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‘It’s a full feast of what new writing can look like!’ enthuses Royal Court artistic director David Byrne in a short phone chat to promote his latest season at the iconic new writing theatre.
If Byrne’s first year of work at the Court was determinedly eclectic then his second, announced today, is more of the same, albeit insofar as the six plays it comprises are giddily, gloriously different from each other.
It will get underway with a big late spring transfer for Breach Theatre’s acclaimed verbatim musical about After the Act (May 21-Jun 14), which concerns the devastating effect of Margaret Thatcher’s Section 28 on the UK LGBTQ community. Theatre nerds will probably be aware that it started life at Byrne’s former theatre the New Diorama (read our four star review here) – the whimsical but hard hitting show will transfer to the Court’s larger Downstairs theatre in expanded form.
It will be followed a short return for last year’s hit play ECHO (Jun 27-Jul 5), which calls in as part of a global tour. The piece is involves a different performer every night reading it for the first time: guests confirmed include Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar and Juliet Stevenson. That will overlap with the previously announced, kill-for-a-seat revival of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (Jun 12-Jul 5) which plays in the dinky Upstairs.
After that there will be a major new work from brilliant Irish experimental company Dead Centre with Deaf Republic (Aug 29-Sep 13). A collaboration with sign language poet Zoë McWhinney, it’s an adaptation of Ukrainian poet’s Ilya Kaminsky’s haunting series in which a deaf boy is killed and the whole country wakes up deaf.
If there is any obvious continuity with Byrne’s first year it’s the presence of legendary avant-garde director Katie Mitchell, who returns with what may be her most out there show to date. Staged Upstairs, Cow | Deer (Sep 4-Oct 11) is a collaboration between Mitchell, sound artist Melanie Wilson and playwright Nina Segal and will be a wordless piece exploring the life of a cow and a deer, with the idea it ‘radically decentres’ humans in an environmentally-minded piece of work. It obviously sounds nuts – Byrne is delighted: ‘I think Katie is one of our best directors and is breaking new ground. The idea was too provocative and playful not to say yes to.’
Running almost exactly a year after the Court’s smash hit Giant – which transfers to the West End next month – the obvious big commercial hitter of the season is The Unbelievers (Oct 10-Nov 29) by Nick Payne, whose Constellations was a huge hit for the Court a decade ago. Directed by big name Marianne Elliott and starring Nicola Walker, Payne’s latest is a drama about a mother stuck in the aftermath of her son’s disappearance – apparently all seven years after he vanishes happen all at once over the course of the play’s running time (no, Byrne doesn’t know what this will actually look like either).
The season will close Upstairs with Porn Play (Nov 6-Dec 13) by Sophia Chetin-Leuner, starring Ambika Mod of Netflix’s One Day fame. ‘We’ve had to loosen our porn filters quite a lot’ notes Byrne of the already award-winning drama about an academic’s dangerous obsession with violent porn.
It’s directed by former Bush and Donmar boss Josie Rourke, one of several big name directors who’ve debuted under Byrne: Rourke and Elliott this season, Robert Icke and Nicholas Hytner recently. There was perhaps the feeling under his predecessor Vicky Featherstone that the Court was too cool for major league directors: but in the eclectic house of Byrne, all are welcome: ‘It should be where internationally recognised acting and directing talent come to work on new plays with new writers on brand new ideas,’ says Byrne. ‘It should be where people come to be at their most adventurous and artistically full throated’.
The Royal Court May to December Season 2025
- After the Act (May 21-Jun 14)
- 4.48 Psychosis (Jun 12-Jul 5
- ECHO (Jun 27-Jul 5)
- Deaf Republic (Aug 29-Sep 13)
- Cow | Deer (Sep 4-Oct 11)
- The Unbelievers (Oct 10-Nov 29)
- Porn Play (Nov 6-Dec 13)
The new Royal Court season will go on sale at noon on Monday March 31.
The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2025.
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