Casting is announced today for the UK premiere of Nachtland, a jagged new satire by Marius von Mayenburg, translated by Maja Zade, directed by Tony Award-winning director Patrick Marber. It will run in the Young Vic Theatre Main House from 20 February to 20 April 2024 with press night on 27 February. Tickets are available at www.youngvic.org
BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress, writer and director Romola Garai (Atonement, The Hour, Queen Anne) will play Nicola; Olivier, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated actress Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, Cabaret, Absolutely Fabulous) will play Evamaria; John Heffernan (Much Ado About Nothing, Edward II, Dracula) plays Philipp, Angus Wright (Flowers, Peep Show, Oresteia) plays Kahl; and Jenna Augen (Leopoldstadt, Bad Jews, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery) plays Judith. Further casting will be announced in due course.
Nachtland* is a mordant satire about marriage, legacy, and the rise of the new right, directed by Patrick Marber (Closer, Travesties, Don Juan in Soho, Dealer’s Choice) who recently received the 2023 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play for Leopoldstadt.
Modern day Germany. Nicola and Philipp argue as they clear out their late father’s house. When they find an old painting stashed in the attic, things get savage. The painting is a quaint street scene from 1920s Vienna; the work of a failed artist who abandoned his original vocation for Nazism… Nicola wants to sell it. Philipp wants to keep it. His wife Judith wants to burn it.
*Nachtland is an invented German word. It suggests a place of eternal darkness
Marius von Mayenburg is one of Germany’s foremost playwrights whose plays include Fireface, Plastic and The Ugly One.
Maja Zade’s previous translations include works by Lars von Trier, Roland Schimmelpfennig and Lars Norén.
Design is by Anna Fleischle, lighting design by Richard Howell, composition and sound design by Adam Cork, movement direction by EJ Boyle, casting by Amy Ball CDG.
More information can be found here