Street Scene by Kurt Weill, directed by John Fulljames
Main House, 17 July – 22 July
A co-production with The Opera Group and Watford Palace Theatre
Street Scene won the first ever Tony Award for Weill’s
music. It was adapted by Elmer Rice from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning
play and the lyrics are by the poet of Harlem, Langston Hughes.
The show – the first UK production in 20 years – will have
a mass ensemble company made up of fifteen singers drawn from the
worlds of opera and musical theatre, a chorus of fifty, a chamber
orchestra of thirty and a dog!
Set in a New York tenement building over a long hot summer's day and
night, Street Scene is a meeting of Broadway musical and American
opera. It incorporates an array of show tunes, arias, blues, jazz
and spirituals in a musical melting pot that captures the diversity
of working class New York in 1947.
Festa! a community show inspired by Brazil’s Festa
Junina
Main House, 16 August (2 performances)
Fragments by Samuel Beckett, directed by Peter Brook
Main House, 27 Aug – 13 Sept
A Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord/Young Vic co-production
Fragments brings together five short pieces by Samuel Beckett:
Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II,
Neither and Come and Go.
This production began at the Young VicMaria Studio last year (see
our review) and then toured
nationally and internationally. Marcello Magni and Kathryn Hunter
remain in the cast and are joined by Khalifa Natour. Peter Brook directs.
In the Red and Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney,
directed by Walter Meierjohann
Main House, 02 Oct – 08 Nov
European premiere
In the Red and Brown Water is the first of the Brothers/Sisters
trilogy from the thrilling young playwright whose lyrical storytelling
brought audiences to their feet in London and New York with his debut
play The Brothers Size.
Oya is a star athlete. She never feels so right as when she’s
running. As a girl she has to choose between following her dream and
caring for her sick mother. As a woman she is torn between two men
and is desperate to bear a child.
This is a story of early womanhood, drawing on a rich tapestry of
literature from the earthy tones of Lorca’s Yerma to the
vibrant storytelling tradition of West African folklore. Stories and
characters familiar from The Brothers Size resonate through
the play as McCraney’s poetry weaves seamlessly into the street
talk of pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed
by Bijan Sheibani
The Maria, 08 Oct – 08 Nov
A revival of last year's production
but with a different cast which includes Daniel Francis, Tunji Kasim
and Anthony Welsh.
You Can See the Hills written and directed by Matthew
Dunster
The Clare, 14 – 18 October
A Royal Exchange Theatre Production
Young Vic associate director Matthew Dunster will direct his pungent
and hilarious new play in the Clare following a debut run at the Royal
Exchange Theatre, Manchester this autumn.
Sex, fury, violence, chatting back, school, your mum and dad –
and a nightmare of a paper round!
Amazônia written and directed by Pedro Cardoso
and Paul Heritage
Main House, 27 Nov – 24 Jan
This year the Young Vic celebrates Christmas Brazilian style. Inspired
by the stories and culture of the rainforest, Amazônia
is another departure from traditional seasonal fare. An adventure
for everyone age 7 and up.
Amazônia is written and directed by Paul Heritage (AfroReggae)
and Brazil's great comic actor Pedro Cardoso, who will also be in
the cast. It will be designed by Gringo Cardia, (AfroReggae, Cirque
du Soleil) and will feature both Brazilian and British actors.
Twin boys take refuge in a tree in the rainforest and a spirit casts
a spell over all who pass beneath its branches.
Years later a troupe of dancers rehearses in the forest. Confusion
erupts as friends and enemies change bodies, transformed by the enchanted
tree. The world looks different through another pair of eyes.
