Cast announced for The Phlebotomist

Hampstead Downstairs presents the world premiere of Ella Road’s debut play The Phlebotomist. Directed by Sam Yates, this play is a powerfully provocative vision of the future, questioning the value we place on one another, whether knowledge really is power, and if it’s truly possible for love to conquer all.

Bea meets Aaron. He’s intelligent, handsome, makes her laugh and, most importantly, has a high rating on his genetic profile. What’s not to like?

Char is on the brink of landing her dream job and has big plans to start a family – but her blood rating threatens it all.

In a world where future happiness depends on a single, inescapable blood test – which dictates everything from credit rating to dating prospects – how far will people go to beat the system and let nature take its course?

Jade Anouka plays Bea. Her theatre credits include Cover My Tracks (Old Vic); Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar at King’s Cross); Doctor Faustus (West End); Julius Caesar; Henry IV and The Tempest (all Donmar/St. Ann's Warehouse, NY); So Here We Are (Royal Exchange/High Tide); Chef (Soho); The Vote (Donmar); Omeros (Sam Wanamaker); Clean (Traverse/59E59, NY); Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet (Shakespeare's Globe); Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (National Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Bolton Octagon); Wild Horses (Theatre503); Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare's Globe/US tour); Blood Wedding (Southwark Playhouse); Twelfth Night (York Theatre Royal); The Taming of the Shrew; The Merchant of Venice (RSC); The Penelopiad (RSC/NAC, Canada) and Handa's Surprise (Little Angel Theatre). Her film and television credits include Baby Gravy; The Dark Channel; A Summer Hamlet; A Running Jump; Trauma; Chewing Gum; Lucky Man; The Vote; Shakespeare Uncovered; Doctor Who; Secrets and Words and Law & Order: UK.

Vincent Ebrahim pays David. His theatre credits include Dara; Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre); Bad Roads;  The Djinns of Eidgah (Royal Court); The Empress (RSC); The Great Game (Tricycle/US tour); Occupational Hazards;Nathan the Wise (Hampstead Theatre); Credible Witness (Royal Court Upstairs); Ramayana (Birmingham Rep/National Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Tara Arts/Lyric); Tartuffe; Little Clay Cart; Fanshen (National Theatre) Real Dreams and The Danton Affair (RSC). His film and television credits include Allied; The Physician; Material; The Curse of the Were-rabbit. 40 North; Casualty; Hoff the Record; Hollyoaks; Doctors; The Old Guys; Compulsion; The Kumars at Number 42; New Street Law; After You've Gone; Meet the Magoons; The Lenny Henry Show; Holby City; Bedtime and Doctors.

Rory Fleck Byrne plays Aaron. His theatre credits include Anna Karenina (Abbey); King Charles III (Wyndham's); The Vortex (Gate, Dublin); That Face (Landor); The Lion in Winter (Haymarket); Disco Pigs (Young Vic); Cause Célèbre (Old Vic) and Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Everyman). His film and television credits include The Foreigner; Vita and Virginia; Night of the Lotus; Tiger Raid; Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters; The Quiet Ones; Inbox; Bodies; Untitled Blues; Death in Paradise; Harlots; To Walk Invisible; Jack Taylor; Midsomer Murders; Damo & Ivor and Grantchester.

Cherrelle Skeete plays Char. Her theatre credits include The Seagull; Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace); Three Days in the Country; TheAmen Corner (National Theatre); The Wind in the Willows (Royal & Derngate Theatre); The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices (Old Vic) I and Silence (Finborough) and The Lion King (Disney Theatrical Productions). Her television credits include Silent Witness; Doctors; Danny and the Human Zoo; The Five; Ordinary Lies and Call the Midwife. 

Ella Road trained as an actor at The Oxford School of Drama after her English degree at Somerville College, Oxford. The Phlebotomist is the first play she’s written. She is currently under commission from Theatre Royal Plymouth and is developing her play Roosting following an R&D scheme at The Park Theatre. She is also developing work for screen. Her film credits as a creative include The Wyrd and Mo Ji (in development). She is co-founder of the new writing company ‘Flux Theatre’ and is a Soho Theatre Young Writer.

Sam Yates theatre credits include Glengarry Glen Ross (Playhouse, West End); Desire Under the Elms (Sheffield Crucible); Murder Ballad (Arts - nominated for three WhatsOnStage Awards and Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress); Cymbeline (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Shakespeare’s Globe – Ian Charleson Award commendation); East Is East (West End and UK tours); The El Train with Ruth Wilson (Hoxton Hall); Outside Mullingar (Ustinov Studio, Bath); Billy Liar (Manchester Royal Exchange - winner of the Manchester Theatre Awards for Best Actor and Best Newcomer); Cornelius (Finborough/59E59 Theaters, New York - nominated for four Off West End Theatre Awards and Critics’ Pick The New York Times) and Mixed Marriage (Finborough). His film credits include The Hope Rooms (winner of the Rhode Island International Film Festival 2016 Grand Prize Filmmaker of the Future Award); Cymbeline; All’s Well That Ends Well; Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Complete Walk, Shakespeare’s Globe) and two music videos, Emeralds and Auld Wives for the Ivor Novello Award-nominated band Bear’s Den (Communion Music).

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