Royal Court announces 2018 season featuring 10 world premieres
Vicky Featherstone has announced a new programme of work at the Royal Court Theatre for the remainder of 2018, which features 10 world premiere productions and the re-opening of the Samuel French Bookshop at the theatre.
The season in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs begins with Thomas Eccleshare's Instructions for Correct Assembly. The playwrights Royal Court debut, it is about Hari and Max who approach parenting with a step-by-step instruction manual. It will be directed by Hamish Pirie and runs from 7th April to 29th May.
In July, Rory Mullarkey's play Pity will run in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. Directed by Sam Pritchard, is described in promotional material as 'verging on the ridiculous', featuring bombs, weddings, snipers, famine and tanks. It runs from 12th July to 11th August.
Deborah 'Debris' Stevenson will present a new work in the Jerwood downstairs. The poet, musician and dancer has been commissioned by the Royal Court and 14-18 NOW, and is presented in association with Nottingham Playhouse and Leicester Curve from 21st September to 6th October. With direction by Benji Reid and music and composition from Michael 'Mikey J' Asante, it tells of an outsider trying to find her voice.
Debbie Tucker Green's Ear for Eye will then run Downstairs from 25th October to 24th November. It is about progress and change with regards to race in Britain and America.
Closing the season in the Jerwood Downstairs will be Mark Ravenhill's return to the Royal Court with The Cane. It follows Edward, a teacher of 45 years, who is looking forward to his retirement but an angry mob of students have gathered outside his home, and his estranged daughter returns armed with tricky questions. Directed by Vicky Featherstone, it runs from 6th December to 26th January.
In the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Anthony Neilson will direct his piece The Prudes, a piece about a last ditch attempt to re-boot a couple's sex life, from 18th April to 2nd June.
Cordelia Lynn's play One for Sorrow will run Upstairs from 20th June to 11th August. Directed by James MacDonald, is set in the aftermath of an attack on London as a family open their door to offer refuge to victims.
The Woods by Robert Alan Evans will run Upstairs from 5th September to 13th October. Directed by Lucy Morrison, it is set in a cabin in the woods as a woman finds a lost boy in the snow.
Ellie Kendrick will then make her Royal Court writing debut with her new play Hole, which is about how power is created. It will be directed by Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland (of RashDash), and runs from 28th November to 12th January.
The Royal Court will also partner with LIFT for the 2018 festival. In a co-production with LIFT and Het Nationale Theater (The National Theatre in The Hague), Belgian theatre maker Lies Pauwels will present Happiness Always a new piece about gender and sexuality performed by a cast of gender non-conforming young people.
It has also been announced that the recently closed Samuel French Bookshop, which had been running in London for 187 years, will re-open in the Royal Court's Balcony Bar from 5th March 2018.
Photo credit: Mark Hakansson (Flickr) used under CC ND 2.0
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