HANNAH JONES × IZ HESKETH: SISTERHOOD
CREATIVE DIRECTOR + PHOTOGRAPHER MICHAEL HIGHAM - CREATIVE PRODUCER MAISIE JANE DANIELS - STYLIST OLIVIA WOLSTENHOLME - MAKEUP ARTIST MONIQUE GOLD - HAIR STYLIST ALEXANDRU SZABO - DRESSES MATTHEW DAVID ANDREWS
There are some people you meet and immediately know you're going to get along with. And then there are the people who, seven years later, know exactly when to let you dig your own hole, when to talk you out of it, and when to simply sit beside you and laugh.
For actors Hannah Jones and Iz Hesketh, friendship looks a little like that. The pair have been best friends for seven years, and it doesn't take long in their company to see the shorthand they've developed. They finish each other's thoughts, tease one another without hesitation and seem to instinctively know when the other needs a little more space, or a little more encouragement.
Through photography and film, we wanted to explore that connection through sisterhood. The intimacy, the chaos, the care, and the strange magic of having someone who truly knows you.
SHALL WE GO FOR IT?
Seven years of friendship, two actors, a whole lot of unanswered questions, and a conversation that proves some friendships are best understood in the spaces between the words.
The result is the first episode of F Word's new video series, Shall We Go For It? An actor-to-actor conversation where the talent interview one another, follow their own curiosity and, occasionally, completely lose track of the original question.
Watch Hannah Jones and Iz Hesketh talk acting, friendship, sisterhood, trans representation, the industry and everything in between in the first episode of Shall We Go For It?
DIRECTOR + PRODUCER MAISIE JANE DANIELS - VIDEOGRAPHER + EDITOR RODRIGO BELASQUEM - LOCATION STORYHOUSE STUDIOS
Our first set of images brings that idea of togetherness quite literally to life. Hannah and Iz are bound by a single oversized plait, wearing matching bespoke gowns by Matthew David Andrews, jewellery by TheWildnessJewellery
Both Hannah and Iz have found themselves at the centre of important conversations around trans representation on screen, but their routes into those stories, and the characters they've played, are very different.
Hannah's breakthrough performance as Sasha in the BBC's What It Feels Like for a Girl brought her to a much wider audience. A proud Scouse, working-class actor and writer, she's also building a career behind the camera, with original writing projects in development and places on both the BBC Writersroom North collective and the Gatecrashers BFI Writers Lab.
Iz, meanwhile, has worked across television, theatre and drag, from Hollyoaks to her role as Zee Malone in Tip Toe, alongside stage work including Legally Blonde and Head Over Heels.
But ask either of them about being an actor and being trans, and there's a much bigger picture. One of the things that comes through most strongly in their conversation is a frustration with the idea that being trans should be the most interesting thing about a trans actor.
"Being trans is actually one of the least interesting things about us. We say that all the time."For Hannah, the industry needs to start breaking down the assumptions attached to gender and character.
"I think you need to break down the barriers of what you think a trans person is, what you think a trans character is, what you think a non-trans character is, and just put us in the same room as everyone else."
The second world is softer and more playful. Stars and tiny moons sit around their eyes as the pair move between closeness and contrast - a nod to the different energies they bring to one another, while still feeling unmistakably connected.
Their respective projects also exist in an interesting dialogue with one another. During their conversation, Hannah and Iz discuss how the stories they've been part of reflect very different moments for trans people.
Hannah points to the early-2000s setting of What It Feels Like for a Girl, while Iz's Tip Toe is rooted much more firmly in the present.
For Hannah, that distinction changes the emotional temperature of the stories. She describes the earlier period as carrying a sense of hope, pointing to the cultural impact of Nadia Almada winning Big Brother as an example of a moment when a trans woman was embraced by a huge mainstream audience.
Iz's story, meanwhile, feels more immediate.
"Z's story is a lot more grounded in today, which, sadly, as we all know, isn't the most hopeful or forward-thinking time for trans people."But neither of them talks about the future as something to simply wait for. Theirs is a conversation about continuing to make space, continuing to tell stories and continuing to push against the limits placed around trans characters and performers.
As Hannah puts it:
"They're gonna get better because they fucking better."For all the conversations around acting, representation and the industry, what comes through most clearly is something much simpler: these two really, really like each other. Seven years in, the laughter is still there, the questions are still coming, and when one asks, "Shall we go for it?" the other already knows the answer.
