Rory Kinnear and Romola Garai will lead the casts of two new productions of Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Measure For Measure when they open at the Young Vic as part of the Southwark venue’s forthcoming summer season.
Skyfall star Kinnear, who picked up his second Best Actor Olivier Award for his role in the National Theatre’s production of Othello in 2014, will make his Young Vic debut in the role of Josef K. in a new version of The Trial from 19 June (press night 26 June) to 8 August.
Nick Gill’s adaptation, which is directed by Richard Jones (Public Enemy, Young Vic), charts the story of 30-year-old K. as he lives a waking nightmare. Visited at home by state agents on his birthday and accused of an unspecified crime, K. is bewildered by spiralling layers of bureaucracy and the sinister motives that lurk beneath them.
Later in the season Garai will return to the London stage, following performances in the Royal Court’s The Village Bike and Three Sisters at the Lyric Hammersmith, to lead the cast of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure.
Directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins (The Changeling, Young Vic), with designs by Wild Swans’ Miriam Buether, who will also create the set for The Trial, the Bard’s dark comedy of injustice, sexual politics and disguise will run from 2 October (press night 8 October) to 7 November.
Atonement and One Day actress Garai will play young nun Isabella, who is forced to choose between saving her brother’s life or breaking her vow of chastity, in Hill-Gibbins’ “deeply emotional but sexy take on Shakespeare’s study of virtue and sin”.
Prior to The Trial and Measure For Measure, a cast including Janie Dee and Dominic Rowan will appear in a rare revival of Eugene O’Neill’s comedy Ah, Wilderness! from 14 April (press night 21 April) to 23 May.
Dee, whose recent credits include Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre, and Young Vic regular Rowan, who returns to the venue following appearances in A Doll’s House and The Cherry Orchard, will be joined by 2014 BAFTA Rising Star nominee George Mackay, Martin Marquez (From Here To Eternity), Susannah Wise (A Doll’s House, Young Vic), Ashley Zhangazha (Henry V, Noël Coward), Georgia Bourke and Eleanor McLoughlin.
Though well-known in the States, Ah, Wilderness! is less known in the UK. An almost prelude to O’Neill’s autobiographical drama A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the funny and poignant piece explores family life in 1906 Connecticut, following the teenage tribulations of Richard Miller. The production will be directed by Natalie Abrahami (Happy Days, Young Vic) with Mackay in the role of Richard.
From 3 to 19 September (press night 4 September), Ivo Van Hove will direct the UK premiere of Simon Stephens’ new play Song From Far Away.
Van Hove returns to the venue following his acclaimed production of A View From The Bridge, which opens in the West End next week, to put his spin on the tale of a young man as he returns home from Amsterdam following the death of his brother and tries to reconnect with his sibling through a series of letters.
The latest piece by the Olivier Award-winning playwright behind The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Song From Far Away will arrive at the Young Vic following the play’s premiere at Brazil’s Internacionale de Teatro de São Paulo in March and a summer run at Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg Theatre.
The second Shakespearean production to play as part of the Young Vic’s newly announced season, Macbeth will be reimaged by directors Carrie Cracknell and Lucy Guerin through the mediums of dance and theatre from 26 November (press night 3 December) to 16 January.
Reuniting following their collaboration on 2014’s Medea at the National Theatre, Cracknell and Guerin will work with five dancers, six actors and designer Lizzie Clachan for their ambitious new staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy of betrayal, jealousy and suspicion.
From 11 to 30 May, audiences at the Young Vic will be invited to participate in the politics of fashion in World Factory, a co-production between the London venue, Ipswich’s New Wolsey Theatre and Company of Angels.
Developed by UK-based company METIS with Chinese director Zhao Chuan, World Factory delves into the murky history and contemporary reality of the garment industry, provoking a conversation about consumer capitalism and ethical trade in relation to China. The production will be directed by Zoë Svendsen in the Maria studio.
Completing the season is Marguerite Duras’ La Musica. The first major London revival of the piece for 22 years, the production will play at the Young Vic from 24 September (press night 2 October) to 17 October, also in the Maria.
Directed by Jeff James, associate director on A View From The Bridge in the West End, with designs by Ultz (Jerusalem), Duras’ 1965 play charts the story of an estranged husband and wife who return to the town where they once lived to finalise their divorce. After meeting by chance in a hotel bar, they spend the night trying to understand each other, caught between desire and recrimination.
Also announced today is the release of Gillian Anderson’s The Departure. The film, which was inspired by the Young Vic production of A Streetcar Named Desire in which the acclaimed actress starred last year, is a short prequel to Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece and is available to watch at www.theguardian.com