Young Vic 40th Anniversary Season

Young Vic 40th Anniversary
A nniversary Season Announced
A nnounced
September 2010 --- May 2011
20 11
Artistic director David Lan, unveils the Young Vic’s 40th Anniversary Season:
’We’re celebrating our 40th Birthday with an exceptionally wide ranging season of work. There are
examples of everything we do best. We’ve got world class drama as leading French director Patrice Chéreau
directs his first UK production, explosive international work by Iceland’s Vesturport, a roof raising
community musical with a chorus of one hundred and fast talking comedy as Vernon God Little hits the
stage running once again. Classic America drama with Tennesse Williams’ first great Broadway hit and
epic opera directed by the brilliantly innovative Benedict Andrews in our latest ENO coco-production.
And in our Maria Theatre you’ll find experimental devised work by Fevered Sleep with a show for adults
performed by children. Plus enchanting work for younger audiences as a David Almond tale takes flight and
an imaginative play about water splashes onto
onto the stage.
Big stories. Big emotions. Big ideas --- from around the world. Our work has never been
stronger. Our tickets
tickets have never been cheaper. It’s a big world in here. We hope you’ll join us.
40 years
years old and still full of beans.'
beans.'
New Season highlights
The Human Comedy A cast of one hundred perform an exuberant score of swing, gospel, folk and pop in this
vibrant musical by the composer of Hair, directed by The Opera Group’s John Fulljames. Main House, 13 --- 18
September 2010.
Faust Direct from Iceland, Gísli Örn Garðarsson’s trailblazing Vesturport bring their circus-inspired show to the
UK, with music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Main House, 25 September - 30 October 2010.
On Ageing The premiere of Fevered Sleep’s groundbreaking new devised piece about time, change and ageing,
performed by children for adults. The Maria, 27 September --- 9 October 2010.
The Glass Menagerie Joe Hill-Gibbins directs Tennessee Williams’ early masterpiece with a new score by Oscar
and Golden Globe Award-winning composer Dario Marianelli. Main House, 11 November 2010 - 1 January
2011.
My Dad’s a Birdman An uplifting tale for 4 --- 7 years olds from the vivid imagination of David Almond. The
Maria, 25 November 2010 --- 1 January 2011.
Little
le Rufus Norris’ Olivier-nominated production of DBC Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning novel is
Vernon God Litt
back. Main House, 27 January --- 5 March 2011.
And the Rain Falls Down After delighting young audiences last winter with The Forest, Fevered Sleep return with
a show about drips and drops for 3 and 4 year olds. The Maria, 24 February --- 12 March 2011.
The Return of Ulysses Internationally renowned director Benedict Andrews stages Monteverdi’s epic in the latest
ENO/ Young Vic co-production. Main House, 24 March --- 9 April 2011.
I Am the Wind Revered French director Patrice Chéreau directs his first ever UK stage production with this new
adaptation of Jon Fosse’s play by Simon Stephens. Main House, 26 April --- 21 May 2011.
The Full Season
A Young Vic/The Opera Group production
co-produced with Watford Palace Theatre
The Human Comedy
Main
Ma in House
Music by Galt MacDermot
Book by William Dumaresq
From an original story by William Saroyan
13 --- 18 September
Press night 13 September
The 40th season opens with explosive energy as one hundred performers take to the stage for the UK
premiere of this vibrant musical by the composer of Hair. The Opera Group, Young Vic and Watford
Palace Theatre reunite after their Evening Standard Award-winning collaboration Street Scene.
John Fulljames (The Enchanted Pig; Tobias and the Angel; Street Scene, all at the Young Vic) and
musical director Phil Bateman (Hello Dolly, Regents Park; Billy Elliot the Musical, West End) direct a
professional cast and eighty community performers in this 1970’s Public Theatre hit.
A small town in southern California during World War Two. Young Homer is a telegram delivery boy
carrying messages of love, joy and the sorrows of war. His mother prays for the safe return of his
brother from the front line. His sister dreams that she too could fight for her country.
With a score of swing, gospel, folk and pop The Human Comedy is a timeless tale of heroism that
celebrates the healing power of community and the unifying spirit of song.
Two-time Grammy and two-time Tony Award-winning composer Galt MacDermot’s
MacDermot ground-breaking
musical Hair was recently revived in the West End. His many compositions across theatre, ballet, film,
poetry and opera include the Broadway score for Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Human Comedy is
based on William Saroyan’s 1943 novel of the same name.
John Fulljames is artistic director of Young Vic associate company The Opera Group.. His credits at the
Young Vic include The Enchanted Pig (which enjoyed a revival at the Linbury ROH and New Victory
Theatre, NY earlier this year) and the hugely successful community shows Street Scene (winner of the
Evening Standard Award for Best Musical) and Tobias and the Angel. Other recent credits for The
Opera Group include Into the Little Hill (shortlisted for a South Bank Show Award), The Lion’s Face,
Varjak Paw and The Shops (all at Linbury ROH and on tour).
Phil Bateman was musical director for the three-time Olivier Award-winning Hello Dolly (Regent’s
Park), Olivier Award-winning Billy Elliot The Musical (West End) and Gigi (Regent’s Park). He was
musical supervisor on the Olivier Award-winning Our House (West End) and recently worked as vocal
coach on Ricky Gervais’s Cemetery Junction.
The Human Comedy is directed by John Fulljames, with music direction by Phil Bateman, design
by Jon Bausor, light by Bruno Poet and sound by Fergus O’Hare.
O’Hare.
A Vesturport and Reykjavík City Theater production
co-produced by Theatre im Pfalzbau
Faust
Mai
Ma i n House
By Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Gísli Örn Garðarsson,
Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, Víkingur Kristjánsson and Carl Grose.
Inspired by Goethe’s Faust.
25 September --- 30 October
Press night 1 October
Iceland’s trailblazing Vesturport Theatre Company burst onto the Young Vic stage with a wildly inventive
new production. This thrilling, circus inspired UK premiere is co-written and directed by Gísli Örn
Garðarsson (Romeo and Juliet, Young Vic; Woyzeck, Young Vic/Barbican; Metamorphosis, Lyric
Hammersmith) with music by renowned musicians Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
The universal tale of a man selling his soul to the devil has never been imagined quite like this before.
Loud, fast, explosive, poetic and acrobatic, Vesturport’s Faust is hilarious and terrifying with a score
ranging from devilish glam-rock to soulful ballads.
Gísli Örn Garðarsson’s Romeo and Juliet (in which he played Romeo) was a huge success at the Young
Vic in 2003, transferred to the West End and toured the world. He directed, adapted and acted in
Metamorphosis (Lyric Hammersmith/ world tour), directed and adapted Woyzeck (Young Vic/Barbican/
world tour) and wrote and directed the musical Love (Reykjavik City Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith/ world
tour). As an actor he recently had a leading role in the blockbuster film Prince of Persia, playing the
Lead Hassansin and has performed with Kneehigh theatre under the direction of Emma Rice in A Matter
of Life and Death (NT), Nights at the Circus (Lyric /tour) and as the title role in Don John (RSC/ tour).
Musician and writer Nick Cave is best known as front man of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He has
collaborated with the accomplished violinist and composer Warren Ellis for fifteen years. The duo
composed the scores for Vesturport’s Metamorphosis and Woyzeck as well as film soundtracks for The
Road, The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Faust will be directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson,
Gardarsson, with music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Ellis,
llis, set
design by Axel Jóhannesson,
Jóhannesson , costumes by Filippia Elísdóttir and light by Þórður Orri Pétursson .
A Fevered Sleep/Young Vic production
Produced in association with Fuel
On Ageing
The Maria
27 September --- 9 October
Press night 29 September
From pioneering theatre company Fevered Sleep (Brilliant, Young Vic/ tour; An Infinite Line: Brighton,
The Basement) comes the premiere of a bold new devised piece, performed by children for adults.
From the moment we’re born, we’re growing, we’re ageing. Nothing ever stays the same. As an empty
room is filled with hundreds of memories, a group of performers create a journey through life. On
Ageing captures those fleeting moments when we feel most alive and explores what it means to age, to
grow, to change.
For the last eighteen months, Fevered Sleep have worked closely with children, adults, grandparents,
artists, elders and gerontologists to bring On Ageing to life.
Young Vic associate company Fevered Sleep has an international reputation for devising groundbreaking
work that is both playful and profound. Led by artistic director David Harradine, their recent projects
include commissions from Sadler’s Wells and Brighton Festival. They are currently devising The Weather
Factory, a performance installation about the weather in Snowdonia for National Theatre Wales. As
well as work for adults, Fevered Sleep create captivating and critically acclaimed shows for children.
On Ageing is directed by David Harradine and Sam Butler, designed by Ali Beale, Sam Butler and
David Harradine, with music by Ged Barry, light by Hansjörg Schmidt and film & projections by
Mark Webber.
Webber.
The Glass Menagerie
Main House
by Tennessee Williams
11 November 2010 - 1 January 2011
Press night 17 November
One of the finest works from one of the greatest Twentieth Century dramatists, this exquisite memory
play comes to the Young Vic with a new score by Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning composer Dario
Marianelli.
Joe Hill-Gibbins directs Tennesse Williams’ early masterpiece. The Glass Menagerie was Williams’ first
great Broadway success. It premiered in Chicago in 1944, before transferring to Broadway where it
won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
Tom, a young would-be poet struggles to support his overbearing and sentimental mother and his
delicate, obsessive sister. The subject of this deeply touching, autobiographical play is the most fragile of
all human emotions --- hope.
Tennesse Williams’
Williams’ profound and lyrical plays had an immeasurable effect on American theatre.. He
won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof in 1955. Both were adapted into greatly successful films directed by Elia Kazan. The Glass
Menagerie and Night of the Iguana won New York Drama Critics Circle Awards and The Rose Tattoo
won the Tony Award for Best Play. Amongst his many other plays are Summer and Smoke, Camino
Real, Orpheus Descending and Sweet Bird of Youth. In 1980 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom.
Joe HillHill -Gibbins’ new production of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane opens at the
Young Vic this month. He is deputy artistic director of the Young Vic where his work includes The
Girlfriend Experience and A Respectable Wedding as part of The Big Brecht Fest in 2007. He directed
Family Plays and Bliss at the Royal Court and has also directed work at the Barbican Pit, Gate Theatre,
Theatre 503 and Battersea Arts Centre.
Dario Marianelli won an Oscar, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA nomination for his score to the
film Atonement. He was also nominated for an Oscar for his score to the film Pride and Prejudice. A
prolific composer of piano, orchestral and film music, he has scored over 35 films which also include The
Brothers Grimm, The Brave One, The Soloist, V for Vendetta and the soon to be released Hippie Hippie
Shake.
Casting to be announced.
The Glass Menagerie is directed by Joe HillHill -Gibbins, designed by Jeremy Herbert, with music by
Dario Marianelli, light by James Farncombe and costumes by Laura Hopkins.
My Dad’s a Birdman
The Maria
by David Almond
25 November 2010 --- 1 January 2011
Press performance 30 November
An uplifting tale from the vivid imagination of David Almond, author of the Carnegie Medal Awardwinning Skellig.
Everyone is in a twitter --- the Great Human Bird Competition is coming to town! Lizzie and Jackie have
been building their nest and are preparing for take off. But Auntie Doreen disapproves and is out to
bring some order back to No.2 Lark Rise! Will the dynamic father and daughter duo get a chance to fly,
or will sums, dumplings and headmasters get in their way?
An enchanting play for 4 --- 7 year olds by one of the most exciting and imaginative children’s authors
writing today.
David Almond is the recent recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Author Award 2010. His books are
bestsellers all over the world. His first novel Skellig won the Whitbread Children’s Award and the
Carnegie Medal. Trevor Nunn directed a much-loved stage adaptation of Skellig at the Young Vic in
2003, it is now also an opera and a film starring Tim Roth. Almond’s second book Kit’s Wilderness won
the Smarties Award Silver Medal, was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal, and shortlisted for
the Guardian Award. The Fire-Eaters won the Whitbread, the Smarties Gold Award and was shortlisted
for the Carnegie Medal. His latest novel Clay was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book award and
the Carnegie Medal.
My Dad’s a Birdman is directed by Oliver Mears and designed by Giles Cadle with light by
Giuseppe Di Lorio.
Vernon God Little
Main House
by DBC Pierre
in an adaptation by Tanya Ronder
27 January --- 5 March 2011
Press night 7 February
We’re delighted to bring back one of our most successful shows. Rufus Norris’ Olivier Award-nominated
production of DBC Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning Vernon God Little returns. The stage adaptation is by
Tanya Ronder.
It’s Friday at the Sherriff’s office. Vernon sits in his underpants, staring at his Nikes. His best friend
Jesus went and gunned down all their classmates, then himself. Normal times just ran howling out of
town.
Desperate, cynical and gloriously unlucky, Vernon makes a manic escape to Mexico. As the cowboy
music starts to play, the absurdities of life just keep on coming.
Rufus Norris won the 2004 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his production
of Afore Night Come at the Young Vic. He won his second Evening Standard Award as well as an Olivier
Award nomination and the Critics Circle Award for Best Director for Festen (Almeida). His other work
for the Young Vic includes Tintin (Barbican/ West End) Sleeping Beauty and Peribanez. Elsewhere his
credits include the six-time Tony-nominated Les Liaisons Dangereuse (Broadway), Death and the King’s
Horsemen (NT) and Cabaret (Lyric).
DBC Pierre, born in Australia and raised in Mexico, has worked as a designer and cartoonist. Vernon
God Little, his debut novel, won both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2003. It
is sold in 43 countries. His other novels include Ludmila's Broken English and Lights Out in Wonderland
Tanya Ronder
Ronder’s theatre adaptations include Peribanez and Romeo and Juliet (Young Vic), Blood
Wedding (Almeida), Macbett (RSC) and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. She wrote the short film
King Bastard directed by Rufus Norris.
Vernon God Little is directed by Rufus Norris, designed by Ian MacNeil with light by Paule
Constable.
A Fevered Sleep/ Lyric Hammersmith co-production
And the Rain Falls Down
The Maria
24 February --- 12 March
Press performances 25 & 26 February
Fevered Sleep, the creators of The Forest and Brilliant (Young Vic/ Lyric Hammersmith/ tour) return
with a show about drips, drops and downpours created especially for 3 and 4 year olds.
Imagine a world where every drop of water has a life of its own. Imagine a place where rainbows form
from umbrellas, where fountains spout from plugholes, and were eventually the rain really does fall
down. And the Rain Falls Down is a visually stunning celebration of the watery things of the world.
Fevered Sleep make performance, installation, and site-specific events for audiences of all ages. They
have an international reputation as leading creators of new work for children. And the Rain Falls Down,
first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith, is part of a trilogy for young people that explores the rituals
of every day life which also includes Brilliant and Feast Your Eyes. Brilliant was nominated for Best
Show for Children and Young People at the TMA Awards. Their recent show The Forest delighted young
audiences at the Young Vic and around the country last winter.
Fevered Sleep’s first co-production with the Young Vic, On Ageing - a show for adults, performed by
children - opens in The Maria this autumn.
And the Rain Falls Down is directed by Sam Butler and David Harradine,
Harradine, with design by David
Harradine and Ali Beale, music by David Leahy and light by Jo Manser.
An ENO/ Young Vic co-production
The Return of Ulysses
Main House
by Monteverdi
24 March --- 9 April 2011
Press night 24 March
ENO and the Young Vic continue their South Bank Show Award-winning partnership with a new
production of Monteverdi’s epic opera, by internationally lauded director Benedict Andrews (A Streetcar
Named Desire, Berlin Schaubühne; War of the Roses, Sydney Theatre Company).
The Return of Ulysses is based on the final section of Homer’s Odyssey. It was composed in 1640 by
Monteverdi, who is regarded as the inventor of opera as we know it.
Ulysses returns home to Ithaca after his long journey back from the Trojan Wars to find villainous suitors
have plundered his home and seized his wife, Queen Penelope. Aided by the Gods, his son Telemachus
and faithful friend Eumaeus, he must overcome the suitors and recover his kingdom.
The cast includes opera stars Tom Randle as Ulysses and Pamela Helen Stephen as Penelope.
Claudio Monteverdi is recognised as the first great composer of opera. His work, including the 1607
masterpiece L’Orfeo is regularly performed all over the world. He was director of music at St Mark’s
Basilica, Venice and composed The Return of Ulysses towards the end of his life. It was first performed
during the 1640 carnival season. His other great works include L’Arianna, The Marriage of Aeneas to
Lavinia and The Coronation of Poppea.
Benedict Andrews
Andrews became a leading director at the Berlin Schaubühne with his acclaimed productions
of A Streetcar Named Desire, Blackbird and Cleansed. As former resident director of Sydney Theatre
Company, his work includes the multi-award-winning The Season at Sarsaparilla, a spectacular staging
of The War of the Roses, The City and Attempts on Her Life. He recently directed Saved in Berlin and
will direct King Lear for the National Theatre of Iceland in December.
Börkur Jónsson is a member of the Icelandic Theatre Company Vesturport for whom he designed Romeo
and Juliet (Young Vic) and Woyzeck (Young Vic/ Barbican) amongst many other shows. His design for
Vesturport’s Metamorphosis (Lyric Hammersmith) was nominated for an Evening Standard Award..
Previous ENO/ Young Vic co-productions were Elegy for Young Lovers directed by Fiona Shaw, After
Dido directed by Katie Mitchell, Lost Highway directed by Diane Paulus and Punch and Judy directed by
Daniel Kramer, the last two jointly winning the South Bank Show Award in 2007.
The Return of Ulysses is an ENO/ Young Vic coco -production conducted by Jonathan Cohen, directed
by Benedict Andrews, and designed by Börkur Jónsson.
Young Vic/ Théâtre de la Ville-Paris co-production co-commissioned by Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), les Nuits de Fourvière/
Département du Rhône and Grec 2011 Festival de Barcelona
I Am the Wind
Main House
by Jon Fosse
in a new version by Simon Stephens
26 April --- 21 May 2011
Press night 3 May
Three of the greatest names in European theatre come together to create an extraordinary theatrical
event. Legendary French director Patrice Chéreau (La Reine Margot) directs his first ever English stage
production - Jon Fosse’s I Am the Wind. It will be presented in a new adaptation by Simon Stephens
(Pornography, Punk Rock).
I Am the Wind is a tale of enduring humanity against insurmountable odds. Two lifelong travelling
companions are bound together on a journey across a vast ocean. At once moving and comic, this new
work by one of Europe’s most widely performed playwrights dramatises the endless struggle of being
human.
Patrice Chéreau is widely regarded as the leading theatre director of France. He has been one of the
dominant figures of European theatre since the 1970’s. He transformed the way opera was staged all
over the world with his highly controversial 1976 production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at
Bayreuth. He garnered recent international acclaim with From the House of the Dead at The Met, La
Scala and Wiener Festwochen.. His films include La Reine Margot (winner of the Cannes Jury Prize),
His Brother and Intimacy (both winners of the Golden Bear at Berlin), Those Who Love Me Can Take the
Train and the recent Persécution. Amongst his many stage credits are the premieres of revered French
playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès. Last year he won the prestigious Prix Europe pour le Théâtre. His
theatre work was last seen in London when his famous production of La Dispute visited The National in
1974.
Jon Fosse is one of the most prominent and prolific contemporary writers in Europe. He won the 2010
Ibsen Award. Following a performance of his play Someone is Going to Come, Le Monde described him
as ‘the Beckett of the 21st Century.’ His work has been translated into more than forty languages and his
plays produced on the major stages of the world. They include And We’ll Never Be Parted, Night Sings
Its Songs, The Guitar Man, Dream of Autumn, Girl on the Sofa and deathvariations.
Simon Stephens’
Stephens many esteemed plays include Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith), Sea Wall (Traverse/
Bush), Pornography (Traverse), Motortown (Royal Court) and Harper Regan (NT). His play Port won
the Pearson Award for Best New Play and he won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore
of the Wide World. His most recent play A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (written with David
Eldridge and Robert Holman) played at the Lyric Hammersmith this spring.
I Am The Wind is the result of a large-scale creative collaboration between Théâtre de la Ville and the
Young Vic theatre, resulting in Patrice Chereau's world-class premiere being brought to four European
countries..
I Am the Wind is directed by Patrice Chéreau with the collaboration of Thierry Thieû Niang,
designed by Richard Peduzzi with costumes
costumes by Caroline De Vivaise.
Notes
Notes to Editors
Reserved seating
From Faust onwards we are introducing reserved seating in the Main House. For the first time it’s
possible for our audiences to book tickets to Main House shows from just £10. For more details see
www.youngvic.org
Other Birthday Events
40 Years of the Young Vic
Fri 10 Sept, 6pm, Cottesloe, National Theatre
In September 1970, Frank Dunlop founded the Young Vic as an off-shoot of the National Theatre at the
Old Vic. Conceived as a new kind of informal and affordable theatre, the inaugural production was
Moliere’s Scapino. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, he is joined by original company members Anna
Carteret and Jim Dale, theatre critic Michael Billington and Young Vic artistic director David Lan for a
panel discussion about the Young Vic. For tickets and information visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk or
020 7452 3000. Booking opens 20 July.
Tour dates
The Human Comedy is at Watford Palace Theatre from 7 --- 9 October featuring a Watford based
community chorus.
I Am the Wind will tour to Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Wiener Festwochen (the Vienna Festival); Les
Nuits de Fourvière, Lyon and Barcelona Grec Festival in 2011. For more information please go to
www.youngvic.org and www.theatredelaville-paris.com
The Young Vic’s sponsors
The Human Comedy is supported by The Foundation for Sport and the Arts, Barclays Capital and Shell
On Ageing is supported by Bupa
American Airlines is our Airline Partner
The Young Vic receives public subsidy from Arts Council England, and Lambeth and Southwark Borough
Councils.
Our corporate supporters include:
American Airlines, Barclays Capital, Bloomberg, Bupa, Cantor Fitzgerald, Clifford Chance LLP, HG
Capital, HSBC Bank plc, Ingenious Media, Land Securities plc, London Communications Agency,
London Eye, Sense Worldwide, Shell, Slaughter and May, Taylor Wessing LLP.
For further information, please contact the Young Vic’s development department on 020 7922
2810.
For further press information:
information:
Laura Myers --- Press Manager [email protected] 0207 922 2979
Simon Thompson --- Press & Marketing Assistant [email protected] 020 7922 2842
www.youngvic.org