Royal Court
‘Stripping naked the process of making theatre’: Martin Crimp talks about his latest playMonday, 31 October 2022
The fictional world is our world, but at the same time it’s another place. We want our writers to invent interesting characters, gripping plots and to take us to unexpected places. We want them to delight us, and sometimes to fright us. We want to... Read more... |
Jews. In Their Own Words, Royal Court review - calling out ancient prejudiceThursday, 29 September 2022
What is the Royal Court theatre for? Is it a space that stages innovative new writing, or does it prefer to do documentary theatre? Is it concerned with reaching out beyond its regular audiences, or is it more focused on its own internal problems?... Read more... |
That Is Not Who I Am, Royal Court review – gimmicky post-truth spoofMonday, 20 June 2022
What is the shelf life of a theatre gimmick? In April, the Royal Court announced that they were going to stage a debut play by an unknown writer, Dave Davidson, who has worked for decades in the security industry. His drama was hyped up, helped by... Read more... |
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, Royal Court review - Black joy, pain, and beautyTuesday, 19 April 2022
The title is so long that the Royal Court’s neon red lettering only renders the first three words, followed by a telling ellipsis. But lyrical new play For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy lives up to its weighty... Read more... |
Cock, Ambassadors Theatre review – brutal, bruising and brilliantTuesday, 15 March 2022
Mike Bartlett’s Cock invites suggestive comments, but the main thing about the play is that it has proved to be a magnet for star casting. Its original production at the Royal Court in 2009 starred Ben Whishaw, Andrew Scott and Katherine Parkinson.... Read more... |
Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks, Royal Court review – fearless, frank and feministMonday, 07 February 2022
Irish teenager Saoirse Murphy has a dirty mouth. And she’s not afraid to use it when talking to the nuns at her convent school. But it soon emerges that her feistiness is a cover for some very disturbing problems in Sarah Hanly’s energetic debut... Read more... |
The Glow, Royal Court review – bizarre, beautiful and breathtakingMonday, 31 January 2022
Bizarre. Breathtaking. Beautiful. I leave the Royal Court theatre with these Bs, as well as others such as bewitching and beguiling, buzzing in my mind. Alistair McDowall, whose previous plays include Pomona (2014) and X (2016), has created a mind-... Read more... |
Rare Earth Mettle, Royal Court review - one long unsatisfying slogFriday, 19 November 2021
Why are we indifferent to anti-Semitism? In the past few weeks the Royal Court, a proud citadel of wokeness, has been embroiled in an appalling case of prejudice by allowing a character, who is a really bad billionaire, in Al Smith’s new play, Rare... Read more... |
What If If Only, Royal Court review - short if not sweetTuesday, 05 October 2021
Few sights speak so eloquently of loss, of an especially cruel and painful loss, as one glass of wine, half-full, alone on a table. A man speaks to a partner who isn’t there, wishes her back, but knows that she has gone. Then another woman... Read more... |
Curious, Soho Theatre review - a young playwright puts herself centre-stageMonday, 04 October 2021
Jasmine Lee-Jones has a hard act to follow – namely, herself. Her award-winning 2019 debut play, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, announced the arrival at the Royal Court of a blistering writing talent whose two sparring women made... Read more... |
Is God Is, Royal Court review – blister, flare and burn, baby, burnThursday, 16 September 2021
God is a tricky one. Or should that be One? And definitely not a He. So when she says take revenge, then vengeance is definitely not only hers, but ours too. American playwright Aleshea Harris’s dazzlingly satirical 2018 extravaganza is about two... Read more... |
Constellations, Vaudeville Theatre review - a starry revivalFriday, 02 July 2021
A cosmologist and a beekeeper walk into a barbecue. Or a wedding. The beekeeper is in a relationship, or married, or just out of a relationship, or married again. The cosmologist shares the secret of the universe with him: it’s impossible to lick... Read more... |
