Actress Jessie Wallace leads a cast packed with television faces for the world premiere of new thriller Haunted, which opens at the Arts theatre in May. Wallace is joined in the new play by fellow former EastEnder Gary McDonald, Monarch Of The Glen’s Hamish Clark, Doc Martin’s Caroline Catz and Sue Devaney, who spent three years in Casualty.
Haunted, the first play from the team of Jon Claydon and Tim Lawler, is set at a dinner party in a swanky Southwark loft apartment. There are five guests, but as the evening unfolds a sixth character becomes apparent, the house itself. Is it haunted, and is the lift in the living room a portal to evil spirits?
Wallace is best known for her five years playing chirpy cockney Kat Slater in long-running soap opera EastEnders. In recent months she has switched her allegiance from the east of London to the West End, making her Theatreland musical debut in Rent last Christmas.
Clark is best known for his six seasons playing Duncan in BBC Sunday night drama Monarch Of The Glen. No stranger to London theatre, he has also appeared in Phallacy (New End), The Agent (Old Red Lion) and the hugely successful revival of Donkeys’ Years (Comedy).
Catz is also a television drama regular, having played school teacher Louisa Glasson in three series of ITV’s Doc Martin. Other television credits include four series of The Vice. Among her theatre credits is the world premiere of Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping And F**king, in which she played Lulu.
Devaney played paramedic Liz Harker for three years in the BBC medical drama Casualty, and more recently starred as Jane in Dinner Ladies. On the London stage she has appeared in Land Of The Living (Royal Court Upstairs) and The Wind In The Willows (National Theatre).
McDonald has a host of television series to his name, including EastEnders, The Dream Team, Brothers And Sisters and What You Looking At. His last London stage outing came in the National Theatre’s production of Market Boy in 2006.
The production is directed by Paul Jepson, whose previous credits include Bright (Soho), The Provoked Wife (Southwark Playhouse) and Telstar (Ambassadors).
Haunted runs at the Arts theatre from 21 May to June 14 (press night 23 May).
MA