The general consensus is that David ‘not the Talking Heads guy’ Byrne pretty much smashed it with this year’s inaugural season at the helm of the Royal Court, with the influential new writing theatre currently riding high with Mark Rosenblatt’s Road Dahl drama Giant, its biggest hit in years.
The consensus was also that the season was, in the best way, probably a bit thrown together, being a mix of fringe transfers and big last minute favours rather than shows that had been specially commissioned for the Court and had time to work through the somewhat lengthy process of writing and staging an entirely new show.
But with a new season just announced that covers Christmas and first half of next year, we’re getting a better look at Byrne’s programming and while many of the projects clearly pre-originate him, the vibe very much seems to be something for everyone, a mix of leftfield and commercial projects, nods to the Court’s history and shows that would have slotted in nicely at his previous theatre the New Diorama.
Let’s start with the headlines. Sarah Kane’s final play, 4.48 Psychosis is now regarded as one of the greatest in the theatre’s history, a borderline unstageable avant-garde performance poem-slash-suicide note that was first staged at the theatre by James Macdonald in 2000, 18 months after Kane’s death. And now it’s back for its twenty-fifth anniversary, with Macdonald and the entire original cast reuniting for a new take on the play that’s a co-production with the RSC – following its Court run it will transfer to Stratford-upon-Avon with the final performance taking place at – yes – 4.48am. Performed in the small Upstairs Theatre (as the original production was), do not expect tickets to stick around.
On a very different note, the great writer-director Robert Icke will make his debut at the theatre in March with Manhunt, an original play about the manhunt for Raoul Moat that gripped the nation in 2010. Co-produced by West End heavyweight Sonia Friedman, expect it to be a big deal with a big budget and a big name cast.
Those are the obvious headlines, but beyond them there’s a truly fascinating mix of shows starting with The Legends of Them (Dec 5-21) by actor Sutara Gayle aka reggae singer Lorna Gee. First staged at Brixton House under the auspices of Hackney Showroom, it’s an autobiographical show full of songs and memories.
Next up in the larger Downstairs Theatre comes the world premiere of Amy Jephta’s A Good House (Jan 11-Feb 8 2025), a South Africa-set satire of community politics that starts when a mysterious shack springs up in the quaint suburb of Stillwater.
That will be followed by Khawla Ibraheem’s A Knock on the Roof (Feb 21-Mar 8 2025), a drama about survival and life in Gaza that has been under development since 2021 but inevitably takes on a new relevance now, and is certainly the highest profile piece of drama about the war-torn piece of Palestine to run anywhere in a British theatre since war began in the Middle East a year ago.
The Downstairs season will then be concluded by Icke’s Manhunt, which runs Mar 28-May 3 2025.
In the smaller Upstairs Theatre, New Diorama regulars Kandinsky Theatre – aka Lauren Mooney and James Yeatman – make their Court debuts with intriguing ‘sci-fi gothic horror’ More Life (Feb 6-Mar 8 2025), about a woman who dies in a car accident only to be downloaded into a new body 50 years later.
Following that, the Open Submissions Festival (Apr 7-12 2025) will offer staged readings of plays that have been submitted to the Court’s literary department but there hasn’t been room to gate them.
Next, Joe Tan’s Scenes from a Repatriation (Apr 25-May 24 2025) is a ‘shape-shifting’ drama that explores the chaos that occurs when a 1,000-year-old statue of the Boddhisattva Guan Yin residing in the British Museum is claimed by China.
And then the season will conclude with what’s sure to be its most in-demand play, that 4.48 Psychosis revival (Jun 12-Jul 5, then on to Stratford-upon-Avon).
Tickets to the new Royal Court season will go on sale at noon on Monday October 28.
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