'I have the choice to continue.  I have the choice to stop.'

Settle back into the warmth of the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.  Relax as the story unfolds. For you. With you. Of you. A story of hope, violence and exploitation. Laugh with the actors, tap your feet to the music, turn to your neighbour. You’re here.

Tim Crouch’s new play is about the abuse carried out in the name of the spectator. His previous plays include England, An Oak Tree and My Arm.

‘Tim Crouch is a peach of a theatre maker: conceptual without being obscure; experimental without losing the plot, or indeed faith in the power of words to move you.’ Time Out

23 Sept - 24 Oct

7:45pm

Running Time: 1hr 15mins

Tickets: £15 (£10 Monday or Conessions until 3 Oct).

Directors Karl James & a smith
Lighting Matt Drury
Music and Sound Ben Ringham & Max Ringham

Cast Tim Crouch, Adrian Howells, Vic Llewellyn, Esther Smith

Contains material that may be disturbing.  Recommended for ages 18+.

JERWOOD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS

OFF THE WALL: a season of new plays about Germany

60 years since the foundation of the Federal Republic and 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Royal Court presents Off The Wall, a season of new plays about Germany. This includes Over There by Mark Ravenhill (Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, Pool (No Water), Shopping and F***ing) and a series of readings of new plays by German writers.

The Stone

Written by Marius von Mayenburg, Translated by Maja Zade

5 - 28 February

International Playwrights: A Genesis Project  

* * * * 'Mesmerising'.

Evening Standard

As a house passes from owner to owner, and from generation to generation, the secrets buried in the garden and seeping from the walls reveal themselves.

Over There

Written by Mark Ravenhill

25 February - 21 March

International Playwrights: A Genesis Project

"I found you. You're here. And I was over there. But now I'm over here. I'm here. You're my brother. I love you"

When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, 25 years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect.

Wig Out!

Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney

21 November – 10 January

"In this gossamer- laced reality there is never a moment to be without your face, to not be together. One false move and you'll get chopped. One night can leave you legendary or a subsidiary."   Enter the legendary House of Light, a hyper-glamorous, uber-competitive drag queen refuge where a daughter who was once a son, can find a family.   While the House are primping and preening for a catwalk showdown with the other houses, drag queen Nina is wooing the delectable Eric as Wilson, a de-camped, make-up free 'straight' gay man. How can Nina/Wilson strut the thorny divide between opposite genders and differing worlds?   With sassy music, killer costumes and performed in a club cabaret setting, Wig Out! brings to glorious, vivid life, a riotous, defiant drag queen sub-culture.

Mondays - All tickets £10

Tuesday to Saturday - £25 £18 £12

For information on concessions go to http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson_calendar.asp?play=526

The Girlfriend Experience

by Alecky Blythe

“We have Tessa, curvy dress size 14, very bubbly, offers most services. We also have Suzie, curvy dress size 18 to 20, very passionate lady, offers the full girlfriend experience.�

Tessa has set up a business; a brothel by the sea where mature women specialise in the Girlfriend Experience, a surprisingly caring and sympathetic service.

As the women stoically strive to make a living in a competitive market, their personal lives start to crumble. Will they ever have loving relationships outside work and enjoy being girlfriends themselves?

This extraordinary play is created entirely from edited conversations recorded inside an actual brothel.

23 July - 09 August

2008 Olivier Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre   Nigeria, England, America, Jamaica; are you proud of where you're from? Dark skinned, light skinned, afro, weaves, who are your true brothers and sisters?   When two brothers from different continents go down the street to buy a pint of milk, they lift the lid on a disunited nation where everyone wants to be an individual but no one wants to stand out from the crowd.   Bola Agbaje's comic, vibrant and perceptive play about identity, history and culture depicts a world where respect is always demanded but rarely freely given.   ''A joyous, irreverent energy and a fresh, winning playfulness.'' Times     ''It has such energy, humour and sharpness... displays such a feel for street-slang, and deftly unpicks the confused impulses of young adults trying to work out their identity in multicultural Britain.''           Financial Times      Director Bijan Sheibani Lighting Jon Clark Sound Ian Dickinson Choreography Aline David   Cast Zawe Ashton, Tobi Bakare, Maria Charles, Ashley Chin, Phillip Edgerley, Munir Khairdin, Tunji Lucas, Ricci McLeod, Bunmi Mojekwu, Marcus Onilude

www.royalcourttheatre.com

0207 565 5000

JERWOOD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS

Upstairs Downstairs: Free Outgoing

Written by Anupama Chandrasekhar

2 - 19 July

Following their sold-out success in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs,

Just one text message. That's all it took for Deepa to be hated by the nation.

''Anupama Chandrasekhar's debut cleverly exposes several contradictions at the heart of 21st century Indian society.'' Metro     

When a well-behaved Indian girl is filmed having sex in her classroom, the video clip spreads like a virus. Transmitted from person to person and across the globe it infects firstly the local community and then seemingly the entire world with a burning moral outrage.

Free Outgoing sets the rampant technology of the modern world against the conservatism of an ancient culture.

''Chandrasekhar writes with both economy and power... Lolita Chakrabarti gives a deeply unsettling performance''. Daily Telegraph   

''A gripping and insightful story''. Time Out Critics Choice      

Director Indhu Rubasingham,

Designer Rosa Maggiora

Lighting Mark Jonathan

Sound by Christopher Shutt

Cast includes Ravi Aujla, Lolita Chakrabarti, Raj Ghatak, Shelley King, Shaheen Khan, Amit Shah

International Playwrights: A Genesis Project

Tickets – £25, £15, £10. Mondays all seats £10. Concs £10. Group discounts available.

To book tickets please call the box office on 020 7565 5000 or click here.

JERWOOD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS

The Royal Court Theatre presents 

Upstairs Downstairs: The Ugly One

Written by Marius von Mayenburg

Translated by Maja Zade 

10 - 28 June

Following their sold-out success in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, three Royal Court productions return in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Lette thought he was normal.

When the extent of his ugliness is revealed he turns to a plastic surgeon for help. But after the bandages come off, Lette soon learns that there is such a thing as too beautiful.

"A drop-dead gorgeous play."  Independent

The Ugly One is a scalpel sharp comedy on beauty, identity and getting ahead in life.

"A delectable black comedy... I have not seen a more imaginative, inventive or disturbing theatrical vision."  Evening Standard  

"A viciously comic assault on the warped values of pop-culture-fed modern society."  The Times   

Director Ramin Gray

Designer Jeremy Herbert

Lighting Charles Balfour

Sound Nick Powell

Cast includes Amanda Drew, Michael Gould, Frank McCusker, Simon Paisley Day

International Playwrights: A Genesis Project

Tickets – £25, £15, £10. Mondays all seats £10. Concs £10

To book tickets please call the box office on 020 7565 5000 or click here.

JERWOOD THEATRE UPSTAIRS

The Royal Court Theatre presents

Oxford Street

Written by Levi David Addai

2 - 31 May 

"I don’t want to work here much longer, I got bigger plans than dis place... I gotta make it. Can’t be living in my forties and still working in retail. Can’t be living in the struggle no more."

At Total Sports, security guard Kofi and his workmates are making sure everything runs smoothly, easing the daily grind with plenty of jokes and chat about the future. Young or old, they all want more from life. The only difference is how they'll go about getting it.

This boisterous and comic new play from Levi David Addai (93.2FM & House of Agnes) looks beyond the glossy facade of the high street at the stories and ambitions of the workers within.

Director Dawn Walton

Designer Soutra Gilmour

Lighting Philip Gladwell

Sound Carolyn Downing

Movement Ann Yee

Cast Reece Beaumont, Preeya Kalidas, Daniel Kaluuya, Kristian Kiehling, Amelia Lowdell, Nathaniel Martello-White, Cyril Nri, Ashley Walters, Shane Zaza

Tickets – £15. Mondays all seats £10. Concs £10

To book tickets please call the box office on 020 7565 5000 or click on the link below:

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=507

JERWOOD THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS

The City by Martin Crimp

24 April – 7June

"And I know what you're thinking: you're thinking it must be pretty easy to kill people who are simply clinging on to life. But the people clinging on to life are the most dangerous people of all."

Clair wants to be kissed - but not now - and certainly not by her husband. Chris wants to celebrate his new job by driving into the oncoming traffic. Jenny arrives to complain about the screaming children - but the garden's empty, and the key to the playroom's disappeared. Just what strange game is being played here?

Three characters fight to make sense of a surreal and collapsing world in this darkly comic mystery.

Martin Crimp's Attempts on her Life premiered at the Royal Court in 1997 and was recently given a new production by Katie Mitchell at the National Theatre. Their previous collaborations include The Country and Face to the Wall at the Royal Court and The Seagull (National). Martin Crimp also created the new translation of Rhinoceros for the Royal Court.

Director Katie Mitchell

Designer Vicki Mortimer

Lighting Paule Constable

Sound Gareth Fry

Sound Associate Sean Ephgrave

Cast

Matilda Castrey

Benedict Cumberbatch

Ruby Douglas

Amanda Hale

Hattie Morahan

Tickets – £25, £15, £10. Mondays all seats £10

For more information and to book, call 020 7565 5000 or click on the link below.

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=504

"It's a choice isn't it? How you live. How you behave. At some point in your life you make your choice. Maybe you don't even remember. Everything conspires to make you forget. But the choice is there. You made it."

Nadia Blye knows exactly what her stance is on Iraq. A former war reporter and Professor of International Relations at Yale, she has advised the President and seen action in Sarajevo and Baghdad. She is sure of her place in the world and her opinion of it.

Until, that is, she meets an equally opinionated and lethally charming man - her boyfriend's father - over a weekend in Shropshire. His intervention has far-reaching consequences for them all.

David Hare's play, pitting personal philosophies against global politics, premiered on Broadway in 2006, and now receives a new production and its UK premiere at the Royal Court.  His best known plays include Plenty, Skylight, Racing Demon, Via Dolorosa and Stuff Happens.

In our first podcast of 2008, Ola Animashawun (Associate Director at the Court) interviews David Hare and Vertical Hour director Jeremy Herrin.

For the first time, the Royal Court reveals the extraordinary story of the world's most renowned new writing theatre in a new behind-the-scenes book. Spanning five decades, it includes exclusive interviews and personal anecdotes from the people who shaped the theatre and its plays, and made it what it is today.

To celebrate the launch of the first book to tell the story of 50 years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court, an illustrious panel of playwrights, actors and directors were invited to share some of their favourite memories of working at the theatre.

The panel is; Nicholas Wright (Joint Artistic Director of the Royal Court, 1975-77), Vikki Heywood (Executive Director of the Royal Court, 1996-2001), playwrights Roy Williams and Stephen Jeffreys, and actor Kenneth Cranham.

Until 15 December

RHINOCEROS

When a rhinoceros charges across the town square one Sunday afternoon, Berenger thinks nothing of it. Soon, however, rhinoceroses are popping up everywhere and Berenger’s whole world is under threat. What will it take for him to stand up to the increasing menace of rhinocerisation?

Ionesco’s iconic satire on apathy and conformity is given its first major UK revival since its Royal Court premiere in 1960, which was directed by Orson Welles, starring Laurence Olivier.

1 November-15 December

THE ARSONISTS

Fires are becoming something of a problem. But Biedermann has it all under control. A respected member of the community with a loving wife and a flourishing business, surely nothing can get to him. The great philanthrope, he is happy to meet his civic duty and give shelter to two new houseguests, and when they start filling the attic with petrol drums, he’ll help them wire the fuse. 

Frisch’s parable about accommodating the very thing that will destroy you is given its first major UK revival since its Royal Court premiere in 1961, which was directed by Lindsay Anderson with Alfred Marks and John Thaw in the cast.

An interview with cast members Jasper Britton and Zawe Ashton, Director Ramin Gray, and Production Manager Paul Handley by Steve Pidcock.