(L to R): David Phelan, Ayden Callaghan, Sarah Twomey, Honeysuckle Weeks, Gavin Fowler, Jamie Hogarth, Narinder Samra.

Photographer: Jack Merriman

Honeysuckle Weeks and Ayden Callaghan Discuss Accolade

Behind the prestigious facade of a celebrated writer lies a web of deception and dark desires ready to unravel his carefully constructed life…

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Honeysuckle Weeks on Accolade:

“In my mind, it’s about two writers, both of whom are called William. One is a lucky Nobel-Prize-winning writer, and the other is a writer who’s been beset by tragedy. He’s a sort of, blaggard of sorts.

I think it’s Emlyn William’s writing that makes it modern. I think the audience will be quite alarmed because of the subject matter, but also I hope we’ll come to a better understanding of people in general and how nobody’s perfect, and if you really love somebody – you forgive them.

When I first read it, I thought oh I know what this is, and then I read on and it became a totally different organism. You know, one which is very hard to describe because of its moral nuance.

You have to really live and feel the character’s joy and anguish, in a way that’s more comprehensive, perhaps. It surprises you.”

Ayden Callaghan on Accolade:

“I think it’s incredibly sharp, very engaging – it’s a play that keeps you guessing. Will Trenting is not the type of character I thought I’d ever be given the opportunity to play, in my career. They are both incredibly naive and innocent, but dreadfully complex.

I’m really interested to see how an audience will respond. Thematically, it feels very relevant. I think that the production that we’re putting together feels very immediate.

The difficulty when you’re doing a period, and particularly, this, as I said earlier talking about the drawing-room drama, the worry is that it might be stifled or stuffy, but it doesn’t feel like that, it almost feels like it could’ve been written yesterday. I think I’ll surprise people with how accessible it is.

I think that people are going to be shocked, and maybe more so than they were in 1950.”