The Royal Court has announced details of its 50th anniversary season,
running from January to October 2006. In many cases exact dates are
not yet available and, of course, casting will not be done for some
considerable time.
O Go My Man
By Stella Feehily
Directed by Max Stafford-Clark
17 January (previews from 12th) - 11 February
A Royal Court Theatre and Out of Joint co-production
A war correspondent returns from Sudan and takes a hammer to his
life. Stella Feehily takes a caustic and comic look at relationships
in a hectic world of commitments, both personal and professional.
This is the second of Stella Feehily plays for the Royal Court and
Out of Joint, following her debut with Duck
in Autumn 2003.
Touring to Cambridge Arts Theatre; Nuffield Southampton; Tron Theatre,
Glasgow, Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton; Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge
Wells; Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford and Bolton Octagon.
February
Guildhall School of Music & Drama present:
Live Like Pigs
By John Arden
Directed by Christian Burgess
As part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, the Guildhall School
of Music & Drama present Live Like Pigs by John Arden,
directed by Christian Burgess, which was originally directed by George
Devine and Anthony Page at the Royal Court in 1958.
February / March
Cloud Nine
By Caryl Churchill
Directed by Ian Rickson
Caryl Churchill has been the most prolific Royal Court playwright
since her debut at the Royal Court with Owners in 1972.
Her exuberant, searching play hilariously examines the sexual and
political dynamics between generations of characters across time.
Originally produced at the Royal Court by Joint Stock in 1979, this
play's dynamic exploration of history makes a fitting revival in the
50th year.
April
Motortown
By Simon Stephens
Summertime. A blistering road trip through England Home Front, whilst
war rages in Iraq. Simon Stephens' provocative new play charts a day
in the life of a returning soldier who can leave the war behind. A
bruising, blackly comic love story.
Simon Stephen's previous plays for the Royal Court are Country
Music (with ATC), Herons and Bluebird.
June/July
Rock 'n' Roll
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Tom Stoppard's first play for the Royal Court spans the recent history
of Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution
but from the double perspective of Prague, where a rock 'n' roll band
came to symbolise resistance to the regime, and the British left,
represented by a Communist philosopher at Cambridge.
July
LAMDA presents
Top Girls
By Caryl Churchill
Directed by Peter James
The Changing Room
By David Storey
Directed by Colin Cook
Lindsay Anderson first directed The Changing Room for the
Royal Court in 1971, and Max Stafford-Clark directed Top Girls
in 1982.
July
National Youth Theatre presents
Savages
By Christopher Hampton
The National Youth Theatre presents Savages as part of their
own 50th anniversary season entitled 'God Save the Teen'. Savages
premiered at the Royal Court in 1973, directed by Robert Kidd.
July/August
Sugar Mummies
By Tanika Gupta
Directed by Indhu Rubasingham
A provocative study of female sex tourism in Jamaica where everyone
is in search of something.
Tanika Gupta most recent productions include Sanctuary (National
Theatre), Hobson's Choice
(Young Vic) and Fragile Land (Hampstead).
September/October
Piano/Forte
Written and directed by Terry Johnson
A new play by Terry Johnson about no one famous. Terry Johnson's
previous plays for the Royal Court include Hitchcock
Blonde, Insignificance
and Hysteria.
Look Back: 50 Readings, 50 Writers, 50 Years
From the middle of January to the end of March 2006 the Royal Court
will present a series of 50 rehearsed readings in the Jerwood Theatre
Upstairs, taking audiences on an epic journey through the second half
of the twentieth century. The readings will commence with David Hare
directing The Entertainer by John Osborne, and conclude with
Roy Williams' contemporary classic Fallout.
The list of the fifty plays that will be featured is not intended
to be definitive, but is a sample selection of some of the key plays
the Royal Court has originated since 1956. From a Nigerian village
to a hotel room in Leeds, from the kitchen sink to glam rock, from
English surrealism to in-yer-face, the fifty readings will pay tribute
to the huge diversity of voices that have been heard at the Royal
Court over the last five decades.
Where possible the original company will be invited back to reprise
their roles.
Rainbow Kiss
By Simon Farquhar
Directed by Richard Wilson
Holed up in a flat in Aberdeen, a young man stakes everything on
a one-night stand. But does she give a fuck? This is Simon Farquhar's
first play for the Royal Court.
The Dying City
By Christopher Shinn
When one man decides to go to war he leaves the city, his wife and
brother. A year later only the wife and brother remain.
Christopher Shinn's previous plays for the Royal Court are Where
Do We Live and Other People.
Sirens
from James Joyce's Ulysses
Directed by William Gaskill
William Gaskill, former Artistic Director of the Royal Court, adapts
the eleventh chapter of Ulysses and brings it to the stage.
The Woman and the Scarecrow
By Marina Carr
A Woman gaunt and ill, haggard after giving birth eight times faces
death. What was life? What was love? What else could have been? Full
of mordant, bitter humour, this is a passionate threnody from one
of Ireland's leading playwrights.
Marina Carr's previous plays seen at the Royal Court include Portia
Coughlan and On Raftery Hill.
