We have just announced 2 exciting new shows for 2017! Joe Hill-Gibbins returns to the Young Vic with a dark production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream designed by Johannes Schütz. And See Me Now shares the true stories of sex workers - a collaboration between Young Vic, Look Left Look Right and HighTide.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (17 Feb - 1 Apr 2017)
Joe Hill-Gibbins returns to the Young Vic with a thrillingly nightmarish take on Shakespeare’s Dream.
The dark heart of Titania and Oberon’s domain is explored as Joe Hill-Gibbins returns to the Young Vic’s Main House stage with a bold new production. In a world of grotesque transformations and sexual provocation, repressed conflicts between young lovers and their parents are released. There’s no magic in this place – manipulation leads to complications and desire becomes dangerous.
Design and light for A Midsummer Night’s Dream is by Johannes Schütz, with costumes by Michaela Barth, sound by Paul Arditti, movement by Jenny Ogilvie and dramaturgy by Zoë Svendsen.
Joe Hill-Gibbins follows his Measure for Measure with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other credits at the Young Vic include: The Changeling (The Maria , Main House), The Glass Menagerie, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and A Respectable Wedding. Joe was Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic between 2010 and 2012. Other theatre credits include: Little Revolution (Almeida); Edward II (National Theatre); The Village Bike (Royal Court); and The Girlfriend Experience (Young Vic and Royal Court / Drum Theatre Plymouth). His opera credits include Powder Her Face (ENO).
Internationally acclaimed set designer Johannes Schütz returns to the Young Vic theatre after Three Sisters in 2012. His other theatre credits include: The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Theatre), Big and Small (Barbican); On the Chimborazo (Münich Kammerspiele); Mama and the Whore (Schauspielhaus Bochum); Katherine of Heilbronn, Summer Folk (Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, In the Greifswald Street (Deutsches Theater Berlin); Schiff Der Träume, Hysteria and Macbeth (Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus). Johannes also worked on numerous productions for the Salzburg Festival and Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. His publications include: Stages 2000-2007 and Johannes Schütz: Models & Interviews 2002-2015. His opera credits include: Orpheus and Eurydice and Ariadne on Naxos, works by Brecht and Schiller in Bochum and Mainz.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare runs 17 February – 1 April 2017 in the Young Vic’s Main House. It is directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins with design and light by Johannes Schütz, costumes by Michaela Barth, sound by Paul Arditti, movement by Jenny Ogilvie and dramaturgy by Zoë Svendsen.
See Me Now (11 Feb – 4 Mar 2017)
Photo by Damien Frost A new Young Vic, Look Left Look Right and HighTide co-production, See Me Now is created and performed by those who have been, or currently are sex workers.
Based on workshops and testimony given by the performers, writer Molly Taylor weaves together a series of moving and funny true stories in a production directed by Mimi Poskitt.
Neither victims nor villains but everything in between, See Me Now challenges the stereotypes and stigma around sex workers and celebrates the group of male, female and transgender performers who share their stories on stage.
Director Mimi Poskitt said: “Sex workers are one of the most marginalised groups in the world. This project was born out of wanting to work with and understand more about who sex workers are. The industry is multi-faceted, often invisible, yet shrouded in controversy. Over the past year we have been fortunate enough to work with an awesome group of performers who have shared their own deeply personal histories. They are writers, teachers, musicians, cleaners, parents; they work in IT, in public services. By no means definitive, what they are creating reflects a kaleidoscope of life experiences; some touching, some tough, some hilarious.”
A version of See Me Now was originally performed as part of The Brolly Project in August 2015, a Young Vic Taking Part project. The team worked closely with outreach projects across London to find a company of participants who have, or do work in the sex industry. The aim was to make an original performance created by the company, formed by whatever they chose to share. A reading of The Brolly Project took place in September as part of the 2016 HighTide Festival.
Molly Taylor is a writer and theatre-maker and an Associate of Look Left Look Right. Her other theatre credits include: The Neighbourhood Project (The Bush Theatre), What We Talk About When We Talk About Food (commissioned by the Wellcome Trust), My Desert Island (Old Vic New Voices) and Make We Waka (Lagos Theatre Festival/British Council). Molly developed her writing practice when on attachment at the National Theatre of Scotland; her one-woman play Love Letters to the Public Transport System had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012 and has since been performed at the Royal Court and internationally.
Mimi Poskitt is the Founder and Artistic Director of Look Left Look Right. Her directing credits in theatre include work at the Royal Court, Roundhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, Covent Garden, Coney and the Old Vic New Voices. In addition, Mimi’s work has toured across the UK and worldwide including Sri Lanka, Australia and Nigeria. As an Assistant Producer for ITV and the BBC, she won a Royal Television Society Award for a documentary about 9/11 and was nominated for The Hospital Club’s h.Club 100, which recognises the most innovative and influential people in the British creative and media industries.
See Me Now created by Mimi Poskitt, Molly Taylor and the company and directed by Mimi Poskitt runs in the Young Vic’s Maria theatre 11 February – 4 March 2017. Sound is by Emma Laxton with music composed by Tom Parkinson.
Tickets go on sale to the public on Wednesday 28 September at 10am. You can become a friend and book today at www.youngvic.org
