Ayesha Casely-Hayford | Actress | Ian Findlay Photography
It’s been a few weeks since my performance in Claire Dowie’s “Adult Child Dead Child” at The LOST Theatre as part of the 3rd Face to Face Festival of Solo Theatre. Colin Watkeys has put together a company of actors, which includes me. We’re performing alongside Claire, inspired by her energy and then trying to […]
Eve, the evil tempter, the reason for man’s expulsion from the garden of Eden. Misunderstood and vilified – I’ve been given a chance to present a brighter side of the Adam and Eve story in a play called “Adam’s eve” by Simon David. This play is quirky and quite complicated but it has positivity as […]
When I left my gorgeous and hard-worked for job as a solicitor to go to drama school with others 10 years my junior I found myself in a panic of feeling very irresponsible. I decided I better join my union and start to do something that reminded me I was a grown-up. I’ve not looked […]
Father-daughter relationships are complicated. I hate it when they are introduced in films but never really explored and ultimately neglected. I watched two films last month with father-daughter relationships. One was “Belle”, the other was “Begin Again”. The young women (Belle, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Violet, played by Hailee Steinfeld) are treated very differently […]
For the past couple of months my Equity union activities have been taken to another level through engagement with Act For Change – a campaign to raise awareness and effect change in the TV industry. The Act For Change project was begun by actor Danny Lee Wynter who was shocked by the lack of diversity […]
Last night, 4th July 2014, we celebrated Independence Day at Morley College. It was combined with the annual Morley College summer performance show – “Dance Fusion”. The tradition of summer dance shows at Morley College goes way way back. The earliest record is of dance performances on the stage at Morley in 1935. We had […]
I’ve begun creating my solo theatre piece So far, I’ve called it “Connie Speaks”. My first character is based on one of my grandmothers in Ghana. She is a strong woman who I don’t actually know that well. I didn’t grow up with her and we are not close in proximity or in spirit, unfortunately. […]
On Monday 6th October 2014 at The LOST Theatre in Vauxhall… I’ll be performing Adult Child/Dead Child by Claire Dowie with six other artists including Claire Dowie herself, Deidre Strath, Lola Kotey, Martin Stuart and Tania Rodrigues. As its title suggests, this play is intense. But it’s also full of strength and lightness. Adult Child/Dead […]
Creating my own theatre work for solo performance is intense, random and liberating. The Lost Theatre in Vauxhall is giving me a stage to do it on. With a group of others also working on their own solo pieces we are creating our work via workshops with director Colin Watkeys. Colin adopts my favourite directorial […]
On 8th October 2014 at The LOST Theatre in Vauxhall… I’m taking part in the next stages of Hugh Wyld’s exciting and important project to raise awareness and open discussion about HIV in people’s lives today. The project is called “A Time To Speak”. With a small group of actors and writers, “A Time to […]
