Following the Royal Court’s summer season celebrating the work of American playwright Wallace Shawn, the Sloane Square venue turns its attention to new British work for this autumn.
Joining the previously announced transfer of Lucy Prebble’s Enron, which premieres at Chichester this summer, are new works from Mike Bartlett, Tim Crouch and Michael Wynne.
“This season sees the Royal Court doing exactly what we are here to do,” commented Artistic Director Dominic Cooke, “producing provocative new plays by exciting young writers, asking essential questions about the world we live in, celebrating its joys and exploring its contradictions. In troubled times, the need to come together and share our experiences becomes stronger than ever, which is why it is so thrilling to see four of Britain’s most exciting writers engage with the world, personally and politically.”
The season in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs opens with Enron, Prebble’s re-imagining of the collapse of one of America’s highest-profile financial institutions, which stars Amanda Drew, Tom Goodman-Hill, Tim Pigott-Smith and Samuel West, and is directed by Rupert Goold.
Enron is followed by Michael Wynne’s The Priory, the seventh play from the writer who received his big break when The Knocky was staged as part of the Royal Court’s Young Writer’s Festival in 1994. His new comedy exposes the cracks in the seemingly perfect lives of a group of successful 30-something friends at a New Year’s Eve party.
In the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, Crouch’s The Author opens the season. The playwright will also star in the piece which explores how far the artist or audience is prepared to go in the name of art.
The Author is followed by Cock, Bartlett’s third play for the Royal Court in three years. His new piece, which follows My Child and Contractions, explores ideas of sexuality as it follows a young man who leaves his boyfriend, finds the woman of his dreams and must choose between them.
The Royal Court also finds time in its packed autumn schedule to present a week of work marking 40 years of the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, showcase the work of Nigerian playwrights who have been working with the venue’s international department since 2006, and celebrate the life of playwright, barrister and former President and Chairman of the Royal Court, the late Sir John Mortimer.
The Royal Court also announced today that Associate Director Jeremy Herrin, whose productions at the Sloane Square venue include Tusk Tusk, That Face, The Vertical Hour and the upcoming The Priory, has been appointed Deputy Artistic Director.
MA