Benji Sperring will direct the European premiere of black comedy Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life) at the Southwark Playhouse this summer.
Written by the Tony Award-winning team behind Urinetown, Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman, the show which is described as a ‘bio-historical musical comedy’ will play the London venue from 22 July until 27 August 2022.
Commenting on the production, director Sperring (Shock Treatment, The Toxic Avenger) said: “Having directed shows ranging from the Rocky Horror sequel which predicted the dangers of Reality TV, to a show about a monstrous mutant ripping people up for not recycling, of course I’m attracted to the wacky weirdness that comes from a show about Yeast.
“But with the genius minds of Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann behind it, the show is about so much more than that – it’s about love, the soul, the state of the world we are in now, and the ways we are dealing with the terrifying global problems on our doorstep. And while The Yeast might only be little, they prove they can grow into the biggest heroes and change existence as we know it; what a brilliant metaphor for what we need today.”
Produced by Jimmy Walters for Proud Haddock and Sperring for Benji Sperring Productions, the production will be designed Diego Pitarch, with lighting design by Nick Farman, sound design by Adam Fisher, and choreography by Lucie Pankhurst. The associate producer is Anna Oggereo.
Yeast Nation premiered in 2007 at the Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, and has been produced in Fringe productions across the US including in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. It was written as a prequel to Urinetown as part of an, as yet, unproduced trilogy.
Angela Thomas
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