Young Vic Archives - North West End UK

22May

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

Passing Strange – Young Vic

If there was a list of stories that amaze and bewilder you, and make you feel a tad regretful of the decisions you made as a teenager that led you to your adult-self, Passing Strange would certainly make the cut. Originally directed by Annie Dorsen, the Tony Award-winning rock musical from Broadway makes its premiere on European soil at the Young Vic, burning the stage with electrifying music, wild performances, and a bold and quintessential coming-of-stage story. Passing Strange follows the narrative of Youth (Keenan Munn-Francis) who lives with his mother in a comfortable, laid-back, Churchish black household in LA in the seventies, where he is coaxed to attend the Church. While he fails to find God, he certainly discovers his tribe and a chance at making music, the only way he seems ...

28Feb

By Louise PennNo Comments

London

Nachtland – Young Vic

This play by Marius von Mayenberg presented in a translation by Maja Zade sells itself as “a jagged new satire” and is set in modern-day Germany. Siblings Nicola (Dorothea Myar-Bennett) and Philipp (a nervously downtrodden John Heffernan) are clearing out their late father's house. Curiously most of his goods are being cleared from the stage as the audience file in, leaving one item wrapped in brown paper, found in the attic. It’s a painting of a church, a simple piece, but the signature is of the most interest. Is it indeed a painting by Hitler, and if so how did it find its way here? There is plenty of mileage here for black humour or satire, but the pacing feels off and some segues are either head-scratching (Nicola’s husband Fabian (Gunnar Cauthery)’s behaviour takes ...

6Jul

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Beneatha’s Place – Young Vic

Artistic Director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei-Armah writes and directs a new piece, 'Beneatha's Place', following a young black American woman, Beneatha (Cherrelle Skeete), who marries her professor Joseph Asagai (Zackary Momoh) and moves to Nigeria with him to start their new life together. The first act follows their first day moving into a white neighborhood; visitors from Joseph's childhood bring warnings of growing political pressures that put him at risk. Beneatha, overwhelmed by this new life and unaware of the politics, must catch up on how to tackle racism differently here than how she would in America. The second act brings us further into the future, with Beneatha now a Dean of an Ivy League university, bringing her employees back to this home in Nigeria to discuss the new prop...

Further than the Furthest Thing – Young Vic

18Mar

By Akshay RahejaNo Comments

London

Further than the Furthest Thing – Young Vic

Further than the Furthest Thing is a play in two acts by the Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris, set in 1961 on a remote island based loosely on Tristan da Cunha in the first act and in an industry in England in the second act. The play opens with Bill Laverello, played by Cyril Nri, swimming in the volcano's lake, which dominates the island; he leaves the water as tremors rise. The play then moves to Mill Laverello, played by Jenna Russell, where Francis Swain, played by Archie Madekwe, the nephew of Mill and Bill, meets Mill, having left the island for roughly a year. Francis reveals that he has invited Mr Hansen, a factory owner he introduces as his friend, to the island. The play is staged in an arena with seating that looks like marble slabs transporting us to a remote island awa...

25Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

The Collaboration – Young Vic

The thrill and danger of collaborating two differing artists is a risk. However, the result was intimate, powerful and devastating at times. You may never see the artist, only their work in which you project your own stories, but to see them firsthand on what inspires them to share such vulnerable images from their mind put onto a canvas, it’s a humbling experience. It’s without saying that this cast are masters at their craft. There was such a lack of ego between these actors, they gave themselves up completely to each other and it was almost quite terrifying how accurate the pair were to the artists. Jeremy Pope truly had snatched the breath out of everyone’s lungs in that theatre as he spins into whirlwinds of hysteria, too frightened to make a sound in case we were detrimental to hi...

20Jan

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Conundrum – Young Vic

Conundrum, written and directed by Paul Anthony Morris is an intimate and confronting piece that follows a person discovering the hidden elements of their own trauma and the journey to forgive oneself for the cycle of abuse brought onto them from society. Portrayed through movement and text, we watch how the trauma manifests itself pushing from inside mind, to grow throughout the body and into the space around them. We watch a person very comfortably enter the stage with boxes in hand in order to sort out the mess in the room, to then crumble by the memories and collapse with the overwhelming pressure of things that quite simply didn’t exist for certain others around him. Words, written all over the stage floor, chalk in hand and a mind that is more intelligent than most, this character...

17Dec

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Best of Enemies – Young Vic

Travelling back to 1968, we are thrown of where to look. Television screens dotted in all directors, visual designs bringing the floor to life and a sudden influx of the famous figures who used to run America’s screens. This incredibly insightful, heated performance of America’s leading news channels battling out to pull in the most viewers, follows the ABC network trying out a new form of entertainment: putting opposite political views together and discussing. Where this may be a very popular and everyday occurrence for this day and age, we see how this now, almost obsessive form of television was brought to life. In particular we follow William F Buckley, a conservative popular figure battle it out with the Liberal, ‘Gore Vidal’ as they discuss the upcoming election. Through these cun...

5Oct

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

London

Hamlet – Young Vic

Cush Jumbo is the big draw in this production of Shakespeare’s classic play, whipping up a storm as the tempestuous Prince of Elsinore. Cross gender, or gender blind, casting of this legendary protagonist is not a new fad, indeed the first ‘female’ Hamlet graced a London stage in 1796 - when Elizabeth Powell took on the role. There is also a 12th century Danish legend that states that he was in fact a she, and that Hamlet’s gender had been hidden by their mother to protect their claim to the throne. In Greg Hersov’s production Jumbo’s ‘unmanly grief’ is the undoing of Elsinore as Hersov’s edited text (which still runs at over three hours) aims for a mystery thriller flow to bring the piece alive for a contemporary audience. At its most successful the performance is an absolut...

1Aug

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Changing Destiny – Young Vic

As I enter the Main House Theatre at the Young Vic, there is a strange sense of ‘community’ that starts building up inside me. Perhaps it’s the in-the-round seating that is oddly reminiscent of being gathered around a campfire or simply, the lively atmosphere full of hushed conversations and exchanges as we return to full capacity audiences in the theatres. Tonight, The Young Vic mounts a new age retelling of a 4000-year-old poem from ancient Egyptian literature, based on the adventures of warrior king Sinuhe. Written by Ben Okri and directed by Young Vic’s artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah, Changing Destiny is a wonderfully crafted ode to resilience, identity and belonging that not only breathes fresh life into the literature that inspired it, but also raises larger questions around the ...

The Mountaintop – Royal Exchange Theatre

11Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

The Mountaintop – Royal Exchange Theatre

As we continue with closed theatre doors, the Royal Exchange Theatre has stepped forward with a reading of an Olivier Award winning play that was written by Katori Hall. Directed in 2016 at the Young Vic, by the current Co-Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Roy Alexander Weise; this play has been reprised with its original cast, to perform a reading to communicate the plays important message, to assist in igniting community spirit. In partnership with Desara Productions and introduced by Katori Hall; the two artists perform the play from their homes. For those who have been watching plays at home for the last few weeks, it is a familiar sight to see actors framed by the computer screen. In this case there is a background of a motel room to give the mind some e...