Theatre News

Young Vic announces reopening season with Ben Okri, James Graham and Jessica Siân

The season commences in July

Alex Wood

Alex Wood

| London |

6 May 2021

The Young Vic
The Young Vic
© Philip Vile

The Young Vic has revealed its 2021 plans, beginning in July.

Opening the season will be Booker-winner Ben Okri's stage adaptation of the 4,000-year-old Egyptian poem of Sinuhe the Warrior King, titled Changing Destiny. Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah with design by fabled architest David Adjaye and Adjaye Associates, the piece plays from 9 July to 21 August.

The piece also has lighting design by Jackie Shemesh, sound design by XANA, projection design by Duncan McLean, composition by Tunde Jegede and movement direction by Rachael Nanyonjo. Cast is to be announced.

Following this will be a play developed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Nina Segal alongside artificial intelligence (AI), titled, AI. The writers will work with a deep-learning system to generate dialogue, which will then be presented to audiences. It is created by Genesis Fellow and YV associate director Jennifer Tang, and plays from 23 to 25 August.

After this, the eagerly anticipated revival of Hamlet, led by Cush Jumbo, will play from 25 September to 13 November. Directed by Jumbo's long-time collaborator Greg Hersov, the show has set and costume design by Anna Fleischle, lighting design by Aideen Malone, sound design by Emma Laxton, video design by Nina Dunn, movement direction by Lucy Hind, casting by Sophie Holland CDG, voice and text by Barbara Houseman and fight direction by Kev McCurdy.

Headlong will then co-produce James Graham's brand-new play Best of Enemies, directed by Jeremy Herrin and inspired by a documentary by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon. The show follows the real-life story of a battle between two figures in '60s America – William F Buckley Jr and Gore Vidal – a precursor for the modern age of television news.

The production will have design by Bunny Christie, lighting design by Paule Constable, video design by Luke Halls and casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG. It plays from 2 December to 22 January 2022.

This summer the venue also present Jessica Siân's Klippies, directed by Diyan Zora, in the Maria Theatre. The piece follows the relationship between two South African girls.

The venue has also revealed plans to live-stream some of its shows, with audiences actually able to take control and view the show from different angles as they please (almost like moving seats in an auditorium).

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