New Season Announced: March 2018 – January 2019

Published on Tue 13 Feb 2018

The new season at the Royal Court Theatre has been announced. The programme includes 10 world premieres, a collaboration with BBC4, and the reopening of the Samuel French Bookshop in the Royal Court Balcony Bar.

Tickets for the new season go on sale to Friends on Wednesday 14 February 2018 at 10am and to the general public on Friday 16 February 2018 at 10am 2018 020 7565 5000 / www.royalcourttheatre.com

Commenting on the new season Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone said;

“Our new season for 2018 combines a thrilling range of playwrights and theatre artists, fearlessly, angrily and often very humorously exploring power and control, identity and gender, and the major failure of the echo-chamber of liberalism. We have a mix of experienced writers returning, plays by debut writers and writers new to the Royal Court, major US and international artists pushing form and offering a place for debate and reflection and story.

From Thomas Eccleshare’s darkly comic play exploring the failure of modern parenting, to Cordelia Lynn’s painfully astute exposé of liberal fear, to Lies Pauwel’s joyous and provocative work about young people and gender identity, to a major new work by the ever brilliant debbie tucker green exploring the brutal effects of institutional and systemic racism, the writers are once again enabling us to see the world we live in through open eyes. Mark Ravenhill finally returns to our stage with a brilliant play about the consequences of control and how we will no longer remain silenced after years of normalised power games.  

We are delighted that Anthony Neilson is back to look at the state of sex of a couple in a long term relationship and what it means to stay the same in a world which is ever-changing. Debris Stevenson challenges the form of theatre with her grime show about growing up and the influences that made her, and Ellie Kendrick’s debut play, written whilst in a Royal Court writer’s group, is a wild rage against what it is to be woman in today’s universe. Rory Mullarkey’s play is a funny and challenging journey through all that it is to be surviving England in these times. Rob Evans’ darkly brooding and mesmerising play opens up a complex and adventurous psychological world to us. 

We have invited brilliant young theatre-maker Ola Ince to continue the radical and exploratory work which has been so successful in The Site by programming a season in our third space. 

Following on from the success of Mark Gatiss’ Queers, we are thrilled to be in collaboration with BBC4 to create a series of work looking at 100 years of women whose voices have not been heard written by an extraordinary group of female playwrights to be announced shortly.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the new Samuel French Bookshop in the Balcony Bar which means that future generations can continue to benefit from this theatrical institution.

I am also delighted to confirm that we will be programming Abhishek Majumdar’s beautiful play Pah-La in 2019 and we will also be hosting an event with PEN to discuss censorship and freedom of speech in today’s times, to commemorate the Royal Court’s role in the Theatre Act 1968 and the ending of theatre censorship.”

See below for details of the season in chronological order:

  • SAMUEL FRENCH BOOKSHOP to reopen in Royal Court Theatre’s Balcony Bar Monday 5 March, 2018.
  • Thomas Eccleshare’s Royal Court debut, INSTRUCTIONS FOR CORRECT ASSEMBLY, directed by Royal Court Associate Director Hamish Pirie will run in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from Saturday 7 April 2018 – Saturday 19 May 2018.
  • Anthony Neilson returns with THE PRUDES which he also directs. It will run in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Wednesday 18 April 2018 – Saturday 2 June 2018.
  • The Royal Court Theatre partners with LIFT for their 2018 festival: Belgian theatre maker Lies Pauwels creates HAPPINESS ALWAYS, a new work with a cast of gender non-conforming young people and a professional dancer exploring the paradox of the world we are living in from the perspective of gender and sexuality. A co-production between Royal Court Theatre, LIFT and Het Nationale Theater (The National Theatre in The Hague). Full details of this and a second project by a major US artist will be announced as part of LIFT 2018 in late February.
  • Cordelia Lynn returns to the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs with ONE FOR SORROW directed by James Macdonald. It runs Wednesday 20 June 2018 – Saturday 11 August 2018.
  • Rory Mullarkey returns to the Royal Court for his Jerwood Theatre Downstairs debut with PITY, directed by Royal Court Associate Director (International) Sam Pritchard. It runs Thursday 12 July 2018 – Saturday 11 August 2018.
  • Robert Alan Evans returns to the Royal Court with THE WOODS. Directed by Royal Court Associate Director Lucy Morrison in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Wednesday 5 September 2018 – Saturday 13 October 2018.
  • Poet, musician and dancer Deborah ‘Debris’ Stevenson presents her new work in a co-commission between the Royal Court Theatre and 14-18 NOW, as part of Represent supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation. In association with Nottingham Playhouse and Leicester Curve. Running in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs Friday 21 September 2018 – Saturday 6 October 2018.
  • debbie tucker green returns to the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs with EAR FOR EYE running Thursday 25 October 2018 – Saturday 24 November 2018.
  • Ellie Kendrick makes her Royal Court writing debut with new play HOLE. With direction by Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland from award-winning company RashDash. It runs in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Wednesday 28 November 2018 – Saturday 12 January 2019.
  • Mark Ravenhill returns to the Royal Court with the world premiere of THE CANE directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Thursday 6 December 2018 – Saturday 26 January 2019.
  • Director Ola Ince has been invited to programme The Site, the Royal Court’s third space, in the autumn of 2018.
  • Just announced: Broadway transfer of Jez Butterworth’s THE FERRYMAN directed by Sam Mendes announced for October 2018. Tickets will go on-sale on Monday 5 March through Telecharge.com. The Ferryman was originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre, by Sonia Friedman Productions, Neal Street Productions & Royal Court Theatre Productions.
  • Looking ahead to Spring 2019: in April 2019 PAH-LA by Indian playwright Abhishek Majumdar will play in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Full details to follow.
  • In a collaboration with BBC the Royal Court will commission a number of female playwrights to work on a project to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which will be broadcast on BBC4 this summer.
  • In collaboration with PEN, the Royal Court will host a joint event on censorship and freedom of voices to mark fifty years since the Theatres Act 1968.
  • The Royal Court Theatre’s second series of PLAYWRIGHT’S PODCAST with playwrights interviewed by Royal Court Associate Playwright Simon Stephens continues with a new episode each week.  Available to download in full.

For detailed information please see the full press release here.