Hampstead Theatre has today announced the full cast and creative team for the world premiere of Jack Bradfield’s debut play The Habits, directed by Ed Madden. It will play at Hampstead Downstairs from 28 February to 5 April with a press night scheduled for Monday 10 March.
Debra Baker (My Mother’s Funeral, Edinburgh Festival/Soho Playhouse) will play Bev and Jamie Bisping (Othello, Arts Theatre Cambridge) will play Milo. Sara Hazemi (Oedipus, Wyndham’s) plays Maryn, Ruby Stokes (Till The Stars Come Down, National Theatre) will play Jess and Paul Thornley (Dear England, National Theatre) plays Dennis.
Set in Bromley on a regular Thursday evening Jess, Maryn and Milo are at the board game café, continuing their quest to defeat the Nightmare King… It has been months, but now all that stands between them and victory is a few lucky rolls of a twenty-sided dice. A struggling student, an overworked trainee solicitor and a reluctant job-seeker, here they are transformed into Dungeon Master, Wizard and Warrior Princess. But what happens when the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur?
Funny, gripping and heartfelt, The Habits is the debut play from Jack Bradfield – Artistic Director of the multi-award-winning company Poltergeist, and recipient of the 2023 RTST Sir Peter Hall Directing Award.
Director Ed Madden says: “The Habits is a play about the reality of fantasy; a properly smart and playful debut from Jack Bradfield which moves with great grace and wit between a boardgame café in Bromley and the mystical realm of the Nightmare King. Where does one end and the other begin? We are lucky to have such a brilliant company of actors on board to help us find out, and to take audiences on this surprising, heartfelt and highly original journey.”
Ed Madden returns to Hampstead, following the 2023 sell-out success Octopolis. His previous work includes This Might Not Be It (Bush Theatre) and Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse). Joining Ed on the creative team is designer Alys Whitehead, lighting designer Laura Howard and sound designer Max Pappenheim.
