Stage Adaptations New and Old Round Out The Young Vic's 2010 Season

I Am Yusuf and This is My Brother, The Cat in the Hat, Sweet Nothings and Elegy for Young Lovers will comprise The Young Vic's 2010 season, which kicks off January 19.

The Young Vic begins its 2010 season with Amir Nizar Zuabi's I Am Yusuf and This is My Brother, playing January 19 through February 6. The new drama, also directed by Zuabi, is set in late 1940s Palestine, following Ali and his forbidden love for a girl named Nada, whose father has rejected Ali as a potential husband. As war breaks out, Ali, his disabled brother Yusuf and British soldier Rufus find their stories overlapping in this exploration of history, memory and love. The play reunites playwright Zuabi with the Young Vic after their successful collaboration on 2002's Alive From Palestine. Jon Bausor designs, with lighting by Colin Grenfell. The piece was originally produced by Shiber-Hur, which partners with the Young Vic for this production.

The season continues with Sweet Nothings, Olivier Award winner David Harrower's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Sweet Nothings. Directed by Luc Bondy, previously of The Young Vic's Cruel and Tender,  the show is the story of a young man's affair with a married woman. Terrified that her husband will kill him, the young man tries to move past his sexual indescretion--until he and the husband meet face to face. Sweet Nothings plays February 25 through April 10, and features design by Karl-Ernst Herrman.

Following Sweet Nothings is the family-friendly stage adaptation of Dr. Seuss classic The Cat in the Hat, which introduces the mysterious and mischievous Cat in the Hat to two bored children on a rainy day turned upside down. Director and Young Vic alum Katie Mitchell will helm the production, which stars Angus Wright as the title feline, as well as Mark Arends, Helena Lymbery and Justin Salinger. The Cat in the Hat plays the Young Vic's Maria Theatre January 28 through March 13. Vicki Mortimer designs, with lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Gareth Fry.

The season closes with Hans Werner Henze and W.H. Auden's Elegy for Young Lovers, directed by Olivier Award winning actress Fiona Shaw (Electra, the Harry Potter films). The drama follows a destructive poet who devours those around him in order to nourish his art and ego. The limited engagement plays April 24 through May 8, and features design by Tom Pye.

The Young Vic Theatre's current 2009 season continues with Irving Berlin's classic musical Annie Get Your Gun on the mainstage through January 2, 2010. Uncle Vanya (November 4 through 14) and The Forest (December 9 through 24) continue the The Young Vic's Maria Theatre season.