David Lan, Artistic Director of the Young Vic theatre, has announced the Waterloo venue’s new season, which will feature new adaptations of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Chekhov’s Three Sisters.
Other highlights include Nathaniel Martello-White’s Blackta, the story of a black man trying to make it in the acting world, and Gbolahan Obisesan’s Mad About The Boy, a timely examination of what it means to be a man in today’s society.
From 29 June (press night 9 July) the main house will hold Simon Stephens’s new version of the Ibsen classic A Doll’s House, which will be directed by Carrie Cracknell, former Artistic Director of the Gate theatre. The updated play, which originally opened in 1879 causing controversy due to its radical critique of domestic relationships, follows the life of housewife Nora whose seemingly perfect life is revealed to be teeming with lies and delusion.
Following A Doll’s House is another updated classic, Three Sisters (8 September to 13 October), which will be directed by Benedict Andrews whose previous production of The Return Of Ulysses delighted audiences at the Young Vic in 2011. The Australian director, who will work with Cate Blanchett in the highly anticipated Big And Small (Gross Und Klein) at the Barbican theatre in April, will work alongside the renowned German designer Johannes Schütz in the adaptation of Chekhov’s play.
In the venue’s Maria space, Mad About The Boy will kick start the season on 6 June, following a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2011. Obisesan, who directed Sus at the venue in 2012, turned his hand to writing to present this play about a teenage boy who fights to save his reputation as he’s torn between the influence of his family, his friends and his school. The drama, which also plays at the Unicorn theatre and the Bush theatre this May, is directed by Ria Parry.
Blackta will be directed by Lan in the Clare studio between 26 October and 17 November. Blackta is the first play by talented new writer Martello-White who is best known for his acting career, which spans Joe Turner’s Come And Gone and The Brothers Size at the Young Vic, as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, City Madame, Marat/Sade (RSC), Innocence (Arcola) and Oxford Street (Royal Court).
Lan, who directed Martello-White in Joe Turner’s Come And Gone and The Brothers Size, said he was “delighted to be directing his hilariously bitter riff on race”.
KS