Royal Court

New 2019 season announced at the Royal Court

Will Longman
Will Longman

A new season of work has been announced at the Royal Court, including a new piece by Harry Potter duo Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, an immersive escape room experience, and a play about Kylie Jenner.

The season begins in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs with the previously announced return of David Ireland's play, Cyprus Avenue. Directed by Vicky Featherstone, the play is about a man who thinks his granddaughter is Gerry Adams. It returns to the Royal Court from 14th February.

There will be two-one off events at the theatre in the spring. On 29th and 30th March, Matthew Herbert's musical project Brexit Big Band and Leavers' Assembly will mark the weekend Britain is expected to leave the EU with a Big Band of European musicians and a community choir.

On 13th April, seven writers will create a series of films seventy years on since the docking of the V Empire Windrush in Essex. Rikki Beadle-Blair, Natasha Gordon, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Lynette Linton, Winsome Pinnock, Jamael Westman and Roy Williams will create films based on the British West Indian experience, and they will be screened in a celebration event, as well as made available online.

Anchuli Felicia King's new play White Pearl will then be premiered in the Jerwood Downstairs from 10th May. Directed by Nana Dakin, the play is about a small start-up in Singapore that grows to be a major international player in the cosmetic market, but is stung by a marketing campaign that goes viral for all the wrong reasons.

Jack Thorne's the end of history... will then premiere, directed by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child collaborator John Tiffany, from 27th June. It is about a couple who manage to get their children to return home for a family meal, but the focus of the dinner is on politics rather than catching up.

In the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Nicôle Lecky will star in her play Superhoe, directed by Jade Lewis from 30th January. Co-produced by Talawa Theatre, Superhoe tells the story of a 24-year-old who produces music from her bedroom in her parents' house.

It will be followed by Inside Bitch conceived by Stacey Gregg and Deborah Pearson, and devised by Lucy Edkins, Jennifer Joseph, TerriAnn Oudjar and Jade Small. The piece aims to shine a light on the misrepresentation of women in prison in TV shows such as Orange is the New Black and Bad Girls. It will run from 27th February.

Abhishek Majumdar's play Pah-La then runs from 3rd April. Directed by Debbie Hannah, it is about a young Tibetan girl who flees her village to become a Buddhist nun.

Selina Thompson's salt. will play at the theatre from 14th May. Inspired by a journey two artists took on a cargo ship on the Transatlantic Slave Triangle from Britain to Ghana to Jamaica, the piece looks at the grief, questions and memories of the trip.

Jasmine Lee-Jones' play seven methods of killing kylie jenner will then run from 4th July, and tells the story of a girl holed up in her bedroom ignoring calls from her friends, but using Instagram and the internet to make her point.

In April, there will also be an immersive escape room experience, Dismantle this Room. Conceived by Nina Segal, Milli Bhatia and Ingrid Marvin, the piece looks at power structures within theatre, whether they should be dismantled, and if so, what should be put in place of them.

Originally published on

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