Helen Hunt to star in satire at the Old Vic about ‘a highly contagious virus’

Helen Hunt is to star in a “wince-inducing” satire on the Previous Vic in London, a couple of group cut up by their views on vaccination.

Eureka Day, a couple of mumps outbreak at a faculty in California, is described by the theatre’s inventive director, Matthew Warchus, as “a really humorous, intelligent and thought-provoking new play set amidst the panic of a extremely contagious virus”. Jonathan Spector’s 2018 drama additionally explores the frenzy of trolling as mother and father wrestle to achieve a consensus on obligatory vaccination.

It will likely be the European premiere of the play, which had its first staging on the Aurora theatre in Berkeley, California and have become an off-Broadway hit. Katy Rudd will direct the present, which is co-produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and can open in September. Friedman additionally co-produced the Previous Vic’s latest political satire The forty seventh by Mike Bartlett starring Bertie Carvel as Donald Trump.

Warchus referred to as Eureka Day a “brilliantly wince-inducing, laugh-out-loud, well timed and risky satire”. Having directed Hunt within the 1993 New York manufacturing of Yasmina Reza’s Life x 3, he stated “it’s actually a pleasure to be welcoming her to the Previous Vic for this spectacular manufacturing”.

Hunt’s theatrical credit embrace Twelfth Night time on Broadway (as Viola) in 1998. An Oscar winner for As Good As It Will get, she can also be identified for her roles within the movies What Girls Need, Forged Away and Pay It Ahead. She has since co-written, produced and directed two movies, Then She Discovered Me and Journey.

Additional casting for Eureka Day is but to be introduced.