ROYAL COURT THEATRE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT: THE CHILDREN

Francesca Annis, Ron Cook and Deborah Findlay have been cast in Lucy Kirkwood’s new play The Children which runs in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs 17 November 2016 – 14 January 2017 with Press Night on Thursday 24 November.

Directed by James Macdonald. With design by Miriam Buether and lighting design by Peter Mumford.

“At our time of life, we simply cannot deal with this shit.”

Two retired nuclear scientists in an isolated cottage by the sea as the world around them crumbles.
Together they are going to live forever on yogurt and yoga, until an old friend arrives with a frightening request.

“Do you want to call your children?”
“Why?”
“To let them know your plans.”

Full listings and biography information below.

The Children is a Berwin-Lee commission.

The Big Idea:

Lucy Kirkwood in Conversation
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Friday 2 December, Post-show

Lucy Kirkwood talks with Royal Court Associate Director Lucy Morrison.

The Big Idea is a strand of work launched during Open Court, offering audiences radical thinking and provocative discussion inspired by the work on stage. The Big Idea seeks to foster debate and collaboration, bringing together leading thinkers and artists from all walks of life to engage with the big ideas of our times, through a series of debates and events.

Ends:

For more information or images please contact Anoushka Hay on 0207 565 5063 / AnoushkaHay@royalcourttheatre.com

Notes to Editors:

Press Night:
Thursday 24 November 7pm The Children by Lucy Kirkwood Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Biographies:

Lucy Kirkwood (Writer)
For the Royal Court: NSFW.
Other theatre includes: Like Rabbits (Brighton Festival); Chimerica (Almeida/Headlong/West End); Hansel & Gretel, Beauty & The Beast (National); Housekeeping (Theatre Uncut/Southwark/Lattitude); Small Hours (Hampstead); Bloody Wimmin (Tricycle); It Felt Empty When the Heart Went at First But it is Alright Now (Clean Break/Arcola); Psychogeography, Guns or Butter (Union); Tinderbox (Bush); Hedda (Gate).
Awards include: Olivier Award for Best New Play (Chimerica); Evening Standard Award for Best New Play (Chimerica.)

James Macdonald (Director)
For the Royal Court: Escaped Alone, The Wolf from the Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information (& Minetta Lane, NYC), Cock (& Duke, NYC), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? (& Public, NYC), Dying City, Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (& European tour/US tour), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry & Me, Simpatico, Blasted, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice of Satan, Putting Two & Two Together.
Other theatre includes: The Chinese Room (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Wild, And No More Shall We Part (& Traverse), #aiww – The Arrest of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead); The Father (Theatre Royal, Bath/Tricycle/West End); Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph of Love (Almeida); Cloud Nine (Atlantic, NYC); Roots (Donmar); King Lear, The Book of Grace (Public, NYC); Top Girls (Broadway/MTC, NYC); Dying City (Lincoln Center, NYC); A Number (NYTW, NYC); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey, Dublin/BAM, NYC); Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles (National); Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End); Troilus und Cressida, Die Kopien (Schaubuehne, Berlin); 4.48 Psychose (Burgtheater, Vienna); The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard II (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Rivals (Nottingham Playhouse); The Crackwalker (Gate); The Seagull (Crucible, Sheffield); Miss Julie (Oldham Coliseum); Juno & the Paycock, Ice Cream & Hot Fudge, Romeo & Juliet, Fool for Love, Savage/Love, Master Harold & the Boys (Contact); Prem (BAC/Soho Poly).
Opera includes: A Ring A Lamp A Thing (Linbury); Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto (WNO); Die Zauberflöte (Garsington); Wolf Club Village, Night Banquet (Almeida Opera); Oedipus Rex, Survivor from Warsaw (Royal Exchange, Manchester/Hallé); Lives of the Great Poisoners (Second Stride).
Film includes: A Number.
James was an Associate Director at the Royal Court from 1992 to 2006 and a NESTA fellow from 2003 to 2006.

Francesca Annis (Rose)
For the Royal Court: Blood.
Theatre includes: The Machine (MIF/NYC); Time & The Conways, A Month in the Country (National); Afterplay (& Sydney Festival), The Glass Menagerie (Gate, Dublin); Under Blue Sky, Ghosts (& Theatre Royal, Windsor), Epitaph for George Dillon, Lady Windermere’s Fan (& Birmingham Rep), Mrs Klein (& National), Three Sisters, The Heretic, The Passion Flower Hotel (West End); Shoreditch Madonna (Soho); Henry IV, The Vortex (Donmar); Hedda Gabler (Chichester Festival/UK tour); Hamlet (Almeida/Broadway); Romersholm (Young Vic); Sienna Red (Theatre Royal, Bath/UK tour); Troilus & Cressida, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure (RSC); Arms & The Man (Theatre Royal, Windsor); Hamlet (Broadway/US tour).
Television includes: Home Fires, Loving Miss Hatto, Little House, Cranford, Miss Marple, Jane Eyre, Jericho, Copenhagen, Deceit, Wives & Daughters, Deadly Summer, Reckless, Tales from the Crypt, Dalziel & Pascoe, Doomsday Gun, Headhunters, A Haunting Harmony, Between the Lines, Weep No More My Lady, The Gravy Train Goes Fast, Parnell & the Englishwoman, Absolute Hell, Onassis: The Richest Man in the World, I’ll Take a Manhattan, Inside Story, Magnum P.I., The Maze, Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime, Coming Out of the Ice, The Secret Adversary, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Lillie, Comedy of Errors, Stronger than the Sun, Madame Bovary, Edward the King, The Wood Demon, Thriller, Great Mysteries, A Pin to See the Peepshow, The Chinese Prime Minister, Heritage, The Family is a Vicious Circle, Home Sweet Honeycomb, The Explorer, No Hiding Place, Great Expectations, Girls in Uniform, The Saint, A View from the Bridge, Our Man at St. Marks, Alexander Graham Bell, Secret Agent, The Human Jungle, Old Soldiers, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, The Mate Market, Suspense, Sir Francis Drake, Children of the Sun, The Wind & The Sun.
Film includes: Shifty, Revolver, The Libertine, Milk, The Debt Collector, Romeo.Juliet, Under the Cherry Moon, El Rio de ORO, Dune, Krull, Penny Gold, Macbeth, The Walking Stick, The Sky Pirate, Run with the Wind, The Pleasure Girls, Crooks in Cloisters, Flipper’s New Adventure, The Eye’s of Annie Jones, Saturday Night Out, Murder Most Foul, West 11, Cleopatra, His & Hers, The Young Jacobites, Beware of Children, Carry on Teacher, The Cat Gang, Big Mack & Poor Claire, Gemini.
Awards include: BAFTA Award for Best Actress (Lillie); BAFTA Award for Best Actress (The Comedy of Errors).

Ron Cook (Robin)
For the Royal Court: Harry & Me, Faith Healer (& Abbey, Dublin), Our Country’s Good (& West End), The Recruiting Officer, Greenland, The Grass Widow, Cloud Nine, The Arbor.
Theatre includes: Faith Healer, Trelawny of the Wells, Richard II, King Lear, Helpless, Juno & the Paycock, Glengarry Glen Ross (Donmar); The Homecoming, The Ruling Class, Henry V, Hamlet (& Broadway), Twelfth Night, On the Ceiling, Vassa, Art, Three Sisters (& Greenwhich), Vanilla (West End); The Seafarer, Howard Katz, Machine Wreckers, Black Snow (National); A Northern Odyssey (Live, Newcastle); Singer (Tricycle); Insignificance (Chichester Festival); Prayers of Sherkin (Old Vic); Slavs, How I Got That Story, Loose Ends, Ecstasy (Hampstead); A Jovial Crew, Odyssey, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mary After the Queen, The Crucible, A Winter’s Tale, The Dillen, Coriolanus, Television Times, The Irish Play, Henry VI, ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, The Sons of Light (RSC); Cock Ups (Royal Exchange, Manchester); She Stoops to Conquer (Lyric, Hammersmith); Quantrille in Lawrence (ICA).
Television includes: Mr Selfridge, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Mrs Biggs, Bert & Dickie, Vera, Garrow’s Law, Midsomer Murders, Red Riding, Silent Witness, Diary of Anne Frank, Burn Up, Doctor Who, Funland, Waking the Dead, Foyle’s War, Filth, He Knew He Was Right, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Great Ship, Hornblower, Dead Gorgeous, The Lost Prince, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Murder, Fields of Gold, Armadillo, Tom Jones, Bramwell, The Singing Detective, Bergerac, The Miser, A Day to Remember, Richard III, Henry VI, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Bill, Maigret, The Chief, The Detectives, Sharpe’s Honour, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Life of Will Shakespeare, Howay the Lads.
Film includes: Hot Fuzz, Confetti, On a Clear Day, The Merchant of Venice, Thunderbirds, 24 Hour Party People, Charlotte Gray, Lucky Break, Chocolat, Topsy Turvy, 102 Dalmatians, Quills, The Odyssey, Secrets & Lies, The Fool, The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover.

Deborah Findlay (Hazel)
For the Royal Court: Escaped Alone, Tom & Viv, Top Girls (& Off-Broadway), The Overgrown Path.
Other theatre includes: Coriolanus, Moonlight, Madame de Sade, John Gabriel Borkman, The Cut, The Vortex (Donmar); The Winslow Boy (Old Vic); Timon of Athens, The Winter’s Tale, Rules For Living, Stanley (& Broadway), The House of Bernarda Alba, The Mandate, Mother Clap’s Molly House, Once in a While (National); Vincent River (Off-Broadway); The Glass Menagerie (Young Vic); Like a Fishbone, Keyboard Skills, Commitments (Bush); Separate Tables (Chichester Festival); The Way of The World, The Crucible (Crucible, Sheffield); Tongue of a Bird, Hedda Gabler (Almeida); The Beaux’ Stratagem, The Seagull, The Clandestine Marriage (Tour/West End); As You Like It, King Lear (Oxford Stage Company); Macbeth (Nuffield, Southampton); Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, The Three Sisters, The New Inn, School for Scandal (RSC).
Television includes: Lovesick, High & Dry, Life in Squares, Coalition, Leaving, Poirot, Life in Squares, Torchwood, Gunrush, Lewis, New Tricks, Midsomer Murders, Thin Ice, Cranford, Wives & Daughters, Silent Witness, Anna Karenina, The Family Man, Foyle’s War, State of Play.
Film includes: Kaleidoscope, Jackie, The Lady in the Van, The Ones Below, Summer, Vanity Fair, Me Without You, The End Of The Affair, Jack & Sarah, Truly Madly Deeply.
Awards include: Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress (Stanley); New York Drama League prize for Outstanding Performance (Stanley); OBIE award (Top Girls).

Listings Information:
The Children
By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by James Macdonald
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Thursday 17 November 2016 – Saturday 14 January 2017
Monday – Saturday 7.30pm
Thursday & Saturday matinees 2.30pm (from 26 November)
Captioned Performance 10 January, 7.30pm
Audio Described 14 January, 2.30pm (Touch Tour 1pm)
Press Night 24 November, 7pm
Age Guidance 14+ Contains strong language
Standard Tickets £12, £18, £28, £38 (Mondays all seats £10 available from 9am online on the day of performance)
First Look Tickets £12, £16, £25, £35
Concessions * £5 off top two prices. 25s and under £12 (available in advance for previews and all matinees)
Access £15 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts subject to availability.

First Look Tickets
At the Royal Court no piece of work we premiere has ever been seen before and the first few performances in front of an audience are the final part of a long creative process that starts with the playwright. We need the audiences’ feedback to complete this and have decided to open up the first three previews in a new way to make this an integral part of the process. As a result we will be inviting online feedback from audience members who attend First Look performances so they can share what they think with the artistic team, influencing the final piece.