International NewsLondon's Young Vic Unveils 2019–2020 SeasonThe lineup includes a Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke-led Death of a Salesman, Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Tree musical, and Fairview.
By
Olivia Clement
October 30, 2018
London's Young Vic, led by Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, has unveiled its 2019–2020 season. The mainstage lineup includes a new production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, directed by two-time Tony winner Marianne Elliott; an engagement of The Tree, the previously announced musical collaboration between Idris Elba and Kwei-Armah; and the U.K. premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury's acclaimed Off-Broadway play Fairview.
Kicking off the season in the spring will be the Elliott-helmed Death of a Salesman starring Suits star Wendell Pierce as Willy Loman, with Olivier Award winner Sharon D. Clarke (Caroline, or Change) as Linda Loman and Arinzé Kene (Misty, Been So Long) as Biff Loman.
Elliott is the winner of two Tony Awards for directing, for her productions of War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. She was most recently represented on Broadway with the critically acclaimed West End transfer of Angels in America, and is currently represented on the West End with the gender-reversed Company.
Performances of Death of a Salesman, co-presented with Elliott and Harper and Cindy Tolan, will run May 1–29, 2019.
In the summer, the Young Vic teams up with Manchester International Festival and Green Door Pictures to present Elba and Kwei-Armah's Tree, a musical journey in search of the soul and spirit of contemporary South Africabased on Elba’s own album Mi Mandela. The album provides the soundtrack for the show, to be performed in the round, with direction by Kwei-Armah.
Performances of Tree will run July 29–August 24 following a previously announced run at the Manchester International Festival in June 2019.
In the fall, director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs, Mies Julie, The Crucible) brings Federíco Garcia Lorca’s well-known tragedy Blood Wedding to the Young Vic, in a new version by Irish playwright Marina Carr, followed by an all-new production of Fairview, directed by Young Vic Genesis Fellow Associate Director Nadia Latif.
Blood Wedding will play September 19–November 2, and Fairview will play November 28–January 18, 2020.
In its Clare stage, the Young Vic will also present Wild East by April De Angelis, directed by Lekan Lawal; and Ivan & The Dogs by Hattie Naylor, directed by Caitriona Shoobridge. In the Maria stage, the theatre will welcome Bronx Gothic by Okwui Okpokwasili—a part theatre, part dance, and part visual art installation created in collaboration with Peter Born; as well as The Jumper Factory, conceived by Young Vic Taking Part and Justin Audibert, written by Luke Barnes and directed by Josh Parr.
About his first season, Artistic Director Kwei-Armah said in a statement, “The stages of The Young Vic have always been a place dedicated to asking the most profound questions in artistically compelling ways. It’s not just the art we invite into these four walls but also the art and discourse we send beyond them.”
The play comes on the heels of a broader cultural conversation about Dahl's work and the prejudice that was embedded in many of his most beloved stories.