“This is something absolutely everybody can relate to or picture themselves experiencing in some way,” says Hayden of the play’s underlying theme. “It touches on things that most of us have gone through. It looks at things like isolation, it brushes on things like racism and social exclusion, it looks at people having that ‘us-and-them’ mentality, it applies to anyone, anywhere and it’s found within all different cultural entities. The question that the play asks throughout is what would you do to keep your family safe and your life intact. It actually gets asked constantly, over and over as the stakes get cranked up higher and higher. It’s interesting, though, because most people would totally relate to the point of view of each other the characters – and every single one of them has a different view on the situation.
They’re all valid, but which one would you personally go with in a scenario like this? You can’t really tell who’s wrong and who’s right, so you have to side with one to save your family.” For Hayden, it’s the language that Kelly uses throughout Orphans that’s been the real delight in undertaking this “Goliath” as the actor jokingly calls it. “The language in this play is delicious, though!” Hayden enthuses. “It’s dense and it’s exciting and it’s like tackling a Goliath in terms of attempting to communicate it! The characters are all just thinking so fast and as actors we have to get in the mindset of thinking in almost panic-mode. In just one breath, you could have ten different thoughts!
The characters are constantly picking up old arguments and carrying them forward while starting new ones, then going back again…your brain is constantly working over-time and it can be quite exhausting. It can be stressful and it’s definitely not an easy show to do. On top of that, just being in my character’s mindset can be quite stressful in itself. My character has so much at stake the whole time, so it’s a gem because it’s a real challenge for me as an actor, but it’s also stressful because it takes you to quite dark places in your mind. Danny’s whole existence and family life is at risk throughout this play and you can feel it after you’ve left the stage.” For Hayden, who is set to star alongside heavyweights Robert De Niro and Jason Statham in the upcoming film Killer Elite, playing the troubled character of Danny in Orphans has also been a bit of a change from recent television appearances on shows such as City Homicide.
“Danny is a man from south-east London and he’s managed to pull himself into what might be expected of him coming from that area of London,” Hayden says of his character’s background. “He’s doing okay, he’s aspirational middle-class now, and he’s got a few things going on in terms of a house and a family and a job. He is doing very well and he is affording his life at the start of the play, but what happens afterwards you have to see it. I actually did a show with the Red Stitch company last year called Oh Well, Never Mind, Bye which was another one set in London, but it was set in the newsroom of a press office during the bombings that took place in London in 2005. That was quite brilliant and I absolutely loved it, so I was asked to do this play as well. I have to say, though, that Dennis Kelly’s writing is fantastic in this play in terms of modern thrillers, I actually don’t think there’s anyone doing it better than him.”
