Casting announced for CARE by Alexander Zeldin at the Young Vic
The Young Vic Theatre has announced casting for CARE, written and directed by internationally-acclaimed writer and director Alexander Zeldin, which plays at the venue from 11 May-11 July.
Following a single mum, two young siblings, and their gran, CARE is a revealing, tender, joyful and moving examination of the realities of family life.
BAFTA nominee Linda Bassett (Call the Midwife, East is East) will play grandmother Joan, with Hayley Carmichael (Rhinoceros, Richard III) as resident Simone, Rosie Cavaliero (Bookish, The Power of Parker) as mother Lynn, Richard Durden (Bridgerton, Ghosts) as resident John, Aoife Gaston (Doctor Who, The Tempest) as nurse Fanta, Llewella Gideon (Mr Loverman, Faith, Hope and Charity) as nurse Hazel, William Lawlor (Arcadia, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) plays teenager Laurie, and Ethan Mahony and Charlie Webb - both making their professional stage debuts - will share the role of youngest son Robbie. A community cast with members from the Young Vic’s creative engagement department Taking Part will also take on roles portraying care home residents.
Writer and director Alexander Zeldin said: “Theatre is uniquely able to bring us closer to our lives, to the reality that we are in but don’t always want to see. CARE is about how, when confronted with the end of life, we come to see life with a new intensity, a new feeling and ultimately a new energy. This subject, of an elderly parent, spouse, sister, brother reaching the end of their life is at the heart of all of our lives. We will, we have, or we are experiencing it. The Young Vic’s space has been an inspiration to me for years, I spent my twenties in awe of the work I discovered there, it is uniquely democratic, open, warm. It is a place we can go to be transformed. To collaborate with Linda Bassett, a true great of British theatre, and be part of Nadia Fall’s ambitious inaugural season, alongside our wonderful group of creatives and actors and co-produced by A Zeldin Company is very exciting.”
Young Vic Artistic Director Nadia Fall said: “Alexander Zeldin is one of our finest directors and a true auteur. I’m delighted to welcome him to the Young Vic with CARE, which looks at ageing and life in a delicately affecting, yet uplifting way. It’s a finely drawn and disarmingly recognisable family portrait that reveals how three different generations of one family interact; grappling with change and conflict but where love is ever present. Whatever stage of life we’re in, I think we can all find something of ourselves in this play. It brings together a brilliant cast which includes our Neighbourhood Theatre and promises to be a truly special and intimate production.”
I never saw any of that before. All that the birds do… I see it now
Will they be gone too?
A single mum, two feuding siblings? and their gran. When Grandmother takes a fall, she is hastily moved to a care home she doesn’t want to be in, surrounded by other elderly people longing for comfort and missing home. But as time passes, she comes to see what really matters in life and, between loss and loneliness, we glimpse the unexpected joy in life’s everyday moments.
CARE is a life affirming examination of the realities of ageing and the elusive connection between loss and rebirth.
The creative team brings together set designer Rosanna Vize, costume designer Natasha Jenkins, lighting designer James Farncombe, sound designer Josh Anio Grigg, movement director Marcin Rudy, casting director Jacob Sparrow, intimacy director Katharine Hardman for EK Intimacy, fight director Sam Lyon-Behan, voice coach Carol Fairlamb, and dramatherapist Patricia Ojehonmon.
