The Hairy Ape

Eugene O’Neill’s timeless story of class and identity.

Starring Olivier Award winner Bertie Carvel, directed by legendary and multi-award-winning director Richard Jones.

A classic expressionist masterpiece by Nobel prize-winner Eugene O’Neill, The Hairy Ape tells the story of Yank, played by Bertie Carvel, a labourer who revels in his status as the strongest stoker on a transatlantic ocean liner. But when Yank is called a filthy beast by the overbred daughter of a steel merchant, he experiences an awakening of consciousness that leads him on a journey through the wealthy neighbourhoods and disenfranchised underbelly of New York society. Searching for a way to belong, Yank is forced to confront primal questions about his true place in the world.

Directed by the acclaimed, multi-award-winning director Richard Jones. Credits include Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House), Public Enemy, The Government Inspector, Annie Get Your Gun (Young Vic), A Midsummer Nights Dream (RSC), Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre) and Into the Woods (West End).

Bertie Carvel recently starred in BBC One’s Doctor Foster. Other TV credits include Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Theatre credits include Miss Trunchbull in Matilda The Musical (RSC, West End, Broadway) for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award, a Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Tony Award. Other theatre credits include Revelations (Hampstead Theatre), The Life of Galileo, The Man of Mode (National Theatre) and Parade (Donmar Warehouse).

The Hairy Ape is an iconic piece of American drama brought to stage by a visionary of British theatre.