Courtesy of India Mae Aly

Kwame Kwei-Armah invites you to his final season at the Young Vic Theatre as he today announces he will step down from the role of Artistic Director in Autumn 2024. 

Kwame Kwei-Armah joined the Young Vic as Artistic Director in February 2018, becoming the first African Caribbean director to lead a major British theatre.  During his tenure he has produced 40 productions across the theatre’s spaces, including 30 in the Main House where more than half of all writers and directors were women. Black and Global Majority artists have directed over half and written 48% of all Main House shows. Off stage, the Young Vic has gone from 11% to 44% Black and Global Majority staff across the organisation and 40% in senior management.

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Today, the Evening Standard announces the 2022 shortlist for the 66^th Evening Standard Theatre Awards. The shortlist features the biggest names and emerging talents from the London stage over the last eighteen months, who are recognised across nine award categories. Among the contenders are globally-renowned actors and actresses and hit shows including: Oklahoma!, Cabaret, The Father and the Assassin and Best of Enemies.

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The Collaboration is a paint-by-numbers sort of a play. Simple yet satisfying. The show is set up as a boxing match between two of the greatest artists of the 20th Century, Andy Warhol (Paul Bettany) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeremy Pope):

1. Warhol and Basquiat’s art-dealer, Bruno Bischofberger (Alec Newman), sees an opportunity to make a lot of money by getting them to work together.
2. Warhol, the cynic who is all about money, is reluctantly convinced to work with Basquiat.
3. Basquiat, the new kid on the block, unsure of what to do with all their money, is reluctantly convinced to work with Warhol.
4. Warhol is intimidated by Basquiat’s freedom.
5. Basquiat is frustrated by Warhol’s lack of soul.
6. Basquiat softens Warhol.
7. Warhol falls for Basquiat.
8. They end up making art together and living happily ever after.

Courtesy of Marc Brenner.

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The stories we repeatedly tell ourselves are imperative to how we navigate life. Our school years our most formative when it comes to setting the foundations for what we’ll possibly expect in later life. An exploration of the ever moving stream of subtle messages planted within childhood, Crying in the Wilderness’ Conundrum observedly tackles the process of continual external messaging vs the internalising of such stimuli.

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Courtesy of Sarah Hickson.

As we continue to build up a wealth of theatrical stories from the Black British perspective, we help to form a nuanced view of both recent and old British history, something incredibly important for society moving forward. Adding to the wealth of stories now gracing our stages, Crying in the Wilderness’ Artistic Director Paul Anthony Morris presents Conundrum, a show exploring the displacement and various experiences of a first generation Black Briton. Due to show early next year at the Young Vic, Paul tells us more about staging the piece nearly 2 years after its postponement due to the pandemic, the importance of placing a greater focus on well-being for both artists and audiences and what to expect from the show!

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Politically relevant new play by James Graham at the Young Vic delivers in all departments with high production values. Set in the volatile year of 1968 America, the play tells the story of broadcast network ABC’s televised debates between William F.Buckley and Gore Vidal. The two rivals were invited on to save ABC’s dwindling ratings and in doing so ushered in a new age of American politics which moved away from well-informed journalists and political experts and towards celebrity punditry.

Courtesy of Wasi Daniju.

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Said to be the blueprint of many of the classics we are familiar with today, 4,000 year old Egyptian poem Sinuhe and the King receives an adaptation from critically claimed Nigerian writer and poet Ben Okri OBE.

Courtesy of Marc Brenner.

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Courtesy of Foteini Christofilopoulou.

Seeking inspiration from the ancient Egyptian tale Sinuhe the Warrior King, celebrated writer and poet Ben Okri OBE presents Changing Destiny, an adaptation of the 4,000 year old poem. Having helped shape the show’s movement element and aesthetic, movement director Rachael Nanyonjo, whose credits include the National Theatre, BBC, Sky Arts amongst others, tells us more about what drew her to take part in the production, how she’s approached creating the show’s choreography and what she’s taken away from the process.

Hi Rachael, Ben Okri’s Changing Destiny will be showing at the Young Vic from late July. How are you feeling ahead of the run?

We have all, as a team, been working really hard to bring this story to life. Making work coming out of the pandemic is not an easy thing, however, it has allowed us to examine our practices and processes in order to work more productively. I am feeling very excited for audiences to experience what I believe is a really innovative production and piece of storytelling.

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Marking its 50th year, the Young Vic celebrates with a year-long programme paying homage to the venue’s legacy of creating ‘an experimental workshop for authors, actors and producers’ as well as factoring in affordability. Established by Royal National Theatre Associate Director Frank Dunlop, successive Artistic Directors Michael Bogdanov, David Thacker, Julia Bardsley and Tim Supple, Tim Supple, David Lan and now currently Kwame Kwei-Armah have shaped the venue into what it is today. Commemorating the past as well as envisioning the venue’s future, Kwame tells us more about the venue’s initial programme, possible plans for a block party to mark the important milestone and his hopes for the theatre moving forward.

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Once every few years, a show will arrive on the London stage which genuinely warrants the description “must see”, a show which asks fundamental questions about the act of theatre itself; what it can be, and what it should be.

Courtesy of Marc Brenner.

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