The project has added two performing spaces to the venue’s existing 500-seat Main House: the 160-seat Maria and the 80-seat Clare (named after, respectively, designer Maria Bjornson and director Clare Venables).
The Main House season kicks off Oct. 11 with a revival of Tobias and the Angel, a community opera composed by Jonathan Dove with words by Lan. The work was first seen at the Almeida Opera in 1999 and will feature two choruses cast from residents of the local London boroughs Southwark and Lambeth.
Tobias and the Angel will by directed by John Fulljames, artistic director of The Opera Group.
That’s followed by more musical theatre. The Enchanted Pig, featuring a score by Dove and words by Alasdair Middleton, will run Dec 1, 2006 – Jan 27, 2007. The Young Vic and The Opera Group co-production officially opens Dec. 14.
Also directed by Fulljames, The Enchanted Pig is based on a Romanian fairy tale about a princess whose wedding turns out to be less than idyllic when she finds her husband is a genuine pig. Thomas Otway’s dark, restoration comedy The Soldiers’ Fortune (Feb. 15– March 31) marks Lan’s first production in the season.
Young Vic Associate Director Rufus (Festen) Norris directs the season’s final production, Vernon God Little, adapted by Tanya Ronder from DBS Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning novel.
New works will premiere at the Young Vic’s Maria stage with Dennis Kelly’s office drama Love and Money (Nov. 16 – Dec. 16) and Debby Tucker Green’s Generations (Feb. 22, 2007 – March 10) set in South Africa.
In the spring of next year, the new theatres are also staging four of Brecht’s early works under the title The Big Brecht Fest.
One of the Young Vic’s highest profile supporters and performers is Jude Law who is also patron of the fundraising campaign. "The Young Vic has always been a favorite theatre,” said Law. “I'm thrilled it is back now permanently and for generations to come. I've been proud to be a part of the rebuild campaign from the start. It is so satisfying to see it come to fruition - which is itself a new beginning."
