In the electronic format, this page contains clickable links to jump directly to the relevant section of the programme
Feast ………………………….................. page 3
At first I took it all for history ………….… page 7
Feast was born on a beach in Lagos ….. page 10
Orisha s: The Yoruba Deities …………… page 13
The Company ……………………………. page 16
The Team ………………………………… page 27
Royal Court ………………………………. page 39
The Young Vic Company ………………. page 42
Supporting the Young Vic ………………. page 48
We would love to hear your feedback on this large print programme, and your overall experience of the audio described performance. Please feel free to email claireharris@youngvic.org
or call us on 020 7922 2800.
If you are reading this online and would like to have a printed copy when you arrive at the theatre, please email claireharris@youngvic.org
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A Young Vic and Royal Court co-production
by Yunior García Aguilera, Rotimi Babatunde, Marcos Barbosa,
Tanya Barfield and Gbolahan Obisesan
Oshun …………………….. Naana Agyei-Ampadu
Drumming Esu …………… Solá Akingbolá
Oya ………………………... Michelle Asante
White Man ………………... Daniel Cerqueira
Guitars ……………………. Laurence Corns
Yemaya …………………… Noma Dumezweni
Dancing Oshun ………….. Yanet Fuentes Torres
Singing Exu ………………. Michael Henry
Elegba …………………….. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Papa Legba ………………. Louis Mahoney
Dancing Oya ……………... Coral Messam
Dancing Elegbara ……….. Ira Mandela Siobhan
Dancing Elegua
………….. Alexander Varona
All other roles are played by members of the company
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Direction ……………………….. Rufus Norris
Design …………………….. …... Katrina Lindsay
Light ……………………………. Paule Constable
Video …………………………… Lysander Ashton for
59 Productions
Sound ………………………….. Paul Arditti
Choreography …………………. George Céspedes
Arrangements …………………. Solá Akingbolá
Michael Henry
Musical Direction ……………… Michael Henry
Artistic Producer ………………. Elyse Dodgson
Casting …………………..……. Amy Ball
Lotte Hines
Translation …………………….. Mark O’Thomas (Portuguese)
Simon Scardifield (Spanish)
Dialect ………………………….. Neil Swain
Assistant Director ……………... Laura Keefe
Stage Manager ………………... Joni Carter
Deputy Stage Manager
………. Ruth Taylor
Assistant Stage Manager ……. Sarah Coates
Dance Captain ………………… Alexander Varona
Design Associate ……………... Loukia Minetou
Costume Supervisor …………... Fizz Jones
Associate Video Designer and
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Lead Animator …………… Marco Sandeman
Animation ……………………… Sylwia Kubus
Phillip Sandeman
Video Programmer ……………. Katie Pitt
Sound Operator ……………….. Helen Skiera
Stage Crew ……………………. Tom Nutt
Wardrobe Assistant and
Dresser …………………… Shevonne Harper
Sharon Bourke
Wardrobe Assistant and
Costume Maintenance …... Naimo Duale
Automation by ……………….… Weld-Fab Stage
Engineering Ltd
Scenic Artist …………………… Tash Shepherd
RADA director on attachment .. Wang Huan
Video Intern for 59 Productions..Ingi Johannesson
Rehearsal and production photos …………………….. Richard Hubert Smith
Headdresses made by
……….. Mark Wheeler
Chickens supplied by ………… Omlet
Costumes by kind arrangement of the National Theatre
We would like to thank: Dr Akin Oyètáde, Olalekan Babalolá,
Laura Perez and the British Council Cuba, Penny Spedding,
Daniela De Armas and The London Lucumi Choir, Juwon
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Ogungbe, Jeremy Avis, Rowland Sutherland, Rocky Shahan,
Charles Wild, Sophie Rubenstein, Jorge Brooks, William Drew,
Jane Michelmore, Damarys Farres, Johannes Paul at Omlet
Ltd, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Andy Wood, the NT
Studio, Mac King Pro, Paul Heritage, Thiago Jesus and Andrew
Jones.
Laura Keefe is supported through the Young Vic/ Jerwood
Assistant Directors Programme.
Feast is part of World Stages London, a season of exceptional new shows celebrating the cosmopolitan diversity of London. It is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between eight leading
London theatres and twelve UK and international co-producers.
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History, that’s all. Theme for a chapter in a school book, a picture on the back cover of that same book, a list of awkward names referring to places I couldn’t locate on a map, to people whose faces I couldn’t visualize, to foreign barbarian Gods I was taught to either despise or fear. Diaspora, the Yoruba, words so powerful, and yet so deeply buried under concepts too abstract for me to grasp. It does not really matter – I thought.
It’s all gone now – I thought. All of them are now buried, amongst so many other things that die to become history – I thought.
Was it all somehow meant to change, from the beginning?
About a decade ago I left my hometown, Fortaleza, and moved to Salvador, a black harbour in the east coast of Brazil.
Salvador was the nation’s first capital, the home of our first definite settlers and the destiny of the first precious cargoes of black people arriving from Africa, dumped from dark ships to a foreign shore, still shackled, to be sold in the markets as slaves.
The labour of these slaves powered our sugar cane industry and dug most of the gold commercialized in the world during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. Ultimately, apart from sweetening the mouths and ornamenting the Christian
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altars of the rich European, it gave birth to a nation, a religion and a language.
Well, it was there in Salvador that I learned that they were not buried, not dead, and not too far away. And it is amazing how, after witnessing the echoes of the Yoruba Diaspora in the flesh, my sole surprise was to realize how it could have been possible for me not to notice their presence before. They had been everywhere around me all the time hiding in the songs I sang, in the food I ate, and even in the words I spoke! And that’s when it all became a mission: I had to find out more, I had to see more,
I had to feel more, and in that journey, everything I learned about them was something I learned about me.
Yet, how could they go so unnoticed for so long? Maybe because they had been hiding in my faith as well… Faith is a dangerous thing, and that’s when they vanish again, before my eyes, into mist and mystery. I cannot think about the Yoruba without thinking about the Gods I, to some extent, still fear. But I can no longer think of God without feeling the warm, gentle presence of Exu, Oxalá, Omula …
And the beauty of it is that there is no paradox here. The
Yoruba Gods demand very little from me. They just ask me to be who I am, and they offer to take care of my me, in the path to become who I am, keeping my spirit lucid and my will strong as
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I go through devious crossroads and rough patches. And they will not take away from me anything that is me, they won’t even take away Christ.
I can only hope I have done my share to honour them today. If there is a feast going on now, it is not mine, it is theirs. And they will give it back to me, if it belongs in the path where I become myself.
Marcos Barbosa
São Paulo, December 2012
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in March
2007. The Royal Court International Department was running a playwriting workshop with a group of young Nigerian writers and we were celebrating the end of the programme with a party.
Looking out at the sea, we spoke about our next Royal Court workshop in Cuba. There was great excitement and curiosity about the links that many Nigerians have to Cuban Santería, the Yoruba belief system still practiced widely in Cuba which survived the Atlantic slave trade.
Four months later in Havana, our Cuban writers were equally cu rious about the Nigerians. “Please bring us some soil from
Nigeria!” they cried. There were also writers based in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and they were not going to be left out. Their belief system, Candomblé also has Yoruba roots and they were equally interested in exploring the similarities. When the Royal
Court was asked to propose a project for World Stages London, the curiosity of the writers became an idea for a play. Then director Rufus Norris came on board.
Rufus was partly raised in Nigeria but he was not familiar with
Cuba or Brazil. The timing was perfect. We were about to work in Cuba on a final phase of work with a group of new writers.
Santería was everywhere; we met santeros (priests) and left rum for the saints before we shared a meal. And we began to
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learn about the great impact that these beliefs have on everyday life for all Cubans. As one of the Cuban writers explained, “in this religion we are so even.” Enrique, a Cuban santero explained how slaves would disguise their Orishas
(Yoruba deities) as Catholic saints in order to preserve their authentic ancestral and traditional beliefs.
In Salvador, we were looked after by Fernanda Julia, the daughter of an ialorixá, a priestess of the Candomblé faith. We attended a ceremony with her and visited the House of Ogum.
We spent time with the head of the house, Jaciera, and heard about her struggles to keep her ‘casa’ functioning in what has become a hostile environment. We visited Fernanda’s own spiritual leader, the babalorixá, Margio, and his community living on the outskirts of the city. In every instance we could see how Yoruba beliefs have survived and are still used to solve problems affecting people’s everyday lives. It was clear how the people we met were positioned in the narratives of the past. We became more and more fascinated by these diaspora identities and how they are constantly reproducing themselves anew.
Our first workshop took place in London in November 2010. By then we increased the countries to include the US and the UK.
Writers from all five countries came to the Royal Court to explore the impact of Yoruba culture on their lives.
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A huge thank you to the other playwrights who took part in our early workshop and have inspired the project along the way:
Lydia Adetunji (UK), Adebusola Elegbede (Nigeria), Gerardo
Fulleda León (Cuba), Katori Hall (US), Cheddy Mendizábel
Álvarez (Cuba), Femi Oguns (UK) and Claudio Simões (Brazil).
Elyse Dodgson
January 2013
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The Yoruba are one of the largest ethnic and religious groups in
West Africa, predominantly in southern Nigeria. As a result of the Atlantic slave trade, their religion and cosmology has spread widely. Especially in Brazil and Cuba, where the belief system syncretized with Catholicism, it has flourished. Over hundreds of years and in the most punitive of circumstances, these beliefs about the nature of the world have proved themselves great masters of adaptation and survival.
Ifa is the belief system of the Yoruba, a diffused monotheism consisting of one supreme God Oludumare and four hundred deities know as Orishas.
The central pillar of the belief system is Ori which means ‘inner head’. To have a balanced life and character, to gain contentment, a human must get to know his or her Ori. For the
Yoruba, self-knowledge is the key to existence.
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The Orishas are emissaries of Olodumare and guides to humans. They each have their own sphere of responsibility and have great spiritual power. They are complex and human-like in their flaws and weaknesses. They provide insight as well as inspiration.
Yemaja is the Orisha of motherhood and childbearing. Often associated with the Ocean and the tides, she also has a notorious temper.
Oshun is the Orisha of beauty and love. She represents sensuality, luxury, grace. Needless to say, she suffers from vanity. She is associated with still water which it is like a mirror
Oya is a warrior. The Orisha of wind and the tempest, she is fast, often furious, and the bringer of change.
Esu is a trickster and shape-shifter. He is the Orisha of crossroads, the threshold, chaos and fertility. Both right and wrong, love and anger, reverence and irreverence operate within him. One must appease him by making offering in order to gain access to the other deities or before embarking on any journey. He is the divine middleman and a harsh teacher leading mortals to temptation or disorder in order to lead them closer to wisdom. He is commonly mistaken for the devil.
“Well I think the Yoruba Gods are truthful. Truthful in the sense that I consider religion and the construct of deities simply an
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extention of human qualities taken, if you like to the nth degree.
I mistrust gods who become so separated from humanity that enormous crimes can be committed in their names. I prefer gods who can be brought down to earth and judged.”
Wole Soyinka
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Previous Young Vic: Been So Long (shortlisted for Evening
Standard Outstanding Newcomer award 2009).
Theatre includes: The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe); Little
Shop of Horrors (New Wolsey); Avenue Q (Noël Coward);
Caroline or Change (National).
Television: The Future WAGs of Great Britain.
Radio: Gone.
Solá is a percussionist and member of the international band
Jamiroquai. He was the composer and producer of the album
Routes to Roots (ARC Music, 2007). His other percussion work includes the Damon Albarn project Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
2010, and David Bowie’s Heathen album.
Solá recently performed as a musician and cast member in
Death and the King’s Horseman (National).
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Previous Young Vic: Dirty Butterfly.
Theatre includes: Sunset Baby (Gate Theatre – nominated for
Broadway World Award, Best Featured Actress in a Play); One
Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Sheffield Crucible/West Yorkshire
Playhouse/Eclipse Theatre); Ruined (Almeida); The Bacchae
(National Theatre of Scotland); Torn (Arcola).
Film and television includes: Monroe Series 1 & 2 (nominated best actress TV category BEFFTA Award), Some Dogs Bite,
London Boulevard, Holby City, Verbo, The Bill, Sand Serpents,
Law & Order:UK.
Radio includes: Gone.
Previous Young Vic: The Changeling, Vernon God Little, Joe
Turner’s Come and Gone, Amazonia, Sleeping Beauty, Some
Voices, Afore Night Come.
Previous Royal Court: Plasticine, Cleansed, Attempts on her
Life.
Theatre includes: Blood Wedding (Almeida); Guantanamo
(Tricycle/ Ambassadors); In Arabia We’d All Be Kings
(Hampstead).
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Film includes: The Woman in Black, Fade to Black, Sixty Six,
Venus.
Television includes: Wallander, Birdsong, Rock and Chips,
Royal Bodyguard, Waking the Dead, Rome.
Music includes: touring with jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux in
2000 – 2001, touring with Stella Chiweshe in 2006, working with
Zimbabwean group The Bundu Boys, working with mbira maestro Chartwell Dutiro from 2002 until present.
Theatre includes: musical director for FELA! (National/ Sadler’s
Wells/ Carré Theatre Holland).
Previous Young Vic includes: Skellig, The Blacks, A Raisin in the Sun (Young Vic/ Lyric Hammersmith/Tour. Winner – Olivier
Award for Best Supporting Performer).
Previous Royal Court: Belong.
Theatre includes: A Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar, The
Grainstore, Morte d’Arthur, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar,
Breakfast With Mugabe, Antony and Cleopatra, Much Ado
About Nothing, Macbeth, Trade (RSC); Little Eagles
(RSC/Hampstead Theatre); Six Characters in Search of An
Author (Chichester and West End); The Master and Margarita,
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A Midsummer N ight’s Dream, The Coffee House and Nathan the Wise (Chichester); The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each
Other, President of an Empty Room (National); Ali Baba and the
Forty Thieves and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (London
Bubble); The Bogus Woman (Red Room/Bush
Theatre/Traverse Theatre. Winner – Fringe First and
Manchester Evening News Awards).
Film and television includes: Frankie, Casualty, Doctor Who,
Fallout, The Colour of Magic, Summerhill, Eastenders, The Last
Enemy, The Grey Man, New Tricks, Shameless, Holby City,
Fallen Angel, After Thomas, Mysterious Creatures, Little Miss
Jocelyn, Silent Witness, Dirty Pretty Things, Macbeth.
Yanet trained at the National School of Contemporary and
Folkloric Dance in Havana, Cuba.
Theatre includes: Lady Salsa (Edinburgh Festival/ Pleasance/
West End/ European tour); Murderous Instincts (Savoy).
Film includes: Cuban Fury.
Television includes: So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, X Factor Germany, Latin Grammy’s, Premios
Los Grandes, Bambi Awards, Salsa – Get It Right!.
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Other dance includes: Shakira’s World Tour 2010-11, a performance with Rihanna at the BRIT Awards, a performance with Shakira at the FIFA Word Cup and music videos for Craig
David, Alicia Keys, Tom Jones, Abs, David Jordan and N-Dubz.
Yanet was a dance coach for BBC’s Strictly Dance Fever. She has also performed and toured her own choreographed pieces at International Dance Festivals and Salsa Congresses around the world.
Michael Henry is a London-born multi-genre composer, vocalist, musical director and clarinettist. His musical education began at
London’s Centre for Young Musicians in 1977 and continued at the Royal College of Music 1981-85 with clarinet and composition as joint first studies.
Recent compositions include: the opera Circus Tricks for Tête à
Tête in 2012, the Rocket Symphony for 500 voices and fireworks for Linz as European Capital of Culture 2009, and
Stand for 16 voices, performed in the BBC PROMS 2006. His wind music, including Birdwatching for clarinet quartet, is performed regularly in the US and Japan.
20

Michael has provided live backing vocals for George Michael,
Chaka Khan, Barry Manilow, Will Young, Jamelia and The Pet
Shop Boys, studio vocals for Diana Ross, Robbie Williams, Billy
Bragg, Chrissy Hynde, and Michael Ball, classical performances for Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne and Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt and full-time membership as vocalist, composer and arranger in acapella groups Flying
Pickets and The Shout. He was also a soloist in Scott Walker’s
Drifting & Tilting at London’s Barbican in 2008.
Michael has also worked as vocal music director for the
National Theatre on Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s
Horseman in 2009, on FELA! in 2010 and on the Ibsen play
Emperor and Galilean in 2011.
Other recent engagements include: vocal animateur & conductor for the BBC Horrible Histories Prom 2011 and vocal director, arranger and performer on the soundtrack for science fiction webisode series RCVR (“Receiver”).
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Previous Young Vic: The Changeling, Joe Turner’s Come and
Gone, A Respectable Wedding, The Water Engine (Young Vic/
Theatre 503).
Theatre includes: Antigone, Death and the King’s Horseman
(National); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Arcola); Detaining
Justice, Seize the Day, Category B, Fabulation, Gem of The
Ocean, Walk Hard, Playboy of the West Indies (Tricycle); 50
Ways to Leave Your Lover (Bush); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
(Manchester Royal Exchange); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Globe).
Television includes: Frankie, The Café, Silk, Sirens, Whites,
Phone Shop, Taking the Flak, Star Stories, Little Britain.
Film includes: The Double, Roadkill, Womack, 10ml.
Radio includes: Lovers’ Rock, Direct Red, Orpheus, Final
Demands, The Patience of Mr Job, Ob’Owa, The Black Bono.
Kobna narrates the Rivers of London series of books by Ben
Aaronovitch.
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Previous Young Vic: generations, Cato Street.
Previous Royal Court: Robinson Crusoe, Truth and
Reconciliation.
Theatre includes: The Observer, Love the Sinner (National);
Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus (RSC); Desire (Almeida); As You
Like It (Leicester Curve); Murderous Angels, Jesus Christ
Superstar (Gaiety); The White Devil (Oxford Playhouse); Night and Day (Watford Palace); The Siege of Battersea (Colchester);
The Raft, Talking to You (West End).
Television includes: Random, Waking the Dead, The Clinic,
Casualty, Dr Who, Holby City, Fawlty Towers (The Germans),
One Foot in the Algarve, Miss Marple, The Refuge, Death is
Part of the Process, Boon, London’s Burning, Menace,
Bergerac, The Fight Against Slavery, The Lenny Henry Show,
The Professionals, Special Branch, Crown Court, Black Silk,
After the War, The Spoils of War, Yes Prime Minister, Runaway
Bay, Oscar Charlie, Sea of Souls.
Film includes: Guns at Batasi, Plague of the Zombies, Lion Man
Cry Freedom, The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, White Mischief,
Omen III (Final Conflict), Shooting Fish, Live and Let Die,
Wondrous Oblivion, A Woman Called Golda, Shooting Dogs,
Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition, Jonah, Captain Phillips.
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Radio includes: numerous plays on Radio 4, BBC World
Service, African Service and the series Waggoners Walk.
Directing includes: Sounds of Soweto (Greenwood Theatre/ US tour/ Nigeria) and The Lost Fisherman (Shaw Theatre).
Theatre includes: Faustus (Royal Exchange); Death and the
King’s Horseman (National); To Be Straight With You (DV8);
Your Fault (Cockpit); The Lion King (West End).
Television includes: choreography for Game of Thrones.
Movement direction includes: Faustus (Royal Exchange);
Private Lives, As You Like It, Tiata Fahodzi (Almeida); Ruined,
Slave (Lowry); and for Talawa Theatre and Generating
Company.
Research and development includes: I Stand Corrected
(Mojisola Adebayo).
Coral is currently a visiting lecturer in movement at Central
School of Speech and Drama and works as a movement director and performer.
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Theatre and dance includes: To Be Straight With You, Can We
Talk About This? (DV8 Physical Theatre); Fela!, Macbeth
(National); The Lifeguard (National Theatre of Scotland);
Richard Alston Dance Company (International tour) and work for Punchdrunk.
Alexander graduated from the prestigious National School of
Arts in Havana and was principal dancer and choreographer for
12 years with the National Folkloric Company of Cuba.
He has won many international awards both as a dancer and as a choreographer including the UK’s Critics Circle Dance Award.
You might recognise him as The Moor in Carlos Acosta’s
Tocororo at the London Coliseum and Sadler’s Wells and for his work with the Russell Maliphant Contemporary Dance
Company.
He choreographed the acclaimed West End musical Lady
Salsa, a solo Timelapse for the Graz International Dance
Festival which he also performed and acclaimed show Boleros de Nuestras Vidas for Cuba’s National Theatre. Most recently he created and directed Cuba Libre with an all star cast of
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musicians and singers which was a sell out in Havana’s most prestigious theatre, the Gran Teatro.
He has worked with different choreographers including artist
Isaac Julian in an interactive video piece for Sadler’s Wells,
Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Mischief with Theatre Rites and The Death of Klinghoffer at the English National Opera.
26

Yunior studied theatre arts in the National School of Arts and
Superior Institute of Art (Havana, Cuba). He is the founder and director of Trébol Teatro, a collective with which he has staged the majority of his work as a playwright.
Plays include: Malos Presagios (Bad Premonitions); Baile Sin
Máscaras (Dance Without Masks); Asco (Disgust); Cierra La
Boca (Close Your Mouth); Semen (all productions with Trébol
Teatro); Todos Los Hombres Son Iguales (All the Men Are
Same); Sangre (Bleed); Retrato De Un Hombre Desnudo
(Portrait of a Naked Man).
Yunior took part in the Royal Court’s last Cuban workshop in
2009 and 2010 and has also taken part in workshops led by international theatre practitioners including Dea Loher and
Armin Petras from Germany and Aristides Vargas from
Ecuador. He participated in the 2011 Royal Court International
Residency for Emerging Playwrights.
Theatre includes: A Shroud for Lazarus (Halcyon Theatre,
Chicago); The Bonfire of the Innocents (Riksteatern, Sweden).
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Radio includes: An Infidel in the Upper Room (BBC World
Service).
Rotimi attended the International Residency for Emerging
Playwrights at the Royal Court in 2004.
Earlier this year, his story Bombay’s Republic received Africa’s leading literary award, the prestigious Caine Prize for African
Writing.
Marcos w as born in Fortaleza, Ceará, and now lives in São
Paulo. He studied playwriting at the Instituto Dragão do Mar de
Arte e Indústria Audovisual do Ceará. His plays Quase Nada
(All or Nothing) and À Mesa (At the Table) were produced in the
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court in 2004 as part of the International Season. His work has been staged extensively in Brazil, the United States and in Europe, and his other plays include: Larilará Macunaima Saravá!, Monstro (Monster),
Avental Todo Sujo de Ovo (The Apron All Covered in Eggs),
Curral Grande, Policarmo, Auto de Angicos (The Sacred Play of
Angicos), Minha Irmã (My Sister), Os Sinos (The Bells),
Braseiro (Brazier), A Lenda do Amor Perfeito de Yolanda and
Bode Yoyô (The Legend of the Perfect Love of Yolanda and the
Goat Yoyo), Minha Irmã, Tititi Popopó, Brincando nos Campos
28

de Harold Pinter (At Play in the Fields of Harold Pinter), Quase
Três (Almost Three).
Marcos attended the International Residency at the Royal Court in 2002. Awards include the Carlos Carvalho Prize, the
Braskem Prize and the Paulo Pontes Prize in Brazil and the
Schermo/ Scena Prize in Italy. He taught Drama and Theatre
Theory at the Universidade da Bahia before moving to São
Paulo.
Tanya’s plays include: Of Equal Measure (Center Theatre
Group); Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons, South Coast
Repertory,Seattle Repertory, Berkeley Repertory and additional theatres); Dent, The Quick, The Houdini Act and 121º West.
Tanya’s play Blue Door was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Tanya was a recipient of the 2003 Helen Merrill Award for
Emerging Playwrights, 2005 Honorable Mention for the
Kesselring Prize for Drama, a 2006 Lark Play
Development/NYSCA grant and she has been twice been a
Finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group,
South Coast Repertory, Primary Stages and Geva Theatre
Center. She is a member of New Dramatists and serves on the
Dramatists Guild Council. Her play, The Call, will premiere this
29

season as a co-production between Playwrights Horizons and
Primary Stages.
Tanya attended the 2002 International Residency for Emerging
Playwrights, and her short play Foul Play was presented as a reading during the Royal Court’s International Playwrights
Season in 2004.
Previous Young Vic: as writer: Mad About The Boy (2011
Edinburgh Fringe First Award winner), as director: SUS, as assistant director: generations, Ikrismesi Karol, as associate director: Impempe Yomlingo (winner of Olivier Award for Best
Musical Revival, Young Vic/ Duke of York’s).
Previous Royal Court: as assistant director: Alaska, Random.
Other writing includes: Set Me Fair – A May Fling (Pentabus-
Latitude), Sweet Mother, Regeneration, A Vision of Pride
(Golden Delilah/ Theatre 503), Deconstructing the Barack
(Ignition at the Tristan Bates theatre), Home (Offstage Theatre
– Site specific at St Catherines Tower Leyton), Hold It Up (NYT-
Soho Theatre).
In 2009 Gbolahan won the Jerwood Directors Award at the
Young Vic for which he directed the critically acclaimed SUS by
Barrie Keefe. He was recipient of the Bulldog Princep Bursary
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and made Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio
2008/2009.
Theatre includes: as director: Various Responses for Sixty-Six
Books (Bush); Songs Inside (Gate/ ATC New Years
Revolution); Eye/Balls (Soho); 200 years (Watford Palace
Theatre); Hold it Up (Soho), as associate director: Julius Caesar
(RSC/Tour), as assistant director: Comedy of Errors, Fela!,
Death and the King’s Horseman (National); Heat & Light
(Hampstead); The Astronauts’ Wives’ Club (Soho).
Rufus Norris is a multi-award winning theatre director.
Productions include London Road, Death And The King’s
Horseman and Market Boy, all for the NT, where he is an
Associate Director; Vernon God Little, Peribanez, Tintin, Afore
Night Come and Sleeping Beauty for the Young Vic; Festen and
Blood Wedding for the Almeida, Under The Blue Sky and About
The Boy for the Royal Court and many others. His acclaimed productions of Cabaret, Festen, Tintin and The Country Girl have all played the West End and toured nationally, and he directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway. Opera work includes Dr Dee with Damon Albarn for MIF and ENO, and Don
Giovanni at ENO. His debut feature film Broken recently won
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Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards and will be released in early 2013.
Katrina Lindsay is a designer who works in theatre, dance, opera and television. She won Tony, Outer Critics Circle and
Drama Desk Awards for her costume designs on Broadway in
2008. Her work covers both sets and costumes.
Previous Young Vic: Sleeping Beauty (Young Vic/ Barbican/
Broadway).
Previous Royal Court: Under The Blue Sky.
Designs include: The Magistrate (set and costumes), London
Road (Cottesloe and Olivier, set and costumes), Earthquakes in
London (costumes), Death and the King’s Horseman (set and costumes), Market Boy (set) (all National); Cabaret (West End/
UK tour); Onassis (West End/ Chichester); Les Liaisons
Dangereuses (costumes, Broadway); The Most Incredible Thing
(set and costumes, Sadler’s Wells); The Damnation of Faust
(costumes), Turandot (costumes) (both ENO); Die tote Stadt
(costumes, Finnish National Opera); Eugene Onegin (ROH);
The Heresy of Love, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Morte
D’Arthur (set and costumes), Love’s Labour’s Lost (costumes),
Romeo and Juliet,
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The Comedy of Errors, House of Desires (set and costumes)
(all RSC); Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez,
Cattlecall, Blue Roses (Sadler’s Wells); Macbeth
(Shakespeare’s Globe); Cattlecall (Tour); Blood Wedding, ID
(Almeida).
Television includes: Picasso: The Power of Genius (art direction of promotional animation for the documentary series), Fugee
Girl (costume design) and six-part series Metrosexuality
(production designer).
She also worked alongside designer Es Devlin, re-designing the set for Mika on his Imaginarium tour for arenas all over Europe.
In 2005 she was awarded an Arts Foundation Fellowship in
Costume, and in 2009 was asked to be a judge for the prestigious Linbury Prize for Theatre Design.
Previous Young Vic: Vernon God Little, The Good Soul of
Szechuan, generations.
Previous Royal Court: Clybourne Park, Posh, The City, Krapps
Last Tape, Forty Winks, Boy Gets Girl, Night Songs, The
Country, Dublin Carol, The Weir (Royal Court/ West End /
Broadway).
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Theatre includes: Privates on Parade (MGC at the Coward);
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Death and the Kings Horseman, This House, His Dark Materials (2005
Olivier Award for Best Lighting), Saint Joan (Knight of
Illuminations Award for Best Lighting) (National); Blasted, Three
Sisters, The Servant, Oliver Twist (Lyric Hammersmith);
Sleeping Beauty (Matthew Bourne); The Chalk Garden (2009
Olivier Award for Best Lighting), Luise Miller (Donmar
Warehouse); Love Never Dies, Oliver, Evita (West End); the
25th Anniversary production of Les Misérables (tour); Phantom of the Opera (2013 tour); War Horse (London, New York,
Toronto and Australia, 2011 Tony Award for Best Lighting).
Opera includes: Dr Dee (Manchester Festival and ENO); The
Marriage of Figaro, The Cunning Little Vixen (Glyndbourne).
59 Productions specialises in the design and integration of film and projection technology into live performance and artistic environments including theatres, concert venues, galleries and museums.
They recently provided animation, film making and video design services, art directing all video content for the Opening
Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.
Previous Young Vic: After Dido (Young Vic/ ENO).
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Theatre includes: Night Train (Schauspiel, Cologne); War Horse
(Broadway/ Toronto/ West End/ National); Les Misérables (UK,
Spain, Korea and USA tours); Panic (Barbican/ Improbable);
Thyestes (Arcola); Wunschkonzert (Schauspiel Cologne/ Berlin
Theatre Festival); Dorian Gray (Matthew Bourne); Black Watch
(National Theatre of Scotland/ World Tour); Alex (Eleanor Lloyd
Productions); Mother Courage and Her Children, Time and the
Conways, …Some Trace of Her (National).
Opera includes: Messiah (Opéra de Lyon/ ENO); The
Enchanted Island (Metropolitan Opera); Dark Sisters (Gotham
Chamber Opera); Dr Dee (ENO/ Manchester International
Festival); Two Boys, Riders to the Sea (ENO); Satyagraha
(Metropolitan Opera/ ENO); Al Gran Sole Carico D’Amore
(Berlin Staatsoper/ Salzburg Festival); The Metropolitan
Opera’s 125th Anniversary Gala; Doctor Atomic (ENO/
Metropolitan Opera); The Minotaur, Salome (ROH).
Other work includes: Fink ‘Perfect Darkness’ World Tour (Ninja
Tune/ 59); Jonsi ‘Go’ World Tour (Frakkur/ 59).
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Previous Young Vic: Three Sisters, The Changeling, The
Beauty Queen of Leenane, Been So Long, The Member of the
Wedding, Vernon God Little, The Respectable Wedding, generations, The Skin of Our Teeth.
Previous Royal Court includes: In the Republic of Happiness, In
Basildon.
Forthcoming productions include: The Audience (West End);
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (West End).
Recent designs include: Red Velvet (Tricycle); Jumpy (West
End); One Man, Two Guvnors (National, West End, Broadway,
World Tour); The Magistrate, London Road, Collaborators, The
Veil (National); Doctor Dee (ENO); The Bee (New York);
Company (Sheffield Crucible); The Most Incredible Thing
(Sadler’s Wells); Billy Elliot the Musical (West End, Broadway,
Australia, US Tour).
Awards include: One Man, Two Guvnors: Tony Award
Nomination 2012; Billy Elliot The Musical: Tony Award 2009,
Drama Desk Award 2009, Olivier Award 2006; Mary Stuart:
Tony Award Nomination 2009; Saint Joan: Olivier Award 2008;
Festen: Evening Standard Award 2005; The
Pillowman: Drama Desk Award 2005.
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George Céspedes was born in Holguin in Cuba in 1979 and studied dance and choreography at the National School of
Dance. He joined Danza Contemporanea de Cuba as a dancer in 1998 when he graduated. He is also a prolific choreographer creating many works for Danza Contemporanea and for Ballet
Nacional de Cuba, the national Ballet School and the National
School of Dance.
George has won many awards. His work, La Ecuaçion, won the
Villa Nueva Prize (2004) and the Best Choreography Prize at the Iberoamerican Choreography Contest (2002). Mambo 3XX1 was nominated for both an Olivier Award and a TMA Award in
2010 following its highly successful performances at Sadler’s
Wells during Danza Contemporanea de Cuba’s first UK Tour.
Elyse Dodgson has been a member of the Royal Court Theatre artistic team since 1985 - first as Director of the Young People’s
Theatre and since 1995 as an Associate Director and Head of the International Department. She was the first director of the
Royal Court International Residency which she started in 1989 an d has produced the Royal Court Young Writer’s Festival
(1986-91) and the International Playwrights Season since 1997.
Elyse has co-ordinated play development projects for the Royal
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Court in many parts of the world including Brazil, Chile, Cuba,
Georgia, India, Mexico, Nigeria Palestine, Russia, Syria,
Uganda and Ukraine. She has edited five anthologies of international plays, all published by Nick Hern Books, from
Germany, Spain, Mexico and the Arab World.
Previous Young Vic: as associate director: Mad About the Boy
(Young Vic/ Unicorn/ Bush).
Directing includes: Guilt & Shame, Checkley & Bush, The
Forum (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Fading Hum, I Know
Where The Dead Are Buried (24/7 Theatre Festival,
Manchester); 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic New Voices).
Associate directing includes: Is Everyone OK? (nabokov).
Assistant directing includes: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Salt, Root and Roe (Donmar
Trafalgar Season); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Royal and
Derngate Theatres, Northampton); Fen (Finborough); Doctor
Faustus (Watford Palace); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s
Globe); Roaring Trade (Soho); How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found (Southwark Playhouse).
Laura is supported through the Young Vic/ Jerwood Assistant
Directors Programme.
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Part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation
www.royalcourttheatre.com
020 7565 5000
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International Playwrights: A Genesis Foundation Project
Royal Court Theatre and Fuel co-production
www.royalcourttheatre.com
020 7565 5000
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As Britain’s leading company dedicated to new work, the Royal
Court Theatre produces new plays of the highest quality, working with writers from all backgrounds, and addressing the problems and possibilities of our time. Since its foundation in
1956, the Royal Court has presented premieres by almost every leading contemporary British playwright from John Os borne’s
Look Back in Anger to Caryl Churchill’s A Number and Tom
Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Dominic Cooke ………….. Artistic Director
Catherine Thonborrow ….. General Manager
Helen Perryer ……………. Head of Finance and
Administration
Elyse Dodgson …………... Associate Director International
Chris James ……………… International Projects Manager
Amy Ball ………………….. Casting Director
Lotte Hines ……………….. Casting Assistant
Anna Evans ………………. Press and Public Relations Officer
Becky Woott on …………... Head of Marketing and Sales
Sebastian Stern ………….. Marketing Manager
Rebecca Smith …………... Head of Development
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Artistic Director ………………... David Lan
Executive Director …………….. Lucy Woollatt
Associate Artistic Director ……. Sue Emmas
Genesis Fellow/
Associate Director ……….. Carrie Cracknell
Producer ……………………….. Daisy Heath
General Manager/ Producer …. Frederica Notley
Touring Producer ……………... Ben Cooper
Associate Designer …………… Jeremy Herbert
Associate Artists ………………. Matthew Dunster
Joe Hill-Gibbins
Daniel Kramer
Ian MacNeil
Walter Meierjohann
Rufus Norris
Sacha Wares
International Associates ……… Luc Bondy
Gísli Örn Gardarsson
Amir Nizar Zuabi
Associate Companies ………… 1927
Fevered Sleep
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Administration
PA to the Artistic Director ……. Liza Frank
Administrator to the Producers ..Sarah Green
Box Office & Sales
Box Office & Sales Manager … Murray Cooper-Melchiors
Deputy Box Office &
Sales Manager …………... Ciara O’Toole
Box Office & Sales
Manager(adoption leave) .. Chris Campbell
Box Office Duty Managers …… Kimberley Alwyn-Botting
Mark Bixter
Lyvia Nabarro
Sally Neville
Box Office Assistants ………… Lisa Gaunt
Emma Graves
Isaac Jones
Helen Murray
Naomi Nathan
Development
Development Director ………… Anna Silman
Head of Corporate
Development …………….. Caroline Carey
Head of Trusts ………………… Catherine McMahon
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Head of Trusts (maternity leave) ..Gabbie Filmer-Pasco
Development Executive ……… Clare Betney
Individual Giving Executive ….. Charlotte Christesen
Development Assistant ………. Lucy Madden
Finance
Finance Manager ……………... Sophie Wells
Finance Assistant …………….. Janine Carter
Front of House
Theatre Manager ……………… Damian Ball
Front of House Manager ……... Claire Harris
Theatre Officer ………………… Zoe Odjevwedje
Facilities Officer ……………….. Joey Jex
Duty Managers ………………... Morven Campbell
Maureen Huish
Isaac Jones
Johanna Keane
Lyn Medcalf
Ushers …………………………. Aaron Kelly
Alice Malseed Alice Saville
Alex Williams Beth Wignall
Bryan Parry Chanceli Moranga
Chantal Pierre-Packer Chris Chasseaud
Chris Stevens Chris Worrall
Ciarra Nevitt Clair Burningham
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Daniel Harrison Daniel Montanarini
Debbie Burningham Diana Mumbi
Eboni Dixon Elizabeth Alabi
Emily Coady-Stemp Francesca De Sica
Glenn Mortimer Grace Kayibanda
Gracjana Rejmer-Canovas Jesse Gassongo-Alexander
Joana Nastari Joanna Selcott
Johanna Keane Kay Michael
Kimberly Alwyn-Botting Lara Honnor
Laura-Anne Day Lee Flynn
Luke Pierre Lyn Medcalf
Lynn Knight Magdalena Blasinska
Mark Vanderstoop Michelle Thompson
Nadine Paquette Nathan Rumney
Patrick Elue Paula Shaw
Peta Cornish Philip Moore
Rachel Thompson Rebecca Mansfield
Reuben Webb Sarah Chasseaud
Sarah Hunt Sebastian Langueneur
Sheila Murphy Simon Paul
Simone Bell Susan Harrold
Tamar Karabetyan Tom Cooper
Verity Healey Wai Yin Kwok
Yolanda Aladeshelu Zoe Odjevwedje
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Marketing and Press
Commercial Director ………….. Alan Stacey
Marketing Managers ………….. Chris Adams
Stacy Coyne
Press Manager ………………... Jennifer Reynolds
Marketing and Press Assistant ..Katie Marsh
Production
Technical Director …………….. Matt Noddings
Production Manager ………….. Anthony Newton
Company Manager …………… Alex Constantin
Head of Sound ………………… Dominic Bilkey
Head of Lighting ………………. Nicki Brown
Head of Stage …………………. Dave Tuff
Head of Workshop ……………. Emma Hayward
Head of Costume ……………... Catherine Kodicek
Senior Stage Technician …….. Simon Evans
Senior Sound Technician ……. Emily Legg
Senior Lighting Technician …... Jacob Mason-Dixon
Taking Part Technician
………. Mike Ager
Lighting Technician …………… Laura Choules
Production Administrator …….. Hannah Falvey
Taking Part
Head of Taking Part ………….. Imogen Brodie
Participation Projects Manager ..Sharon Kanolik
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Two Boroughs Projects
Manager ………………….. Lily Einhorn
Schools and Colleges Project
Manager ………………….. Georgia Dale
Taking Part and Directors
Program Administrator ….. Kirsten Adam
Board
Patrick McKenna (Chair) Sean Egan
David Fletcher Sarah Hall
Patrick Handley Clive Jones
Rory Kinnear Carol Lake
David Lan Anna Lane
Ivan Lewis Karen McHugh
Sally O’Neill Steve Tompkins
Bill Winters
Development Board
Beatrice Bondy Caroline Cormack
Mike Johnson Carol Lake
Anna Lane Jill Manson
Will Meldrum Barbara Reeves
Rita Skinner Bill Winters
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To produce our sell-out, award-winning shows and provide thousands of free activities through our Taking Part programme requires major investment. Find out how you can make a difference and get involved.
As an individual… become a Friend, donate to a special project, attend our unique gala events or remember the Young Vic in your will.
As a company… take advantage of our flexible memberships, exciting sponsorship opportunities, corporate workshops, CSR engagement and venue hire.
As a trust or foundation… support our innovative and forwardthinking programmes on stage and off.
Are you interested in events… hire a space in our awardwinning building and we can work with you to create truly memorable workshops, conferences or parties.
For more information visit youngvic.org/support us
020 7922 2810
Registered charity (no. 268876)
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The Young Vic relies on the generous support of many individuals, trusts and foundations, and companies to produce our work, on and off stage. For their recent support we thank:
Public Funders
Arts Council England British Council
Lambeth Borough Council Southwark Council
Major Supporter
Otkritie Capital
Corporate Supporters
American Airlines Barclays
Bloomberg Coutts
Markit Taylor Wessing LLP
The Cooperative
Corporate Members
Aka Bates, Wells & Braithwaite
Bloomberg Clifford Chance
HgCapital Ingenious Media Plc
Lane Consulting Memery Crystal
Promise
Partners
Eric Abraham Tony & Gisela Bloom
Tom Keatinge Chris & Jane Lucas
Patrick McKenna Simon and Midge Palley
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Jon and Noralee Sedmak Justin Shinebourne
Ramez and Tiziana Sousou The Ulrich Family
Anda & Bill Winters
Soul Mates
Jane Attias Chris & Ruth Baker
Rory Bateman Chris & Frances Bates
Anthony and Karen Beare Royce & Rotha Bell
The Bickertons Beatrice Bondy
Katie Bradford CJ & LM Braithwaite
Tim & Caroline Clark Susan Dark
Miel de Botton Annabel Duncan-Smith
Robyn Durie Jennifer & Jeff Eldredge
Paul Gambaccini Michael Gordon
Annika Goodwille Sarah Hall
Patrick Handley Richard Hardman & Family
Fenella Holdaway Nik Holttum & Helen Brannigan
Maxine Isaacs Suzanne & Michael Johnson
John Kinder & Gerry Downey Mr & Mrs Herbert Kretzmer
Carol Lake Jude Law
Michael Lebovitz & Ana Paludi Ann Lewis
Tony Mackintosh James and Sue Macmillan
Ian McKellen John McLaughlin
Jill Manson Juliet Medforth
Barbara Minto Miles Morland
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Dounia and Sherif Nadar Georgia Oetker
Sally O’Neill Robert O’Rahilly
Anthony & Sally Salz Charles & Donna Scott
Bhagat Sharma Dasha Shenkman
Lois Sieff Rita & Paul Skinner
Melissa A. Smith Jan & Michael Topham
The Tracy Family Donna & Richard Vinter
Jimmy & Carol Walker Rob Wallace
Edgar & Judith Wallner George & Patricia White
Mrs Fiona Williams
Trust Supporters
29th May 1961 Charitable Trust
95.8 Capital FM’s Help a Capital Child
BBC Children in Need
Boris Karloff Foundation
The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
The City Bridge Trust
John S Cohen Foundation
D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust
Equitable Charitable Trust
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Genesis Foundation
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Goethe-Institut
Golden Bottle Trust
Gosling Foundation
Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
Henry Smith Charity
Jerwood Charitable Foundation
John Ellerman Foundation
John Thaw Foundation
KPMG Foundation
Lambeth HAP
The Limbourne Trust
Martin Bowley Charitable Trust
The Mercers’ Company
Newcomen Collett Foundation
The Portrack Charitable Trust
Progress Foundation
Red Hill Trust
Richard Radcliffe Trust
The Royal Victoria Hall Foundation
Santander Foundation
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement
The Steel Charitable Trust
The Unity Theatre Trust and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous.
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www.markit.com
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Asset management, corporate finance, investments, ventures www.ingeniousmedia.co.uk
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Otkritie Capital is the brand name for Otkritie Securities Ltd, authorize and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, its appointed representatives and subsidiary, and other affiliates specializing in a range of investment banking services. Services are rendered only by registered entities that act under appropriate licences. For more information please view http://www.otkritie.com/en/disclaimer/ . This is not an offer or solicitation with respect to any transaction.

Otkritie Securities Limited 2012. All rights reserved. Sources:
LSE International Order Book, all securities, Feb-Nov 2011 trade and value ranking 1; RTS and MICEX, data combines
Otkritie Capital transactions with the retail investments business of its affiliate Otkritie Brokerage House JSC.
London Office Otkritie Securities Limited
12 Floor, 88 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7RS, UK
Phone: +44 20 7826 8200 Fax: +44 20 7826 8201 info@otkritie.com
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The Cut travels with Feast on a culinary journey.
Rich and aromatic Okra Stew, Organic skirt steak in Cuba
Marinade, Plantain, Cocoyam Crisps, Pao de Queijo, Suya Beef
Skewers,winter Mojitos and Caipirinhas.
The Cut is one of London’s most popular theatre bars and restaurants. Specials evolve with the season of the Young Vic.
Mostly authentic, always playful; specials reflect geographical, ethnic or textual themes. Enjoy!
66 The Cut London SE1 8LZ
Book now on 0207 928 4400 or www.thecutbar.com
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We present the widest variety of classics, new plays, forgotten works and music theatre. We tour and co-produce extensively within the UK and internationally.
Our shows are created by some of the world’s great theatre people alongside the most adventurous of the younger generation. This fusion makes the Young Vic one of the most exciting theatres in the world.
…is famously the youngest and most diverse in London. We encourage those who don’t think theatre is ‘for them’ to make it part of their lives. We give 10% of our tickets to schools and neighbours irrespective of box office demand, and keep prices low.
Each year we engage with 10,000 local people – individuals and groups of all kinds including schools and colleges
– by exploring theatre on and off stage. From time to time we invite our neighbours to appear on our stage alongside professionals.
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By co-producing with leading theatre, opera, and dance companies from around the world we create shows neither partner could achieve alone.
The Young Vic is a company limited by guarantee, registered in
England No. 1188209.
VAT registration No. 236 673 348
The Young Vic (registered charity number 268876) receives public funding from:
Southwark Council
Lambeth Arts
Arts Council England
Otkritrie Capital - Major sponsor of the Young Vic
Markit - Lead sponsor of the Young Vic’s funded ticket scheme
Sign up to receive email updates at youngvic.org/register
Facebook - youngvictheatre
Twitter - @youngvictheatre
YouTube - youngviclondon
Blog - youngviclondon.wordpress.com
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