2014-2015 New Season Announced

PRESS RELEASE

ROYAL COURT THEATRE. SEPTEMBER 2014-MAY 2015

– THE WOLF FROM THE DOOR by Rory Mullarkey, directed by James Macdonald, 10 September – 1 November.
Winner: The Pinter Commission and the George Devine Award 2014

– TEH INTERNET IS SERIOUS BUSINESS by Tim Price, directed by Hamish Pirie, 17 September – 25 October.

– 2071 by Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley, directed by Katie Mitchell, 5-15 November, in co-operation with Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg.

– GOD BLESS THE CHILD by Molly Davies, directed by Vicky Featherstone, 12 November – 20 December.

– HOPE by Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany, 26 November – 10 January.

– HOW TO HOLD YOUR BREATH by Zinnie Harris, directed by Vicky Featherstone, 4 February – 21 March.

– Roald Dahl’s THE TWITS, mischievously adapted by Enda Walsh, directed by John Tiffany, 7 April – 31 May, accompanied by a free workshop programme for children.

– LIBERIAN GIRL by Diana Nneka Atuona, directed by Matthew Dunster, 7-31 Jan, before runs in Peckham and Tottenham.

– THE BIG IDEA: Debates and events bringing leading thinkers and artists together to engage with the big ideas of the day.

– Six Royal Court playwrights and directors partner with six Guardian journalists to make a 90 second filmed theatrical event – in response to the question “Is there such a thing as English Identity?”

BEYOND THE ROYAL COURT

– ROYAL COURT: PIMLICO AND TOTTENHAM: A three-year residency project to create and share new work and develop artists, creative leaders and audiences in two very different areas of London.

– ROYAL COURT: WEST END: Jack Thorne’s adaptation of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – a National Theatre of Scotland production presented by Marla Rubin Productions Ltd and Bill Kenwright, in association with the Royal Court Theatre continues at the Apollo Theatre, West End until 30 August.

– ROYAL COURT: ON TOUR: Lisa Dwan’s extraordinary performance of Beckett’s NOT I, FOOTFALLS and ROCKABY will tour nationally and internationally, with extra dates announced.

– ROYAL COURT: NEW YORK: Jez Butterworth’s THE RIVER, directed by Ian Rickson, starring Laura Donnelly, Hugh Jackman and Cush Jumbo opens at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway on 16 November.

– ROYAL COURT: NEW YORK: Nick Payne’s CONSTELLATIONS, directed by Michael Longhurst, starring Jake Gyllenhaal opens at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre – a co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club, on 13 January.

– ROYAL COURT: HAMBURG: 2071 plays at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg for six performances from December 2014 – February 2015.

– ROYAL COURT: IN SCHOOLS: PRIMETIME. The project to find and develop the next generation of playwrights, with a series of plays for and by 8 to11 year olds is announced as a three year scheme.

– ROYAL COURT: ON TOUR: Rory Mullarkey’s THE WOLF FROM THE DOOR will set off on a rural tour of village halls in the UK in Autumn 2015.

– ROYAL COURT: ON TOUR: CONSTELLATIONS, directed by Michael Longhurst, embarks on a regional UK tour in Spring 2015.

The Royal Court Theatre announces a new season of work today (Friday 27 June), including new plays from Molly Davies, Zinnie Harris, Rory Mullarkey, Tim Price and Jack Thorne; a debut play from first-time playwright Diana Nneka Atuona; a collaboration between scientist Chris Rapley, playwright and director Duncan Macmillan and director Katie Mitchell and a new production for young people and their families – Enda Walsh’s new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits.

Beyond the theatre’s Sloane Square base, the Royal Court will tour to primary schools; across the UK – from Peckham to rural village halls to major regional theatres; across Ireland, to Hamburg and New York, alongside establishing new hubs in Pimlico and Tottenham.

The Big Idea continues, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion around the work on stage, with events around Chris Rapley, Duncan Macmillan and Katie Mitchell’s 2071, Molly Davies’ God Bless the Child and Jack Thorne’s Hope.

Tickets will go on sale to Friends and Supporters on Saturday 28 June at 10am and on sale to the general public on Tuesday 1 July at 10am. 020 7565 5000 www.royalcourttheatre.com

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, Vicky Featherstone said:

“It’s been exactly a year at the Royal Court since we launched Open Court and after a series of commissions, many more meetings with writers, script readings, workshops, discussions and heated debates in the bar. There is definitely something in the air…

“The time for apathy is over, the writers want to see and make change, to ask questions about our democracy. We didn’t set out to create a season of work with a theme but could not ignore the message coming from our playwrights. Individually they are asking the necessary questions of humanity, government and society and collectively they have made their response to the moment we are in very clear.

“All of these plays are about revolutions – big and small acts of resistance. They are provocative, diverse and timely. They are great stories, inventively told and demanding that we consider a better future.

“They start in middle England and end in Liberia. Via the World Wide Web, an inverted Europe, and the rise in global temperature – they are stories of personal bravery, of sticking your neck out for what you believe, of anarchy, of survival. Of not only imagining change but making it happen.

“I’m delighted to welcome such an exciting mix of writers this season. First time writer Diana Nneka Atuona, from Theatre Local in Peckham, makes her debut in January. She and Welsh playwright Tim Price have their plays staged here at the Court for the first time. Rory Mullarkey, Molly Davies, Jack Thorne and Zinnie Harris all return to the Royal Court with startlingly original work; and Duncan Macmillan and Katie Mitchell team up with scientist Chris Rapley to create a new piece of world-changing theatre.

“We’ll be continuing our commitment to create new, exciting and important work for younger audiences – Enda Walsh shakes it all up as he adapts Roald Dahl’s brilliant book The Twits in an anarchic new version next Easter, with writing workshops for every child who comes. Our project Primetime for and by children aged 8-11 will tour to London primary schools again next year.

“This year we’ll also take even more of our work outside the building and across the world, with Lisa Dwan’s unforgettable Beckett trilogy touring in the UK and internationally, Nick Payne’s Constellations and Jez Butterworth’s The River on Broadway. Later in 2015 Constellations tours the UK and Rory Mullarkey’s The Wolf from the Door heads on a rural tour of village halls. Across London we embark on a ground-breaking three year residency project in Pimlico and Tottenham.”

“We are continuing our international work in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Palestine, India, Lebanon (with Syrian and Lebanese writers), and Turkey (with Kurdish, Turkish and Iranian writers) – and leading a regional project throughout Latin America.”

The Wolf from the Door
by Rory Mullarkey
directed by James Macdonald
Wednesday 10 September – Saturday 1 November 2014
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Monday 15 September 2014, 7pm

“- We don’t actually drink coffee at my coffee morning.
– What do you do, then?
– We discuss the violent overthrow of the government. Also, there’s flower arranging.”

Rory Mullarkey imagines a wild road trip across Middle England where Lady Catherine and her young protégé Leo, enlist every tearoom, hot yoga class and WI group on a mission to change the country forever

This play is the 2014 Pinter Commission, and was the winner of the George Devine Award.

In autumn 2015, The Wolf from the Door will head out on a UK rural tour with Farnham Maltings and the National Rural Touring Forum to village halls and community centres.

Anna Chancellor plays Catherine. Her theatre credits include Private Lives at Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End, The Last of the Duchess at Hampstead Theatre, The Browning Version/South Downs at Chichester Festival Theatre and West End, Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse and on Broadway and The Observer for the National Theatre. Her television credits include Penny Dreadful, The Hour, Fleming, Spooks and Pride and Prejudice. Film credits include How I Live Now, St Trinians, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Rory Mullarkey won the George Devine Award for his play The Wolf from the Door and was this year’s recipient of the Pinter Commission – an award given annually by Lady Antonia Fraser, Harold Pinter’s widow, to support a new commission at the Royal Court. This is his first play at the Royal Court Theatre. Rory was the Royal Court’s writer on attachment in 2010 and has been closely associated with the theatre’s international work, translating Russian-language plays from Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, including Aleksey Scherbak’s Remembrance Day as part of the 2011 International Season and for a number of staged readings. His first full length play Cannibals opened at the Royal Exchange Manchester in 2013, where he became the youngest playwright to have his work performed on their main stage.

James Macdonald directs. His previous credits at the Royal Court include Love and Information and Cock (both which transferred to New York), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Dying City, Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (including European/US tours). His other directing credits include King Lear, The Book of Grace, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (Public Theater); Top Girls (Broadway/MTC); Dying City (Lincoln Center); A Number (New York Theatre Workshop); And No More Shall We Part (Hampstead Theatre); A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph of Love (Almeida); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre Dublin/BAM); Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre); Glengarry Glen Ross (West End), and A Number (New York Theatre Workshop). James Macdonald was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1992 to 2007.

The Wolf from the Door is part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme, which aims to discover and support the next generation of world class playwrights, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

Listings Information:

The Wolf from the Door
by Rory Mullarkey
directed by James Macdonald
Wednesday 10 September – Saturday 1 November 2014
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday matinees (from 20 Sep) 3pm
Thursday matinee (from 18 Sep) 3pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 28 October, 7.45pm
Press Night Monday 15 September, 7pm
Age Guidance 15+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 20 September, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

Teh Internet is Serious Business
by Tim Price
directed by Hamish Pirie
Wednesday 17 September – Saturday 25 October 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 23 September 2014, 7pm

“We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Tim Price, author of Protest Song about the Occupy movement and National Theatre Wales’ The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning continues his interrogation of contemporary revolutions.

A 16-year-old London schoolboy and an 18-year-old recluse in Shetland meet online, pick a fight with the FBI and change the world forever.

Tim Price gets behind the code with the original Anonymous members and creates an anarchic retelling of the birth of hacktivism. A fictional account of the true story of Anonymous and LulzSec, the collective swarm who took on the most powerful capitalist forces from their bedrooms.

Tim Price’s theatre credits include: Protest Song at The Shed at the National Theatre, I’m With The Band directed by Hamish Pirie at the Traverse, Praxis Makes Perfect (with Neon Neon and National Theatre Wales), Demos at the Traverse, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning for National Theatre Wales, For Once for Pentabus and Hampstead Theatre, tour), Salt Root and Roe, as part of the Donmar Warehouse’s Trafalgar Studio season, which was nominated for an Olivier Award and Will and George. Tim is one of the founders of Cardiff’s leading fringe new writing company Dirty Protest. Launched in 2007, the company has worked with over one hundred Welsh writers, staging new sell-out plays in alternative venues, from pubs and clubs, to kebab shops, hairdressers and a forest. The company took over the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs last summer, as part of Surprise Theatre in the Open Court festival.

Hamish Pirie is Associate Director at the Royal Court and this will be his first production. He has worked with Tim Price on three of his shows, directing I’m With The Band and Demos at the Traverse, Edinburgh (where he was previously Associate Director) and Salt Root and Roe for the Donmar Warehouse’s Trafalgar Studio season. His credits at the Traverse include Quiz Show by Rob Drummond, Love With A Capital ‘L” by Tony Cox, 3 Seconds by Lesley Hart, Most Favoured by David Ireland, Bravo Figaro by Mark Thomas, The Last Bloom by Amba Chevannes and 50 Plays for Edinburgh.

Listings Information:
Teh Internet is Serious Business
by Tim Price
directed by Hamish Pirie
Wednesday 17 September – Saturday 25 October 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday Matinees 2.30pm (from 27 September)
Thursday Matinees 2.30pm (from 25 September)
Captioned Performance Wednesday 15 October, 7.30pm
Press Night Tuesday 23 September, 7pm
Audio Described Performance Saturday 25 October, 2.30pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12
Mondays all seats £10 (available in advance to Friends and Supporters subject to availability and on the day of the performance from 9am online)
Concessions £5 off top two prices* (available in advance until Saturday 27 September, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £12 (limited availability)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

2071
by Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley
directed by Katie Mitchell
Wednesday 5 November – Saturday 15 November 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Thursday 6 November 2014, 7pm
in co-operation with Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, where the show will run for six performances December 2014 – February 2015.

“2071 is the year my oldest grandchild will be the age I am now.’
Chris Rapley, Climate Scientist

Writer Duncan Macmillan has been talking to one of the world’s most influential Climate Scientists Chris Rapley. Working with internationally renowned director, Katie Mitchell, a new piece of theatre has been created where the science is centre stage.

Climate change is a matter of importance to everyone, but what to do about it is mired in controversy. What’s needed is a conversation. What do we owe future generations? How can we protect our children and grandchildren?

After Ten Billion, Katie Mitchell’s collaboration with the scientist Stephen Emmott in 2012, and directing the German-language production of Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs, Katie continues her commitment to exploring the future of life on earth and climate change through theatre.

Writer and director Duncan Macmillan will be working at the Royal Court for the first time with 2071. Most recently, his production of 1984, created with Robert Icke transferred to the West End after runs at the Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida. He has worked with Katie Mitchell on several occasions, including on The Forbidden Zone at Salzburg Festival this summer, which will also be livestreamed at the Barbican, on Lungs at the Schabuehne in Berlin and on Reise durch die Nacht at the Deutsches Schauspiehaus in Hamburg. His play Lungs for Paines Plough won Best Play at the Off West End Awards and the CBS Outstanding Drama Award.

Scientist Chris Rapley CBE is Professor of Climate Science at University College London and Chair of the London Climate Change Partnership. He was director of the Science Museum from 2007 to 2010 and awarded the Edinburgh Science Medal. He was Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme IGBP from 1994 to 1998, and Director of the British Antarctic Survey from 1998 to 2007.

Director Katie Mitchell’s recent credits at the Royal Court includes Ten Billion, Simon Stephens’ Wastwater and Martin Crimp’s The City. Her work with Duncan Macmillan includes The Forbidden Zone, Lungs and Reise Durch die Nacht. Other credits include The Trial of Ubu Roi at Hampstead Theatre, After Dido for English National Opera and the Young Vic, and A Woman Killed With Kindness, Pains of Youth,…some trace of her, Waves, Three Sisters and The Seagull at the National Theatre.

The Big Idea: 2071
Tickets to go on sale later in 2014
The Big Idea is a new strand of work at the Royal Court launched during last year’s Open Court festival, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion inspired by the work on stage.

Duncan Macmillan, Katie Mitchell and Chris Rapley in conversation
Tuesday 11 November, post show
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Day of Action
Saturday 15 November
Join climatologists, environmentalists and other experts offering up practical advice on how we might fight climate change, including a discussion on the role of artists in fighting climate change? A series of open workshops, talks and a special 2071 ‘town hall’ meeting for audiences to join the conversation.

Listings Information:
2071
by Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley
directed by Katie Mitchell
in co-operation with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg
Wednesday 5 November – Saturday 15 November 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday Matinees 3.30pm on 8 & 15 November
Thursday Matinees 3.30pm on 13 November
Press Night Thursday 6 November, 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12
Mondays all seats £10 (available in advance to Friends and Supporters subject to availability and on the day of the performance from 9am online)
Concessions £5 off top two prices* (available in advance until Saturday 8 November, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £12 (limited availability)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

God Bless the Child
by Molly Davies
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Wednesday 12 November – Saturday 20 December 2014
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 November 2014, 7pm

“When he was small and his parents told him if he was good he would get a sweet, the boy knew it was not true. Getting the sweet had nothing to do with being good.”

‘Badger Do Best’ has landed, bringing with it a new world of rules and regulations. But the kids are fighting back. Tired of being guinea pigs in yet another government scheme can the class of 4N bring down the education regime set to pacify them?

After years working in the classroom, Molly Davies imagines a mutiny of eight year olds.

Molly Davies’ first play A Miracle was produced in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre as part of the 2009 Young Writers Festival. Her other credits include Shooting Truth for National Theatre Connections and Orpheus & Eurydice for National Youth Theatre and Old Vic Tunnels

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Vicky Featherstone directs. Since she started at the Royal Court, her credits have included Dennis Kelly’s The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas and Abi Morgan’s The Mistress Contract. She opened her first season at the Royal Court with Open Court – a festival of plays, ideas and events, chosen by over 140 writers. At National Theatre of Scotland, her credits included Enquirer (co-directed with John Tiffany), Appointment With The Wicker Man and 27 and prior to Scotland, Vicky was Artistic Director of Paines Plough. She will also direct Zinnie Harris’ play How to Hold Your Breath this season.

God Bless the Child is part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme, which aims to discover and support the next generation of world class playwrights, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

The Big Idea: God Bless the Child
Tickets to go on sale later in 2014

The Big Idea is a new strand of work at the Royal Court launched during last year’s Open Court festival, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion inspired by the work on stage.

‘Imagination and institutions: how should we inspire our children?’ Teachers, students, writers and other experts come together to discuss.
Saturday 22 November, 1pm

Post Show Discussion: In conversation with Molly Davies
Wednesday 3 December

Carpet Time: stories by eight-year-olds.
A new performance for adults, in which carpet time is turned on its head. Instead of the children listening to stories told by adults, we join children on the carpet, around the building to listen to the stories they want to tell us
Saturday 6 December, 1pm

Listings Information:
God Bless the Child
by Molly Davies
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Wednesday 12 November – Saturday 20 December 2014
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7pm
Saturday matinees (from 22 November) 3pm
Thursday matinee (from 27 November) 3pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 9 December, 7.45pm
Press Night Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 November, 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 22 November, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

Hope
by Jack Thorne
directed by John Tiffany
Wednesday 26 November 2014 – Saturday 10 January 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 2 December 2014, 7pm

“We live in an age of cuts. We are a working class town, that’s our strength – and in the current climate, our weakness.”

How do you save 22 million pounds? Mark and Hilary, the leaders of the Council are about to find out.

Following the success of Let The Right One In and This is England ’86, Jack Thorne has written an urgent political play, a funny and scathing fable attacking the squeeze on local government.

Jack Thorne made his Royal Court debut last year with his adaptation of Let the Right One In and Hope will be his first original play to be staged there. His recent theatre credits include Stuart: A Life Backwards at the Edinburgh Fringe, Mydidae, The Physicists (adapt.) 2 May 1997, When you Cure Me and Bunny, for which he won a Fringe First Award. On television, his work includes The Fades (Best Drama Series – BAFTA 2012), This Is England 88 (Best Mini-Series – BAFTA 2012) and This Is England 86, with Shane Meadows. On screen, his credits include a screen adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel A Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys.

John Tiffany, Associate Director of the Royal Court, directs. His most recent credits at the Royal Court include The Pass by John Donnelly and Let the Right One In (a National Theatre of Scotland production, which is currently running at the Apollo in the West End). His production of The Glass Menagerie at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Broadway has been nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Director and Once (New York Theater Workshop, Broadway and the West End) won John a Tony, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and an Obie Award. His work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes Macbeth (also on Broadway), Enquirer (co-directed with Vicky Featherstone), The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, Transform Caithness: Hunter, Be Near Me, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, The Bacchae and Black Watch, for which he won an Olivier and Critics’ Circle Award.

The Big Idea: Hope
Tickets to go on sale later in 2014
The Big Idea is a new strand of work at the Royal Court launched during last year’s Open Court festival, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion inspired by the work on stage.

In Conversation with Jack Thorne on Apathy and Austerity
Friday 5 December, post-show
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

The New Order: Three playwrights are commissioned to each write their own political broadcast on behalf of their own political party
Friday 12 December, 6.15pm
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Political Playwright @ Your Table
Saturday 13 December, 10am

Playwright @ Your Table returns, following its success at Open Court, allowing audiences a rare opportunity to hear writers read aloud their own plays in a secret location around the building and reviving some of the landmark political plays to emerge from the Royal Court over the last 60 years. The Bar & Kitchen will open early for tea, coffee and bacon sandwiches, where audiences will then select their chance encounter from a tombola draw.

Listings Information:
Hope
by Jack Thorne
directed by John Tiffany
Wednesday 26 November 2014 – Saturday 10 January 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday Matinees (from 6 December) 2.30pm
Thursday Matinees (from 4 December) 2.30pm
Captioned Performance Wednesday 7 January
Press Night Tuesday 2 December, 7pm
Audio Described Performance Saturday 20 December, 2.30pm
No performances 25-28 December
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12
Mondays all seats £10 (available in advance to Friends and Supporters subject to availability and on the day of the performance from 9am online)
Concessions £5 off top two prices* (available in advance until Saturday 6 December, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £12 (limited availability)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

Liberian Girl
by Diana Nneka Atuona
directed by Matthew Dunster
Wednesday 7 January 2015 – Saturday 31 January 2015
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 13 January 2014, 7pm

“War is not the answer. Peace is the answer. On the other hand…”

Between 1989 and 2003 the Civil War in Liberia saw over 200,000 people killed, a million others displaced into refugee camps, and over 15,000 children recruited into ‘Small Boys Units.’

First-time writer Diana Nneka Atuona’s award-winning play tells one teenage girl’s story of survival.

Diana Nneka Atouna won the 2013 Alfred Fagon Award for her first play, Liberian Girl, while still unproduced. She attended the Royal Court’s Peckham Writers Group, as part of Theatre Local – the Royal Court’s project to take plays to alternative spaces, sponsored by Bloomberg.

Matthew Dunster directs. As a director, his recent credits include Mametz by Owen Sheers for National Theatre Wales, The Lightning Child by Ché Walker and Arthur Darvill at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Love Girl & the Innocent by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and You Can Still Make a Killing by Nicholas Pierpan at Southwark Playhouse, A Sacred Flame for English Touring Theatre, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Open Air Regents Park Theatre, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning at the Royal Exchange Manchester and Mogadishu at Royal Exchange, Manchester and Lyric Hammersmith, The Most Incredible Thing at Sadler’s Wells, The Two Gentleman of Verona at Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Doctor Faustus at Shakespeare’s Globe. As a writer, his credits include Children’s Children at the Almeida Theatre and You Can See the Hills at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
Liberian Girl was also performed as a staged presentation at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, chaired by William Hague and Angelina Jolie, at the Excel Centre, earlier this month.
Later in 2015, Liberian Girl will transfer to the CLF Art Café at the Bussey Building in Peckham for one week and the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham.

Listings Information:
Liberian Girl
by Diana Nneka Atouna
directed by Matthew Dunster
Wednesday 7 January – Saturday 31 January 2015
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday matinees (from 17 January 2015) 3pm
Thursday matinee (from 15 January 2015) 3pm
Captioned Performance Wednesday 28 January, 7.45pm
Press Night Tuesday 13 January, 7pm
Age Guidance 15+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 17 January, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

How to Hold Your Breath
by Zinnie Harris
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Saturday 21 March 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 10 February 2014, 7pm

“Because we live in Europe. Because nothing really bad happens. The worst is a bit of an inconvenience. Perhaps not such a good mini break. But really in the grand scheme of life, not so bad.”

Starting with a seemingly innocent one night stand, this darkly witty and magical play from Zinnie Harris dives into our recent European history.

An epic look at the true cost of principles and how we live now.~

Zinnie Harris’ credits at the Royal Court include Nightingale and Chase. Her play The Wheel for the National Theatre of Scotland, directed by Vicky Featherstone, won a Fringe First Award, jointly won an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Theatre Award and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her other recent credits include The Message on the Watch and The Panel at the Tricycle, A Doll’s House at the Donmar (adapt.). Her 2000 play Further than the Furthest Thing won the Peggy Ramsay Foundation Award, a Fringe First, and the John Whiting Award. On television, she wrote extensively for Spooks and is currently writing Tommy and Tuppence based on the Agatha Christie series for David Walliams on BBC1.

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Vicky Featherstone directs. She previously worked with Zinnie Harris on The Wheel at National Theatre of Scotland, where she was the company’s Artistic Director. Since she started at the Royal Court, her credits have included Dennis Kelly’s The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas and Abi Morgan’s The Mistress Contract. She opened her first season at the Royal Court with Open Court – a festival of plays, ideas and events, chosen by over 140 writers. At National Theatre of Scotland, her credits included Enquirer (co-directed with John Tiffany), Appointment With The Wicker Man and 27 and prior to Scotland, Vicky was Artistic Director of Paines Plough. She will also be directing God Bless the Child by Molly Davies this season

Listings Information:
How to Hold Your Breath
by Zinnie Harris
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Saturday 21 March 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday Matinees (from 14 February) 2.30pm
Thursday Matinees (from 12 February) 2.30pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 3 March, 7.30pm
Press Night Tuesday 10 February, 7pm
Audio Described Performance Saturday 21 March, 2.30pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12
Mondays all seats £10 (available in advance to Friends and Supporters subject to availability and on the day of the performance from 9am online)
Concessions £5 off top two prices* (available in advance until Saturday 14 February, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £12 (limited availability)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday -Saturday matinee, plus midweek matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

Roald Dahl’s The Twits
mischievously adapted by Enda Walsh
directed by John Tiffany
Tuesday 7 April 2015 – Sunday 31 May 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 14 April 2015, 7pm

Mr and Mrs Twit are not very nice. In fact they’re extremely nasty. They’re nasty to each other, and they’re VILE to everyone else. They hold a family of monkeys hostage in a cage and force them to stand on their heads. ALL THE TIME.

We told you they weren’t very nice. Can the monkeys find a way to show those vicious Twits what for?

Mischievously adapted from one of the world’s most loved books, Enda Walsh turns the The Twits upside down and brings this revolting revolution to the Royal Court Theatre stage.

The Twits will be accompanied by a full programme of free writing workshops for children and their families designed by Enda Walsh and John Tiffany, free in-school workshops for all schools, with extra May half term activities and a host of online resources to be announced.

Enda Walsh’s theatre credits include Ballyturk, premiering at Galway Arts Festival this year and transferring to the National Theatre, Once, directed by John Tiffany, which won eight Tony Awards, Penelope at the Druid Theatre, Chatroom at the National Theatre, Misterman at the Granary Theatre and later starring Cillian Murphy at the National Theatre and Disco Pigs for Corcadorca Theatre Company, also starring Cillian Murphy. He was last at the Royal Court in 2002 with Bedbound. His screen credits include Chatroom, Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen and Disco Pigs.

John Tiffany, Associate Director of the Royal Court, directs. His most recent credits at the Royal Court include The Pass by John Donnelly and Let the Right One In (a National Theatre of Scotland production, which is currently running at the Apollo in the West End). His production of The Glass Menagerie at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Broadway was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Director and Once (New York Theater Workshop, Broadway and the West End) won John a Tony, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and an Obie Award. His work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes Macbeth (also on Broadway), Enquirer (co-directed with Vicky Featherstone), The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, Transform Caithness: Hunter, Be Near Me, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, The Bacchae and Black Watch, for which he won an Olivier and Critics’ Circle Award.

Listings Information:
Roald Dahl’s The Twits
Mischievously adapted by Enda Walsh
directed by John Tiffany
Tuesday 7 April 2015 – Sunday 31 May 2015
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday Matinees (from 11 April) 2.30pm, Thursday Matinee 28 May 2.30pm
Press Night Tuesday 14 April, 7pm
Bank Holiday Monday Matinee 4 May, 2.30pm; Sunday Matinee 31 May 2.30pm
Schools Matinees 7 May (BSL and Captioned perf), 14, 21 May at 1.30pm
BSL Performance Saturday 23 May, 2.30pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 12 May, 7.30pm
Audio Described Performance Saturday 30 May, 2.30pm
Relaxed Performance Saturday 16 May, 2.30pm
Age Guidance 7+
Tickets £35, £25, £16, £12
Under 16s 50% off top two prices
16 – 25 year olds (limited avail) £12 Primary Schools All seats £10
Concessions £5 off top two prices* (available in advance until Saturday 18 April, and all matinees. For all other perfs available on a standby basis on the day)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)

The Twits Activities Programme
All workshops are free (with a ticket to The Twits). Bookable in advance.

Saturdays (from 18 April)
11.30am – 12.30pm Family writing workshop; 1pm – 2pm Children’s writing workshop
Tuesdays (from 21 April) 5pm – 6pm Children’s writing workshop

Thursday 16 April and Thursday 28 May
11.30am – 12.30pm Family writing Workshop; 1pm – 2pm Children’s writing workshop

Sunday 31 May
11.30am – 12.30pm Family Writing Workshop

Beyond the Royal Court…

Royal Court and The Guardian
Six Royal Court playwrights and directors partners with six Guardian journalists to make a 90 second filmed theatrical event in a week – responding to the question “Is there such a thing as English identity?”

This autumn the Royal Court Theatre and The Guardian will collaborate on a unique project – six playwrights, six theatre directors, six Guardian journalists and a stellar company of actors will create six micro plays that will be filmed and uploaded to the Guardian website in response to Guardian journalist John Harris’s question: What does it mean to be English?

These instant responses to events in the news that week – ranging from fashion to politics, via food, music, sport and education – will cumulatively explore and re-imagine who we are and who we want to be.

Royal Court: On Tour
Rory Mullarkey’s play The Wolf from the Door will set off on a rural tour of village halls later in 2015, following the run at the Royal Court, with Farnham Maltings and the National Rural Touring Forum.

Royal Court: On Tour
Nick Payne’s Constellations, directed by Michael Longhurst, embarks on a regional UK tour in Spring 2015. Details to be announced.

Royal Court: West End
The National Theatre of Scotland with Marla Rubin Productions Ltd and Bill Kenwright, in association with the Royal Court Theatre present
Let the Right One In
A stage adaptation by Jack Thorne
Based on the novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist
directed by John Tiffany

Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Let the Right One In, directed by John Tiffany continues at the Apollo Theatre, West End until 30 August.

Royal Court: On Tour:
Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby
a co-production between the Royal Court Theatre and Lisa Dwan, in association with Cusack Projects Ltd
by Samuel Beckett
directed by Walter Asmus
performed by Lisa Dwan

A trilogy of Samuel Beckett plays, performed by actress Lisa Dwan, which played sell-out runs at the Royal Court Theatre and West End heads out on international tour later in 2014.

In May 2013, Lisa Dwan’s performance of Beckett’s landmark piece Not I was staged at the Royal Court, 40 years after the theatre held its UK premiere in 1973. The entire run sold out, with extra dates added due to demand and both critics and audiences captivated by Beckett’s unique piece and Lisa’s performance of it.

In January 2014, Lisa Dwan returned to the Royal Court to reprise Not I alongside two more classics Footfalls and Rockaby, directed by Beckett’s long-time collaborator, Walter Asmus. Again, tickets were in short supply and the run sold out, before transferring to the Duchess Theatre in the West End, where it played to full houses and further critical acclaim.

The trilogy now heads out on an international and UK tour, opening at Galway Arts Festival, ahead of London’s Southbank Centre, The Mac, Belfast, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The Lowry, Salford and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York.

Galway Theatre Festival, 22-26 July
+353 (0)91 509 700 galwaytheatrefestival.com

South Bank Centre, 19-21 August; 26-30 August
0844 875 0073 www.southbankcentre.co.uk

The MAC, Belfast, 2-6 September
+44 (0)28 9023 5053 http://themaclive.com/

Cambridge Arts Theatre, 9-13 September
01223 503 333 www.cambridgeartstheatre.com

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The STUDIO, 16-20 September
0121 236 4455 www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

The Lowry, Salford, 23-27 September
0843 208 6010 www.thelowry.com/drama

Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, 7-12 October
http://www.bam.org/

Royal Court: New York:
Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions
The River
by Jez Butterworth
directed by Ian Rickson

The Royal Court Theatre production of Jez Butterworth’s The River will open on Sunday 16 November on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre, starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo, and directed by Ian Rickson. Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, The River will preview from 31 October and play a strictly limited 13-week season until 25 January 2015.

The River opened in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court in October 2012, in an intimate production which enchanted audiences and critics. It marked the sixth collaboration between Jez Butterworth and Ian Rickson, following on from the multi-award winning production of Jerusalem, which opened at the Royal Court in 2009.

The production also featured Laura Donnelly, alongside Miranda Raison and Dominic West, going on to win a South Bank Sky Arts Award. The River is designed by Ultz, with lighting by Charles Balfour, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph and music by Stephen Warbeck.

Royal Court: New York:
Manhattan Theatre Club and the Royal Court Theatre
In association with ATG and Dodger Properties
Constellations
by Nick Payne
directed by Michael Longhurst

Nick Payne’s Constellations, which won critical acclaim in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court in January 2012, will transfer to Broadway to Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from 16 December (press night 13 January).

Directed by Michael Longhurst, the cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal as Roland, with the role of Marianne still to be cast. Constellations reunites Nick Payne, Michael Longhurst, and Jake Gyllenhaal who previously collaborated on the American premiere of If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet. This new production will mark the Broadway debuts of all three artists.

Following its run at the Royal Court, Constellations transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre, as part of the Royal Court’s West End season with Ambassador Theatre Group, where it went on to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Play.

Royal Court: Hamburg
2071 by Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley, directed by Katie Mitchell will play at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg for six performances

17-18 December 2014; 8-9 January 2015; 18-19 February 2015
http://www.schauspielhaus.de/

Royal Court: In School:
Primetime will tour to London primary schools again in 2015. The project will now run for a further three years, supported by John Lyon’s Charity. Piloted in Open Court, nine short plays by 8-11 years olds, written as part of the Royal Court’s Young Writers Festival and Peckham Young Playwrights project in 2012, went on to be performed as professional productions on stage at the Royal Court and have just returned from a 15 date schools tour.

The project will now continue with a six week writing programme, led by a Royal Court playwright during the autumn term for children aged 8-11 across London Boroughs. A selection of the plays will then be performed as full productions, which will tour to primary schools across London the following spring.

Royal Court: Pimlico and Tottenham

An evolution of the Theatre Local project, the Royal Court will establish new three year residencies in the Churchill Gardens estate area of Pimlico and across Tottenham – both areas that the Royal Court has had connections with over the past year.

A writer, director, producer and other artists will work in and with these hubs to develop partnerships and relationships with local artists, groups, schools and buildings to hatch ideas, co-create work, host and develop workshops and present shows.

Over a three year period, the plan is to incorporate these two hubs into the Royal Court’s core work, from co-producing and cooperating on existing work in the area to urgent pop-up work to full scale professional theatre, as well as bringing work from the Royal Court to these areas. The direction and detail of the projects will be led by the partnerships created in each community, so the work created will emerge organically from this.

During the project, the plan is to create a cohort of young artists, technicians and cultural leaders to form a company in both Pimlico and Tottenham. The company will be able to spend time at the Royal Court and in their community, benefiting from mentoring and expertise, with the aim that they will form, commission and produce their own piece of work at the end of the project.

Royal Court Building and Backstage Tours
Saturdays, 11am: 4, 18 Oct, 6 Dec, 13 Dec, 28 Feb, 15 March
The tour takes you behind the scenes of the Royal Court, into the offices and sites where the scripts are read, rehearsals take place and the productions are brought to life. You’ll hear the history of the building, explaining the redesign of 2000, as well as the history of the company and our on-going work with new writers.
Tickets £7 bookable in advance www.royalcourttheatre.com

Royal Court Bar & Kitchen
There will be DJs every Friday night ’til late in the Bar and Kitchen, plus more late night events to be announced.

ends
For more information or images please contact Anna Evans on 020 7565 5063 annaevans@royalcourttheatre.com
Notes to Editors:
Coutts support Innovation at the Royal Court Theatre

Coutts is the UK private banking arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Coutts has a long history of supporting the arts going back 200 years, having looked after the financial affairs of many famous clients connected with the arts such as Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens and Chopin. In 1816, Thomas Coutts married Harriot Mellon, a popular actress of her day, and together they became partners of a number of London Theatres, including the Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House. Coutts has even featured in a number of artistic works including The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In the new millennium, this tradition has continued not only through managing the finances of many of today’s top writers, actors and musicians, but also through our arts sponsorship programme and we are delighted to support The Royal Court and its diverse range of ground-breaking performances.

The Wolf from the Door by Rory Mullarkey and God Bless the Child by Molly Davies are supported by Jerwood New Playwrights

In 2014 Jerwood New Playwrights, the longstanding partnership between the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and the Royal Court Theatre is 20 years old. Each year, Jerwood New Playwrights supports the production of three new works by emerging writers, all of whom are in the first 10 years of their career. The Royal Court carefully identifies playwrights whose careers would benefit from the challenge and profile of being fully produced either in the Jerwood Downstairs or Jerwood Upstairs Theatres at the Royal Court.

The Jerwood Charitable Foundation supports the Jerwood New Playwrights programme and is dedicated to imaginative and responsible revenue funding of the arts, supporting emerging artists to develop and grow at important stages in their careers. The aim of its funding is to allow artists and arts organisations to thrive; to continue to develop their skills, imagination and creativity with integrity. It works with artists across art forms, from dance and theatre to literature, music and the visual arts. For more information visit www.jerwoodcharitablefoundation.org

Primetime is supported by John Lyon’s Charity

2071 by Duncan Macmillan and Chris Rapley, directed by Katie Mitchell, is in co-operation with Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg.

The Deutsche Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, founded in 1900 by its citizens, is the largest German theatre. Karin Beier is the artistic director since the theatre season 2013/14. Classics of the modern age, new plays and the search for innovative theatrical settings constitute the main lines of the programme.

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was one of the world’s most inventive, mischievous, successful and loved storytellers. Since his death, his work has not only endured but is still increasing in popularity. His stories are currently available in 58 languages. A conservative estimate of global sales is more than 200 million. Two charities have been founded in Roald Dahl’s memory: Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity – makes life better for seriously ill children by raising money to fund charities, hospitals and individual families in the UK and The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre – a unique cultural, literary and education hub – in Great Missenden where Roald Dahl lived and wrote many of his best-loved works. 10% of the author’s royalties from all his books and adaptations are donated to the two Roald Dahl charities.
www.roalddahl.com