Golden Globe and Olivier Award winner Ruth Wilson will star in the internationally acclaimed epic The Second Woman – one woman, one scene, one hundred men, one electrifying 24-hour performance. The UK premiere at the Young Vic Theatre is co-produced with LIFT, produced in association with Ruth Wilson, created by Nat Randall and Anna Breckon and presented in proud association with House of Oz, 19 to 20 May.
The UK premiere of Beneatha’s Place, written and directed by Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, is a blistering satirical drama about history, power and the cost of letting go, inspired by the ground-breaking 1950s civil rights drama A Raisin in the Sun. 27 June to 5 August, with press night 5 July.
House Father and pioneer of the London Ballroom scene Jay Jay Revlon and award-winning director Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu re-join forces with Taking Part, the Young Vic’s creative engagement department, as the worlds of ballroom and theatre come together in Sundown Kiki Reloaded, in the Maria Theatre from 31 July to 11 August. The acclaimed production will follow the first ever ball at the Young Vic as Jay Jay Revlon x Young Vic Taking Part present THE FABRIC with COLOUR VOGUE BALL on 15 April especially for the Ballroom community.
untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play, Kimber Lee’s sharply-comic play and winner of the International Award for The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2019, explores identity, invisibility and misrepresentation. A world premiere co-production with Royal Exchange Theatre, Factory International for Manchester International Festival and Headlong, directed by the Royal Exchange’s Co-Artistic Director Roy Alexander Weise, at the Young Vic from 18 September to 4 November, with press night 22 September following a Manchester opening.
Tribe is a celebration of family in all its forms, combining immersive exhibition and live performance, presented by Taking Part and Community Partner Beth Centre (Women in Prison). It will run in the Maria Theatre from 28 October to 4 November.
Five Shorts brings together five artists Andrea Ling, Annie Kershaw, Ashen Gupta, Nikhil Vyas and Zoe Templeton-Young and five creative collaborators Olivia Poglio-Nwabali, Jasmin Mandi-Ghomi, Sanjay Lago, Marek Horn and Marina Carr to create five five-minute live performances as part of the Young Vic Creators Program.
Zinnie Harris’ Further than the Furthest Thing also opens in 2023, from 9 March to 29 April, with press night 16 March. Based on real events on one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands, directed by Genesis Fellow / Young Vic Associate Director Jennifer Tang in a visionary new production starring Jenna Russell, Cyril Nri, Gerald Kyd, Archie Madekwe and Kirsty Rider with live vocals by Shapla Salique.
Kwame Kwei-Armah, Young Vic Theatre Artistic Director, says: “I’m delighted to announce our upcoming shows in the Spring to Autumn 2023 programme at the Young Vic Theatre; a continuation of works about power, revolution and disruption. We are living in revolutionary times where both beauty and hardship lie in the constancy of change and I believe that one of the best guides to help steer us through is art, to enable us to interrogate, to disrupt and to inspire.
“Further than the Furthest Thing explores the impact of globalisation on communities and the need for a climate revolution; The Second Woman challenges power dynamics and defies our expectation of the theatrical artform, revolutionising how we tell stories and push beyond the boundaries of performance through epic event theatre; Beneatha’s Place sits in the revolutionary time of the first wave of independence across Africa, and the battles in modern day academia around whose histories are deemed valid, by whom and when; untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play speaks to the revolution of representation that is happening and must continue in the theatre industry, ensuring this stays at the centre of the Young Vic’s work.
“This theme runs right through to our space at the Young Vic and the revolution inside our own four walls. The Young Vic’s ambitions to be an anti-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary house of art where all our communities are welcomed and can see themselves is brilliantly embodied through Taking Part’s THE FABRIC with COLOUR VOGUE BALL, Sundown Kiki Reloaded, and Tribe. We are proud to create a space for and with the ballroom community in our theatre, providing a platform where our young people and the ballroom community can joyously express themselves.
“At the Young Vic we are driven by bold innovation and the desire to entertain, challenge and captivate audiences in London, across the UK and internationally. These works speak to and inform our approach and we can’t wait to showcase them on our stages.”