Ruth Wilson to star in Jean Cocteau's ‘The Human Voice'

The two-time Olivier Award-winning actress returns to the West End.

Ruth Wilson will return to the West End next year to star in Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice. The Human Voice is at the Harold Pinter Theatre for three weeks, with previews from 17 March, an opening night on 22 March and performances to 9 April. The Human Voice tickets are on sale now.

The Human Voice is a 19th-century one-woman play that explores a woman's mental state as she learns her lover will marry another woman. The Human Voice was adapted into a short film in 2014 starring Sophia Loren, and into a feature film in 2020 led by Tilda Swinton.

The two-time Olivier Award-winning actress Ruth Wilson will star in The Human Voice. Wilson has won Oliviers for her roles as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and the title role in Anna Christie, both at the Donmar Warehouse. Her television credits include The Affair, Mrs Wilson, Luther and Jane Eyre. 

Ivo van Hove directs The Human Voice, with design by Jan Versweyveld. van Hove and Wilson have previously collaborated on Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre.

Speaking about her new role, Wilson said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be collaborating again with Ivo and Jan on this wonderful, heartbreaking and deeply human monologue from Jean Cocteau. A woman alone with only her phone as companion, Cocteau explores the nature of intimate relations through inanimate objects. In a world in which are all addicted to and dependent on our phones, this play from the 1930s couldn't feel more prescient. Ivo is the perfect director to bring Cocteau's play to life as both share a love of the absurd as a mirror to truth."

The Human Voice is at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 17 March - 9 April.

The Human Voice tickets are on sale now.

^{Photo credit: Ruth Wilson (Photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr)}