New Young Vic short film launched today – Bed Trick, inspired by The Changeling

Sinead Matthews in Bed Trick, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins

Joe Hill-Gibbins, director of our sold-out hit productions of The Changeling, has written and directed a new short film inspired by the play.  Watch it now and read more from Joe in The Guardian about his experience.

Check out our other short films, coproduced with The Guardian, here.

Plus see behind the scenes photos on Facebook!

Bed Trick is sponsored by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg supports digital innovation at the Young Vic.

Theatre Club

There are many things I am going to miss about my job while I am on maternity leave. Part of the problem is I don’t just see it as a job. It is a series of projects with wonderful, warm, diverse people that have a direct impact of my life and the way I think. Having a baby seems to be just another one. Except it won’t culminate in an evaluation. I suspect there will be just as much tea and cake, though.

One of the projects I will miss the most is Theatre Club. It’s my other baby. The project I feel the most emotionally connected to and completely inspired by. The idea for Theatre Club came to me last September when I was chatting to one of my Two Boroughs members who had come to see Three Sisters. She only ever applies for one ticket, and comes and leaves alone. She has a great time and she enjoys her time here, but it struck me that I take the opportunity to discuss and argue and rage for granted. I work in a theatre. A lot of my friends are theatre makers. My colleagues go to see the plays I go to see, and there is a whole community around me built around a shared, collective experience. Simply, I always have someone to talk to.

In my work here I am continuously trying to identify, and break down, barriers to participation in the arts. Many are obvious:  lack of money, feeling you are the wrong age, the wrong ethnicity, the wrong gender, simply a lack of invitation. A lack of language – not of basic understanding of English, but theatrical and artistic literacy, is not something we regularly, or readily, address in participation. How do you discuss what you have seen if you do not have the words? Or anyone to use those words with? So I started Theatre Club. The premise is simple. It is run along much the same lines as a book club – you read a book in your own time at your own speed, you don’t close it and start a discussion. So Theatre Club is held after all of my tickets have been used, on a different evening. The invite is to anyone who has come and seen the show on a Two Boroughs free ticket. The event is also free, of course. It needed to feel welcoming – my role is basically host – so I give away wine, juice, and nibbles (at Christmas there were a lot of mince pies…).

And there is a someone to lead the discussions. One of the most important tenets of the group is that no one involved in the artistic process of the show under discussion is allowed in. No one who represents the Young Vic (apart from me) is allowed in. The director is persona non grata. It needs to be a space where people are comfortable giving their opinion without fear of offence or judgment. So I needed an outsider, not just to be a neutral voice, but a guiding one, who would help us to articulate our thoughts and feelings. I approached Maddy Costa for this role on the basis of her work with theatre makers, in particular Chris Goode and his Transform project at West Yorkshire Playhouse. She seemed to have an openness in her writing and engagement that suggested she would be ideal for my group. She was, and she has been the discussion leader ever since, even starting Theatre Club (albeit with audience members who have paid for their tickets) at the Battersea Arts centre recently. My baby is growing up.

What has amazed me the most is the response we have had from Two Boroughs members. This started as an idea I wasn’t sure anyone else would be interested in, and has grown into hundreds of people who want to join in our evenings. Before we even began I had emails and letters: ‘This is something I’ve ALWAYS wanted so – HOORAY.’ After we were up and running I had more: ‘You’re dead right about how much fun the discussion group was.  Everyone has an opinion; theatre buffs or not.  I didn’t have much to say myself but it’s nice to hear other peoples thoughts on a show.’ And during the evenings themselves people asked why we were holding them, what we had to gain. I asked them what they thought about this question. The responses amazed me again: ‘I didn’t have anyone to discuss it with so this is really nice,’ ‘I came to find out what I missed,’ ‘…not to be laughed at, a nice kind environment to have an opinion in,’ ‘I came to see if I am the only person to have these opinions,’ ‘It’s a gift to the people of Lambeth and Southwark to talk about art.’

I don’t see it as a gift to them. It is a gift to us here in the theatre – to see how much and in what way people are engaged and enlivened by an opportunity to be seen and heard. It’s going to be a tricky project to miss but I am leaving it in capable hands. I just can’t wait to be back.

Lily Einhorn, Two Boroughs Project Manager

A Taking Part knees-up!

Drumtastic

We like a good knees-up in Taking Part. Who doesn’t? So what better way to celebrate the end of a project than with a party! The Taking Part department have spent the last four months working on a Parallel production to run alongside the main house production of Feast. Where Feast took as its inspiration Yoruba and the diaspora of Nigerian people, we inverted the idea, looking at our cast of local Lambeth and Southwark people and asking how we all ended up in the area.  Essentially – who are we are where have we come from? The outcome was a beautiful salad bowl of people, all mixed up in the same two boroughs, different but together. The resulting show, Flashes, was devised and written from the weird, wild and wonderful stories that the participants brought to the room. Threads were woven together in a giant tapestry of movement, colour and story as we were treated to a show in which young people and elder people and everyone in between from a diversity of backgrounds acted together on stage.

And so to our knees up. To celebrate the show, to celebrate our local community, to welcome our friends and neighbours to the theatre, we threw open our doors on a Sunday, got in stall holders and Nigerian food, made some drinks, and booked some bands. The fantastic Cosmic Child played as we ate, drank and talked, and then Drumtastic put on a foot-stomping show on the set of Flashes. As the band played and people jumped up to dance and clap, we looked around us, at the people of different ages, from different community groups, all listening and laughing together. They are our community, and we love ‘em!

Lily Einhorn is our Two Boroughs Projects Managers.

Flashes

Three Sisters trailer sneak peek #2

Today we recorded a voiceover with William Houston, who plays Vershinin, for our  Three Sisters trailer, produced by Dusthouse.  We can’t wait to show you the trailer… coming in just a few days!

William Houston, who plays Vershinin in Three Sisters at the Young Vic, records a voiceover for the trailer

Three Sisters trailer sneak peek

We’re working with Dusthouse on an amazing trailer for Three Sisters.  Just thought we would share a few photos from the shoot in Dalston.  Can’t wait to show you the trailer…

Our photographer Johan Persson shoots the three sisters!

Mariah Gale and Vanessa Kirby during the Three Sisters photo shoot

Gala Gordon on location filming the trailer for Three Sisters

11 Questions with the Cast of The Suit – Rikki Henry

Rikki Henry is the assistant director of and appears onstage in The Suit.

What is your favourite play (either seen, read or worked on)?

Today it’s Uncle Vanya, tomorrow it’s probably Titus Andronicus, day after who knows.

What is your favourite midnight snack?

Ice cream. Rum with a bit of raisin.

What is your favourite word?

Amapotchefstroom. It’s in The Suit.

Proudest moment?

Learning to play a bit of Maid With The Flaxen Hair.

Favourite city?

London.

If days were 28 hours long, what would you do with the 4 extra hours?

Watch French cinema, it’s all I seem to be doing at the moment.

If you could be in a room full of any one thing, what would it be?

Man Ray originals.

Dogs or cats?

Dogs that look like cats. Not Chihuahuas.

What is your favourite song?

At the moment, Cinematic Orchestra: To Build a Home.

If you could have been born in any era, which would it be and why?

The 60s.

If you could have any one supernatural power (flying, being invisible), which would you choose and why?

Telepathy. I have plans of world domination.

The Suit must close on 16 June. Book your tickets here.

Can Themba and The Suit

1955 Sophiatown
Photo courtesy of Jurgen Schadeberg
www.jurgenschadeberg.com

“Realism can be star-scattering, even if you have lived your whole unthinking life in reality. Especially in Sophiatown these days, where it can come with the sudden crash of a flying brick on the back of your head.”

Can Themba, Requiem for Sophiatown

Johannesburg in the 1950s. Against a backdrop of segregation, lawlessness, poverty, violence and racism stood Sophiatown. Surging with creativity, resourcefulness and crime, Sophiatown was a legendary black cultural hub that gave birth to some of South Africa’s most influential writers, musicians, politicians and artists – including Can Themba. It is the township in which Themba wrote his best work and in which The Suit is set.

The cultural renaissance of Sophiatown during the 1950s has been compared to that of Harlem in the 1920s. It was a place of contradiction; a heady mix of liquor and literature, drugs and journalism, music and murder, embodying both the best and the worst of South African culture. Themba was the product of a cultural renaissance and, at the same time, an atrocious abuse of human rights.

Born in 1928 near Pretoria, Can Themba gained an English degree and a teaching diploma. After moving to Sophiatown and winning a short story competition, Drum became Themba’s second family. The world-famous crusading black magazine of the fifties, Drum was a record of naivety, optimism, frustration, defiance, courage, dancing, drink, jazz, gangsters, exile and death. A way to vent frustrations and to celebrate successes, Drum changed the language with which black people were represented and ushered in a new era of South African literature.

Steeped in this culture Themba was dubbed ‘the shebeen intellectual’. The South African equivalent of an American speakeasy, the shebeens were central to Sophiatown’s existence – illegal drinking holes where the urban black community came to laugh, cry, swap stories, listen to music and drink. This, by all accounts, Can Themba did rather too well. Themba’s most frequented shebeen, where he was free to speak his mind about South African politics, became known as the House of Truth.

The government were fully aware of Sophiatown’s powerful influence. During the 1960s the township was destroyed and its inhabitants relocated. Themba fled to Swaziland and became increasingly isolated. The South African government claimed that his works were communist and they were outlawed. His alcohol-related death soon followed, likened by many friends to a slow suicide.

An alcoholic and an intellectual, Themba embodied the paradoxes of Sophiatown. He wrote at an intensely political time, but his work was rarely politically intense. As Themba wrote, the magic of Sophiatown was that: “It is different and itself. You don’t just find your place here, you make it and you find yourself.”

The Suit runs until 16 June.  Tickets available at youngvic.org.

Jurgen Schadeberg, known as the father of South African photography, photographed Can Themba and the people of Sophiatown in the 1950s. He graciously allowed the Young Vic to use his images for The Suit programme. More of his work can be viewed at www.jurgenschadeberg.com.

11 Questions with the Cast of The Suit – Nonhlanhla Kheswa

Nonhlanhla Kheswa plays Matilda in The Suit.

What is your favourite play (either seen, read or worked on)?

The Suit, lol…. The Zulu directed by Mbongeni Ngema

What is your favourite midnight snack?

I don’t really have a favourite midnight snack but I do like freeze dried pineapple chips.

What is your favourite word?

Truth

What are you most passionate about?

People, cooking, my family and legs, toned legs!

If days were 28 hours long, what would you do with the 4 extra hours?

Get some more sleep or spend them in a spa.

If you could be in a room full of any one thing, what would it be?

People.

Favourite holiday you’ve ever been on?

Eastern Cape with my family in South Africa for a meditation retreat and to seek fortune… ha!

Favourite city and why?

NYC! Why not?

What is your favourite song?

My Way by Nina Simone (for now), but I have very many favourites.

If you could have been born in any era, which would it be and why?

It would be in Kenya, I’ve always thought the Masai are beautiful.

If you could have any one supernatural power (flying, being invisible), which would you choose and why?

To be able to snap a finger and appear wherever I want to be, whenever and with whomever.

The Suit is at the Young Vic until 16 June. Book your tickets here.

11 Questions with the Cast of Mad About the Boy

Mad About the Boy starts its Young Vic run tonight! We caught up with cast member Simon Darwen and asked him a few questions…

What is your favourite play (either seen, read or worked on)?

Favourite play- Hamlet

Favourite play seen- Peer Gynt. Berliner Ensemble 2003. Directed by Peter Zadek

Favourite play read- Faces in the Crowd by Leo Butler

Favourite play worked on- This one and The Merchant of Venice for the RSC directed by Tim Carrol.

What is your favourite midnight snack?

A Scotch Egg with Branston Pickle on the side.

What is your favourite word?

Fecund

Proudest moment?

Walking out on stage for the RSC for the first time.

If days were 28 hours long, what would you do with the 4 extra hours?

Do I get another meal with those 4 hours…?

If you could be in a room full of any one thing, what would it be?

‘The Saturdays’

Favourite holiday you’ve ever been on?

Sylvan Lake, Alberta Canada.

Favourite city and why?

London. Just pips New York. It’s home and never ceases to amaze me.

What is your favourite song?

A rather rude Luton Town song about Tony Thorpes mum.

If you could have been born in any era, which would it be and why?

Bit contrived but the 1600s. Shakespearean London would have been a great time. (Apart from the low life expectancy and basically living in filth.)

If you could have any one supernatural power (flying, being invisible), which would you choose and why?

To be able to go back in time maybe…? There’s a few people I would love to have a look at.

Mad About the Boy is at the Young Vic 6 – 16 June. Book your tickets here.

Rikki Henry and The Suit in Paris

Rikki Henry went to Paris to assistant direct on The Suit – and wound up featured on stage in the production! We sat down with Rikki to chat about his experience…

Tell us about your background – when did you first get involved with theatre? And how did you come to work with the Young Vic?

I studied Film Production at the University for the Creative Arts. I went on to do Young Vic director training in 2008, then was given to the opportunity to work on other shows and projects.

What has it been like working with Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne in Paris?

An adventure.

Had you seen any of Peter Brook’s work before?

I saw Fragments when it came to the Young Vic.

Has the rehearsal period been different from rehearsing for a play in the UK?

Yes. It is not quite a process you learn, but one you live. Sounds pretentious (sorry!).

Is this the first musical you’ve worked on? Has working on a musical been any different from working on a straight play?
The idea I think was actually not to make a musical but to make a piece of work with music, so that it is like speaking, but better.

Walk us through a day in the life of an Assistant Director – what is a typical day for you like when you’re rehearsing?

There is often a lot of working and reworking of elements in the play. So we start of just working thing out. I wouldn’t say it has a typical stance, it just haofrd work, a process  trying to find magic. Sometimes we do exercises, some times not, sometimes it one actor working at a time on music, or character etc..

What do you like most about The Suit?

Its heart. The emotional colours that have been found. Like the introduction of classical music.

Did you know about Can Themba before you worked on The Suit? What have you learned about his life and work?

I was told to do some research on him and his work before I arrived, I read as much as I could about him. He’s a great writer. A lot of love and death.

The Suit begins Monday the 21st of May at the Young Vic, and tickets start at £10.  Learn more about the show and book here.