Changing Destiny Programme

WRITTEN BY
BEN OKRI
CHANGING
DESTINY
CAST
Character Joan Iyiola
Character Ashley Zhangazha
Across the performance run, cast members Joan Iyiola and Ashley Zhangazha
will share the role of Sinuhe, with a game played on stage at the start of each
performance dictating who will play the role in that show.

CREATIVE TEAM
Writer
Ben Okri
Director
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Set and Costume Designer
Sir David Adjaye
and Adjaye Associates
Lighting Designer
Jackie Shemesh
Sound Designer
and Musical Director
XANA
Projection Designer
Duncan McLean
Composer
Tunde Jegede
Movement Director
Rachael Nanyonjo
Voice and Dialect Coach
Hazel Holder
Fight Director
Yarit Dor
Jerwood Assistant
Director
Khadifa Wong
Boris Karloff Trainee
Assistant Director
Xanthus
Mime Consultant
Marcello Magni
Casting support
Charlotte Sutton CDG
Additional film and voice
Rakie Ayola
Ebe Bambgoye
Doña Croll
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Company Stage Manager
Debra Tidd
Deputy Stage Manager
Mary O’Hanlon
Assistant Stage Manager
Stefani Zivanic
Costume Supervisor
Sarah Hamza
LX Programmer
Jason Addison
LX Programmer and
Lighting Operator
Saul Richardson
Sound Operator
Xander Smith
Wardrobe Manager
Maddie Bevan
Stage Operator
Glyn Dodd
Video Programmer
and System Engineer
Dan Trenchard
Hair for Joan Iyiola
styled by
Purely Natural Salon
Make Up for filming
Sam Lascelle
Video Programmer
Jack Jewell
Animators
Stanley Orwin-Fraser
Bradley Purnell
Video Equipment Supplier
Stage Sound Services
Film Equipment Supplier
Kagey Lightin
With thanks to: Holly Aston, Duncan Wilson, Ed Cooper, Dan Bond, Sub Pac Company and Steve Snooks, Edith
Nazziwa, Gertrude Najjombwe, Malwah Family, Imogen Sarre, Roman Bednarz, Enric Ortuno, Tom Ilube, Jo Braun,
Primo Productions, Claw Collective, Luke Shires, Becky Pepper, TEA Creatives, LLoyd Stringer, Sarah Stratton
Khadifa Wong is supported by the Jerwood Assistant Director Program at the Young Vic.
Xanthus is supported by the Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Director Program at the Young Vic.
1

WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?
by Ben Okri
This play, Changing Destiny, takes its
life from a 4000-year-old poem from
ancient Egypt. The poem is called Sinuhe.
There are some who see the poem as the
unknown precursor of many legends that
are part of the world’s narrative tradition.
But the poem, composed during the middle
kingdom, a period considered the height
of ancient Egyptian literary culture, and
unread for three and a half millennia,
retains an uncanny ability to speak to
our times. It is this quality that makes it
fascinating.
Anyone who has an abiding interest in ancient
Egypt would see it as part of the history of African
civilisations. There seems to have been concerted
attempts to separate ancient Egypt from Africa. Here
we have a civilisation conceived on an exalted plane,
but whose most famous literary text is about identity,
immigration, social disorder, the mystery of power,
changing fortunes, and the inexplicability of the deep
motives of our actions. In a strange way, Sinuhe
foreshadows Hamlet. In its meditation on the nature
of exile and homecoming, it foreshadows The Odyssey.
A casual encounter with Kwame Kwei-Armah at an
event about Mandela led to a conversation about
Sinuhe. The discovery of a mutual interest in this
poem led to the realisation that there was something
intrinsically dramatic about the poem, and that it
would make a striking play that resonates powerfully
with our times.
2

The writing was begun in the spring of 2019; other drafts
were written during the long lockdown. What began as a play
about power, the ancient world, and immigration, became
focussed on the curious destiny of Sinuhe. The play absorbed,
in the indirect way these things do, many of the underlying
currents of our times. It opens with conspirators plotting to
assassinate a toxic leader, then it delves into the condition
of exile and immigration. But at its heart is something that
has fascinated us since the earliest days of civilisation: the
mystery of what makes us human. What are our constituent
parts, what are we made of, what is it that is most authentic
about us, and what is it in us that we sacrifice on the
relentless path of survival and achievement?
Like all ancient cultures, the ancient Egyptians believed
that human beings are composed of two selves, which they
roughly designated the BA and the KA. The metaphysics
of these terms are too complex to go into here, but they
are a fundamental aspect of what we are. In Hinduism, in
Christianity, in most African traditions, these aspects that
make up human beings have their clear designation. The
ancient Greeks, according to Plato, saw that we are body,
pnumena, and spirit. The Chinese use the same word Chi
to designate a mysterious force in us that the Igbos use to
refer to one’s personal spirit. This concept runs through
most cultures. It is worth remembering that the scribe in
whose tomb the papyrus containing Sinuhe was found also
transcribed a poem called ‘A Man’s Dialogue with his Soul.’
In Changing Destiny there is the idea that one can sin
against one’s spirit, that one can perform acts that separate
one from one’s essential, or authentic, self. In our time we
are just as haunted by the idea of authenticity. We celebrate
our heroes and heroines to the degree that they live out their
authentic choices.
In the original poem, there is an enigma as profound and
perhaps more baffling than the enigma at the heart of Hamlet
or Oedipus Rex. With Hamlet it is the conundrum of the ghost
and its effect on Hamlet’s constant delays in exacting revenge
for the murder of his father. With Oedipus Rex it is the
enigma of the immutability of destiny itself. With Sinuhe,
it is the question of a mysterious flight and an assumed
guilt, and the impact this has on the rest of his life. The
assumption of guilt when one has not done the thing for
which one feels guilty is a very modern phenomenon. Kafka
is perhaps its greatest modern exponent. Sinuhe anticipates
Kafka by nearly four thousand years.
Such a work hints at something universal about the human
condition. Since the dawn of time, we have known what it is
like to have to find a way to live and thrive under a sky different
from the one under which we were born. We have known what
it is like to make existential decisions that alter, forever, the
tone and nature of our lives. The eternal questions pursue us
whether we are at home or are exiles. We all feel in our blood
an attachment to our lands. We all feel that something is lost in
us when we are unduly severed from it.
Literature makes us aware of the invisible umbilical cords
that connect us to the universe, to the land, and to our
communities. In both the ancient and the modern world the
nature of home is complex and undergoes constant mutation.
Historical events alter all things. A single war can shift the
configuration of what we call home. Today you are free, but
tomorrow finds you a refugee.
The fugitive nature of human certainties gives us cause to
wonder. The urge to alter one’s destiny, in a world over which
one has little control, is as old as humanity itself. Changing
Destiny, taking the poem as its starting point, explores these
themes. But it leaps off into its own discoveries.
A silent mantra runs through this production. It emerged in the
close collaboration with Kwame Kwei-Armah and the actors.
Within the lightness of the lines are sublimated worlds.
All is real, yet all is dream. A person who fled for reasons that
they do not know, arrives at somewhere they did not expect,
where the synthesis which is at the core of a great civilisation is
at the root of a new genesis.
3

4 Photographer: Marc Brenner

5

THE COMPANY
JOAN IYIOLA
CHARACTER
ASHLEY ZHANGAZHA
CHARACTER
Previous Young Vic: Tree, A Season In The Congo.
Other theatre includes: The Duchess of Malfi, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, The White Devil, The Arden of Favesham, The Roaring Girl,
The Life of Galileo, Boris Godunov, The Orphan of Zhao (RSC); Three
Guineas, Boudica (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Convert, Eclipsed, The
Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco (Gate Theatre), They Drink it in the
Congo (Almeida), Omeros (Shakespeare’s Globe & St Lucia Tour).
Television includes: Too Close (ITV), Enterprice S1 &2 (BBC/
Netflix), Black Earth Rising (BBC/Netflix), New Blood (BBC/Netflix),
Yonderland (Sky).
Film includes: Twice as Good, DỌLÁPÒ . IS FINE, A Fortress Built By
Nature, Don’t Come Here, Nyx, Words, Show Dogs, Denial.
Joan is co-founder of The Mono Box, a non-profit arts organisation that
supports and nurtures the development of emerging and professional
talent with workshops and courses, digital resources and new writing
opportunities most notably, RESET THE STAGE and PLAYSTART.
Joan is also co-founder of Apatan Productions, under which she cowrote,
produced and acted in DỌLÁPÒ . IS FINE (HBO/Netflix), and
was the awarded HBO Short Film Award for 2020. Joan is part of
BFI Network x BAFTA’s Crew for 2021, and is an Associate Artist at
Donmar Warehouse.
Previous Young Vic: Ah, Wilderness!
Other theatre includes: Tina The Musical (Aldwych Theatre); Death
of a Salesman, Guys & Dolls, Hamlet (Royal Exchange); Pericles
(National Theatre); The Country Wife (Chichester Festival Theatre);
Terror (Lyric Hammersmith); The Lottery of Love (Orange Tree
Theatre); Human Animals, Belong, Truth and Reconciliation (Royal
Court); A Raisin in the Sun (Sheffield Crucible/Eclipse Theatre
Company); Image of an Unknown Young Woman (The Gate); Henry V
(Michael Grandage Company); Fences (Duchess Theatre/Theatre Royal
Bath); Macbeth (Sheffield Theatres (Crucible)); Richard II, King Lear
(Donmar); Danton’s Death (National Theatre).
Television includes: Darkness Rising (Channel 4), Manhunt (ITV/
Buffalo Pictures), Victoria II (Mammoth Screen), Doctors (BBC),
Humans (Channel 4), Ordinary Lies, Lenny Goes To Town (BBC),
Axon (BBC/Illumina Digital).
Radio includes: Schreber, Lorenzaccio (BBC Radio 3), Rasselas, Prince
of Abyssinia (BBC Radio 4).
Film includes: Parlour Games (Short).
Ashley won the UK Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Musical
for Guys and Dolls at the Royal Exchange, and the Ian Charleson Award
for Macbeth at the Sheffield Crucible. He trained at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama.
6

THROUGH THE LENS
We commissioned photography by artist,
photographer and former Young Vic Young
Associate Jamel Duane Alatise
7

BEN OKRI
WRITER
Ben Okri is a poet, novelist, and
playwright. His novel, The Famished
Road, won the Booker Prize in 1991.
His works have been translated into
27 languages. He wrote a much
acclaimed adaptation of Camus’s The
Outsider for the Coronet in London
and his play Madame Sosostris was
performed to full houses at the Pullof
Theatres in Lausanne, Switzerland.
His latest novel is The Freedom Artist
and his latest volume of stories is
Prayer for the Living, both published
in 2019. A new collection of his poems
A Fire in my Head was published in
January 2021.
KWAME KWEI-ARMAH
DIRECTOR
Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE is Artistic
Director of the Young Vic theatre. He
was Artistic Director of Baltimore
Centerstage (2011-18) and Artistic
Director of the Festival of Black Arts
and Culture, Senegal (2010), where
he wrote and directed the opening
ceremony at Senghor stadium. As
a playwright, Kwame was the first
African Caribbean to have a play
produced in London’s West End
(Elmina’s Kitchen). His triptych of
plays was produced at the National
Theatre, where he later created
the online resource The Black Play
Archive. Kwame was Chancellor of the
University of the Arts, London (2010-
2015), is Patron of Ballet Black, and
The Black Cultural Archives, Chair
of Warwick Arts Centre Advisory
Board and Fellow of Lady Margaret
Hall, Oxford University. Kwame was
awarded an OBE for Services to Drama
in 2011, and in 2020 listed as one of
100 Great Black Britons.
SIR DAVID ADJAYE
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN
Architecture Projects: Smithsonian
National Museum of African American
History & Culture (Washington DC),
Abrahamic Family House (Abu Dhabi,
UAE), Ruby City (San Antonio, Texas),
Cherry Groce Memorial Pavilion
(London, UK), Sugar Hill Mixed-Use
Development (Harlem, New York),
Moscow School of Management
SKOLKOVO (Moscow, Russia), Aishti
Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon), George
Street Plaza Building (Sydney,
Australia), Idea Stores (London, UK),
National Cathedral of Ghana (Accra,
Ghana), Edo Museum of West African
Art (Benin, Nigeria), Princeton
University Art Museum (Princeton,
New Jersey).
Exhibitions and Installations:
Asaase, Social Works (Gagosian),
Sankofa Pavilion: Is this Tomorrow?
(Whitechapel Gallery), Ghana
Freedom Pavilion (58th Venice Art
Biennale), Making Memory (Design
Museum), Magdalene Odundo: The
Journey of Things (Sainsbury Centre
for Visual Arts).
Awards: RIBA Gold Medal (2021),
World Economic Forum’s 27th Annual
Crystal Award (2021), Isamu Noguchi
Award (2020), Louis Kahn Memorial
Award (2018), Ghana Legacy Honors
Impact in Architecture (2017).
JACKIE SHEMESH
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Previous Young Vic: In the Penal
Colony, Man, Oh my Sweet Land.
Other theatre includes: Death of
England, Hansard, Death of England:
Delroy (National Theatre); Misty, The
Beloved, Islands (Bush Theatre); What
if Women Ruled the World, Ceremony
(MIF); Vanya, Mary Stuart (Almeida);
The Seagull (Jamie Lloyd Company);
The Return of Danton (Collective
Ma’louba).
Dance includes: Heavy Handed we
Crush the Moment (Jamila Johnson-
Small); Run Mary Run (Sadler’s
Wells); Goat (Rambert); The
Murmuring, Young Men (BalletBoyz);
Beheld, Hot Mess, Let’s Talk About
Dis (Candoco Danc); Girl A (Scottish
Dance Theatre); Lunatic (NDC Wales).
Other collaborations include:
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Grange
Opera); Recital for Cathy, From
Canyons to Stars (Hamburg Symphony
Orchestra); TUTBU TV, JRMIP
(Hebbel Berlin;) Sante (LSO).
jackieshemesh.com
XANA
SOUND DESIGNER AND
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Previous Young Vic: TWENTY,
TWENTY, Fairview, Ivan and the
Dogs.
Other theatre includes:
The Body Remembers (Fuel
Theatre); Strange Fruit (Bush
Theatre); Blood Knot (Orange
Tree Theatre); Burgerz (Hackney
Showroom).
Installation includes: Joy Inside
Our Tears (Harold Offeh, Wellcome
Collection).
Film includes: A Reunion of
Hands (Sonny Nwachukwu, dir. Myah
Jeffers Brownton Abbey), Reset the
Stage (Mono Box Productions), House
Made of Tin (Raisa Kabir), Hope
and Her Two Daughters (dir. Tobore
Dafiaga), A Response to your message
(Somalia Seaton).
DUNCAN MCLEAN
PROJECTION DESIGNER
Previous Young Vic: Tree (Mif/
Young Vic) and The Jungle.
West End theatre includes: Magic
Goes Wrong (Vaudeville); Labour Of
Love (Noël Coward); Big Fish (The
Other Palace); Committee, Saint Joan,
Limehouse, One Night In Miami...,
Privacy, City Of Angels and Phyllida
Lloyd’s Shakespeare Trilogy, Julius
Caesar, Henry VI and The Tempest
(Donmar Warehouse);All My Sons, The
Hairy Ape, A Flea in Her Ear, The
Tempest, The Real Thing, The Norman
Conquests and All About My Mother
(Old Vic); Shrek The Musical (Theatre
Royal Drury Lane/UK Tour); Derren
Brown – Infamous (Palace/UK Tour);
All New People (Duke Of York’s/UK
Tour);Frost/Nixon (Gielgud).
New York theatre includes: Matthew
Bourne’s The Red Shoes and Swan
Lake (City Center); Privacy (Public
Theater); The Jungle and The Tempest
(St Ann’s Warehouse); Let It Be (St
James).
International theatre includes:
Starlight Express (Bochum, Germany);
Chess (Japan); Bodyguard The Musical
(Australia/North America/Europe/
China/Korea); Evita (International
Tour); Ghost The Musical (Germany).
8

TUNDE JEGEDE
COMPOSER
Theatre includes: Who Am I?; Emidy:
He Who Dared To Dream; The Griot’s
Tale; African Messiah; Tell Them
That I Am Young And Beautiful;
Red Fortress; Baby Balloon; Cry of
Innocence; The Prophet; Othello.
Television includes: African
Apocalypse; Winged Bull in the
Elephant Case; Hopes on the Horizon;
Africa I Remember.
Film includes: African Apocalypse;
Khartoum Offside; In Search of
Voodoo: Roots to Heaven; 93 Days;
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation;
Waking At Dawn; Agadez, The Music
and the Rebellion; The First Grader;
Ara’s Sojourn; The Nanny Diaries; Our
Story, Our Voice; To The Unknown;
Life & Lyrics; The Idea; 500 Years
Later; Fantôme Afrique; Tunde; Franz
Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask.
www.tundejegede.org
RACHAEL NANYONJO
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
Previous Young Vic: In a Word,
American Dream, The Jumper Factory
(Young Vic, Bristol Old Vic).
Other theatre includes: Death of a
Black Man (Hampstead Theatre);
Cinderella (Nottingham Playhouse);
Spine (20 Stories High); Great
Expectations (National Youth Theatre
at Southwark Playhouse); Either
(Hampstead); Two Trains Running
(ETT – Royal & Derngate);Does My
Bomb Look Big In This (Soho Theatre,
Tara Arts); Babylon Beyond Borders
(The Bush Theatre); Macbeth (Orange
Tree); Misty (Trafalgar Studios)
Olivier Award Nominated; Sleeping
Beauty (Theatre Royal Stratford
East) Nominated For The Black
British Theatre Best Choreographer
Award; After It Rains (National Youth
Theatre); Shebeen (Nottingham
Playhouse & Theatre Royal Stratford
East); Bernstein’s Mass (Royal
Festival Hall, Southbank Centre);
Twilight (Gate Theatre); The Divide,
Cover My Tracks (Old Vic).
Television include: CBeebies:
Christmas In Storyland (BBC, 2020).
Film includes: The Statistical
Probability of Love at First Sight
(Ace Entertainment, 2021); Pirates
(Hillbilly Films/ BBC/BFI, 2020).
HAZEL HOLDER
VOICE AND DIALECT COACH
Previous Young Vic: Death of a
Salesman, The Convert, Fairview, The
Emperor, The Mountaintop, Cuttin’ It,
The Sleeping Beauty.
Other theatre includes: Uncle Vanya
(Harold Pinter); Pass Over (Kiln);
Death of England: Delroy, Death of
England, Small Island, Nine Night,
Barber Shop Chronicles, Pericles,
Angels in America, Les Blancs
and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
(National Theatre); Richard II (Sam
Wannamaker Playhouse); Dreamgirls
(Resident Director) (Savoy); Ear for
Eye, Poet in Da Corner, Father Comes
Home from the Wars (Royal Court).
TV includes: The Power.
Film includes: Small Axe; Silent
Twins; Death on the Nile (Letitia
Wright).
YARIT DOR
FIGHT DIRECTOR
Previous Young Vic: Death of A
Salesman (Young Vic & West End
Transfer also credited as additional
movement support and Intimacy
Director), Wild East (also Movement
Director).
Other theatre includes: Richard
II, Hamlet, As You Like It, Much
Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s
Globe); Miss Julie (Storyhouse),
Strange Fruit (Bush Theatre); Daddy
(Almeida); Macbeth (Royal Exchange
Manchester); Assata Taught Me (Gate
Theatre); The Effect (Boulevard
Theatre); Romeo & Juliet, As You
Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Shakespeare In The Square); Little
Voice, Disgraced (Park Theatre);
Titus Andronicus (Greenwich
Theatre).
Dance includes: Rooms (Rambert);
Between A Self And An Other, Leah,
2B, Sunday Morning (all Hagit Yakira
Company)
Television includes: Adult Material,
Atlanta Season 3, Superhoe,
Girlfriend Experience 3, The Wheel of
Time, Spanish Princess 2, Becoming
Elizabeth, Domina, White Lines,
Starstruck.
Film includes: The Colour Room, Born
of Hope.
KHADIFA WONG
JERWOOD ASSISTANT
DIRECTOR
Other theatre includes: HOW I
LEARNED TO SWIM, I’M YOUR
ROPE, La Gringa, Adventurous (Jermyn
Street Theatre), BLACK WOMEN
DATING WHITE MEN (Hollywood
Fringe, The Drayton Arms).
Film includes: Uprooted – The Journey
of Jazz Dance.
The Jerwood Assistant Director Program
is made possible by
XANTHUS
BORIS KARLOFF TRAINEE
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Theatre includes: The Gin
Game (Chiswick Playhouse); Love
Always Wins (Uproot
Productions); PYNEAPPLE (Paradise
by Way of Kensal Green), So Long,
Babe (CLF Arts Cafe); Care (Working
Laboratory) The Bunker Theatre.
Film includes: Posters (Mountview)
Assisted on: A Moment’s Peace (The
Hope Theatre).
The Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Director
Program is made possible by the Boris Karloff
Charitable Foundation.
9

45 SECOND SYNOPSIS
10 Photographer: Marc Brenner

THE YOUNG VIC
Programme design: Eureka! Design Consultants Ltd
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11

THE YOUNG VIC COMPANY
Artistic Director
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Executive Director
Despina Tsatsas
Associate Artistic Director
Sue Emmas
Genesis Fellow / Associate Director
Jennifer Tang
Creative Associate
Teunkie Van Der Sluijs
Lead Producer (maternity leave)
Holly Aston
Lead Producer (maternity cover)
Nisha Modhwadia
General Manager
Robyn Keynes
Young Vic Artistic Associates
Glenn Davis
Alfred Enoch
Anna Fleischle
Marcus Gardley
Kate Hewitt
Afua Hirsch
Kirsty Housley
Alex Basco Koch
Doña Kroll
Gregory Maqoma
Prema Mehta
Duncan McLean
Chinonyerem Odimba
Wendell Pierce
Caitriona Shoobridge
Charles Randolph-Wright
Charlotte Sutton
XANA
Associate Companies
Belarus Free Theatre
Crying In The Wilderness Productions
Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme
Sour Lemons
Administration
Operations Director
Rathi Kumar
Digital Systems Manager
Damilola Senbanjo
Administrator
(Producing Team)
Lucy Steward
Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director
Olivia Nwabali
Directors Program Administrator
Tia Begum
Channel 4 playwright
Lulu Raczka
Development
Development Director
Alex Tonetta
Corporate Development Manager
Elisha Owen
Trusts and Foundations Manager
Bernadette Witham
Individual Giving Manager
Cameron Henderson-Begg
Finance
Finance Director
Ivor Stockdale
Finance Manager
Sophie Wells
Finance Officer
Janine Carter
Finance Assistant
Sarah Lloyd
Front of House
Head of Theatre Operations
Bryan Lewis
Interim Head of Theatre Operations
Kimberley Thomas-Currie
Front of House Manager
Will Bowden
Facilities Manager (Outgoing)
George Mills
Facilities Manager (Incoming)
Samuel Hailey-Watts
Duty Managers
Lauren Holden
Maryam Shofowora
Coral Tarran
Ushers
Joe Ackerman
Rosemarie Akwafo
Michael Asiamah
Simone Bell
Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong
Debbie Burningham
Oliver Byng
Shankho Chaudhuri
Aran Cherkez
Maurice Chung
Daniella Connor
Luca Criscuolo
Molly-Rose Curran
Andre Da Silva-Jenkins
Francesca De Sica
Eboni Dixon
Aisha Edwards
Donal Finn
Albert Graver
Kanishka Gupta
Susan Harrold
Owen Haslegrave
Patrick Hatch
Josh Hitchman-Pinnock
12

Theo Hung
Jess James
“Newton” James Thomas Newton
Hana Jennings
Grace Kayibanda
Aaron Kelly
Urielle Klein-Mekongo
Lynn Knight
Melina Morris
Glenn Mortimer
Dynzell Muguti
Taz Munyaneza
Tobi Oludipe
Julie Patten
Grainne Pearson Cockrill
Daniel Pickard
Sahana Rackal
Gracjana Rejmer-Canovas
Thea Sandall
Malika Sandover
Jonathan Savage
Joanna Selcott
Paula Shaw
Chenta Shayen Mariqueo
Linden Sloan
Edd Soper
Tom Sparkes
Lethanial Stacey-Coombe
Mark Vanderstoop
Isaac Vincent
Kitti Wells
Annys Whyatt
Eve Williams
Marketing & Audiences
Director of Marketing and Audiences
Beatrice Burrows
Head of Press and Communications
Emma Hardy
Marketing Manager
Steph Cullen
Ticketing Manager
Zoe Fitzpatrick
Digital Marketing and
Communications Officer
Jarrod Jones
Production
Technical Director
Stuart Robertson
Production Manager
(Technical Director from 19 July)
Jaz Sandalli
Head of Sound
Kyle MacPherson
Head of Stage
Craig Tye
Head of Costume
Sarah Hamza
Head of Lighting
Sam McLeod
Deputy Head of Sound
Bryony Blackler
Deputy Head of Stage
Rhodri Sion Evans
Deputy Head of Lighting
Faye Hetherington
Workshop Carpenter
Rachel MacLoughlin
Lighting Technician
Saul Richardson
Production Administrator
Rachel Salenius
Taking Part
Director of Taking Part
Shereen Jasmin Phillips
Neighbourhood Theatre Producer
Alisha Artry
Participation Producer
Lorna McGinty
Learning Producer
Melanie Anouf
Taking Part Administrator
Vicky Olusanya
Welcome Team
Welcome Team Manager
Ciara O’Toole
Welcome Team
Johanna Kean
Rory Horne
Chris Gyllenhaal
Max Puplett
Julie Patten
Edd Soper
13

YOUNG VIC 2021 SEASON
KLIPPIES
4 AUG – 13 AUG 2021
Diyan Zora, Genesis Foundation
Future Directors Award recipient,
directs Jessica Siân’s acclaimed
debut play, Klippies, a gritty
coming-of-age drama about
an unlikely friendship and the
intensity of first love.
The Genesis Future Directors Award Program
is made possible by
AI
23 AUG – 25 AUG 2021
Jennifer Tang, Genesis Fellow and
YV Associate Director, directs AI
– a unique collaboration between
human and computer minds.
Developed by Chinonyerem Odimba
and Nina Segal & written alongside
GPT-3 Open AI technology,
this play is an exciting hybrid of
research & performance.
HAMLET
25 SEP – 13 NOV 2021
Cush Jumbo makes her YV debut
as Hamlet in Greg Hersov’s muchanticipated
production of the
Shakespearean tragedy.
YOUNGVIC.ORG 020 7922 2922 #YoungVic
14

YV UNPACKED:
LOVE REIGN
18 OCT – 23 OCT 2021
Love Reign is a love letter to
friendships, how we begin them,
how we honour them and how
we preserve them against all
odds in our lives. Written by
Director of Taking Part
Shereen Jasmin Phillips and
directed by Stef O’Driscoll.
SUNDOWN KIKI
5 NOV – 12 NOV 2021
Filling the Maria with sequins,
celebratory togetherness, and a
healthy dose of shade, Sundown Kiki
will bring the world of theatre and
ballroom together in an explosive
evening of music, dance, walking,
and partying. Creative direction
by Jay Jay Revlon, directed by
Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, with sound
and composition by XANA.
BEST OF ENEMIES
2 DEC 2021 – 22 JAN 2022
1968. Divided America. As
two men fight to become the
next President of the United
States, all eyes are on the battle
between two others: the cunningly
conservative William F Buckley Jr.,
and the iconoclastic Gore Vidal.
James Graham’s new play is
directed by Jeremy Herrin, in
a co-production with Headlong.
Inspired by the documentary by
Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon.
15

ACCESS PERFORMANCES AT THE YOUNG VIC
RELAXED PERFORMANCES
Changing Destiny Tue 17 Aug, 7.30pm
Hamlet Tue 2 Nov, 7pm
Best of Enemies Thu 13 Jan, 7.30pm
AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES
Changing Destiny Thu 19 Aug, 7.30pm
Hamlet Tue 19 Oct, 7pm
Best of Enemies Fri 17 Dec, 7.30pm
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES
Changing Destiny Thu 5 Aug, 7.30pm
Klippies Thu 12 Aug, 7.45pm
Hamlet Thu 4 Nov, 7pm
Best of Enemies Thu 6 Jan, 7.30pm
If you would like to book an induction loop,
require someone to look after your assistance
dog during a performance, or have any other
access requirements, please let us know in
advance so we can make your visit as enjoyable
as possible.
For more information call: 020 7922 2922
Textphone 18001 020 7922 2922
16

TAKING PART AT THE YOUNG VIC
Taking Part is our creative engagement department that works with young
people, adults, schools, and our local community. We engage with over 15,000
people a year, providing free tickets to all our shows and free creative and
artistic opportunities to our participants.
Our three strands, Learning, Participation, and
Neighbourhood Theatre, create work that is the
beating heart of the organisation. Each year
Taking Part’s programme responds to a shared
theme. Last year we explored ‘Home, History and
Heritage’ and this year we are responding to the
provocation ‘Freedom of Expression’.
We think of the Young Vic as ‘the home you didn’t
know you had’ – come in and join us. To find out more
about our projects and how you can get involved,
please visit youngvic.org/taking-part or follow
@yvtakingpart on Twitter.
17

2021 SEASON SUPPORTERS
Public Support
Season Support
The Young Vic’s 2021 season is also supported by the Genesis Foundation and IHS Markit.
We gratefully acknowledge Ian Burford and Alec Cannell for generously supporting the Young Vic’s mission.
18

THE YOUNG VIC BOARD
Board of Trustees
Glenn Earle (chair)
Varun Chandra
Nicky Dunn OBE
Robert Easton
Farah Ramzan Golant CBE
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith MBE
Ali Hossaini
Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE
Ebele Okobi
Abigail Sewell
Fiona Shaw
Sita Thomas
Steve Tompkins MBE
Anna Williams
Development Board
Rachel Conlan (co-chair)
Ebele Okobi (co-chair)
Beatrice Bondy
Gerard Crichlow
Annabel Duncan-Smith
Glenn Earle
Sophie Hale
Will Meldrum
Barbara Reeves
Sarah Thorpe
The Young Vic gratefully recognises
the following Trustees who retired from
board service between March 2020
and April 2021:
Sean Egan
David Fletcher
Rory Kinnear
Rita Skinner
19

YOUNG VIC SUPPORTERS
Young Vic supporters realise our mission of creating extraordinary theatre, sharing
the joy of creativity with our community and investing in the artists of tomorrow.
They make everything we do possible, and we are deeply grateful to them all.
For their recent support we thank:
£100,000+
Arts Council England
Bloomberg*
Ian Burford & Alec Cannell
Culture Recovery Fund, DCMS
Glenn & Phyllida Earle
Garfield Weston Foundation
Genesis Foundation
IHS Markit
Patrick & Sholpan McKenna
£50,000 – £99,999
Backstage Trust
Bank of America*
Jo Braun
The Charlotte Aitken Trust
Robert Easton & Elza Blankenburgs
Southwark Council
£20,000 – £49,999
Anonymous (1)
American Express
Audible
The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust
Sarah & Tim Bunting
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Cockayne – Grants for the Arts
H&M Foundation
Sophie Hale & Roland Rudd
Jerwood Arts
Lambeth Council
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Karl-Johan Persson
Clive & Sally Sherling
Rita & Paul Skinner
and all our members and supporters,
whose generosity strengthens and
sustains our work.
*Young Vic Corporate Member
Listing current as of 25 June 2021.
20

£10,000 – £19,999
Bankside Hotel
Lionel Barber &
Victoria Greenwood
The Boris Karloff
Charitable Foundation
Sandra Cavlov
Ian & Caroline Cormack
Lin & Ken Craig
Manfred & Lydia Gorvy
The Harold Hyam
Wingate Foundation
Tracey, Eloise & Max Mayerson
Ingenious Media Plc*
Jack & Linda Keenan
Adam Kenwright
Kidron Hall Charitable Trust
Sarah & Dominic Murphy
Richenthal Foundation
Sea Containers London*
Jon & NoraLee Sedmak
Dasha Shenkman
United St Saviour’s Charity
Dominic Wallington
£1,000 – £9,999
Anonymous (3)
The 29th of May 1961 Charitable
Trust
AKA*
The Andor Charitable Trust
Jennifer Bailey
Chris & Frances Bates
Lady Primrose Bell
Sarah Billinghurst Solomon
Adrian & Lisa Binks
Tony & Gisela Bloom
Beatrice Bondy
Simon & Sally Borrows
The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
Katie Bradford
CJ & LM Braithwaite
Dr Neil & Sarah Brener
Sylvie & Leon Bressler
Clive & Helena Butler
Monkey Chambers
Chapman Charitable Trust
The Charlotte Bonham-Carter
Charitable Trust
The Cleopatra Trust
The John S Cohen Foundation
Rachel Conlan
Victoria Corcoran
Lord Mervyn Davies
Roger & Alison De Haan
Scott M Delman
Annabel Duncan-Smith
Robyn Durie
Marielle Ednalino & Ken Lamb
Jennifer & Jeff Eldredge
Sir Vernon & Lady Ellis
Don Ellwood & Sandra Johnigan
Embassy of Spain
David Fein & Liz Oestreich
Finsbury Glover Hering*
Adam Freudenheim
Gillian Frumkin
The Golden Bottle Trust
The Golsoncott Foundation
Alan & Ros Haigh
Sarah Hall
Katherine Hallgarten
Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Nick Hern
Madeleine Hodgkin
Nik Holttum & Helen Brannigan
Mike & Caroline Howes
The Hoxton Southwark
Tom & Caron Ilube
John Lyon’s Charity
The John Thaw Foundation
Melanie Johnson
Jones Day*
John & Gerry Kinder
Carol Lake
Ben Langworthy
Victoria Leggett
Clive Lewis
Jill & Justin Manson
The Martin Bowley Charitable Trust
Memery Crystal*
Barbara Minto
The Lowy Mitchell Foundation
Carole Neuhaus
Newcomen Collett Foundation
The Noël Coward Foundation
Georgia Oetker
Ebele Okobi
Rob & Lesley O’Rahilly
Simon & Midge Palley
Sarig Peker
Heather & Julia Randall
The Red Hill Trust
Barbara Reeves
The Richard Radcliffe Charitable
Trust
The Rix-Thompson-Rothenberg
Foundation
Corinne Rooney
Sue Roy
Royal Norwegian Embassy
Sir Paul & Lady Ruddock
Carol Sellars
Dr Bhagat Sharma
Jenny Sheridan
Justin Shinebourne &
Laurence Chaussinand
Florian Simm
Demola Soremekun
Jan & Michael Topham
TowerBrook Foundation*
Nick Tsatsas
U+I Group Plc
Bill Updegraff & Aliza Bartfield
Katleen van Roost
Walcot Foundation
Rob & Gillian Wallace
Edgar & Judith Wallner
Bill & Anda Winters
Jill Hackel Zarzycki
Julia Zilberman & Maxim Seltzer
and all our members and supporters,
whose generosity strengthens and
sustains our work.
*Young Vic Corporate Member
Listing current as of 25 June 2021.
21

Join us as we present a new way to stream live theatre. Best Seat in Your House
is our immersive, multi-camera broadcast designed to give you optimal choice as
you watch a live show.
Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah:
“As the pandemic year saw us engage with theatre in
online spaces, I’ve been grappling with how technology
could be used to heighten the liveliness that sits at the
heart of the in-person theatre experience. How can
we make our audience feel part of the show from their
homes? How can we make the experience as flexible
and accessible as possible? These are questions that
shape the Young Vic’s mission as a theatre, and
so must naturally extend to our digital offer.
With Best Seat in Your House, we’ve taken a bold step
into the future of the theatre-streaming experience.
We’ve put choice at the heart of every element, giving
audiences the space to engage with our streamed work
in an entirely new way.”
WHAT IS BEST SEAT IN YOUR HOUSE?
Designed with flexibility in mind, our innovative
next step in live theatre streaming is designed
to place you at the heart of the action, with
each show feeling like a brand new experience.
We give you two streaming options: Director’s Chair
or Director’s Cut.
Director’s Chair
By taking the Director’s Chair, YOU take control
of your view of the show, as you cut between any
of the cameras placed around the theatre at any
time throughout the live performance. The choice is
yours. Whatever your preference, your view will be
complemented by a high-quality audio mix of the show.
22

Director’s Cut
Alternatively, you can choose our Director’s Cut
option. Sit back as we deliver a more traditional live
edit of the show from the theatre to your screen,
created with the show’s director and mixed by our
production team.
WHAT WILL THE EXPERIENCE BE LIKE?
The Young Vic has famously one of the most
flexible auditoriums in London, where our artists
are encouraged to design without barriers. In our
theatre, the seating is never quite the same from
one show to the next.
Similarly, the broadcast experience for each show
will be designed bespoke for the production, with
cameras positioned to offer exciting perspectives of
our live shows.
A robo-camera rig with multiple cameras will be
contstructed around the auditorium to capture the
performance, and these feeds will be broadcast
direct to your device. Camera operators will control
the robo-cameras, continually ensuring every shot
gives you an exciting new perspective of the show.
From the comfort of home, you will be able to pick
which camera feed you watch. At any point, you can
switch to a different view for a new perspective –
almost as though you were able to move seats in our
auditorium to continually find your favourite view!
WHAT DEVICES CAN I WATCH THIS ON?
With flexibility at the centre of this new innovation,
we want our broadcasts to be compatible with as many
devices as possible. Stream on a phone, tablet, laptop,
or even cast to your television. However, for the best
experience, we recommend using a laptop.
WHAT ARE YOUR ACCESS PROVISIONS?
Captions, audio description and British Sign
Language will be available for every performance.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Visit youngvic.org/bestseatinyourhouse
Best Seat in Your House is made in collaboration
with YV Artistic Associate Duncan McLean.
The development of Best Seat in Your House
is supported by the Genesis Foundation’s Genesis
Kickstart Fund.
23

Proud sponsor
of the funded ticket programme
Through IHS Markit’s support, the Young Vic offers nearly
10,000 free tickets to young people and many that
would not otherwise be able to enjoy the theatre.
Our Friends and Soul Mates receive priority booking for all of our productions and enable us to create
challenging and inspiring work on our stages and with our local communities. Be right at the heart of it all.
Membership starts at £40 a year. Join at the box office today or call the Development Team on 020 7922 2810.
It’s a big world in here.
Data and Insight for the world’s global industries
ihsmarkit.com
HIGH PERFORMANCE WORKSHOPS
at the
“The Young Vic organised a fantastic communications training event.
Personally I would like everyone from GFT to go through this training.
Sales Director Enterprise and Services, GFT
For more information on how we can tailor a bespoke
high performance workshop to your business needs contact
HighPerformance@youngvic.org or call 020 7922 2813
Clients include
19

INDEPENDENT BAR & RESTAURANT
IN THE YOUNG VIC THEATRE.
BOOK NOW
FOR LUNCH, PRE AND POST-THEATRE DINNER & DRINKS
/thecutbar @thecut66 @the_cut_bar
www.thecutbar.com

“OTHER CIVILISATIONS WILL
LIGHT THEIR TORCHES FROM
THE CELESTIAL BLAZE OF
OUR MOTHER CIVILISATION.’’