Learn about Denise Gough's career ahead of 'High Noon'

The two-time Olivier winner returns to the West End in a new adaptation of the classic allegorical western.

Summary

• Gough is a double Olivier winner for People Places and Things and Angels in America
• She is also known for her role in Star Wars spinoff Andor
• Gough returns to the West End in December in a new version of High Noon

Irish actress Denise Gough was born in Wexford in 1980 and raised in Ennis, County Clare. She studied at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London, graduating in 2003. To date, she has won two Olivier Awards and is particularly celebrated for her performance in People, Places and Things.

On screen, Gough is perhaps best known for her role as the ambitious Dedra Meero in Star Wars spinoff Andor. She also played the title role in the British-Irish crime drama Paula, and co-starred opposite Emily Watson in ITV’s Too Close, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA in 2022.

In a 2024 interview with LondonTheatre.co.uk, Gough talked about her experience of being homeless as a teenager in London and her own journey to sobriety. She is also a passionate activist for social and political issues and has dubbed herself the “Jeremy Corbyn of acting”.

Gough returns to the stage this December in a stage adaption of the classic western High Noon at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Read on to learn more about her stage appearances so far.

Book High Noon tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

By the Bog of Cats (2004) and As You Like It (2005)

Marina Carr’s 1998 play, which was inspired by the Medea myth, made its West End debut at the Wyndham’s Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke and starring Oscar winner Holly Hunter as the witchy Irish Traveller protagonist Hester Swane. Gough made her professional debut as Caroline Cassidy, the 20-year-old daughter of a local landowner who marries Hester’s former lover. She continued at the same venue to play Phebe in As You Like It, which starred Helen McCrory, Dominic West, and Sienna Miller.

Further early work

Gough continued to build her career in new work at the Liverpool Playhouse, Hampstead Theatre, the Royal Court, Soho Theatre, and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She returned to the West End as the Stepdaughter in Six Characters in Search of an Author (transferring from Chichester Festival Theatre) which starred Ian McDiarmid.

Gough played lawyer Mary Jane Hanrahan in a revival of the American prison drama Jesus Hopped on the A Train at Trafalgar Studios and Nora Clitheroe in The Plough and the Stars at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. She also played JMW Turner’s model Jenny in The Painter, the inaugural production at the Arcola Theatre’s new premises, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and starring Toby Jones in the lead role.

Our New Girl and Desire Under the Elms (2012)

Gough gained further notice in 2012 when she was nominated for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards on the strength of two roles. Firstly, she played Annie, an Irish nanny in London in Our New Girl by Nancy Harris, a dark satire of modern parenthood. Secondly, in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith, she played the provocative Abbie Putnam, the third wife of a 70-year-old farmer.

The Duchess of Malfi (2014)

Following Tim Crouch’s Adler and Gibb at the Royal Court, Gough appeared in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse’s first production – John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi directed by Dominic Dromgoole. Gemma Arterton portrayed the title role and Gough played Julia, an unfaithful wife married to a much older man. LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer singled out “a great performance by Denise Gough”.

People, Places and Things (2015-17 & 2024)

Gough finally had the opportunity to lead a major production when she was cast as Emma in Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places and Things at the National Theatre. Emma is an actress and addict who checks into rehab and is forced to confront her own identity without having a character to hide behind.

Initially staged at the intimate Dorfman Theatre at the National, People, Places and Things earned Gough her first Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play and a Critics’ Circle Award. When the show transferred to the West End, LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer said that Gough’s performance involved “acting so raw, so tangible, so felt, so passionate, so wounded yet alive, so down but never out, that it thrills and astonishes”. It transferred to Brooklyn’s St Ann’s Warehouse in 2017, where Gough was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

When she returned to the role in 2024 at Trafalgar Studios, Gough was struck by the way in which language and discussion of addiction has changed for the better in the nine years since the play was first performed. She explained to LondonTheatre.co.uk: “I have a way deeper understanding of why Emma might do the things that she does [...] Because we didn’t have access then to [the information] we have access to now.” In LondonTheatre.co.uk's five-star review, our critic noted: “what remains clear is that Gough’s titanic performance is still the beating heart of this play. A seven-year break from the part has dulled none of her wonderfully sharp edges”.

Angels in America (2018)

Gough’s next major theatre role was as Harper Pitt in Marianne Elliott’s revival of Tony Kushner’s epic AIDS drama Angels in America at the National Theatre with Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and Russell Tovey. LondonTheatre.co.uk’s five-star rave review remarked that Gough was “unstoppable in every sense, distinct in her mannerisms yet universal in her delivery that confirms her as one of our finest actors of our time and a tour de force at every turn”. She was rewarded with an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and transferred with the production to Broadway.

High Noon (2025)

In 2002, Gough played the title role in Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and she made a one-night appearance in White Rabbit Red Rabbit at @sohoplace following People, Places and Things last year. This autumn, she returns to the West End in a stage adaptation of the 1952 Hollywood western High Noon, which starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly and served as an allegory of the Hollywood blacklist under Joseph McCarthy.

Eric Roth’s (Forrest Gump, Dune) thrilling new adaptation is directed by Thea Sharrock (Equus, After the Dance) and Gough co-stars opposite Billy Crudup (The Morning Show, The Coast of Utopia), who made his West End debut in Harry Clarke last year. The show promises to be “not just a play – it’s a wake-up call”, exploring themes of courage, integrity, and love. It sounds very fitting, especially in light of Gough’s interests in politics and justice.

Book High Noon tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: Denise Gough. (Photo by Michael Wharley). Inset: Gough in People, Places and Things. (Courtesy of production)