“People kept saying there’s no smoke without fire, but it’s not our fire is it khala? it’s like we’re just choking on all the fumes…”    

Between the 1990s and 2010s hundreds of young girls were sexually exploited in northern towns by gangs of predatory men.    

Two sisters grapple with the impact on their community as the men around them are embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal.   

Expendable

The Royal Court Theatre

Following the launch of the Living Archive in 2023, the Royal Court is introducing its Beyond the Library initiative this autumn—a series of events designed to delve deep into the theatre’s archives, connecting the past with the present.  

Beginning with a monthly book club, participants are invited to consider lesser-known works by writers from across the Royal Court’s 60-year history, alongside our current programme. These sessions spotlight rare and unpublished texts, placing underrepresented writing at the heart of the discussion.  

Beyond The Library

Join us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Court Theatre, home to the English Stage Company for over 60 years, to explore the building and work that happens behind the vermillion wall.
Tours last approximately 60 – 75 minutes. We have catering packages available; enjoy a glass of prosecco or a cream tea as you get to know our historic venue. Early booking is recommended as spaces are limited per tour.

Backstage Tours

“I wanted to put you bang in the picture. Apprise you of the difficulties. Because, in case you hadn’t noticed, he’s a human fucking boobytrap. And now, guess what, surprise surprise, boom!”

A world-famous children’s author under threat. A battle of wills in the wake of scandal. And one chance to make amends…  

It’s the summer of 1983, The Witches is about to hit the shelves and Roald Dahl is making last-minute edits.  But the outcry at his recent, explicitly antisemitic article won’t die down. 

Giant

Back on the ground, survivors Ray and Sylvia struggle to reconcile their responses to this life-changing event. As cracks appear in their relationship, one closes themselves off, the other can’t focus on anything else.   

A gripping story of the people we become in the aftermath of catastrophe from writer Oli Forsyth and director Daniel Raggett (Accidental Death of an Anarchist Lyric Hammersmith / West End).

Brace Brace

Urban legend has it that Baitface steals the faces and lives of Black Boys. All it takes is walking underneath a pair of trainers suspended on a telephone wire, face uncovered.   

Khaleem, Joy and Kai are just trying to get through school. On the night of an alleged crime, when the spirit of Baitface the Gullyman rears its head, their lives, identities and friendships begin to disintegrate.  

Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Go silent as I walk on! Acknowledge when something funny happens! Leave discussing dinner plans! Others will be implicated. Points will be circled and missed. Hell, it’s a man trying his best! When I visit your town dogs will start barking, as will clergy. Your microwave will go haywire. The lights in your vestibule will flicker and the Bank of England will nervously look at interest rates. On the day I write this, the pound has hit an all-time low against the dollar. Mark my words. This show will break that record again and again and again.

John Kearns: The Varnishing Days

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Father figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts – and imaginations – run wild.

Inspired by Ntozake Shange’s ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf’, For Black Boys   is located on the threshold of joyful fantasy and brutal reality: a world of music, movement, storytelling and verse – where six men clash and connect in a desperate bid for survival.

Elsewhere: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy (West End)

Garrick Theatre

His mother, Lady Agrippina, has a plan to cut off his funds. His fed-up fiancée wants to drag him up the aisle. An oligarch is eyeing up his beloved Northumberland castle. Is Tug’s dissolute life about to change completely? Or will he get to carry on doing exactly as he pleases without ever facing any consequences?

Mates in Chelsea

Open Court are hosting a summer party celebration for all their participants (past and present) on Saturday 16th September from 3-6pm.

This will be a great opportunity to reconnect with the team, fellow participants and even meet new people. The party will include refreshments and a DJ, as well as information about the new projects taking place within the department.

Open Court Summer Party

Royal Court Bar & Kitchen

A memory: Award winning reggae pioneer Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee – hears her radio debut from Holloway Prison. Another: she’s engulfed in the Brixton uprising sparked by the police shooting of her sister. And now she is here, a silent retreat, seeking spiritual guidance from her brother Mooji, Nanny of the Maroons, and a moment of transcendence. 

Powered by high-octane musical numbers, virtuoso performance and raucous comedy, The Legends of Them is a breath-taking, roof-raising chronicle of Sutara’s singular, extraordinary life – and of the legends that have guided her. 

The Legends of Them

In the quaint suburban community of Stillwater, a mysterious shack springs up from the dust with the inhabitants nowhere to be seen. 

As speculation abounds, new residents Sihle and Bonolo are recruited by their neighbourhood to be the face of a campaign to demolish the shack in this biting satire of community politics.  

A Good House is a thrilling and comedic new work, from writer Amy Jephta, about a couple who discover the limits of good neighbourliness and what is required to fit in.   


A Good House

A woman wakes up in 2075, in a body that is not her own. 

Fifty years ago, Bridget died in a car accident. Now, thanks to a technological breakthrough, she is back: her mind, her consciousness, in a synthetic body. Metal. Wires. But she’s still Bridget, isn’t she? She must be. 

This sci-fi gothic horror, by Lauren Mooney and James Yeatman, is set in a future where pain and death are going rapidly out of date. More Life is a thrilling exploration of what it means to be human. 

They say the first person to live forever has already been born. This is the world they are making for us.

More Life

Pack Bag. Set timer. Run. Repeat.

Mariam knows the army often drops small warning bombs – a knock on the roof – giving tenants in Gaza 5-15 minutes to evacuate before their home is destroyed.  

With dry wit and determination, Mariam meticulously rehearses for the run of her life, deliberating what – and who- she can take with her.

Written by and starring Khawla Ibraheem, this unforgettable new play about obsession, survival and everyday life in Gaza is directed and developed by Obie Award winner Oliver Butler (What the Constitution Means to Me) direct from an Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop.

A Knock on the Roof

On July 1st, 2010, Raoul Moat was released from Durham Prison. 

The events of the next few days would leave a man murdered, a police officer blinded, a woman fighting for her life – and spark the biggest manhunt in UK history.

Award-winning writer and director Robert Icke (Oedipus, Player Kings, West End) provides a chilling portrait of a man on the run. 

Manhunt

A 1000-year-old statue of the Boddhisattva Guan Yin lives in The British Museum.  

When it emerges that the statue was stolen from its original home, the museum attempts to deflect both the public response and controversial repatriation claims from the Chinese government.   

As statesmen scheme and grease their palms, beneath the statue witches dance, a cleaner prays, and spirits weep. Guan Yin’s gaze falls over the broken shards of human life from empires old and new.  

Scenes from a Repatriation

A quarter century from its debut, the entire original cast and creative team return to the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs to revisit Sarah Kane’s final masterpiece 25 years on.  

4.48 Psychosis plunges the audience into the mind of an unnamed protagonist grappling with severe depression. Kane crafts an unflinching portrait of a psyche teetering on the edge of oblivion.  

The Royal Court Theatre

Nov 21 - Dec 21, 2024

Expendable

Oct 29 - Dec 17, 2024

Beyond The Library

Oct 25 - Dec 18, 2024

Backstage Tours

5 - 21 Dec, 2024

The Legends of Them

Jan 11 - Feb 8, 2025

A Good House

Nov 21 - Dec 21, 2024

Expendable

Oct 29 - Dec 17, 2024

Beyond The Library

The Royal Court Theatre