Tonight:
5°c
Young Vic stages £12million comeback
Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard11 Oct 2006
The Young Vic re-opens its doors tonight following a £12.5 million redevelopment. The Waterloo theatre, Jude Law's favourite artistic haunt in the capital, has been closed for two years.
Bolstered by a £5 million donation from the Arts Council, the venue now has three theatres and double the space it occupied prior to its renovation.
Appropriately, the Young Vic will re-open with the show that marked its closure - Tobias And The Angel. The community opera features a cast of more than 100, including two public choruses from Southwark and Lambeth.
A spokesman for the theatre said: "A lot of people on the Young Vic's new stage tonight will never have been on stage before."
Future productions include a stage adaptation of DBC Pierre's Booker Prize-winning novel Vernon God Little, a revival of Thomas Otway's bawdy restoration comedy The Soldier's Fortune and the world premiere of a new musical entitled The Enchanted Pig.
TV impressionist Rory Bremner is adapting a version of Bertolt Brecht's early play A Respectable Wedding as part of a season called The Big Brecht Fest.
Tonight's re-opening marks a change in theatrical fortunes for The Cut, the thoroughfare between Southwark and Waterloo-stations.
Until last month's hit revival of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon For The Misbegotten, Kevin Spacey's Old Vic, located down the road from the Young Vic, was empty for six months.
Artistic director David Lan said: "In terms of what we do and what we dream to achieve, we're different from everybody else." Theatreland speculation persistently links Law with playing Hamlet at the Young Vic, a venue he last graced in 2002 in a production of Dr Faustus.
Mr Lan said: "I hope Jude will do Hamlet in the future. We're talking about various projects."
Reader views (2)
Jude Law doing Hamlet is a ridiculous idea, he cannot do classical acting to save his relationship. He looks good on film I grant you but the prince of Denmark, please. I think this was a smart move on the Young Vic's side as it would have been a laughable shakespeare to open their season with, his faustus was appalling and if it was not for the brilliant Richard McCabe, the show would have flopped. But then again people don't care about the quality of the show when the cast has a so called star.
- Tilda Manning, London, 12/10/2006 10:46
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BRAVO! My favorite city in the world because of it's vital theatre scene flourishes again with the help of my favorite actor! I certainly will be back and would love for it to be for HAMLET (with my favorite actor) whom I believe was born to play the role and will, sooner or later. He's heard the inner call as well as the public call and it's just a matter of when. In the meantime all I read about the plans of the Young Vic entice me. I hear the call too.
- Sandy, Boynton Beach FL, USA, 11/10/2006 15:00
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