The Royal Court is fast becoming one of my favourite London theatres, having brought the world Jerusalem, which in my opinion is the greatest play of the last decade, it followed up it's success with recent masterpieces such as Posh, Jumpy, Constellations
(all of which will be playing this year at the Duke Of Yorks Theatre) and most recently Love, Love, Love, a pheonmonal state of the nation play which plays on a very personal level. It's now just announced it's season for Autumn 2012, and looks like it will once again be wowing play loving audiences on a nightly basis.
The big news is the team behind Jerusalem are back with Jez Butterworth's new play The River which, like Jerusalem, will be direct by Ian Rickson. The show is sure to be the talk of the autumn when it opens in October but the chat might well be more about the scramble for tickets, than for the play itself. True to their roots the Royal Court are presenting it in the space which best suits, in this instance the tiny 90 seater Upstairs theatre. Towards the end of it's run people queued for days to get a ticket to Jerusalem in a 750 seater theatre, for The River people will have to line up on a daily basis for no tickets will be released in advance. Every morning the tickets will be released in person and online for that evenings performance, allowing true theatre fans to get in on the action if they make the effort.... and if Butterworths' previous work is anything to go by, it'll certainly be worth the effort.
In this, artistic director Dominic Cook's penultimate season, the Royal Court continues to encouraged new writing and new theatre goers. It's £10 Monday scheme is still in place, allowing you to see any show on a Monday for a tenner, £8 tickets for under 25s and with top price tickets at £28 this is accessible theatre at its best. Other new season highlights include Love And Information, which is sure to be a major culture event from one of the UKs most influential playwrights Caryl Churchill and Lucy Kirkwood makes her debut at the Royal Court with NSFW, a piece which taps right into the zeitgiest of younger theatre goers like myself. Also in the Downstairs theatre will be In The Republic of Happiness by Martin Crimp and Upstairs other than The River you'll be able to see Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney and Hero by E.V Crow.
There is nothing better tool in the fight to understand ourselves than theatre, and with the new season at the Royal Court will be at the forefront of innovative and exciting theatre which will get London talking.