Vicky Featherstone announces first season as Artistic Director of Royal Court

Published on Mon 8 Jul 2013

Vicky Featherstone announces her first season as Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre today (Monday 8 July). Her inaugural programme of work from September 2013 to February 2014 includes:

Three World Premieres and One European Premiere

Dennis Kelly, Abi Morgan and Jack Thorne making their Royal Court debuts

A London schools tour

A Royal Court run for the Theatre Local Peckham community Soap Opera

A theatre feast, created by a team of writers

A trilogy of Beckett shorts opening in Sloane Square prior to an international tour

– *A limited run of the critically acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland production Let
The Right One In prior to the West End*

“After the excitement and explosion of Open Court, it is time to focus on the next stage of the Royal Court for real, taking forward much of what the summer has taught us and introducing some new ideas.

As a publicly-funded organisation, the theatre we make has to matter with every beat of its heart. It needs to ask the questions of what it means to be alive today, our place in the world as individuals and as a society, to reflect on the questions of our times – age, race, nationhood, love – and to find ways to adjust to continually changing contexts and truths.

As a theatre focussed solely on new work with playwrights at its heart, Open Court showed that writers demand we use every form available to us to communicate their ideas, their experiences, their intended transformations. We must use this magnificent civic building to its full potential, to have it bursting with ideas, with people, with words and song, to entice new audiences and thrill regular ones.

Introducing major writers, examining different aspects of radicalisation, developing a family audience, collaborative projects, and touring – this first season goes some way to begin exploring these strands, which will develop more strongly as we go. It’s inspiring to be leading the Royal Court into the next stage of this journey”
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director Royal Court Theatre

In a continuation from the summer’s Open Court festival, which is currently running at the Royal Court until 20 July, the Big Idea continues with a series of events, debates and short plays, exploring a different burning issue throughout the year. The Big Idea: Greed, The Big Idea: Belief and The Big Idea: Gender will go on sale in September 2013.

Theatre Local will take a trip to Sloane Square as Peckham: The Soap Opera, currently being live-streamed nightly from the Bussey Building in Peckham comes to the Royal Court. In a bumper omnibus edition, directed for the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, it stars a company of community actors. Surprise Theatre, which has kept audiences guessing throughout Open Court will also make some impromptu visits during the season.

Tickets will go on sale to Friends and Supporters on Tuesday 9 July at 10am and on sale to the general public on Thursday 11 July at 10am. 020 7565 5000 www.royalcourttheatre.com

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas
by Dennis Kelly
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 5 Sep – Sat 19 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 11 September 2013, 7pm

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
Fri 29 Nov -Sat 21 Dec 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Thursday 5 December 2013, 7pm

The Royal Court Theatre and Mighty Mouth
Not I/Footfalls/Rockab
by Samuel Beckett
performed by Lisa Dwan
directed by Walter Asmus
Thurs 9 Jan – Sat 18 Jan 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Monday 13 January 2014, 8pm

The Mistress Contract
by Abi Morgan
from the transcripts and the books
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 30 Jan – Sat 8 March
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 5 February 2014, 7pm

Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Peckham: The Soap Opera
Lead Writers: Bola Agbaje and Rachel De-lahay
Writers: Brad Birch, Alice Birch, Adam Brace, Robin French, Lucy Kirkwood, Chloe Moss, David Watson and Roy Williams
Directed by Ola Animashawun and Debbie Hannan
Mon 2 Sep – Sat 14 Sep 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 3 September 2013, 7pm

New Plays from Chile
by David Arancibia Urzua, Florencia Martínez Echevarría, Bosco Israel Cayo Álvarez, Camila Le-Bert, Claudia Hidalgo
10 Sep – 14 Sep
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Routes
by Rachel De-lahay
directed by Simon Godwin
Fri 20 Sep – Sat 12 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 25 September 2013, 7pm

The Djinns of Eidgah
by Abhishek Majumdar
directed by Richard Twyman
Fri 18 Oct – Sat 9 Nov 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 22 October 2013, 7pm

Gastronauts
Conceived by the writers of Open Court
Writers include: April De Angelis, Nessah Muthy
directed by Wils Wilson.
Thurs 21 Nov – Sat 21 Dec 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
ON SALE SEPTEMBER 2013

The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas
by Dennis Kelly
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 5 Sep – Sat 19 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 11 September 2013, 7pm

_”Now why Gorge made that decision, is difficult to say…
Was it morality? Kindness? Goodness? An innate sense of right and wrong?”_

If you could lie without flinching, corrupt without caring and succeed at all costs – how far could you go…how much could you make?

From the early promise of the 70s through to unrelenting capitalism of the 80s and 90s, follow Gorge on the journey from innocence to savage greed and knotted honesty, as he invents three golden rules for success, whatever the cost.
An electrifying dark morality tale.

The production will be directed by Vicky Featherstone, designed by Tom Scutt with lighting by Philip Gladwell, music by Nick Powell and sound by Gregory Clarke.

The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas is Dennis Kelly’s Royal Court Theatre debut. His recent credits include the RSC production of Matilda the Musical, which won Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics Circle Awards and transferred to the West End and Broadway, where he won a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Other credits includes The Gods Weep for the RSC at Hampstead Theatre, Orphans, at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before transferring to the Birmingham Rep and Soho Theatre, My Teacher’s A Troll at National Theatre of Scotland, After the End at the Bush and on tour, Love and Money at Royal Exchange, Manchester and Young Vic and Taking Care of Baby at Hampstead Theatre. On television, he wrote Pulling on BBC 3 and most recently the six part original drama Utopia on Channel 4.

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Vicky Featherstone directs. The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas will be the first full production that she will direct in her first season at the helm. She will also direct Abi Morgan’s The Mistress Contract in 2014.

Listings Information:

The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas
by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 5 Sep – Sat 19 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 8pm (except Sat 7 Sep)
Saturday Matinees 3.30pm (from 14 Sep)
Thursday Matinees 3.30pm (from 3 Oct)
Press Night Wednesday 11 September 2013, 7pm
Post-Show Talk Tuesday 1 October
Captioned Performance Wednesday 16 October
Audio Described Performance Saturday 12 October 3.30pm
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 for all performances until Sat 14 Sep inclusive and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £10 (limited availability)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday-Saturday), plus matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday-Saturday)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

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
Fri 29 Nov -Sat 21 Dec 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Thursday 5 December 2013, 7pm

“I’m not that. I live on blood. But I am not…that…Can I come in?”
Oskar is a lonely, bullied teenage boy living with his mother on a housing estate on the edge of town when a spate of sinister killings rock the neighbourhood. Eli is the young girl who has just moved in next door. She doesn’t go to school and never leaves the flat by day. Sensing in each other a kindred spirit, the two become devoted friends. What Oskar doesn’t know is that Eli has been a teenager for a very long time…
Let the Right One In is an enchanting, brutal vampire myth and coming-of-age love story

A stage adaptation by Jack Thorne based on the Swedish novel and screenplay of the film by John Ajvide Lindqvist, directed by John Tiffany, with associate direction by Steven Hoggett, featuring music by Ólafur Arnalds, set design by Christine Jones, lighting design by Chahine Yavroyan, sound design by Gareth Fry and special effects design by Jeremy Chernick.

John Ajvide Lindqvist’s original 2004 novel Let the Right One In and Tomas Alfredson’s (Director of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy subsequent 2008 film of the same name, also written by Ajvide Lindqvist, have both received widespread critical acclaim.

John will be working with Steven Hoggett as Associate Director; the two previously worked together on Black Watch and The Bacchae for the National Theatre of Scotland and most recently on Once (winner of eight Tony awards and currently playing on Broadway and the West End).

The production features John and Steven’s trademark high physicality and lyricism and music by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds, who recently created the score for the successful ITV detective series Broadchurch.

Jack Thorne is a graduate of the Royal Court Writers programme and Let the Right One In marks his Royal Court debut. His theatre credits include Mydidae, The Physicists (adapt.) 2 May 1997_, When you Cure Me and Bunny, for which he won a Fringe First Award. Television 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. A Long Way Down, Jack’s screen adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel will be released later this year. Jack has recently adapted Alexander Masters’ bestselling debut novel Stuart: A Life Backwards which will premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.

John Tiffany, new Associate Director of the Royal Court, directs. His recent credits include Once (New York Theater Workshop, Broadway and the West End) for which John won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical and an Obie Award. His work for the National Theatre of Scotland, where he was previously an associate, includes Macbeth, 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 the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director, as well as a Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director.

This National Theatre of Scotland production premiered at Dundee Rep Theatre earlier this year, by arrangement with Marla Rubin Productions Ltd and Bill Kenwright. Let the Right One In will transfer to the West End in 2014. The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart is playing in London as part of the Royal Court’s Theatre Local in July and August 2013.

Listings Information:

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
Fri 29 Nov -Sat 21 Dec 2013
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday Matinees 3pm (from 7 Dec)
Thursday Matinees 3pm (from 12 Dec)
Press Night Thursday 5 December 2013, 7pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 17 December
Audio Described Performance Saturday 21 December 3pm
Age Guidance: For adults and fearless teens aged 13+
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 for all performances until Sat 7 Sep inclusive and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £10 (limited allocation in advance. Day Seat allocation available)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday-Friday, plus matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday-Saturday)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

The Royal Court Theatre and Mighty Mouth
Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby
by Samuel Beckett
performed by Lisa Dwan
directed by Walter Asmus
Thurs 9 Jan – Sat 18 Jan 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Monday 13 January 2014, 8pm

Lisa Dwan returns to the Royal Court Theatre to perform a one-woman Samuel Beckett trilogy after a critically acclaimed sell-out run of his landmark one-woman piece Not I, performed at the Royal Court forty years after the theatre held its UK premiere.

Lisa will perform Not I alongside two other Beckett classics Footfalls and Rockaby, directed by Walter Asmus.

Beckett’s Not I is an intense monologue, set in a pitch-black space lit by a single beam of light. A disembodied female mouth floats eight feet above the stage and delivers a stream of consciousness, spoken, as Beckett directed, at the speed of thought. Lisa Dwan was tutored in the role by Billie Whitelaw, who originally performed the part at its 1973 UK premiere and was personally coached for the part by Beckett himself.

Rockaby is probably the most famous of Beckett’s last works. It explores loneliness and features a prematurely old woman dressed in an evening gown, sitting on a wooden rocking chair that appears to rock of its own accord. Rockaby was first performed in New York in 1980 starring Billie Whitelaw and then at the National Theatre in 1981.

Footfalls features May, wrapped in tatters, pacing back and forth like a metronome, on a strip of bare landing outside her dying mother’s room. Footfalls was first performed by Billie Whitelaw, for whom the piece had been written, at the Royal Court Theatre as part of the Samuel Beckett Festival, in 1976, directed by Beckett himself.

Lisa Dwan has worked extensively in theatre, film and television both internationally and in her native Ireland. Film credits include; Oliver Twist with Richard Dreyfus and Elijah Wood and John Boorman’s Tailor of Panama and Bhopal – A Prayer for Rain due for release this year. In 2012, she adapted, produced and performed the critically acclaimed one woman play Beside the Sea at the South Bank Centre and on tour and starred in Goran Bregović’s new music drama, Margot, Diary Of An Unhappy Queen at the Barbican. She most recently performed in Ramin Gray’s production of Illusions by Ivan Viripaev at the Bush Theatre.

Walter Asmus directs. He was Beckett’s long-time friend and collaborator, assisting him on all his productions at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin and internationally. His production of Waiting for Godot which toured extensively, including a 40 date all Ireland tour in 2008 was widely described as the ‘definitive production’.

Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby is a co-production between the Royal Court and Mighty Mouth Ltd, in association with Cusack Projects Ltd. It will tour International festivals and theatres in 2014.

Listings Information:

The Royal Court Theatre and Mighty Mouth present
Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby
by Samuel Beckett
performed by Lisa Dwan
directed by Walter Asmus
Thurs 9 Jan – Sat 18 Jan 2014
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 8pm
Press Night Monday 13 January 2013, 8pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £25, £20, £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)
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top price (available Tuesday-Friday, plus matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

The Mistress Contract
by Abi Morgan
from the transcripts and the book
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 30 Jan – Sat 8 March
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 5 February 2014, 7pm

She and He are the pseudonyms of a real-life couple who live in separate houses in the same city on the west coast of America. She is 88. He is 93.

For 30 years he has provided her with a home and an income, while she provides ‘mistress services’ – ‘All sexual acts as requested, with suspension of historical, emotional, psychological disclaimers.

They first met at university and then lost touch. When they met again 20 years later, they began an affair when She – a highly educated, intelligent woman with a history of involvement in the feminist movement – asked her wealthy lover to sign the remarkable document that outlines their unconventional lifestyle: The Mistress Contract.

Was her suggestion a betrayal of all that she and the women of her generation had fought for? Or was it brave, honest, and radical? Then – on a small recorder that fit in her purse – this extraordinary couple began to tape their conversations about their relationship, conversations that took place while travelling, over dinner at home and in restaurants, on the phone, even in bed.

Based on reams of tape recordings made over their 30 year relationship, The Mistress Contract is a remarkable document of this unconventional couple, and the contract that kept them bound together to this day.

The Mistress Contract is Abi Morgan’s Royal Court Theatre debut. Her theatre credits include most recently 27 for National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly’s Lovesong . Her previous plays for the stage include Skinned, Splendour and Tiny Dynamite. A BAFTA award-winning writer; on film, she wrote the screenplay for The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep and Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender and on television, her credits include BBC2’s The Hour, Birdsong, starring Eddie Redmayne on BBC1, White Girl and Sex Traffic on Channel 4.
Artistic Director of the Royal Court Vicky Featherstone directs. This season, she will also direct The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas by Dennis Kelly. She has previously directed Abi Morgan’s plays 27 at National Theatre of Scotland, Splendour at Paines Plough and Tiny Dynamite for Paines Plough and Frantic Assembly.

The Mistress Contract: A Memoir by anonymous American couple She and He, based on the transcripts of the original tapes is published by Serpent’s Tail on 7 November.

Listings Information:

The Mistress Contract
by Abi Morgan
directed by Vicky Featherstone
Thurs 30 Jan – Sat 8 March
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 8pm (except 1 Feb)
Saturday Matinees 3.30pm (from 8 Feb)
Thursday Matinees 3.30pm (from 27 Feb)
Press Night Wednesday 5 February 2013, 7pm
Post-Show Talk Tuesday 11 February
Captioned Performance Wednesday 5 March
Audio Described Performance Saturday 1 March 3.30pm
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 for all performances until Sat 8 Feb inclusive and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
25s and under £10
School and HE Groups of 8+ 50% off top two prices (available Wednesday-Saturday, plus matinees)
Groups of 6+ £5 off top price (available Wednesday-Saturday)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability

Peckham: The Soap Opera
Lead writers: Bola Agbaje and Rachel De-lahay
Writers: Brad Birch, Alice Birch, Adam Brace, Robin French, Lucy Kirkwood, Chloe Moss, David Watson and Roy Williams.
Directed by Ola Animashawun and Debbie Hannan.
Mon 2 Sep – Sat 14 Sep 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 3 September 2013, 7pm

Theatre Local will take a trip to Sloane Square as Peckham: The Soap Opera, currently being live-streamed nightly from the Bussey Building in Peckham comes to Royal Court. In a bumper omnibus edition, directed for the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, it stars a company of community actors.

The lives and loves of Peckham locals will be played out in an omnibus of ten 5 minute episodes. Each episode will be performed by actors from the local community.

Somewhere between Peckham High Street and Rye Lane: after an immigration raid at Lashanna’s underground hair salon, Ravi encourages her to relocate to the basement beneath Amir’s corner shop (unbeknownst to Amir of course). Above ground Ed scouts for a job, though Amir puts him off the scent. Across the way Glenda, co-worker Elaine at the Job Centre and Joey make a discovery which may force them into a morning commute to Lewisham. While over at the station, Linda loses her cat, but falls for a dapper stranger whose pin-striped garms are new to the Rye. The lives and loves of Peckham’s dearest and greatest unfold in this short, sharp, and heartfelt series.

Will Chi-Chi ever finish rude gyal Monica’s hair? Will Amir discover the secret salon beneath his feet? Where is Linda’s cat Oyster? Only Winnie, the Pub Oracle, knows the answers.

Peckham: The Soap Opera was conceived by the writers of Open Court. Lead writers Bola Agbaje and Rachel De-lahay worked with volunteers from the Peckham area to come up with ideas for a fictional soap world set in Peckham and created the story arc for a ten episode series, co-writing the first two episodes. The Royal Court commissioned eight more writers to write a five minute episode each. The full list of writers is: Brad Birch, Alice Birch, Adam Brace, Robin French, Lucy Kirkwood, Chloe Moss, David Watson and Roy Williams.

Theatre Local is supported by Bloomberg.

Listings Information:
Peckham: The Soap Opera
Lead writers: Bola Agbaje and Rachel De-lahay
Writers: Brad Birch, Alice Birch, Adam Brace, Robin French, Lucy Kirkwood, Chloe Moss, David Watson, Roy Williams
Directed by Ola Animashawun and Debbie Hannan.
Mon 2 Sep – Sat 14 Sep 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday- Saturday 7pm
Saturday 7 September 3pm
Saturday 14 September 5pm
No performance on Wednesday 11 September
Captioned Performance Friday 13 September
Press Night Tuesday 3 September
Tickets £15 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £10* (available for all performances)
Pay What You Like Tickets available on the door from 5.30pm (minimum of 20 per perf)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (avail. for all performances)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

New Plays from Chile
by David Arancibia Urzua, Florencia Martínez Echevarría, Bosco Israel Cayo Álvarez, Camila Le-Bert, Claudia Hidalgo
10 Sep – 14 Sep
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

The Royal Court has been working with emerging playwrights in Chile since April 2012. Over the last year UK playwrights Leo Butler and Nick Payne travelled to Santiago three times with the Royal Court’s Associate Director International Elyse Dodgson to work with a group of 12 outstanding young writers on creating new plays inspired by contemporary Chile. They were joined on the final visit by International Associate Richard Twyman when excerpts from all of the plays were presented to a local audience at Teatro de la Palabra (Theatre of the Word) in Santiago. This project was undertaken in partnership with the British Council, the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, Chile and the Festival Internacional de Teatro Santiago a Mil.

Five plays have been selected for a series of readings, which take place in the week that marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup (11 September 1973) that overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratic government. These plays give us a rare insight into life in Chile today, from a traditional Mapuche community in the rural south to contemporary, urban Santiago, reflecting the painful legacy of dictatorship still alive in the memories of the Chilean people.

Tuesday 10 September, 9pm
Ñuke (Mother)
by David Arancibia Urzua
translated by William Gregory

In Chile’s rural south, Carmen sees her native Mapuche community demonised, her family invaded and her ancient way of life threatened by a seemingly unstoppable outside world. As her neighbours seek to resist while the country stands ambivalent to their plight, how long will this mother hold out before her stoicism reaches breaking point.

Wednesday 11 September, 8pm
The Red Set
by Florencia Martínez Echevarría
translated by Simon Scardifield

A woman lies deep in a coma as her dutiful family gathers to watch over her. Sibling rivalry, political guilt and economic worries build as the weeks and months pass by. The city stirs outside, but the once militant patient languishes unconscious, and her hospital bed becomes both refuge and prison for her fretful children.

Thursday 12 September, 9pm
Negra, the General’s Nurse (Negra, la enfermera del General)
by Bosco Israel Cayo Álvarez
translated by William Gregory

Times have changed. Viewed now with disgust by the nation whose leader she once so proudly served, a nurse takes refuge in the arid northern mountains of her birth. Reunited with her family, she sets about forging a new life, but the vengeance of a people, and of the very earth, may not be so easy to escape.

Friday 13 September, 9pm
Chan!
by Camila Le-Bert
translated by William Gregory

It’s a long flight home and a bumpy landing for Aurora and José, two Chilean graduates whose love blossomed while studying in New York. Back in Santiago, they struggle to adapt to the realities of adult life. The fast-mutating skyline belies a city still weighed down by history, and what once made sense in Brooklyn looks flawed in the shadow of the Andes.

Saturday 14 September, 2pm
That Thing I Never Shared with You (Ese Algo Que Nunca Compartí Contigo)
by Claudia Hidalgos
translated by William Gregory

After years of estrangement, a father and daughter are reunited over an uneasy breakfast. As her son prepares for a school day he will once again miss, the daughter reveals the reason for her recent isolation, little realising that her own confession will uncover painful secrets left locked away for decades.

That Thing I Never Shared with You will be followed by a panel discussion with the playwrights on the challenges of writing new plays in contemporary Chile, chaired by Associate Director International Elyse Dodgson.

Tickets for all readings £8 per reading (£6 if booked with another reading) available at www.royalcourttheatre.com 020 7565 5000

Listings Information:

International Playwrights: A Genesis Foundation Project
with additional support from the British Council and the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, Chile, in collaboration with the Festival Internacional de Teatro Santiago a Mil.
New Plays from Chile
10-13 September 9pm (8pm on 11 Sep)
Sat 14 September 2pm
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Tickets £8 (£6 if booking for more than one reading)
Concessions £6

Routes
by Rachel De-lahay
directed by Simon Godwin
Fri 20 September – Sat 12 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Wednesday 25 September 2013, 7pm

– I don’t understand. I’m British
– Technically, you’re not

Ali and Siar want to get out of where they are
Anka got in and is here for good
Olufemi is being coached to break back in
Bashir has been here forever but he’s just been sent to limbo
Lisa wants to send them all home

Welcome to England.

Travelling through Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria and the UK, Routes opens up the borders of friendship and family.

A cutting new play stood at the crossroads, looking at immigration and exile, and finding where you belong.

Rachel De-lahay’s debut play at the Royal Court was The Westbridge, which opened at the Bussey Building in Peckham in 2011 as part of Theatre Local, before playing to full houses in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. It was awarded the Alfred Fagon Award, while still unproduced. Rachel was part of the Royal Court’s Unheard Voices Writers Programme, which aims to support and develop writers whose voices are under-represented on British stages. Rachel was part of the group in 2009 aimed at young Muslim writers.

Simon Godwin directs. Associate Director at the Royal Court, his credits include Anders Lustgarten’s If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep, NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood, The Witness by Vivienne Franzmann, Luke Norris’ Goodbye to All That, Anya Reiss’ The Acid Test, and Nick Payne’s Wanderlust. Elsewhere, his credits include Strange Interlude at the National Theatre, A Kind of Alaska and Krapp’s Last Tape, Faith Healer and Far Away at Bristol Old Vic.

Routes 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. This is the second time Jerwood New Playwrights have supported Rachel’s plays, after her first play The Westbridge in 2011 was also selected to be part of the Jerwood New Playwrights programme.

Listings Information:
Routes
by Rachel De-lahay
directed by Simon Godwin
Fri 20 September – Sat 12 Oct 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday matinees (from Sat 28 Sep) 3pm
Thursday matinee (from 3 Oct) 3pm
Captioned Performance Wednesday 9 October
Press Night Wednesday 25 September, 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 28 Sept incl, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (avail. Wed-Sat and mats)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

The Djinns of Eidgah
by Abhishek Majumdar
directed by Richard Twyman
Fri 18 Oct – Sat 9 Nov 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Press Night, Tuesday 22 October 2013, 7pm

“It is not a war of right and wrong. For cars and jobs. Of books and blankets. It’s a war of the living and the dead. Between those who are fighting for tomorrow and those who are laying down their lives for eternity.”

Ashrafi and Bilal are orphaned siblings stranded and defined by the troubles in Kashmir. 18 year old Bilal is the pride of the region, part of a teenage football team set for great heights, and pushed to the limits by the violence around them. Haunted by hope, his sister is caught in the past, and Bilal is torn between escaping the myths of war and the cycles of resistance.
Interweaving true stories and testimonies with Islamic storytelling, the play paints a magical portrait of a generation of radicalised kids, and a beautiful landscape lost to conflict.
“One of the best plays of recent times” The Mumbai Theatre Guide

Djinn
n. pl. jinn also djinn
In Muslim legend, a spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people.

The Royal Court has worked with emerging playwrights in India for over ten years. Abhishek Majumdar’s The Djinns of Eidgah was developed as part of a project in collaboration with Rage Productions Mumbai and the British Council in 2010, which challenged 12 writers from all over India to write a play asking urgent questions about their changing country. The final plays were all performed in their original language as part of the Writers Bloc Festival at the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai in January 2012 and a selection, including The Djinns of Eidgah, were then chosen to be performed as readings at the Royal Court in November 2012.

Abhishek Majumdar is an Indian playwright and director who grew up in Delhi and now lives in Bangalore. He writes in English, Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu) and Bangla. He is the artistic director of the Indian Ensemble and a winner of the Metro Plus Playwriting award for his play Harlesden High Street which was produced by Tara earlier this year. His other work includes Rizwaan (Urdu/ English), Lucknow ’76, An Arrangement of Shoes and Afterlife of Birds. His latest play as a director, Gasha (Hindi/ Urdu/ Kashmiri) won the best play award at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, New Delhi. He studied theatre at LISPA (London International School of Performance Arts) and attended the Royal Court International Residency in 2011 to continue his work on The Djinns Of Eidgah which was produced at the Writers Bloc Festival and in other parts of India in 2012.

Richard Twyman directs. International Associate at the Royal Court, he recently directed PIIGS for Open Court. Richard directed The Djinns of Eidgah for Rage Theatre in Mumbai as part of the Writers Bloc Festival. He has worked extensively at the RSC, including on The Histories Cycle which won Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Ensemble & Best Revival and the Evening Standard Editor’s Choice Award, and for which he directed Henry IV Pt II. His other credits include Ditch at the Old Vic Tunnels/HighTide, Dr Marigold & Mr Chops at Bath Theatre Royal, Sixty-Six Books at the Bush Theatre and Give Me Your Hand (nominated for the Drama Desk Award 2012 for Outstanding Theatrical Experience), at the Irish Rep, New York.

The Djinns of Eidgah is presented as part of International Playwrights: A Genesis Foundation Project, with additional support from the British Council.

Listings Information:

The Djinns of Eidgah
by Abhishek Majumdar
directed by Richard Twyman
Fri 18 Oct – Sat 9 Nov 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday-Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday Matinees (from 26 October) 3pm
Thursday Matinees (from 24 October) 3pm
Captioned Performance Thursday 7 November
Press Night Tuesday 22 October, 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20 Mondays all seats £10
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 26 Oct incl, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
School and HE Groups of 8+ £10 (avail. Wed-Sat and mats)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts are subject to availability.

Gastronauts
Conceived by the writers of Open Court
Writers include: April De Angelis, Nessah Muthy
directed by Wils Wilson
Thurs 21 Nov – Sat 21 Dec 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
ON SALE SEPTEMBER 2013

A theatre adventure with food
An edible performance.

Tickets to go on sale in September 2013. More details to be announced.

Schools Tour: Pigeons
by Suhayla El-Bushra
directed by Carrie Cracknell
associate direction by Ned Bennett

Suhayla El-Bushra’s new play Pigeons, which ran in the Weekly Rep as part of Open Court will embark on a London schools tour in Autumn 2013.

Amir and Ashley are best mates. Ashley spends as much time as possible at Amir’s house losing at chess to Amir’s dad, flirting with his sister and eating his mum’s food.

As the pressure and prejudices of the outside world start to invade their lives, the cracks begin to show.

A searing insight into the reality of growing up in an apparently multicultural society.¬

Suhayla El-Bushra‘s credits include 66 Books at the Bush Theatre and Cuckoo, produced at the Unicorn next year. On television, she is currently writing for Hollyoaks and other credits include a feature screenplay for Jeva Films (supported by the Film Council), an interactive teen drama and several scripts for Doctors.
Director Carrie Cracknell is Associate Director at the Royal Court. She was previously an associate at the Young Vic and was co-Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, from 2007 to 2012. Her most recent credits include Wozzek at ENO, A Doll’s House at the Young Vic, for which she was nominated as Best Director in the Evening Standard Awards, Elektra at the Young Vic. At the Gate Theatre her credits included: Electra, Breathing Irregular, Hedda, Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat and The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents.
Ned Bennett is Associate Director on Pigeons. Resident Trainee Director at the Royal Court, he has most recently directed Lost in Theatre and assisted on Weekly Rep and Collaboration for Open Court, Anthony Neilson’s Narrative, If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep by Anders Lustgarten, No Quarter by Jeremy Herrin. Credits as a director elsewhere include Mercury Fur at Old Red Lion and Trafalgar Studios and Mr Noodles at Manchester Royal Exchange.
Pigeons was 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.
For more information, please contact Anna Evans on 020 7565 5063 annaevans@royalcourttheatre.com

Notes to Editors:

VICKY FEATHERSTONE
Vicky Featherstone has been Artistic Director of the Royal Court since April 2013. before then, she was Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland since its inception in 2006 touring work to venues large and small all around Scotland. At the National Theatre of Scotland, her credits include Enquirer (co-directed with John Tiffany), Appointment with The Wicker Man by Greg Hemphill and Donald McLeary, 27 by Abi Morgan, The Wheel by Zinnie Harris, Somersaults by Iain Finlay MacLeod, Wall of Death: A Way of Life (co-directed with Stephen Skrynka), The Miracle Man by Douglas Maxwell, Empty by Cathy Forde, Long Gone Lonesome by Duncan McLean, Cockroach by Sam Holcroft (a co-production with the Traverse Theatre), 365 (a co-production with the Edinburgh International Festival), Mary Stuart (Citizens, Glasgow and Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh) and co-directed The Wolves In The Walls (Tramway, Lyric Hammersmith, UK tour and New Victory Theater, New York).

Previously she was Artistic Director of new writing company Paines Plough Theatre Company from 1997 to 2005, before taking up her National Theatre of Scotland post. Under her directorship, Paines Plough toured extensively across Britain and internationally, garnering many awards for her work as a director and a reputation for discovering and developing the best writing talent. Her credits there include The Small Things by Enda Walsh, Pyrenees by David Greig, On Blindness by Glyn Cannon, The Drowned World by Gary Owen, Tiny Dynamite by Abi Morgan, Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco by Gary Owen, Splendour by Abi Morgan, Riddance by Linda McLean, The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union by David Greig and Crave by Sarah Kane. Prior to this Vicky worked in television as drama executive for the BBC, Granada TV and Central TV. She created several original drama series, including Where the Heart is and Silent Witness. She started out her career at the Royal Court as an Assistant Director.

The Royal Court Theatre is supported by Coutts

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.

Royal Court Theatre Innovation Partner

Routes by Rachel De-lahay is supported by Jerwood New Playwrights

Jerwood New Playwrights is a longstanding partnership between the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and the Royal Court. Each year, Jerwood New Playwrights supports the production of 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

The Royal Court Theatre’s Flight Partner is

American Airlines supports the Royal Court by providing transatlantic flights. For more information on American Airlines or our support of theatre, contact our press office at polly.tracey@aa.com.

Theatre Local is supported by

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength-delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately-is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service, which provides real time financial information to more than 300,000 subscribers globally.

Through our philanthropy programme, we help charities and non-profit organisations around the world with education and literacy programmes, health and medical research, social work, arts and culture, public parks and the environment.

The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar and New Plays from Chile are presented as part of International Playwrights: A Genesis Foundation Project.

The Genesis Foundation supports the Royal Court’s International Playwrights Programme. It funds the International department’s workshops in diverse countries as well as residencies at the Royal Court that find and develop the next generation of professional playwrights. The Foundation’s involvement extends to productions and rehearsed readings which helps the Royal Court to provide a springboard for young writers to greater public and critical attention. For more information, please visit www.genesisfoundation.org.uk

The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar and New Plays by Chile are supported by British Council. For more information on the British Council and its work, please visit www.britishcouncil.org.

Let the Right One In is a National Theatre of Scotland production with Marla Rubin Productions Ltd and Bill Kenwright, in association with the Royal Court Theatre

Since its launch in February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland, (previously led by Vicky Featherstone, new Artistic Director of the Royal Court), led by Laurie Sansom has been involved in creating over 189 productions in 162 different locations. With no building of its own, the Company takes theatre all over Scotland and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The National Theatre of Scotland has performed to over 860,000 people across four continents. www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

MARLA RUBIN PRODUCTIONS LTD
Marla Rubin Productions Ltd
Canadian-born Marla Rubin has produced Festen and The Mountaintop in the Off-West End, West End and on Broadway, The Mountaintop winning the Olivier for Best New Play in 2010, and Festen The Evening Standard Awards (Best Director, Best Design), The Critics’ Circle Award (Best Director), The Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award (Best New Play) and The Sydney Theatre Awards (Best Direction, Best Set Design, Best Costume Design). After becoming mesmerized by Let the Right One In in 2008, Rubin pursued the film & book rights and then approached John Tiffany and the National Theatre of Scotland to partner on the stage project. Rubin began her career in documentaries, working on award-winning pieces including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Museum of Tolerance (Academy Award to Museum) and Crimes of Violence (Emmy Award to Director). Rubin was one of the historic first group of women to graduate from Columbia University’s undergraduate division, Columbia College, in 1985.

Bill Kenwright Productions
Bill Kenwright has produced over 300 productions in the West End and on Broadway. Also a dozen or so films including this year’s Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards for Broken. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from both Variety Club and the Theatrical Management Association and a CBE. He is Chairman, and fan, of Everton Football Club.

The Mistress Contract: A Memoir by anonymous American couple She and He is published by Serpent’s Tail on 7 November. Based on recorded conversations, this is the story of the contract they signed four decades ago and the unique relationship that ensued. She and He – 88 and 93 respectively – are still together.

For press enquires related to Serpents Tail, please contact:
Anna-Marie Fitzgerald 020 7841 6304 anna-marie@profilebooks.com
Valentina Zanca 020 7841 6306 valentina.zanca@profilebooks.com

Founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton, Serpent’s Tail is an independent publisher that champions voices neglected by the mainstream and high quality writing from around the world. In the words of Will Self, “Serpent’s Tail is a consistently brave, exciting and almost deliriously diverse publisher”

Following the roaring success of the Open Court Canteen & Burger Bar, the Royal Court Bar & Kitchen will launch into Autumn with a selection of fresh food, eclectic wines & late night drinking. Forthcoming menus and monthly late night events will be announced in September.