Kwame Kwei-Armah announces first Young Vic season: 5 things we know about his plans

New season: Kwame Kwei-Armah announced his first Young Vic season this morning
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When David Lan announced he was stepping down as the Young Vic’s artistic director after almost two decades, many wondered who on earth could fill such huge shoes. The theatre found it’s answer in Kwame Kwei-Armah, who today announced his first season.

The appointment, made last September, was met with huge excitement and high anticipation.

Kwei-Armah’s work as an actor, playwright and director has already made a mammoth impact on the cultural landscape, and he’s spent the last seven years as artistic director of Baltimore’s Center Stage theatre.

This morning, Kwei-Armah promised a mix of building on the Young Vic’s strong legacy as a centre for international and community work, and a determination to face down challenges and open more doors.

The season doesn’t begin until October, but there’s plenty to get excited about in the meantime. If you’re wondering what’s in store, here’s five things we already know about Kwei-Armah’s first season at the Young Vic.

His opening statement is one of joy

Gabrielle Brooks performs a song from Twelfth Night (Jessie Thompson)

Kwei-Armah’s inaugural production will be a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which he directed himself at New York’s Public Theater in 2016. He will direct it alongside Public Theater boss Oskar Eustis, and the cast will perform alongside a community ensemble from Lambeth and Southwark. Asked why he wanted to begin with this show, Kwei-Armah said, “I really love joy, fun, energy, community. I wanted to start off with sending love into the ether,” declaring he’ll get “down and dirty” with later shows. If a sneak peek performance from cast member Gabrielle Brooks is anything to go by, it’s going to be a treat.

It’s purposefully intersectional

“It was intentional how intersectional the first season was,” Kwei-Armah said, declaring that when it comes to bringing about change, “it’s on us.”

Black Panther star Danai Gurira’s play The Convent, an exploration of the impact of colonialism on black identity, gets a major revival, and Debbie Hannan will direct a revival of Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours. A new initiative called YV Unpacked will take shows to places that normally don’t get to see theatre, including refugee centres, prisons and homeless shelters.

‘Englishness’ is under the microscope

Associate Director Nadia Latif explained that she and Kwei-Armah had conversations about how to seek out stories of solidarity and hope in the idea of ‘Englishness’, a term they fear has been “weaponised” by the far right. Playwrights from across the country, including Omar El-Khairy, Polly Stenham, Jack Thorne and May Sumbwanyambe, will write monologues on the subject which will be turned into short films. “Simply put, it’s time to change the narrative,” Latif said.

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Future work stands on the shoulders of what came before

Kwei-Armah admitted he didn’t apply for the job in the first round; he felt David Lan had already done everything he would do. He concluded it’s a new day with new discussions, “and some of those discussions need to come from black Britain.” He described the Young Vic as a theatre where “access for all is part of its bloodstream...my job is to stand on those shoulders.”

You’ll be able to see shows for a fiver

All tickets for previews will now be £5 as part of a drive to bring in new audiences. “We want to send out the signals that this theatre is a theatre for all,” Kwei-Armah said.

Read our full story on this morning's announcement; Twelfth Night opens on October 2

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