Casts Announced For Upcoming Shows KLIPPIES and AI at the Young Vic

The Young Vic today announces the complete casts for Klippies, Jessica Sian's acclaimed coming-of-age drama about an unlikely friendship and the intensity of first love set in modern day Johannesburg, and AI, a new play by Genesis Fellow and Young Vic Associate Director Jennifer Tang and Company, created using a deep-learning system to generate human-like dialogue and script.

Priority Booking for both shows opens today, Monday 5 July at 12noon, with Public Booking opening Tuesday 6 July at 12noon.

Klippies

By Jessica Siân

Directed by Genesis Future Directors Award recipient Diyan Zora

Maria Theatre

From 4 - 13 August 2021

Bola Akeju and Elizabeth Dulau take the roles of Thandi and Yolandi in Klippies, directed by Genesis Future Directors Award recipient Diyan Zora. Set in the twentieth year of South Africa's democracy, two girls struggle to navigate their troubled past.

Yolandi is the rebel, Thandi the school swot. In the scorching heat of a Johannesburg summer, an unexpected bond is formed. Two girls battle their way through unfamiliar feelings and the guilt of their country's legacy.

Klippies is Written by Jessica Siân and Directed by Diyan Zora, with Set and Costume Design by Georgia Lowe, Lighting Design by Jess Bernberg, Sound Design by Tingying Dong, Casting by Isabella Odoffin CDG, Movement Direction by Georgina Makhubele and Voice and Dialect by Hazel Holder and Eleanor Manners.

The Genesis Future Directors Award provides an early-career director with an opportunity to explore and develop their craft by creating their first fully resourced production at the Young Vic, as part of the artistic programme. The award will provide Diyan Zora with mentoring and support from the theatre's unique creative network, including Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, Associate Artistic Director Sue Emmas and Genesis Fellow and Associate Director Jennifer Tang. Established in 2012, previous Genesis Future Director Award recipients include Dadiow Lin, Caitriona Shoobridge, Lekan Lawal, Debbie Hannan, John R. Wilkinson, Nancy Medina, Leo J. Skilbeck, Bryony Shanahan, Ola Ince, Rikki Henry, Tinuke Craig, Finn Beames, Matthew Xia and Ben Kidd.

Due to the nature of the Genesis Future Directors Award, there will be no press night.

AI

Created by Genesis Fellow and YV Associate Director Jennifer Tang and Company

Developed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Nina Segal, written alongside GPT-3 OpenAI technology

Directed by Jennifer Tang

Main House

23 - 25 August 2021

The cast is today announced for AI, a new play developed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Nina Segal alongside artificial intelligence (AI). Cast members Waleed Akhtar, Tyrone Huggins and Simone Saunders will collaborate with Genesis Fellow and YV Associate Director Jennifer Tang to make a new work for the stage using the deep-learning system GPT-3 to generate human-like dialogue and script.

Recently heralded by David Chalmers, Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University, as 'one of the most interesting and important AI systems ever produced', GPT-3 has already demonstrated its ability to generate prose and news articles indistinguishable from those written by a human.

In this unique hybrid of research and performance, AI will see a new work created for the stage over a series of evenings, based upon a script prompted by writers and artists and produced by the GPT-3 system. Together with insights into how the artists collaborated with the system, AI asks us to consider the algorithms at work in the world around us, the nature of creativity and what technology can teach us about ourselves.

AI is Created by Genesis Fellow and YV Associate Director Jennifer Tang and Company, and Developed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Nina Segal, written alongside GPT-3 OpenAI technology, and Directed by Jennifer Tang.

Each performance of AI can be seen as a single, standalone performance, or audiences can book into multiple evenings to see the creation of the play progress.

Priority Booking opens today, Monday 5 July, 12noon. Public booking opens Tuesday 6 July, 12noon.

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