Cast announced for Filthy Business

Hampstead Theatre presents the world premiere of Ryan Craig’s fiery family drama Filthy Business. Directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall, this new production takes a closer look at the entrepreneurial outsiders who became part of the beating heart of modern Britain. Critically acclaimed actor Sara Kestelman takes on the lead role of matriarch Yetta Solomon in this epic new work. The cast also includes Vanessa Babirye, Jack Bannon, Stephen Critchlow, Callie Cooke, Edmund Derrington, Elizabeth Hill, Louis Hilyer, Dorian Lough, Tunji Lucas, Mairead McKinley, Keenan Munn-Francis and Callum Woodhouse.

1968, East London. Over the years and against all the odds, Yetta Solomon has built a thriving business from nothing through sheer grit and passion. Ignoring all the obstacles - insufficient capital, economic downturns, aggressive competition - she has found a way to survive everything adversity could throw at her.

Now she faces her toughest challenge: her family. In a rapidly changing Britain, Yetta must protect the shop and keep it in the Solomon family. But her sons, grandchildren and in-laws have other ideas…  Always ruthless, how far will she go to keep the business in the family and the family in the business?

Ryan Craig was Writer-in-Residence at the Royal National Theatre Studio from January 2012 to March 2013. His plays for the National include The Holy Rosenbergs, a version of Tadeusz Siobojanek’s Our Class and We Lost Elijah for NT Connections. Other plays include How to Think The Unthinkable (Unicorn Theatre), Talk Talk Fight Fight (Tricycle Theatre), The Glass Room (Hampstead Theatre), Broken Road (BAC/Edinburgh Fringe – winner of a Fringe First), Happy Savages (Lyric Studio) and What We Did To Weinstein (Menier Chocolate Factory) for which he was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright award. Television includes Musketeers, Robin Hood, Waterloo Road and Hustle all for BBC1 and Saddam’s Tribe for Channel 4. In 2005 he was Writer-in-Residence at BBC Radio Drama and his radio plays include Blood Sports, Resolutions, English in Afghanistan, The Lysistrata Project, Hold My Breath, Portugal, The Great Pursuit, and Looking For Danny. Other works currently in development include Games for Lovers, Hepburn – Tracy,The Ghost Map and the screenplay Father of a Million Babies. 

Hampstead Theatre’s Artistic Director Edward Hall’s productions include Rabbit Hole, Firebird, Wonderland, Sunny Afternoon, Raving, Chariots of Fire, No Naughty Bits, Loyalty, and Enlightenment. As Artistic Director of Propeller, his work has toured worldwide, played in both the West End and Broadway, and has won numerous awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre), Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre), Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery), The Constant Wife (Apollo), Julius Caesar (RSC), Henry V (RSC), and The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville). Television work includes The Durrells, Partners in Crime, Restless, Downton Abbey, Strike Back, Spooks and Kingdom.

Sara Kestelman plays Yetta. Her theatre credits include The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures (Hampstead Theatre), Cabaret (Donmar), Girls (UK Tour), 4000 Miles (Bath Theatre Royal), Torchsong Trilogy (Menier Chocolate Factory), Making Noise Quietly, Nine, Hamlet, Love for Love, As You Like It, The Double Dealer, The Threepenny Opera and The American Clock (National Theatre), Macbeth, Custom of the Country (RSC), King Lear (RSC/Barbican),  A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC/New York), Lettice & Lovage (Gielgud), Fiddler on the Roof (Palladium). Her television and film credits include Zardoz, Lisztomania, Lady Jane, Anna Karenina, The Last Spark of Sundown, Rome, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Last Romantics, and In the Flesh.

Vanessa Babirye plays Rosa. Theatre credits include Plaques & Tangles, Truth & Reconciliation (The Royal Court), Beautiful Thing (Tour), Romeo & Juliet (National Theatre). Television and film credits include Ackee and Saltfish, Babylon, Our Girl, Casualty, Random and Strawberry Fields.

Jack Bannon plays Gerard. Jack’s theatre credits include The Sweethearts (Finborough Theatre) and Foxfinder (Gothenburg English Studio Theatre). Film and television credits include The Loch, Ripper Street, Kids In Love, Endeavour, Fury, The Imitation Game, Clique, The Giblet Boys, Shadow Play and Kids In Love.

Callie Cooke plays Bernice. Callie’s credits include Firebird (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs and Trafalgar Studios). Her television credits include Britannia and Doctors, and she has an upcoming role in an adaptation of JK Rowling's The Strike Series.

Stephen Critchlow plays Vern/Harry. Stephen’s theatre credits include The 39 Steps (The Criterion Theatre), Loyalty (Hampstead Theatre), The Game Of Love And Chance (Sailsbury Playhouse), Twelfth Night, Soap, Time Of My Life (Theatre Royal Northampton), Round the Horne Revisited (The Venue) and Cyrano de Bergerac (National Theatre). His film and television credits include A Way Through The Woods, Churchill The Hollywood Years, Holby City, Red Dwarf 11, Downton Abbey, The Railway Murder, Miranda, Guerrilla, Coronation Street and Casualty.

Edmund Derrington plays Monty. Edmund’s theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Globe) and Sunny Afternoon (Harold Pinter Theatre and Hampstead Theatre). His film and television credits include Mr Turner, Siblings, Fresh Meat and Holby City.

Elizabeth Hill plays Carol. Her theatre credits include The Suicide (National Theatre), Sunny Afternoon (Harold Pinter Theatre), Sleeping Beauty (Young Vic at The Barbican and Broadway), Villette (Stephen Joseph Theatre/ Frantic Assembly) and Cheryomushki (Lyric Hammersmith). Her television and film credits include Emmerdale, EastEnders, Doctors, Coronation Street, Line of Duty, Downton Abbey, The Jack Whitehall Show, The Bill, Modern Life Is Rubbish, A Chorus of Disapproval and The Man You’re Not.

Louis Hilyer plays Nat. His theatre credits include Waste, Flight (National Theatre), Pitman Painters (Theatre Royal Windsor), Farewell To The Theatre (Hampstead Theatre), The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), Richard II (The Old Vic), Poor Beck, King Lear, Macbeth (RSC). Television and film credits include George Gently, Broken, Tina and Bobby, Undercover, Downton Abbey, The Bible, Wallander, Doctors, Dans La Lumiere, Troy, Modigiani and World of Tomorrow.

Dorian Lough plays Leo.His film and television credits Witness for the Prosecution, Brimstone, New Blood, The Tunnel, From the Cradle to the Grave, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Far from the Madding Crowd, Vera, Peaky Blinders, My Cousin Rachel, Notting Hill and Monster Trilogy. His recent theatre credits include Bloody Poetry (DOC), A View from the Bridge (Royal Exchange), The Round Table (Lyric Hammersmith), and Private Wars (Greenwich Theatre).

Tunji Lucas plays Walter. Tunji’s theatre credits include Crude Grid (Iron), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Damned by Despair, 24 Bishops, Greenland (National Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Dundee Rep), Fast Cuts and Snap Shots (WYP/Fuel TC/Transform Festival), The Burial (The Albany), Romeo and Juliet (Headlong). Film and television credits include Pan, The Bill, Taking The Flak, Coming Up: Raising Baby Rio, Harry and Paul and Bike Squad.

Mairead McKinley plays Eileen. Mairead’s theatre credits include Translations, Cyrano de Bergerac, Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other (National Theatre), Roberto Zucco, Shadows of the Glen, Riders to the Sea, Purgatory (RSC), Ten Rounds (Tricycle Theatre), Further than the Furthest Thing (Tricycle Theatre and tour) and The Terrible Voice of Satan (Royal Court Theatre). Her film and television credits include Molly’s Way, Sundays, Velvet Goldmine, Demons Never Die, Edge of Tomorrow, Unforgotten, Vera, My Mad Fat Diary, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Murder Prevention, Peak Practice, Father Ted, Resortto Murder and Life After Birth.

Keenan Mum-Francis plays Titus.

Callum Woodhouse plays Mickey. Callum’s theatre credits include Club44 (Soho Theatre) Let Them Eat Jam (Rosehill Theatre). Film and television credits include B&B, The Durrells (Series 1 & 2) and Cold Feet.