Americans (Arcola); The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Southwark Playhouse/Manchester Royal Exchange); A Thought in Three Parts (BAC); The York Realist; Love Upon the Throne (West End). As Associate Sound Designer Mike has worked on Macbeth; Hedda Gabler (NT UK & Ireland Tours), The Hairy Ape (Old Vic production @ Park Avenue Armory, New York), The Elephantom; The Hush; This House; Pains of Youth; Spring Storm; Beyond the Horizon; Mrs Afflek; Chatroom/Citizenship; Attempts on Her Life; A Minute Too Late; Waves (National Theatre), Hamlet (Harold Pinter Theatre); Once In A Lifetime (Young Vic), Die Wellen (Schauspiel, Cologne)
Other sound work includes: Binaural sound recordist for Opera North’s Aeons sound walk, as part of the Great Exhibition of the North; Assistant sound designer on Land Rover’s binaural Discovery Adventures podcast; Sound design for artist Kathleen Herbert’s AV installation Everything Is Fleeing To Its Presence, to be exhibited at New York Public Library.
The Human Voice is produced with thanks to the Comité Jean Cocteau.
13 September – 6 October at 7.30pm
Wednesday matinees at 3pm on 26 September and 3 October
Saturday matinees at 3pm on 22 & 29 September and 6 October
Young People’s Night - £7.50 for Under 26s on 28 September
Captioned performance on 4 October
Tickets Previews £14
Under 26 Previews £12
Full Price £24
Under 26 £12
Matinees £18
Under 26 matinees £12
Young People’s Night £7.50
Phone 020 7229 0706
Online gatetheatre.co.uk
@gatetheatre
