Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates will make their Royal Shakespeare Company debuts playing Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst in Mark Ravenhill’s Ben and Imo.
Barnett is currently appearing in Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen by Marcelo Dos Santos at London’s Bush Theatre, while Yeates is best known for playing Sister Winifred in the BBC drama Call the Midwife.
Ben and Imo tells the story of the creative relationship between composer Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav and an accomplished musician in her own right.
It is set in 1953 in the lead-up to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Britten has only nine months to write a new opera, Gloriana, about her predecessor, Elizabeth I. The exuberant and passionate Imogen Holst enters into the world of the disheartened composer. Her candid attitude proves to be the perfect foil for the capricious and often maddening Britten. What begins as an arrangement of practical support turns into a bond that endures throughout the rest of their lives.
Director Erica Whyman said, “Ben and Imo is a rare treat: a play that captures the delicious and also tormenting struggle of a new artistic endeavour, the mischievous wit of two brilliant individuals and the cruelty that often accompanies the assumption of genius.
“It’s a play about love, about music, and importantly about power; and Mark (Ravenhill) doesn’t shy away from the disturbing choices that face a talented woman who has dedicated herself to a man’s success.
“Samuel and Victoria are performers at the top of their game and they will bring these fascinating characters to life with playful vulnerability, fierce intelligence and unflinching courage.”
Ravenhill added, “I first wrote about Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst for BBC Radio 3 in 2013 to mark the centenary of Britten's birth: one artist who’s been celebrated and commemorated, one whose life and work have been largely forgotten.
“During the pandemic, I returned to my research and rebuilt the Ben and Imo material from the ground up to make a new play for the theatre. I found these two complex and passionate characters—and their commitment to their art—to be a great solace during my lockdown isolation. Their story I think still poses urgent questions about how we make art today.”
The creative team includes designer Soutra Gilmour, Jackie Shemesh (lighting), Conor Mitchell (music), Carolyn Downing (sound), Pippa Hill (dramaturg) and Matthew Dewsbury CDG (casting).
Ben and Imo will run in the Swan Theatre, Stratford from Wednesday 21 February until Saturday 6 April 2024. Press night will be Thursday 29 February at 7PM.