Theatre News

Greig Gets Jumpy at Court, Seven Play Premieres

Editorial Staff
London's West End

Whatsonstage.com Award winner Tamsin Greig will return to the stage this autumn to play a former Greenham Common radical in the world premiere of April de Angelis’ Jumpy, which is one of seven new plays announced today (10 June 2011) as part of the Royal Court’s autumn season.

The season also includes new work by Alexi Kaye Campbell, Joe Penhall, David Eldridge, Stella Feehily, debbie tucker green and the debut play from the latest graduate of the Court’s writing programmes, Rachel De-lahay (no doubt hoping to emulate the success of predecessors like Anya Reiss and Polly Stenham).
And, in addition to Greig, stellar casting to date includes Hayley Atwell and Ian McDiarmid, who will appear with Kyle Soller in the season’s launch production this August of Kaye Campbell’s The Faith Machine, directed by Jamie Lloyd.

Commenting on the programme, Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke described it as “a busy season of seven ambitious plays exploring nations of inheritance, intergenerational conflict and the relationship between public and private worlds”.

In addition to the productions in the Downstairs main house and Upstairs studio in Sloane Square, detailed below, the Royal Court will resurrect its “Theatre Local” scheme, which has previously seen it transfer shows for sell-out stints in a disused shop in Elephant and Castle. As part of Theatre Local, both debbie tucker green’s truth and reconciliation and Rachel De-lahay’s The Westbridge will be restaged at a still-to-be announced London location.

In the Royal Court Downstairs

  • The Faith Machine, 31 August-1 October 2011 (previews from 25 August) – In Alexi Kaye Campbell’s third play, Sophie (Hayley Atwell) forces Tom (Kyle Soller) to make a decision that will change their lives forever. Ian McDiarmid plays Sophie’s father, a bishop with liberal views, in a story of faith and capitalism. The cast also includes Jude Akuwudike, Bronagh Gallagher and Alan Westaway. The production is directed by Jamie Lloyd and designed by Mark Thompson. Kaye Campbell’s other plays include multi award-winning The Pride (premiered at the court in 2008) and The Apologia.
  • Jumpy, 19 October-19 November 2011 (previews from 13 October) – April de Angelis’ funny family drama centres on 50-year-old Hilary (Tamsin Greig), who once protested at Greenham and now battles with her teenage daughter about clothing matters. Greig won this year’s Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Little Dog Laughed, in the West End last year. Her other stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing (which won her an Olivier and a Critics’ Circle Award), Gethsemane and God of Carnage, while her many screen credits include Black Books, Green Wing, Love Soup, Emma and Tamara Drewe. Jumpy is directed by Nina Raine and designed by Lizzie Clachan.
  • Haunted Child, 2 December 2011-14 January 2012 (previews from 8 December) – In Joe Penhall’s drama, a small boy is driving his mother to distraction – waking at night, hearing phantom noises and fixating on his absent father. Penhall mad his debut with Some Voices at the Court in 2004, and went on to find success with, on stage, the multi award-winning Blue/Orange, Dumb Show and Landscape with Weapon and, on screen, the screenplays for The Road and Enduring Love. Court associate Jeremy Herrin directs, with design by Bunny Christie.
  • In Basildon, 16 February-24 March 2012 (previews from 22 February) – David Eldridge’s epic exploring inheritance and the myth of place finds Len on his death bed and his quarrelling family and friends gathering round to say their final farewells. Eldridge’s other plays include Under the Blue Sky and Festen, both of which won Whatsonstage.com Awards for Best New Play, as well as, more recently, Knot of the Heart, The Stock Da’wa and Market Boy. Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke helms the premiere, designed by Ian MacNeil.

    In the Royal Court Upstairs

  • truth and reconciliation, 5-24 September 2011 (previews from 1 September) – debbie tucker green directs her own new play, ranging from Rwanda to Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe to Bosnia, where answers are demanded, reconciliation hard to hear and truth reluctant to be told. Since winning the Olivier for Most Promising Newcomer for born bad in 2004, tucker green’s plays have included random, stoning mary, trade and dirty butterfly.

  • Bang Bang Bang, 14 October-5 November 2011 (previews from 12 October) – As previously reported, Stella Feehily’s play for Out of Joint is a co-production, which launches a national tour from Bolton Octagon on 5 September, before visiting fellow co-producing venues Leicester Curve, the Salisbury Playhouse and the Court. A seasoned humanitarian worker and her idealistic young colleague get ready for a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cast include Dan Fredenburgh,Frances Ashman, Babou Ceesay, Julie Dray, Jack Farthing, Paul Hickey and Orla Fitzgerald. Out of Joint artistic director Max Stafford-Clark directs, with design by Miriam Nabarro.

  • The Westbridge, 25 November-23 December 2011 – First-time playwright Rachel De-lahay was discovered via the Court’s Unheard Voices Writers Programme, as part of the group aimed at young Muslim writers. Her debut play, directed by Clint Dyer, is set in south London where the accusation of a black teenager sparks a community disturbance, which a young couple from different backgrounds must navigate.