Royal Court announce 60th anniversary season

• The new season includes six world premieres and one European premiere
• James Macdonald directs new Caryl Churchill play Escaped Alone
• Alistair McDowall's new play X directed by Vicky Featherstone
• Royal Court partners with Schaubühne Berlin for Ophelias Zimmer, directed by Katie Mitchell
• New season also sees new plays from Anthony Neilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Mongiwekhaya, David Ireland, Stef Smith, Charlene James, Nathaniel Martello-White

The Royal Court has this morning announced its 60th anniversary season with highlights including new plays from Caryl Churchill and Alistair McDowall, the return of Open Court and a partnership with Schaubühne Berlin.

It's two new plays in two months for Caryl Chuchill – whose Here We Go opens at the National next month – as Escaped Alone kicks off the Sloane Square venue's celebrations in January.

At this morning's press briefing, artistic director Vicky Featherstone described the play – directed by James Macdonald from 21 January – 12 March 2016 – as being "about four women in [Caryl Churchill's] age range. It is deeply domestic, and the form is the most challenging you'll ever read."

From 30 March – 7 May 2016, Featherstone will direct X in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Alistair McDowall’s new play focusses around a lone research base on Pluto and Featherstone says that it "plays with all of those Space Station films. It's a group of people doing quite mundane things stuck on a space station".

Next up sees the first of several worldwide collaborations as Schaubühne Berlin and director Katie Mitchell "explore Ophelia, freed from Hamlet" in Ophelias Zimmer from 17 May – 21 May 2016.

Other new plays in the season include Anthony Neilson's Unreachable (1 July – 6 August), Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1,2 & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks (15 September – 22 October), South African playwright Mongiwekhaya‘s debut Royal Court play I See You (25 February – 26 March), David Ireland's Cyprus Avenue (5 April – 7 May), Stef Smith’s Human Animals (18 May – 18 June), Cuttin' It by Charlene James (24 June – 9 July) and Torn by Nathaniel Martello-White (7 September – 15 October).

From 7 – 12 March, a series of three new plays developed with emerging Lebanese and Syrian writers called Told from the Inside, will explore accounts of exile displacement and survival.

The 60th anniversary celebrations also includes Anna Jordan‘s Bruntwood award winning play Yen (22 January – 13 February).

LIFT will partner with the venue throughout June 2016 as part of their biennial festival to present a series of works exploring real experiences which have been developed in collaboration with international communities. This will include the Migration Commissions, a series of works from international artists on the theme of migration and displacement – a response to the refugee and migrant crisis.

Commenting on the new season Vicky Featherstone said:

"In 1956 George Devine founded the Royal Court. He called for a theatre 'where the experimentalists of the modern era may be seen'… 60 years on the Royal Court is still striving to do the very same thing…

"Responding as ever to the writers, our work is challenging and ambitious and looks to our collective futures. This is undoubtedly among one of the most internationally outward-looking years the Royal Court has ever seen… we are thinking hard about our place in the world.

"The Royal Court has been unique for 60 years – I look forward to launching it into the next 60."

Tickets for the new season go on general sale on Thursday 15 October at 10am, sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear about casting information.