Cast Announced For RSC's EUROPEANA, PEER GYNT, and BLINDNESS AND SEEING, Part Of Projekt Europa

Casting details are announced for Europeana, Peer Gynt and Blindness and Seeing, three productions that are part of PROJEKT EUROPA, a season of work at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, exploring, celebrating and interrogating our relationship with Europe.

The company will comprise sixteen actors, most of whom will appear in two or three of the productions, which run in the Swan Theatre between April and September 2020. In most cases roles will be decided upon during the rehearsal process. The company includes: Nandi Bhebhe, Hannah Bristow, Jacqui Dubois, Rina Fatania, Sandy Foster, Georgia Frost, Richard Hope, Miles Jovian, Richard Katz, Robert Luckay, David Luque, Barbara Marten, Ako Mitchell, Chris New, Bathsheba Piepe and Brigid Zengeni. PROJEKT EUROPA is co-curated by RSC Associate Artist Maria Åberg, and Judith Gerstenberg. Maria will direct Europeana, following her acclaimed productions of The Duchess of Malfi in 2018 and Doctor Faustus in 2016. Born in Hamburg, Judith has worked as a dramaturg in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Maria and Judith will be joined by a number of other leading European theatre artists for the season, including Barbara Frey, who directs Peer Gynt and Tiago Rodrigues, who directs Blindness and Seeing.

Maria Åberg said: "From directors to designers, costume designers to dramaturgs, composers to video designers, PROJEKT EUROPA offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to see world class European theatre, made in Stratford. I'm hoping the season will excite and inspire, spark curiosity and debate, and that we can truly offer our Stratford audience the very best of European theatre making right now. The majority of the artists involved are making work for a British audience for the very first time, so the season really does present a unique opportunity to experience a genuine theatrical experiment at a landmark moment in our shared history."
PROJEKT EUROPA also includes Voices from The Edges of Europe, a series of newly commissioned monologues from prominent European writers to be presented in The Other Place; Decameron 2020, a unique collaboration between the RSC's Next Generation ACT young company and Mattias Andersson, one of Europe's most exciting directors of theatre for young people; and a rich and varied feast of talks, debates, exhibitions and events, all designed to explore, interrogate and celebrate our relationship with Europe.

Europeana opens the season from 9 April to 25 July 2020 - a new adaptation from the book by Patrik Ouředník by Maria Åberg and Judith Gerstenberg, directed by Maria Åberg. This playful theatrical experiment based on the satirical Czech novel of the same name compresses a hundred years of European history into a fast-paced and eclectic narrative which collides the invention of the bra with the tragedy of the Holocaust, Barbie with dictators and fleeting human moments with epic events.

Company: Nandi Bhebhe, Hannah Bristow, Jacqui Dubois, Sandy Foster, Georgia Frost, Miles Jovian, Robert Luckay, David Luque, Ako Mitchell and Chris New.

Joining Maria Åberg on the creative team are Ana Inés Jabares-Pita (Designer), Richard Howell(Lighting), David Ridley (Music), Claire Windsor (Sound), Ayse Tashkiran (Movement) and Judith Gerstenberg (Dramaturg).

Peer Gynt, a radical new staging of Ibsen's epic European myth for the 21st century will follow from 1 May to 23 September 2020. The production is directed by Barbara Frey, prominent European director and Artistic Director designate for the Ruhrtriennale and adapted by Barbara Frey and Judith Gerstenberg from a translation by John Northam.

Richard Katz plays Peer Gynt, and Barbara Marten plays Aase.

Company: Jacqui Dubois, Rina Fatania, Sandy Foster, Richard Katz, Robert Luckay, David Luque, Barbara Marten, Ako Mitchell, Chris New and Bathsheba Piepe.

Joining Barbara Frey on the creative team are: Bettina Meyer (Designer), Bettina Munzer (Costume Designer), Kai Fischer (Lighting), Josh Sneesby and Gemma Storr (Music), Carolyn Downing(Sound) and Judith Gerstenberg (Dramaturg).

Blindness and Seeing completes the season from 1 August to 26 September 2020. Based on the Nobel Prize winning novels by José Saramago, Blindness and Seeing is a poetic and evocative vision for the future, adapted and directed by rising star Tiago Rodrigues, Artistic Director of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon, from a translation by Daniel Hahn.

Company: Hannah Bristow, Jacqui Dubois, Rina Fatania, Sandy Foster, Georgia Frost, Richard Hope, Richard Katz, Robert Luckay, David Luque, Ako Mitchell, Chris New, Bathsheba Piepeand Brigid Zengeni.

Joining Tiago Rodrigues on the creative team are: José Capela (Set Designer), Alex Lowde(Costume Designer), Jack Knowles (Lighting), Pedro Costa (Sound), Ingrid Mackinnon (Movement) and Judith Gerstenberg (Dramaturg).

Voices from The Edges of Europe premieres in June 2020 - a series of seven newly commissioned monologues written by a range of artists including playwrights, journalists and lyricists from the outer edges of the European continent. Artists include Yıldız Çakar, Davide Carnevali, Theodora Dimova, Christos Ikonomou, Shumona Sinha, Sjón and Sivan Ben Yishai.

The seven pieces will be performed as part of the 2020 Mischief Festival in The Other Place in June and July. Full details to be announced.

Decameron 2020 The RSC's nationwide Next Generation ACT young company will join forces with the newly appointed Artistic Director of Dramaten in Sweden, Mattias Andersson to create a new piece of work inspired by Boccaccio's Decamerone. This performance will combine classic text with documentary material created by the young members of the ensemble. Mattias will be joined by Maja Kall as Designer. The RSC acknowledges the support of the Swedish Arts Council and the Embassy of Sweden in London in the creation of Decameron 2020.

The Next Generation talent development programme gives young people from backgrounds currently under-represented in the cultural sector the chance to explore a career in acting, directing or working backstage. This unique collaboration will premiere in July 2020 at The Other Place.