1870: New Chelsea Theatre | |
 The Royal Court Theatre in 2020 | |
 Interactive map of Royal Court Theatre | |
| Address | Sloane Square London,SW1 United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°29′33″N0°09′23″W / 51.4926°N 0.1565°W /51.4926; -0.1565 |
| Public transit |  Sloane Square |
| Owner | English Stage Company |
| Designation | Grade II listed |
| Type | Non-commercial theatre |
| Capacity | Theatre Downstairs: 380 Theatre Upstairs: 85 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1870; 155 years ago (1870) |
| Rebuilt | 1888 (Walter Emden &Bertie Crewe) 2000 (Haworth Tompkins) |
| Website | |
| royalcourttheatre | |
TheRoyal Court Theatre, at different times known as theCourt Theatre, theNew Chelsea Theatre, and theBelgravia Theatre, is anon-commercial theatre inSloane Square, London, England, opened in 1870; the current building was completed in 1888. The capacity of the theatre has varied between 728 seats and today's 380 seats (with a smaller upstairs theatre opened in 1969). In 1956 it was acquired by and remains the home of theEnglish Stage Company, which focuses on contemporary theatre and won theEurope Prize Theatrical Realities in 1999.
The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted NonconformistRanelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the nameThe New Chelsea Theatre.Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiringWalter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed theCourt Theatre.[a]
Several ofW. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, includingRandall's Thumb,Creatures of Impulse (with music byAlberto Randegger),Great Expectations (adapted from theDickens novel), andOn Guard (all in 1871);The Happy Land (1873, withGilbert Abbott à Beckett; Gilbert's most controversial play);The Wedding March, translated fromUn Chapeau de Paille d'Italie byEugène Marin Labiche (1873);The Blue-Legged Lady, translated fromLa Dame aux Jambes d'Azur by Labiche and Marc-Michel (1874); andBroken Hearts (1875). By 1878, management of the theatre was shared byJohn Hare andW. H. Kendal.[1]
Further alterations were made in 1882 by Alexander Peebles, after which its capacity was 728 (including stalls and boxes, dress circle and balcony, amphitheatre, and gallery).[2] After that,Arthur Cecil (who had joined the theatre's company in 1881) was co-manager of the theatre withJohn Clayton.[3] Among other works, they produced a series ofArthur Wing Pinero's farces, includingThe Rector,The Magistrate (1885),The Schoolmistress (1886), andDandy Dick (1887), among others.[4] The theatre closed on 22 July 1887 and was demolished.[5]
The present building was built on the east side of Sloane Square, replacing the earlier building, and opened on 24 September 1888 as theNew Court Theatre. Designed by Walter Emden andBertie Crewe, it is constructed of fine red brick, moulded brick, and a stone facade in free Italianate style. Originally the theatre had a capacity of 841 in the stalls, dress circle, amphitheatre, and a gallery.
Cecil and Clayton yielded management of the theatre toMrs. John Wood and Arthur Chudleigh in 1887, although Cecil continued acting in their company (and others) until 1895.[3] The first production in the new building was a play bySydney Grundy titledMamma, starringMrs. John Wood and John Hare, withArthur Cecil andEric Lewis.[6] By the end of the century, the theatre was again called the "Royal Court Theatre".[7]
Harley Granville-Barker managed the theatre for the first few years of the 20th century, andGeorge Bernard Shaw's plays were produced at the New Court for a period. It ceased to be used as a theatre in 1932, but was used as a cinema from 1935 to 1940, untilWorld War II bomb damage closed it.[2]
After the war, the interior was reconstructed as a stage theatre by Robert Cromie, and the number of seats was reduced to under 500. The theatre re-opened in 1952,[8] withOscar Lewenstein as the general manager. In 1954, Lewenstein, together withGeorge Devine,Ronald Duncan andGreville Poke, founded the English Stage Company (ESC) with a mission to present plays by young and experimental dramatists and "the best contemporary plays from abroad".[9] Devine served as the first artistic director of the ESC, while Poke was its Honorary Secretary.[10] The ESC purchased the Royal Court in 1956 and began to produce adventurous new and foreign works, together with some classical revivals.[11]
The new company's third production in 1956,John Osborne'sLook Back in Anger, was a play by one of theAngry Young Men. The director wasTony Richardson. Osborne followedLook Back in Anger withThe Entertainer, starringLaurence Olivier as Archie Rice, a play the actor effectively commissioned from the playwright. The artistic board of the ESC initially rejected the play, although they soon reversed that decision. Two members of the board opposedThe Entertainer: Duncan disliked Osborne's work, according to the biographerJohn Heilpern,[12][b] while Lewenstein, a formerCommunist,[14] did not want one of the theatre's new plays to be overwhelmed by its star and did not think much of the play.[12]
In the mid-1960s, the ESC became involved in issues ofcensorship. Their premiere productions of Osborne'sA Patriot for Me andSaved byEdward Bond (both 1965) necessitated the theatre turning itself into a "private members club" to circumvent theLord Chamberlain, formally responsible for the licensing of plays until theTheatres Act 1968. Thesuccès de scandale of the two plays helped to bring about the abolition oftheatre censorship in the UK.[citation needed] During the period of Devine's directorship, besides Osborne and Bond, the Royal Court premiered works byArnold Wesker,John Arden,Ann Jellicoe andN.F. Simpson. Subsequent Artistic Directors of the Royal Court premiered work byChristopher Hampton,Athol Fugard,Howard Brenton,Caryl Churchill,Hanif Kureishi,Sarah Daniels,Errol John,David Storey,Timberlake Wertenbaker,Martin Crimp,Sarah Kane,Sylvia Wynter,Mark Ravenhill,Martin McDonagh,Simon Stephens,Leo Butler,Polly Stenham andNick Payne. Early seasons included new international plays byBertolt Brecht,Eugène Ionesco,Samuel Beckett,Jean-Paul Sartre, andMarguerite Duras. In addition to the 400-seatproscenium arch Theatre Downstairs, the much smaller studio Theatre Upstairs was opened in 1969, at the time a 63-seat facility.[2][15]The Rocky Horror Show premiered there in 1973. The theatre wasGrade II listed in June 1972.[16]
Though the main auditorium and the façade were attractive, the remainder of the building provided poor facilities for both audience and performers, and throughout the 20th century the stalls and understage often flooded. By the early 1990s the building had deteriorated dangerously, and the theatre was threatened with closure in 1995. The Royal Court received a grant of £16.2 million from theNational Lottery and theArts Council for redevelopment, and beginning in 1996, under the artistic directorship ofStephen Daldry, it was completely rebuilt, except for the façade and the intimate auditorium. The architects for this wereHaworth Tompkins. The theatre reopened in February 2000, with the 380-seatJerwood Theatre Downstairs, and the 85-seat studio theatre, now the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Since 1994, a new generation of playwrights debuting at the theatre has includedJoe Penhall,Sarah Kane,Mark Ravenhill, andRoy Williams, among others.[citation needed]
Since the 1990s the Royal Court has placed an emphasis on the development and production of international plays. By 1993, theBritish Council had begun its support of the International Residency programme (which started in 1989 as the Royal Court International Summer School), and more recently theGenesis Foundation has also supported the production of international plays. The theatre received a 1999 International Theatre Institute award.[17] In May 2008, the English Stage Company presentedThe Ugly One byMarius von Mayenburg at the "Contact International Theatre Festival" inPoland.[18]
Artistic Directors have includedGeorge Devine (1956–1965),William Gaskill (1965–1972),Lindsay Anderson andAnthony Page (1969–1972),Oscar Lewenstein (1972–1975),Nicholas Wright andRobert Kidd (1975–1977),Stuart Burge (1977–1979),Max Stafford-Clark (1979–1992),Stephen Daldry (1992–1998),Ian Rickson (1998–2006)[19] andDominic Cooke (2007 to 2012).[20]Vicky Featherstone was the first female artistic director (2013–2024).[21][22]David Byrne took over the role in early 2024.[23]
In 1999, the theatre was awarded the "Europe Prize Theatrical Realities".[24] The prize organization stated:
[T]he Royal Court Theatre ... has done more than any other institution to promote new writing. Since 1956 it has premiered the work of many of the best-known British dramatists:Osborne,Wesker,Pinter,Bond,Barker,Brenton,Hare andChurchill. But this Award is given not so much for the Court's distinguished history as for its championship ... of [a] new generation of challenging, often profoundly disturbing, writers ... likeSarah Kane (Blasted andCleansed),Mark Ravenhill (Shopping and Fucking) andJez Butterworth (Mojo) [and] presented outstanding plays by young Irish writers such asConor McPherson andMartin McDonagh. It ... has given voice to a new generation of young writers whose moral anger, urban despair and political disillusion have sent shockwaves throughout the whole of Europe.[25]
In 1987,Ken Loach's production ofPerdition at the Royal Court Theatre was abandoned after protests and commissioned reviews from two historians,Martin Gilbert andDavid Cesarani.[26][27]Oxford historian Gilbert said the play was "a travesty of the facts" and "deeplyantisemitic".[27][28] Loach and the play's author,Jim Allen, denied the accusations and accused the "Zionist lobby" and "theZionist machine" of stirring up controversy unfairly.[27][29]
Caryl Churchill's playSeven Jewish Children played at the theatre in 2009. Many Jewish leaders and journalists criticised the play as antisemitic.[30][31][32][33] One called it "a libellous and despicable demonisation of Israeli parents and grandparents" and a modernblood libel drawing on old antisemitic myths.[30]Michael Billington inThe Guardian described the play as "a heartfelt lamentation for the future generations"[34] and contended that the play, though controversial, is not antisemitic.[35] AnotherGuardian writer viewedSeven Jewish Children as historically inaccurate and harshly critical of Jews.[36] The Royal Court denied the accusations, saying: "In keeping with its philosophy, the Royal Court Theatre presents a multiplicity of viewpoints."[37]
In November 2021, the theatre renamed the lead character of the playRare Earth Mettle byAl Smith from "Hershel Fink" to "Henry Finn" following criticism of perpetuating anti-Semitic stereotypes.[38][39][40] The theatre also made an apology.[41][42]
In 2018, the theatre co-commissioned an independent inquiry, in collaboration with the Royal Exchange Theatre, following safeguarding concerns raised within the UK theatre sector. These concerns were prompted in part by allegations of abuse involving playwright and director Chris Goode, whose work had been staged at both institutions.[43] The inquiry produced a set of recommendations aimed at improving safeguarding practices across theatre organisations, but the Royal Court did not publicly outline its response or any actions taken in relation to the findings.[44]
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