Norris' new play, Clybourne Park — making its British premiere here — follows Cooke and the playwright's previous collaboration on the 2007 premiere of The Pain and the Itch. It begins performances Aug. 26, prior to an official opening Sept. 2, for a run through Oct. 2, in the mainhouse Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. According to press materials, the play explores the relationship between race and property. It will be followed there by Roger Michell, who started his career at the Royal Court as an assistant director to John Osborne and Samuel Beckett in 1978 and who last directed the premiere of Kevin Elyot's My Night with Reg at the theatre in 1995, returning to direct Nina Raine's new play Tribes, beginning performances Oct. 14, prior to an official opening Oct. 20, for a run through Nov. 13. Press materials call it a dissection of belonging, family and the limitations of communication. The mainhouse season will be completed by the previously announced Get Santa!, a family Christmas show that is being written and directed by Anthony Neilson, beginning performances Dec. 1, prior to an official opening Dec. 14, for a run through Jan. 15, 2011. Meanwhile in the studio Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Nick Payne and E.V Crowe, both graduates of the Royal Court's Young Writers' program, will make their Royal Court debuts with Wonderlust and Kin, respectively. Wonderlust, which will be directed by Simon Godwin and is described as investigating sex and intimacy and whether the two have any relation to each other, will begin performances Sept. 9, prior to an official opening Sept. 15, for a run through Oct. 9. Kin, which will be directed by Jeremy Herrin and takes an anarchic view of what really goes on when ten-year-olds are away from home, will begin performances Nov. 19, prior to an official opening Nov. 24, for a run through Dec. 23. In between the two, the theatre will stage Red Bud by Chicago-based writer Brett Neveu, marking the first major play of his to be staged in the U.K. Described as looking at fading friendships and the creeping spread of middle age, it will begin performances Oct. 21, prior to an official opening Oct. 25, for a run through Nov. 13. It will be directed by Jo McInnes.

Further ahead, the Royal Court has also announced that Katie Mitchell will return to the theatre in April 2011 to stage the world premiere of Simon Stephens' Wastwater that will be performed in three parts and for which audiences will see all three in one night in differing orders.

Tickets are now on sale to friends and supporters, with tickets on general sale from June 14. To book, contact the box office on 020 7565 5000, or visit www.royalcourttheatre.com.