Kursk returns to the Young Vic
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING its success at the Young Vic and Edinburgh in 2009, Kursk returns to the London venue for a limited season – from March 26 to April 17, 2010 – as part of a national tour.
In August 2000, a British hunter-killer submarine is on patrol in the Arctic. The crew drill, sleep, eat, long for word from home, and silently shadow their target.
Their lives are at once extraordinary and mundane – until a tragic event occurs that makes them question everything they are doing. As the tension mounts, the pressure they live under starts to take its toll.
Inspired by the Russian submarine disaster of August 2000, acclaimed theatre company Sound&Fury (The Watery Part of the World and Ether Frolics) join Bryony Lavery (Stockholm) to invoke the life of submariners, fathoms below the icy seas on the fraying front line of the Cold War.
Mark Espiner, Tom Espiner and Dan Jones direct a cast that includes Ian Ashpitel, Keir Charles, Tom Espiner, Lawrence Mitchell and Jonah Russell.
A Young Vic and Fuel co-production, Kursk is designed by Jon Bausor, with lighting by Hansjorg Schmidt and sound by Dan Jones.
NB: Kursk is a promenade production, therefore comfortable footwear is advised. There will also be periods of total darkness during the performance.
Running time: 1hr 30minutes (no interval).
Prior to the Young Vic, Kursk will visit Bristol Old Vic (March 12 to March 20). The tour will subsequently continue to Cambridge, Newcastle, Coventry, Liverpool and Glasgow.