Vanessa Kirby will join Gillian Anderson in the Young Vic’s highly anticipated production of A Streetcar Named Desire this summer alongside American screen actor Ben Foster in his London stage debut.
The Tennessee Williams classic will see Anderson take on the iconic role of Southern Belle Blanche Dubois alongside Kirby as her sister Stella and Foster as the famously explosive Stanley Kowalski.
Playing from 23 July, the production will reunite Kirby with director Benedict Andrews following their work together on the Young Vic’s hugely successful Three Sisters. A rising star in the world of theatre, Kirby’s other theatre credits include Edward II and Women Beware Women at the National Theatre, and The Acid Test at the Royal Court. On screen she has worked with Anderson on the BBC’s adaptation of Great Expectations, as well as appearing in The Hour and film About Time.
Foster’s role in the revival follows his successful Broadway debut last year alongside British actor Tom Sturridge and Alec Baldwin in Orphans. His recent theatrical turns follow numerous screen credits including films Lone Survivor, Kill Your Darlings and X-Men: The Last Stand. Arguably best known for his long-running role in HBO’s Six Feet Under, the Boston-born actor will soon be seen in the cinema playing the title role in Stephen Frear’s Lance Armstrong biopic.
Completing the cast are Clare Burt, Lachele Carl, Branwell Donaghey, Otto Farrant, Nicholas Gecks, Stephanie Jacob, Corey Johnson and Claire Prempah.
A Streetcar Named Desire will mark award-winning director Andrews’ first return to the Young Vic following 2012’s radically restaging of Three Sisters, with audiences no doubt intrigued as to how the innovative theatremaker will approach Williams’ famous tale of Blanche’s downward spiral as she collides with the brutal Stanley.
While tickets for the production, which follows the equally high profile A View From The Bridge into the theatre’s Main House, have already sold out, theatregoers still have the chance to get their hands on tickets by purchasing day seats from 10:00 each day of the run.