Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Students Reimagine Pulitzer-Winning Drama CLYBOURNE PARK

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School final year students are mounting the astonishingly pertinent Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris. They are performing for the first time on the stage of Bristol Old Vic's new Weston Studio Theatre, designated home to innovation and the next generation of theatre makers.

By turns poignant, provocative and acerbically witty, the play deals with race, housing and social values in a segregated city. Set in Chicago in 1959 and 2009, the drama is extremely relevant to Bristol today, with the city's segregation having been highlighted by last year's Runnymede report and the subject being addressed in various ways across the city during a 'Year of Change', led by Ujima Radio, Bristol Old Vic and the Bristol Post newspaper.

It's 1959, and middle-class couple Russ and Bev are moving out of the white suburban neighbourhood of Clybourne Park in Chicago. Much to the dismay of the local community, they have sold their house to a black family. Act II is the same house 50 years later, and a white couple have just bought the run down property to develop. The predominantly African-American community battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.

The cast consists of Jason Imlach as Russ/Dan, Holly Carpenter as Bev/Kathy, Mofetoluwa Akande as Francine/Lena, Charlie Layburn as Jim/Tom/Kenneth, Cudjoe Asare as Albert/Kevin, Finnbar Stewart-Hayman as Karl/Steve and Lydia Feerick as Betsy/Lindsey.

"Clybourne Park is an electrifying mix of biting comedy and danger," says Jenny Stephens, the play's director and Artistic Director of the Theatre School. "It is thoughtful, challenging and deeply humane; it will have audiences gasping and laughing in equal measure. It has the rich textures and depth of character found in the greatest of America drama of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Lorraine Hansberry."

It is a drama with no easy answers. Playwright Bruce Norris amplified the nature of the work saying; "My ideal audience response is to have them come out saying; 'I don't know what's right anymore. I used to think I knew what was right, but I'm not sure I do.'" He also told the New York Theater, "Audiences want to align themselves with someone in a play, and one of the most fun things to do is deny them that option."

Clybourne Park runs at Bristol Old Vic's Weston Studio from 9-17 Nov.
8pm, 3pm (THU & SAT MAT)
£17 - £15
bristololdvic.org.uk / 0117 987 7877