London's Royal Court Announces New Season

By James Inverne
07 Dec 2004

A new season has been announced at London’s primary venue for new writing, the Royal Court Theatre. And, the roll call includes Tim Fountain, April de Angelis and Alan Rickman (as director).

Tim Fountain brings tales of his sex addiction from Edinburgh to the Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs with Tim Fountain: Sex Addict. Fountain goes on the web, determined to find willing sexual partners. When he’s come up with a few possibilities, the audience is asked to decide which he should go for. He then gets on his bike (literally) and goes to meet the winner for . . . you get the idea. The show begins previews Jan. 6, 2005, and opens on Jan. 10.

Beginning Feb. 1, the Theatre Downstairs will premiere April de Angelis’ play Wild East. Phyllida Lloyd directs the story of a man who must convince two women that he should be allowed to return to Russia.

Laura Wade’s horrific new play, Breathing Corpses, will run in the Theatre Upstairs beginning Feb. 24. It depicts a woman struggling to hold it together as bodies start turning up in the oddest places.

Debbie Tucker Green’s Stoning Mary, about child soldiers and stoning in the Third World, opens in the Theatre Downstairs on April 5 (with previews beginning April 1). Tucker Green won an Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 2004 for Born Bad at Hampstead.

Alan Rickman assumes directorial duties for the one-woman show My Name Is Rachel Corrie about an American protester who was caught in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Megan Dodds plays Corrie, in the Theatre Downstairs beginning April 7 (with opening night on April 14).

And John Mortimer — the Court’s president — returns with Mortimer’s Miscellany, an evening of anecdotes, stories, music, poetry and anything else that has caught Sir John’s roving eye. The one performance can be caught on Jan. 19 in the Theatre Downstairs.

For more details, call (0) 207 565 5000.