Prince Charles and The Simpsons at centre of Goold's spring Almeida season

New Almeida artistic director Rupert Goold has announced two new plays for the Islington venue, centring on Prince Charles and The Simpsons respectively.

Mike Bartlett, who wrote Earthquakes in London and Decade for Goold while at Headlong, will present his new play King Charles III, billed as "a future history play".

The "controversial" play imagines the succession of Prince Charles following the death of The Queen, and
explores "the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family."

Bartlett's other recent plays include Love, Love, Love, the stage adaptation of Chariots of Fire and his Olivier Award-winning Cock.

Directed by Goold, King Charles III runs from 10 April to 31 May 2014 (previews from 3 April).

It's followed at the Almeida by the European premiere of Anne Washburn's Mr Burns, another futuristic drama that sees a much loved episode of The Simpsons being recalled by a group of survivors in a world without power.

According to press material, the play "asks whether the stories we tell make us the people we are, explodes the boundaries between pop and high culture and, when society has crumbled, imagines the future of America's most famous TV family."

Director Robert Icke recently joined the Almeida as associate director, where he is currently directing 1984.

As recently reported, Goold's tenure-opening production of American Psycho starring Matt Smith has been hotly tipped for a West End transfer later in the year.