Royal Court Archives - North West End UK

20Nov

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Porn Play – Royal Court

As its unashamedly frank title suggests, Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s Porn Play isn’t afraid to tackle the taboo. At the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, Director Josie Rourke has staged a production that’s willing to match the script’s boldness. From the off, Designer Yimei Zhao’s pillowy, plush, almost vulvic set draws the audience into the action at a perhaps uncomfortably close proximity. The whole room is covered in a pale, bouncy carpet; we’re asked to put covers on our shoes before we nestle into the space’s uniquely cosy seating plan. After we’ve settled in, we meet an unnamed seductress (played by a fantastic Lizzy Connolly, taking on a number of other roles) who slinks across the bed-like pit in the centre of the stage, writhing and sticking out her tongue in an arguably...

6Sep

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Deaf Republic – Royal Court

Why do you go to the theatre? Is it to hear grand speeches? Perhaps it’s to witness spectacle. Whether your aim is entertainment or education, Dead Centre is going to complicate your experience and expose your complicity. Deaf Republic, a play blending spoken word, sign language, puppetry, and much more, is breathtakingly complex. Adapted from the poems of Ukrainian American author Ilya Kaminsky by Dead Centre and Sign Language poet Zoë McWhinney, this play is one of a kind. Photo - Johan-Persson In turns cruel and comforting to its audience but never careless, writer and director pair Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd handle the play’s many difficult themes with grace and gravity. Azusa Ono’s lighting design, Jeremy Herbert’s set design, Mae Leahy’s costume design, and Grant Gee’s vide...

20Jun

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

4.48 Psychosis – Royal Court

‘At 4.48 when depression visits, I shall hang myself to my lover’s breathing’. Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis contains many lines like the one above that simply go through you. The play is a beautiful and terrifying exploration of the pain, anguish, despair, boredom and paralysis that accompany someone thinking of killing themselves. The work has an obvious resonance because it is Kane’s last before her own suicide, but the quality of the writing is such that it would be wrong to say that this is why the play is so impactful. Kane mixes honest, brutal statements with poetic, even biblical passages; lucid descriptions of a prescription with strange lists of numbers and staccato strings of words ‘flicker, punch, slash, dab, wring, press, burn, slash’. It is a startling piece of writing, w...

11Apr

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Manhunt – Royal Court

Back in the summer of 2010, the nation was glued to their news channels as police carried out the country’s largest manhunt for Raoul Moat after he shot three people, one fatally. True crime is a morbid fascination for many, but one that usually transfigures into podcasts, TV dramas, or Netflix documentaries. This time, Robert Icke is dissecting the life and mind of one of the UK’s most renowned criminals this century through his new play Manhunt, which is making its debut at the Royal Court. Inspired by a book by journalist Andrew Hankinson, Manhunt envelopes us in the complex interior and exterior worlds of Raoul Moat (played by Samuel Edward-Cook), jumping between timelines as he explains what drove him to shoot his ex-partner Sam (Sally Messham), Sam’s new partner (Leo James), an...

18Jan

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

A Good House – Royal Court

Following the struggle of new residents Sihle and Bonolo to adjust to their new neighborhood of Stillwater, A Good House is a brilliantly tense and funny examination of race and community politics. The sudden appearance of a makeshift shack is what drives the action of the play, as Stillwater’s white residents try to get Bonolo and Sihle to become the faces of the plan to evict the squatters. This is a truly masterful piece of writing. Amy Jephta’s script is intricate and layered, and where the most obvious tension is between Stillwater’s black and white residents, this never becomes reductive. For example, Jephta layers in class politics between Sihle and Bonolo - in Sihle’s words Bonolo has always been “bougie as fuck’. These and many other layers prevent an argument heavy script from...

11Oct

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Brace Brace – Royal Court

“A plane fell out of the sky, and we happened to be on it.” That’s the fourteen-word, remarkably oversimplified synopsis of Oli Forsyth’s new play Brace Brace, brought to life in a startlingly intimate traverse staging at the Royal Court, directed by Daniel Raggett. Having introduced themselves and their whirlwind love story to the audience, newlyweds Sylvia (Anjana Vasan) and Ray (Phil Dunster) explain how their honeymoon began with life-shattering tragedy: the plane they were flying on was taken over by a hijacker (Craige Els, who also portrays a young passenger’s father and the pilot). If the unthinkable horror of believing you’re about to crash to your death from thousands of feet in the air wasn’t enough to fracture the couple, it’s the unique part they each play in the near ...

28Sep

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Giant – Royal Court

In 1983, weeks before Roald Dahl’s new book ‘The Witches’ is to be released, a fury is coming back round to question and confront Dahl’s recent book review in which he comments on Tony Clifton’s ‘God Cried’ picture book. This review sparked a huge amount of controversy and corrupted Dahl’s sweet and humorous image. In this imagined piece, Mark Rosenblatt creates a fictitious afternoon in which Dahl’s publicists are pushing for an apology for his review. John Lithgow as a superbly complex Dahl is adamant on standing by his beliefs no matter the consequences to who might cull his books from the shelves. Rosenblatt comments that this piece although fictitious, has intertwined verbatim comments made from Dahl on this matter. As our current day viewers are now confronted with the long hi...

17Sep

By Zara OdetundeNo Comments

London

The Prudes – Royal Court

The Prudes, written by Anthony Neilson, is a comedy centred around the sex lives (or lack thereof) of Jimmy and Jess, a couple grappling with intimacy issues. While the premise offers plenty of potential for humour and thoughtful exploration of modern relationships, the production, unfortunately, falls short in several areas, leaving the audience with a mixed experience. Vkinn Vats, who portrays Jimmy, tended to overact at times. His performance felt slightly exaggerated, not reminiscent of a man struggling with insecurity and relationship woes. Instead of fully drawing the audience into his internal conflict, the over-the-top delivery occasionally pulled us out of the moment. At times, it seemed as though the actor was playing for laughs in a way that leaned more towards slapstick than...

ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) – The Royal Court

19Jul

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) – The Royal Court

As if a play within a play wasn’t trippy enough! In ECHO, we see dialogue being spoken as it is typed out, and witness words spoken from writing in the past. The actor of the night (Adrian Lester this time) is placed and guided around the stage, without having rehearsed or knowing what follows. The piece is a mingling of themes personal to Soleimanpour, as they often are in plays to most playwrights, but this is made overtly clear in this one. Time-travelling, distance, home, and his journey form the fabric of the play. Nassim (Soleimanpour) video calls Adrian - face projected on a large stretched screen on the stage. Even now, I can’t discern whether this was live or pre-recorded. Anyway, I shouldn’t ruin it. So, Nassim is chatting with Adrian, but then gets sidetracked (conveniently),...

Boys From the Blackstuff – Liverpool’s Royal Court

25Apr

By Hannah EsnoufNo Comments

North West

Boys From the Blackstuff – Liverpool’s Royal Court

After its sell out run last Autumn and news of a transfer to the National Theatre, this production remains keenly awaited. The industrial, bare-boned set frames a strong start. Punchy, witty and clear are the performances, with a sense of foreboding about what’s to come. That ever-present feeling of foreboding is what keeps this play alive. Other than the everyday feel, the unassuming personalities on stage and the important subject matter, this play survives, just, on likeability of characters. As someone not originally from Liverpool, especially not in the mid-80s, I fear that presenting to a non-scouse audience, this production would not hit emotional beats as strongly when those watching do not necessarily understand the realities of this quintessentially scouse story of struggle. ...