Leah Harvey and Sophie Melville to star in GIRL IN THE MACHINE at Young Vic

The Young Vic Theatre has announced casting for Girl in the Machine by Stef Smith, directed by Annie Kershaw, the 2024 recipient of the Genesis Future Directors Award.

Girl in the Machine will run from 16 - 26 October in the Young Vic’s Clare Theatre as part of the Creators Program and Genesis Future Directors Award program.

BAFTA nominated actor Leah Harvey (Foundation, Small Island) will play Rowan, with Sophie Melville (The Way, Iphigenia in Splott) as Polly in this electrifying new production which explores human and technological interaction.

The gap is getting smaller between the human and the hardware.

Polly loves Rowen but lately that hasn’t felt like enough. Then Rowen brings home the Black Box, with its promises to cure depression, and a flick of a switch changes everything. As Polly becomes more distant from the person she planned to share her life with, will her love for Rowen be enough to resist the draw of eternal bliss that the Black Box offers?

Completing the creative team is designer Khadija Raza, sound designer Odinn Orn Hilmarsson, lighting designer Lucía Sánchez Roldán, movement director Nevena Stojkov, and casting by Jacob Sparrow, and Jerwood Trainee Assistant Director Neve Adams.

Annie Kershaw said: “I am more than excited to be directing Stef Smith’s brilliant play with such a great creative team and cast. This production questions how far our reliance on technology will go. What will be the breaking point? With a host of legendary performances between them, Sophie Melville and Leah Harvey are the perfect pairing to help us deep dive into the personal impact of our changing relationship with technology. Considering current advances in AI, this piece is scarily resonant. I’m looking forward to seeing how audiences react.”

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