Writers are up in arms in the new season at the Royal Court with a string of new plays about revolutions, its artistic director announced today.
Vicky Featherstone said the diverse list of writers for the next season had all responded with work that suggested “the time for apathy is over”.
She said: “I didn’t set out to create a season of work under a banner, but was struck and inspired by the energy and stories coming out of our playwrights. The writers want to see and make change. All of these plays are about revolutions - big and small acts of resistance.”
They range from a WI-led uprising in Middle England in The Wolf from the Door starring Anna Chancellor by 27-year-old Rory Mullarkey, to an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits by Enda Walsh in an expansion of its work for young people.
“The Twits fits totally with the theme of revolution. The Twits oppress the monkeys until the monkeys create their own revolution and escape,” she said.
Tim Price examines the true story of the 16-year-old London schoolboy, Mustafa Al-Bassam, and 18-year-old Jake Davis, in the Shetlands, who for a while caused online mayhem through the Anonymous and LulzSec “hacktivist” collectives in The Internet is Serious Business. Bail conditions preventing both young men from communicating ended this week and they will take part in discussions at the theatre, Ms Featherstone said.
And Chris Rapley, the former director of the Science Museum, has collaborated with writer Duncan Macmillan on 2071 to examine why some people are refusing to accept climate change is a problem.
Jack Thorne has written Hope about how a working-class town battles £22 million government cuts, Zinne Harris explores austerity-crisis Europe in How To Hold Your Breath and child actors will star in God Bless the Child in which Molly Davies imagines a mutiny by eight-year-olds who are “tired of being guinea pigs in yet another government scheme”.
Diana Nneka Atuona, who worked as an usher when the Royal Court worked in the community in Peckham, premieres her debut play, Liberian Girl, about the civil war in Liberia during the 1990s.
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With the Arts Council facing questions about the amount of money spent on London arts, Ms Featherstone stressed the Sloane Square venue’s touring programme. It is also establishing a three-year residency in Tottenham and Pimlico.
Tickets for the September to May season to on sale tomorrow to supporters and to the public on July 1. www.royalcourttheatre.com
