Biography Awura-Afua Ayesha Casely-Hayford was born in Battersea, London. She has a younger brother, Paa-Kwesi Bertrand Casely-Hayford. Both their first names are traditional names from the Fante tribe in Ghana. They are known amongst their friends and close family as Refi and Kes. Their parents were born in Accra, Ghana. They came to London in […]
Snow Queen at The Park Theatre feat. Ayesha Casely-Hayford (Gerda), Esmonde Cole (Cei) and Frances Marshall (Snow Queen)
Our Two Gents production of The Importance of Being Earnest was a 12-week project. And now it’s all done. These are my reflections, After Earnest. For a 12-week period of time, we took Oscar Wilde’s seminal play, The Importance Of Being Earnest, and transformed this classical text into our own. We welcomed it into our lives, […]
The Importance Of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest, is a play written by Oscar Wilde. We are performing it as two women of colour, that is myself and actress Kudzanayi Chiwawa. Between us, we are doing ALL of the parts. This means multi-roles, multi-accents and taking the confusion of this play to a […]
Hair Stories On 28th November 2017 “My Fro & Me” – Hair Stories from Women of Colour – was at The National Theatre, London, UK. We talked hair, culture, identity, Eurocentric ideals of beauty on our stage and screens, and discrimination. Endlessly Afro. “The prime responsibility of the theatre is to show a culture its […]
Afro Archives Episode Three: What do you love about your hair and being an actor? In Afro Archives Episode Three I explored things we could celebrate about our hair. In three parts, we cover afro hair, straight hair, jew fros, braids and extensions. What Do You Love About Your Hair and Being An Actor? Afro Archives […]
Ayesha Casely-Hayford | Actress blog My Granny Becky. My mum’s mum. A big warm laugh and a warrior’s strength. I love her so much that as a child, I took her name. I wanted to be as close to her as possible. My granny Becky is the grandparent I have always been closest too. She […]
As the week progresses my thoughts are with Syria. Facebook posts look like this: “Here we go again”, “fighting other people’s war” and “how can we stand and watch?” We are on the verge of action and the end of the week will reveal all as the British draft UN resolution authorising “necessary measures” to […]
What a day. I’ve been part of a round-table discussion on casting led by John Byrne (Careers Advisor at The Stage: the Entertainment Industry’s leading newspaper). Along with four other actors of varying experience we shared thoughts and knowledge about what really happens on the ground in trying to make a living in the acting […]
Yipppeeee! Thanks to my very awesome friend Rachel Bonney who nominated me, I’ve been selected as the first rider in Kansi’s “Ride it Forward” campaign. Kansi makes bikes that fold away so that you can carry them on the tube, in stores etc etc, basically live your life and take your bike along with you […]
