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David Lan

Headshot of David Lan

David Lan is artistic director of the Young Vic

March 2025

  • Athol Fugard during rehearsals of his play My Children! My Africa! at the National Theatre, London, in 1990.

    Athol Fugard caught the impact of apartheid’s full-on attack on humanity

    David Lan
    The South African playwright keenly observed the damage of racism – and his courageous works told the world

December 2023

  • Amal at the border wall in San Diego, California.

    Our Little Amal has travelled thousands of miles – but there is still far to go

    Meeting presidents and a pope as well as migrants in cities from Lviv to Guadalajara, the 12ft puppet created by Handspring is an emblem of the global plight of refugees

May 2021

  • David Lan

    David Lan: In the age of apartheid, theatre resisted

    The theatre director and writer looks back at the spirit of protest that fuelled daring dramas staged in South Africa 50 years ago

February 2020

  • David Lan

    On my radar
    On my radar: David Lan’s cultural highlights

    The theatre director on Madonna’s Madame X tour, the film-maker who reminds him of Tolstoy and why he always wears black jeans

February 2017

  • Chukwudi Iwuji and Ruth Wilson in Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre, London, directed by Ivo van Hove.

    Theatre blog
    European productions aren't 'infecting' our theatre – they're telling hard truths

    David Lan
    The National’s Hedda Gabler, directed by Ivo van Hove, captures all the contradictions in Ibsen’s play. It’s these shows that help us through dark times

August 2016

  • Nicola Thorold

    Other lives
    Nicola Thorold obituary

    Other lives: Champion of innovative grassroots theatre

December 2013

  • patrice chereau in london

    Patrice Chéreau: directing in the shadow of death

    The great French director, who died recently, took some persuading to do a play in London – and was seriously ill when he did. But the experience was life-changing, recalls Young Vic artistic director David Lan

May 2012

  • Peter Brook's production of Can Themba's fable The Suit

    Theatre blog
    The Suit: the show that sums up Peter Brook's theatrical odyssey

    David Lan: Peter Brook's writings made me want to do drama – and his restless exploration of the form, and the world, makes him one of its greatest living exponents

April 2012

  • The young stars of the musical Matilda, September 2011

    A life in the theatre: tell your stories

    What does a standard career path in theatre look like? David Lan invites you to take part in a survey aiming to find out

March 2012

  • Kieran Bew and Natalie Dormer in After Miss Julie at the Young Vic

    Theatre blog
    Classics for a New Climate: how to produce a low-carbon-footprint play?

    David Lan: From reducing transportation costs to recycling scenery, theatres can think much harder about the energy they use. Admittedly we called a halt at rooftop cyclists

December 2010

  • Claude Lévi-Strauss by Patrick Wilcken – review

    David Lan welcomes a biography of the man once hailed as the world's most famous academic

October 2010

  • Birthday suit ... Jane Horrocks, left, in The Good Soul of Szechuan at the Young Vic in 2008.

    Theatre blog
    The Young Vic hits middle age – and discovers some grey areas

    David Lan: As the youth-oriented theatre turns 40, its artistic director talks about blending firebrand ideals with a more mature outlook

June 2010

  • Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Young Vic Theatre

    Theatre blog
    August presence: Joe Turner's Come and Gone and back again

    David Lan: Bringing August Wilson's rich and provocative play to the Young Vic stage led us to some surprising discoveries

July 2008

  • Theatre blog
    And the Young Vic Award goes to...

    The Young Vic Awards go to under-acknowledged people who inspire others in the creation of great work. Bumping into the unwitting recipient beforehand is a bit tricky though...

June 2008

  • Theatre blog
    The Young Vic bursts into the Jerwood Pod

  • Theatre blog
    Old plays in new costumes

May 2008

  • Theatre blog
    Why Brecht is best

    Some critics have attacked The Good Soul of Szechuan but I'm proud of our production. The play asks difficult but important questions

February 2008

  • Monkey puzzles

    Lewis Hyde's wide-ranging, bravura study of cultural boundary-crossers, Trickster Makes This World, impresses David Lan

October 2006

  • Theatre blog
    Re-opening night

    Young Vic artistic director David Lan breathes a sigh of relief as opening night finally arrives, before a plague of technical problems descends.

September 2006

  • Wanted: crazy ideas

    The Young Vic was once a crumbling wreck facing closure. Now, after a two-year rebuild, it has been reborn - bigger and better. Launching a G2 special, artistic director David Lan reveals how The Three Musketeers, Italian light bulbs and a dedicated team saved it.

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