Cat in Hat Moves to Young Vic with Bondy & Shaw
Katie Mitchell’s upcoming adaptation of Dr Seuss’s popular children’s story The Cat in the Hat will transfer to the Young Vic for six weeks following its already nearly sold-out premiere season at the National’s Cottesloe Theatre this Christmas.
The transfer is one of the highlights in the Young Vic’s newly announced spring 2010 season, which will also see the return of renowned European director Luc Bondy, a new Palestinian play and the latest directorial offering from actress Fiona Shaw as part of the third annual season of collaborations between the Young Vic and English National Opera.
In the main house
The spring season opens in the Young Vic’s main house with I Am Yusuf and This is My Brother, written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, whose Alive from Palestine was seen at the Young Vic in 2003. Born in Galilee to an Arab father and a Jewish mother, the author’s new play, co-produced with Palestinian theatre company Shiber-Hur, is set in January 1948 as war begins in Palestine. Ali longs for Nada, whose father won’t let them marry. His disabled brother Yusuf sees events unfold. British soldier Rufus is homesick for Sheffield.
I Am Yusuf and This is My Brother, which runs from 21 January to 6 February 2010 (previews from 19 January), is followed by Sweet Nothings, a new version of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1895 tragedy Libelei adapted by Blackbird author David Harrower and directed by Luc Bondy. It’s on from 4 March to 10 April 2010 (previews from 25 February).
A young man, who has had an affair with a married woman, first with a girl at a party. Life seems full of joy – until the doorbell rings and the married woman’s husband enters the room. Chronicler of Vienna, Schnitzler’s other plays included La Ronde (the inspiration for David Hare’s play The Blue Room) and Traumnovelle (Dream Story) (the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut).
The season’s final main house offering will be Fiona Shaw’s ENO/Young Vic co-production of Hans Werner Henze’s opera Elegy for Young Lovers, running from 24 April to 8 May 2010. Premiered in 1961 and revised in 1986, the piece has a libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman and revolves around a poet who devours people to nourish his art and ego.
In the Maria studio
Meanwhile, following its repertory run from 16 December 2009 (previews from 11 December) to 18 January 2010 in the NT Cottesloe, Katie Mitchell’s The Cat in the Hat will have a straight run from 28 January to 13 March 2010 at the Young Vic’s Maria studio. Based on the much-loved 1957 children’s book by Dr Seuss about the antics of a mischievous cat, played by Angus Wright, the stage version is aimed at an audience of 3 to 6-year-olds. It’s adapted by Mitchell and designed by Vicki Mortimer.
