Four established West End actors will share the stage with four recent graduates when black comedy Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life) receives its European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse this summer.
Christopher Howell (42nd Street, Chichester Festival Theatre, Wicked, Apollo Theatre) heads the cast as the oldest being in the universe, Jan the Eldest; with Mari McGinlay (Hairspray, London Coliseum) as Jan the Sly; Shane Convery (Anyone Can Whistle, Southwark Playhouse) as Jan the Wise; and James Gulliford (Salad Days, UK tour) as Jan the Wretched.
They will be joined by three recent graduates making their professional stage debuts in the production – Stephen Lewis-Johnston, Hannah Nuttall and Sarah Slimani and fellow recent graduate Marisa Harris who can currently be seen in her professional debut role in Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) at Park Theatre.
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 cast, the show’s director Benji Sperring (Shock Treatment, The Toxic Avenger) said: “Now more than ever it is the duty of producers and directors to look after the future of the industry, making commitments to hire graduates who have had the most remarkable struggle over the last two years, and are now finding their feet in an incredibly changed, shifted landscape of creativity. What better way to empower young graduates than by making them dress as yeast and calling them all Jan.”
Produced by Jimmy Walters for Proud Haddock, Sperring for Benji Sperring Productions, and Steph Hartland, the creative for the production also includes musical direction and arrangements by Michael Webborn, movement direction by Lucie Pankhurst, design by Diego Pitarch, lighting design by Nick Farman and sound design by Adam Fisher. The associate director is Shani Erez and 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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