NEW PRODUCTIONS AT THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE
- THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE ANNOUNCES PROGRAMME FOR APRIL – AUGUST 2023
- NO I.D. BY TATENDA SHAMISO
- HOPE HAS A HAPPY MEAL BY TOM FOWLER
- CUCKOO BY MICHAEL WYNNE
- WORD-PLAY BY RABIAH HUSSAIN
- IN JANUARY 2024, THE ROYAL COURT PRESENTS THE UK PREMIERE OF BROADWAY SMASH-HIT DANA H. BY LUCAS HNATH WITH DEIRDRE O’CONNELL REPRISING HER TONY AWARD-WINNING ROLE
- LIVING ARCHIVE, THE ROYAL COURT’S FIRST EVER OPENLY ACCESSIBLE ARCHIVE AND MACHLOKET – A COMMUNITY STORYTELLING PROJECT HAVE ALSO BEEN ANNOUNCED
- TICKETS ON GENERAL SALE FROM MIDDAY ON FRIDAY 24 MARCH
The Royal Court Theatre has announced it will present four new works between April and August 2023 as well as a Tony Award-winning Broadway transfer in 2024. The works announced today include writers who are new to the Royal Court stages alongside returning playwrights, there are three brand new plays as well as national and international transfers and collaborations. The theatre has also announced a new Living Archive project for over 1600 plays, and a storytelling projectcreated with Jewish community groups across the UK.
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to be announcing this varied and beautiful season of work. All the writers and projects are questioning in very different ways our need for community, a need to belong and be understood, a place which holds us. Added to that we are finally able to give the first opportunity in our amazing history at the Royal Court to create and open up a Living Archive, questioning what archive is and how it can help us think about the future. We hope that people will enjoy engaging with us in all these different ways, looking both into our past and being immersed in stories which are fiercely about the now.”
The newly announced productions will begin with No I.D.by Tatenda Shamiso, telling the story of his experience as a Black transgender immigrant in the UK, fresh from a run at the Vaults, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from Tuesday 18 April – Saturday 6 May. Hope has a Happy Mealby Tom Fowler, afrenetic quest through a hyper-capitalist country will run in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from Saturday 3 June – Saturday 8 July. In the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning playwright Michael Wynne returns to the Royal Court with Cuckoo from Thursday 6 July – Saturday 19 August. In partnership with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, this new dark comedy will bedirected by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone. Word-Playby Rabiah Hussain will then play in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from Thursday 20 July – Saturday 26 August, exploring how language seeps into public consciousness.
In January 2024, the UK premiere of the Tony Award-winning Dana H. by Lucas Hnath will play at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from Tuesday 16 January – Saturday 9 March 2024. Deirdre O’Connell will reprise her award-winning tour-de-force performance as Dana, a psych ward chaplain who was held captive by a patient in a series of Florida motels for five months. Dana Higginbotham’s remarkable true story is told in her own words and using her own voice, with recorded interviews reconstructed for the stage by Dana’s son, playwright Lucas Hnath, and meticulously lip-synced by O’Connell. Directed by Les Waters, Dana H. was first presented at the Vineyard Theatre in New York in 2020, where it received three Obie citations, two Lortel Awards and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience. Transferring to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, it received three Tony Award nominations, winning Best Actress in a Play (Deirdre O’Connell) and Best Sound Design (Mikhail Fiksel).
In June, for the first time in Royal Court history, the theatre will create a stand-alone online archive. A playground for all theatre geeks, audiences, students, educators and lovers of new writing, Living Archive will hold information on over 1600 plays put on on Royal Court stages from 1956 to the present day. Users will be able to search through the site or to take pathways created by guest curators-writers who will be regularly invited to lead users to their particular passions and inspirations. It will be a permanent work in progress, constantly evolving, with ways for everyone to contribute to and enhance the content.
The Royal Court has also announced Machloket – a disagreement for a greater good,a storytelling projectcreated with Jewish community groups across the UK. Working in partnership with Tash Hyman, Nick Cassenbaum and Take Stock Exchange,the project will create a nationwide conversation exploring what it means to be Jewish in the UK today.
The Royal Court is in London’s West End this spring with the Royal Court Theatre, Nouveau Riche and New Diorama Theatre production of For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets too Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron. It will be at Nimax’s The Apollo for a limited run of six weeks from Saturday 25 March – Sunday 7 May 2023 and has been nominated for Olivier Awards for Best New Play and Best Supporting Actor for the ensemble.
The additional Jerwood Theatre Downstairs production for the April-August period will be announced alongside the 2023 Festival d’Avignon programme announcement on Wednesday 5 April. Further information on upcoming productions will be announced in due course.
Tickets for all newly announced productions go on saleto supporters from 12.00pm on Monday 20 March 2023, to Friends at 12.00pm on Wednesday 22 March 2023, and to the general public at 12.00pm on Friday 24 March 2023.
Showinformation:
Royal Court Theatre presents
NO I.D.
Written and performed by Tatenda Shamiso (he/him)
Directed by Sean Ting-Hsuan Wang (he/him)
Produced by Dylan Marc Verley
Tuesday 18 April – Saturday 6 May 2023, 7.45pm and 3pm
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/no-i-d
Following a ★★★★★ run at VAULT Festival, NO I.D. transfers to the Royal Court for a limited three-week run.
“Trans people don’t often get a chance to talk about this bit. Where you see your old self in the person you become.”
Tatenda Shamiso tells the story of his experience as a Black transgender immigrant in the UK. Using the songs he wrote throughout his first year on testosterone alongside letters, signatures and a whole lot of paperwork, he guides us through what it takes to validate Black and queer identities in the eyes of the law.
With laughter, music, and a healthy dose of care, NO I.D. is a love letter to gender transitions and an examination of how absurd our bureaucratic systems can be.
Tatenda first wrote and performed NO I.D. for Peckham Fringe before being programmed in Theatre Peckham’s Young, Gifted and Black Season and later, VAULT Festival 2023 as a member of the VAULT Five mentorship programme.
The show has also received support from Brixton House Theatre.
Hope has a Happy Meal
Written by Tom Fowler (he/him)
Directed by Lucy Morrison (she/her)
Saturday 3 June – Saturday 8 July 2023, 7.45pm and 3pm
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Post-show talk Tuesday 13 June 2023
https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/hope-has-a-happy-meal
‘Hope? Hope, is that you?’
Years and years ago Hope disappeared. Now, she’s back. To find something she left behind.
But in the People’s Republic of Koka Kola – a world of dwindling resources, corruption and corporate giants – what happens to Hope?
Follow Hope on a surreal and frenetic quest through a hyper-capitalist country in this new play by Tom Fowler, directed by Royal Court Associate Director, Lucy Morrison.
In partnership with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
Cuckoo
Written by Michael Wynne
Directed by Vicky Featherstone (she/her)
Thursday 6 July – Saturday 19 August 2023, 7.30pm and 2.30pm
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Post-show talk: Tuesday 18 July 2023
https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/cuckoo
“I do love some David Attenborough, but even he can be a bit of a miz bag now, always going on about climate change … You don’t want to think about the end of the world before you go to bed on a Sunday night.”
Doreen and her two grown up daughters sit at the table – eating fish and chips, distracted by their phones.
Upstairs, 17–year-old Megyn has locked herself in her grandmother’s bedroom and refuses to come out. And no one is entirely sure why…
Michael Wynne’s dark comedy explores the safety of home and the different ways we cope in our increasingly uncertain world.
Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning playwright, Michael Wynne returns to the Royal Court with his new play, directed by Artistic Director, Vicky Featherstone.
Cuckoo has been generously supported by a lead gift from Charles Holloway.
Word-Play
Written by Rabiah Hussain (she/her)
Directed by Nimmo Ismail (she/her)
Thursday 20 July – Saturday 26 August 2023, 7.45pm and 3pm
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Post-show talk: Wednesday 2 August 2023
https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/word-play
“We’ve got another 10 minutes before shit really hits the fan.”
In the Downing Street Press Office an emergency meeting has been called. The Prime Minister has been ad-libbing on live tv (again) and his words are going viral. There are accusations of Islamophobia, and demands for an apology; but as the team debate what to do next, it’s already too late. His words have found their way to dinner parties, bus journeys and newspaper columns across the nation – and not everyone is angry.
Rabiah Hussain’s new play, directed by Nimmo Ismail, explores how language seeps into public consciousness and reverberates with far reaching consequences that will last for generations.
“History always ripples on. Even if we don’t realise it.”
Word-Play was developed whilst Rabiah Hussain was on attachment as part of the Royal Court Theatre and Kudos Writing Fellowship in 2019.
Living Archive
In June, the theatre will launch Living Archive, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. For the first time in Royal Court history, the theatre is creating a stand-alone online archive, accessible to all, that will develop and grow as required by the future. Living Archive began with questions from writers the Royal Court knows, and will be for writers they don’t yet. By its very nature, the project will ask who gets to decide on what organisations archive and how we can know about things which were not deemed important or interesting at the time. Itwill hold information on over 1600 plays put on Royal Court Stages from its beginning in 1956 to the present.
Living Archive Vol 1 (June 2022) started to articulate these enquiries with conversations with 50 writers and 10 new mini-commissions. The Royal Court worked with nine guest archivists and recorded all their work over two weeks of performances.
Content will include information such as dates and credits, stage management notes and extracts to video clips and design plans. Users will be able to journey through the site by writers’ names, plays and time period or single search terms. In addition, there will be pathways created by guest curators-writers who will be regularly invited to lead users to their particular passions and inspirations. It will be a permanent work in progress so there will be ways for everyone to contribute and correct. Living Archive is a playground for all theatre geeks, audiences, students, educators and lovers of new writing.
Living Archive has been supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Machloket
The Royal Court has also announced Machloket – a disagreement for a greater good, a storytelling project created with Jewish community groups across the UK. Working in partnership with Jewish artists Nick Cassenbaum, Tash Hyman and community storytelling company take stock exchange the project will create a nationwide conversation, exploring what it means to be Jewish in the UK today. Working with around 25 different groups, from a shul to a women’s golfers group, a yiddish class, a choir, and even a group of old friends, they will create spaces to share stories. These conversations will then be developed into a series of podcasts and later a theatrical performance to tour to community spaces across the country. Groups interested in taking part should get in touch with [email protected].
Royal Court Theatre presents
The Goodman Theatre / Center Theatre Group / Vineyard Theatre production of
Dana H.
Written by Lucas Hnath (he/him)
Adapted from interviews with Dana Higginbotham conducted by Steve Cosson
Directed by Les Waters (he/him)
Performed by Deirdre O’Connell (she/her)
Tuesday 16 January – Saturday 9 March 2024, 7.30pm and 2.30pm
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
“This is the first time I’m talking about this in all of these years so I – I’m in – I I’m in this world but I’m not.”
Broadway smash-hit and winner of two Tony Awards, Dana H. will have its UK premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in January 2024.
Deirdre O’Connell makes her London stage debut reprising her Tony-winning tour-de-force performance as Dana, a psych ward chaplain who was held captive by a patient in a series of Florida motels for five months. Dana Higginbotham’s remarkable true story is told in her own words and using her own voice, with recorded interviews reconstructed for the stage by Dana’s son, playwright Lucas Hnath, and meticulously lip-synced by O’Connell. The result is a groundbreaking work that shatters the boundaries of real and artifice, and challenges our understanding of good and evil.
Dana H. is directed by Tony-nominated, former Royal Court Associate Director Les Waters, and features a richly crafted soundscape by Mikhail Fiksel, winner of the Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Play.
This production was originally produced on Broadway by Matt Ross, Sally Horchow and Dori Berinstein.