Actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith will star at the Young Vic for the fifth time when he leads the cast of Yoruba epic Feast in the new year.
The actor, who previously appeared in productions including The Changeling, A Respectable Wedding and Joe Turner’s Come And Gone, is to play trickster god Esu in the tale of three sisters divided at a crossroads and forced to journey from 18th century Nigeria, through Brazil, Cuba and the USA to 2013 London.
He is joined in the Rufus Norris-directed production by Olivier Award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni, whose credits include Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Breakfast With Mugabe and Much Ado About Nothing, Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Michelle Asante, Daniel Cerqueira and Louis Mahoney.
The piece, which explores the Yoruba culture, is written by a quintet of playwrights, the British Gbolahan Obisesan, American Tanya Barfield, Nigerian Rotimi Babatunde, Brazilian Marcos Barbosa and Cuban Yunior García Aguilera.
The international show, which runs from 25 January at the Waterloo venue, will also feature dancers Alexander Varona (Russell Maliphant Company) and Ira Mandela Siobhan (DV8) performing to live music.
The co-production with the Royal Court opens an exciting 2013 at the Young Vic that also includes the return of A Doll’s House and Hattie Morahan’s Evening Standard Theatre Award-winning performance in the lead role.