University Musical Society Presents: National Theatre Live in HD: Simon Stone’s Yerma

High-Definition Broadcasts from National Theatre, London. Presented in partnership with the Michigan Theater.

Lorca’s 1934 play about a farmer’s wife broken by her longing for a child is modernized for the 21st century in Simon Stone’s radical update. Here Yerma is a hard-driving journalist who has settled down with her boyfriend in a gentrifying part of London. Billie Piper’s lead performance as a young woman driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child is spellbinding, astonishing, and devastating. Set in contemporary London, Piper builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking climax.

Winner of the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Actress for this performance, Piper is “fearless, furious, wildly funny — then utterly destroyed, as she realizes that neither yoga nor bravado can overcome the vulnerability of her own body.” (TimeOut London)