Young Vic presents Young Genius Season, at Barbican

Young Vic presents Young Genius Season, at Barbican

Young Vic Artistic Director David Lan and Head of Theatre BITE:05, Barbican Louise Jeffreys are to launch Young Genius at the Barbican from Sep to Dec 2005; a season of work which celebrates brilliance, originality and spirit in the early works of some of the world's great playwrights and theatre artists. Young Genius will be presented in collaboration with leading UK and international theatres where several of the plays receive their premieres.

At the heart of Young Genius is a commitment to inspiring and training the next generation of theatre-makers and artists.

At the Barbican Theatre......

16 to 25 Sep 2005
DRAGONS' TRILOGY by Marie Brassard, Jean Casault, Lorraine Cote, Marie Gignac, Robert Lepage, Marie Michaud. Produced by BITE:05, Barbican / Cultural Industry as part of Young Genius. Starring Sylvie Cantin; Jean Antoine Charest; Simone Chartrand; Hugues Frenette; Tony Guilfoyle; Eric Leblanc; Veronika Makdissi-Warren and Emily Shelton.Saga of epic proportions - spanning 75 years, from 1910 - 1985, and taking in seven time zones, two world wars and three generations. The story deftly interweaves several narratives, stemming from the fortunes (and misfortunes) of two, young women living in the former Chinese quarter of Quebec. Through their flights of fancy into a mythical China, via the many people who touch their lives, this dazzling production explores the changing cultural identities of several nations.

29 Sep to 8 Oct 2005
KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PRESTLE By Francis Beaumont. Directed by Anna Mackmin, designed by Jonathan Fensom, lighting by Paul Anderson. Produced by Mercury Theatre Company, the Young Vic and BITE: 05, Barbican as part of Young Genius Starring Rafe Spall (Rafe)A grocer and his wife dissatisfied by a play's progress invade the stage and commandeer the play to suit their tastes. They cast their apprentice Rafe in an heroic leading role as the gallant Knight whose banner bears the symbol of the grocer's trade, a pestle. A chaotic play within a play erupts, as each group attempts to carry on despite the unscripted interventions.

12 to 22 Oct 2005
WOYSECK By Georg Buchner, directed by Anna Gisli Orn Gardarsson, designed by Borkur Jonsson , lighting by Adam Silverman, produced by Vesturport Theatre / City Theatre Reykjavik, the Young Vic and BITE: 05, Barbican as part of Young Genius.A troubled man in a troubled world, a hostage to fortune, class and his sadistic superiors, Woyzeck's fate is played out in a series of nightmarish encounters. He stumbles through a world of macabre carnivals, sexual betrayal and cruel oppression, pursued by the demons of his own paranoid fantasies. Pushed beyond breaking point Woyzeck's last love crazed act tragically destroys the one thing he truly cares for.

1 to 5 Nov 2005
O by Michael Clark, produced by BITE:05, Barbican. by Michael Clark Company, BITE:05, Barbican and Dance Umbrella with Festival de Marseille and DanceWorks UK, Barbican as part of Young Genius . As part of Young Genius at the Barbican, Michael Clark presents a complete reworking of his 1994 work O, set to Stravinsky's Apollo and based on Balanchine's seminal work. The 2005 production of O is Clark's definitive version of Apollo with Stravinsky's score performed live. With sensitivity and respect to Balanchine's original, Clark takes ideas of fullness becoming empty, the hole becoming whole and negative space becoming positive to create a totally new framework for O.

9 to 19 Nov 2005
TAMBURLAINE By Christopher Marlowe , adapted by David Farr, designed by Ti Green , lighting by Neil Austin, produced Bristol Old Vic, BITE: 05, Barbican and the Young Vic as part of Young Genius . Starring Greg Hicks (Tamburlaine). A Scythian shepherd, Tamburlaine, rises by his bloody conquests to become the most powerful man in the world. His victories come about not only by fearlessness in battle, but by a formidable command of persuasive rhetoric. Having seized Princess Zenocrate of Egypt, he goes on to overpower Persia, Turkey, Damascus and Arabia. In spite of his insatiable lust for power Tamburlaine remains one of theatre's most disturbing and compelling anti-heroes.

In the Barbican Pit.....

28 Sep to 8 Oct 2005
LION AND THE JEWEL by Wole Soyinka, original music by Juwon Ogungby, directed by Chuck Mike , designed by Atlanta Duffy, choreography by Koffi Koko , produced by BITE / Collective Artistes / Young Vic / Barbican as part of Young Genius. Starring Ayanlere Alamu Alajede, Yaw Asumaeu, Natasha Bain, Shola Benjamin, Louisa Eyo, Derek Ezenagu, Hazel Holder, Omonor Imobhio, Diwele Molale Lubi, Bimbo Manuel, Chomba Njeru, Anthony Ofoegbu and Antoinette Tagoe. . Set in the Yoruba village of Ilunjinle, Sidi, the vain village beauty is being pursued by Lakunle, a westernised school teacher and Baroka, the lecherous old tribal chief. In a carnival of dance and song, Sidi must find her destiny in a struggle between the old and the new, the modern and the traditional in this troubled comedy of the human condition.

26 Oct to 5 Nov 2005
THOUGHT THAT COUNTS By theatre-rites, produced by BITE:05, Barbican and Young Vic as part of Young Genius. Taking its inspiration from the notion that a genius is someone who, like children, keeps asking questions, theatre-rites' Artistic Director and puppetry specialist, Sue Buckmaster joins forces with visual artist Sophia Clist and digital artist Carl Stevenson to transform The Pit into a magical world using theatre, dance, animated shapes, puppetry and video. The Thought That Counts celebrates how children learn through play - and who knows, the next young genius may be sitting in the audience. (** for 4-7 year olds)

16 to 26 Nov 2005
PHAEDRA'S LOVE By Sarah Kane , a radical re-telling of Seneca's Phaedra, directed by Anne Tipton, designed by Naomi Dawson, lighting by Emma Chapman, produced by BITE:05, Barbican and Young Vic as part of Young Genius. Brutal yet darkly comic, the play charts Phaedra's obsessive love for her stepson Hippolytus, the promiscuous binge-eating amoral prince, who fills the void of his life with sex, television, masturbation and burgers. In a cataclysm of love's extremes she ignites a chain of events that give Hippolytus what he longs for.

30 Nov to 10 Dec 2005
UBU THE KING By Alfred Jarry, a new version by David Greig, directed by Dominic Hill, produced by Dundee Rep, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, BITE:05, Barbican and the Young Vic as part of Young Genius. Starring Gerry Mulgrew (Dad Ubu), Ann Louise Ross (Mum Ubu). Ubu The King follows two gross, amoral megalomaniacs, Dad Ubu and Mum Ubu, who plan to overthrow the king. After the bloody deed is done, the monstrous tyrants seize power and chaos ensues. This frantic, funny and foulmouthed tale of lust, greed and betrayal is definitely not for the fainthearted!