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Rebecca Hall has done a staggering amount of work since her miniseries The Listeners first aired overseas at the end of 2024. But once you watch her latest towering performance in director Janicza Bravo’s five-part miniseries that premiered June 12 on Starz, you’ll quickly understand why the English actor didn’t want to let her two-plus-year-old turn fall by the wayside.
In Jordan Tannahill’s adaptation of his own novel, Hall plays an English teacher named Claire whose personal and professional life is turned upside down when she suddenly hears a steady humming noise. She alienates her family, friends and colleagues in her desperate search for answers, and Hall went as far as to wear an earpiece that fed her various types of hums so that she could experience the character’s vulnerable state of mind.
“We had lots of different versions that [director] Janciza [Bravo] would cycle through on the day. There were times where I’d be like, ‘Give me the really aggressive, painful one. Give me the gentle, low-key one,’” Hall tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Sometimes, it was just impractical because I couldn’t concentrate on anything else, which I guess was the point.”
A persistent, low-frequency hum is a real phenomenon that people have attributed to either external or internal sources, and The Listeners follows suit by not providing definitive answers to what afflicts Claire. Thus, it becomes a piece where you can insert any number of metaphors if you so desire, and Hall certainly has her own either/or interpretation.
