The Collaboration

“Boxers are like painters, both smear their blood on the canvas.”

The Young Vic today announces the complete cast and creative team for The Collaboration, the world premiere of Anthony McCarten’s thrilling new drama, directed by Young Vic Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah.

As already announced, multi award-winning actor Paul Bettany (The Avengers, WandaVision, A Very British Scandal) is the iconic Warhol alongside two-time Tony Award nominee Jeremy Pope (Hollywood, Choir Boy, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations) as the magnetic Basquiat, with the complete cast also including Sofia Barclay and Alec Newman.

The Collaboration is Written by Anthony McCarten, and Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, with Set and Costume Design by Anna Fleischle, Lighting Design by Mark Henderson, Sound Design by Emma Laxton, Casting by Isabella Odoffin CDG, Projection Design by Duncan McLean, Composition by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, DJ/VJ by Xana and Assistant Direction and Production Dramaturgy by Olivia Nwabali.

New York, 1984. Fifty-six-year-old Andy Warhol’s star is falling. Jean-Michel Basquiat is the new wonder-kid taking the art world by storm. When Basquiat agrees to collaborate with Warhol on a new exhibition, it soon becomes the talk of the city. As everyone awaits the ‘greatest exhibition in the history of modern art’, the two artists embark on a shared journey, both artistic and deeply personal, that re-draws both their worlds.

• Socially Distanced Perfs: 8 March 7.30pm, 9 March 2.30pm & 7.30pm, 10 March 7.30pm, 18 March 7.30pm
• Relaxed Perf: 8 March, 7.30pm
• Captioned Perf: 10 March, 7.30pm
• Audio Described Perf: 18 March, 7.30pm