Theatre News

Matthew Kelly and Aoife Duffin to star in Desire Under the Elms

Sam Yates directs Eugene O’Neill’s tragedy at Sheffield Crucible

Aoife Duffin and Matthew Kelly
Aoife Duffin and Matthew Kelly

Casting has been announced for Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, which opens at the Sheffield Crucible in September.

Aoife Duffin, whose credits include A Girl is a Half Formed Thing (Young Vic), Spring Awakening (Headlong) and The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe), will play Abbie Putnam alongside Matthew Kelly (Toast, Park Theatre) as Ephraim.

Directed by Sam Yates (Murder Ballad, Arts Theatre), the cast also includes Me’sha Bryan as Young Girl, Emma Darlow as Fiddler, Theo Ogundipe (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Old Vic) as Peter, Sule Rimi (Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre) as Simeon and Michael Shea as Eben.

O'Neill's erotic tragedy is about a farmer whose sons work tirelessly, believing the family farm will one day be theirs, until he returns with a new wife.

Desire Under the Elms runs at the Sheffield Crucible from 25 September to 14 October, with previews from 20 September.