Young Vic goes to the Amazon
July 31, 2008 – 8:24 pm | by Peekay
The Young Vic’s biggest international collaboration yet, Amazônia, was launched this week at the Waterloo venue.
Amazônia has already featured a special Young Vic award at the Festa Junina Quadrilha dance competition in Brazil last month. The forthcoming British aspects include community project Festa! on 16 August and the Young Vic’s Christmas show, which shares the project’s name.
The high energy dance will be seen in Waterloo on 16 August, when it plays a key role in the Young Vic’s community project for 2008, Festa! A cast of 92 have been drawn from the local area, spanning a wide range of residents ranging from 14-81 years old. They will be joined by professional performers to create a Quadrilha that will start on The Cut, which will be closed off for the purposes of this performance, and take over the entirety of the Young Vic.
Some of Festa!’s community performers will return to the Young Vic as part of the cast of Christmas show Amazônia, which is written by top Brazilian comic performer and writer Pedro Cardoso. Cardoso is joined by a Brazilian cast including Wager Moura, soon to be seen in film Elite Squad, Lazaro Ramos, Renata Sorrah and a selection of as yet uncast English performers in the magical tale of an enchanted tree.
The Amazônia season follows the success of last year’s collaboration with South African company Isango/Portobello, which brought productions of A Christmas Carol and The Magic Flute to the Young Vic last Christmas. The production of The Magic Flute was so successful that it transferred for a season at the Duke of York’s and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
