Royal Court announces 70th anniversary season

The Royal Court Theatre has announced its 70th anniversary programme for 2026.

The season comprises 12 productions across its two stages. Artistic director David Byrne said of the season: “Everybody back to ours. The Royal Court is turning 70 with the most thrilling season we could imagine. On our stages and far beyond, we’re throwing a legendary, year-long party and you’re all invited.”

We discuss the new season on our exclusive podcast interview with the Royal Court’s artistic director:

Listen for free here:

The year opens with the world premiere of Luke Norris’ Guess How Much I Love You?, a drama about an expectant couple in a hospital room, forced to confront an impossible decision. The cast includes Robert Aramayo (I Swear) and Rosie Sheehy, with direction by Jeremy Herrin. It runs from 16 January to 21 February 2026.

European premieres include Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, which we have covered here. This is a return gesture to the venue’s debut season in 1956, when The Crucible was introduced to London audiences. The other European premiere is Rajiv Joseph’s Archduke, a take on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (with a loose interpretation of historical fact), directed by Lyndsey Turner with design by Es Devlin. It plays from 20 June to 25 July.

The year concludes with the world premiere of Ryan Calais Cameron’s The Afronauts, which tells the story of the Zambian space race in 1964. This production is the first Genesis Commission, supported by the Genesis Foundation, and runs from 14 November to 19 December.

The revivals include Manfred Karge’s Man to Man, with Tilda Swinton. We’ve explored that here. Also returning is Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, a classic first performed at the Royal Court in 1958, with Gary Oldman. Paired with Krapp’s Last Tape is a nightly curtain-raiser: 18-year-old Leo Simpe-Asante’s comedy Godot’s To-Do List, directed by resident director Aneesha Srinivasan. Simpe-Asante is also announced as the 2026 Jerwood New Playwright. See more here.

The Jerwood Theatre Upstairs programme features four world premieres discovered entirely through the theatre’s open script submissions, honouring the commitment to read over 3,000 new plays each year.

The Upstairs season includes Jack Nicholls’ The Sh*theads, a play about prehistoric cannibalism, co-directed by Srinivasan and artistic director David Byrne. Other new plays include Georgie Dettmer’s Are You Watching?, which explores digital voyeurism, and Joy Nesbitt’s Blood of my Blood, directed by Tatenda Shamiso, focusing on ancestral conjure. Rhys Warrington’s Monument, directed by Francesca Goodridge, is a co-production with Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, and deals with Welsh community politics, offering two possible audience-determined endings.

The international transfer is Between The River and The Sea, a personal story by Palestinian-Israeli writer-performer Yousef Sweid and Isabella Sedlak about family and imagining a future beyond borders, following its acclaim after being originally produced by Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin.

Beyond the London stages, the anniversary includes a National Young Playwrights Award Festival in July 2026, celebrating the best work by teenagers from across the country. Submissions open in January, with lead support from the Dominic Webber Trust.

A collaboration with BBC Radio 4 will feature a new radio production of Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children, alongside playwright Mark Ravenhill curating radio adaptations of Royal Court plays spanning seven decades of BBC archives for Radio 4 Extra and BBC Sounds.

New investment in UK-wide playwriting is launching with the Jerwood Royal Court Commissioning Scheme, which will provide six brand new play commissions every year for writers and producers beyond the Court’s own stages, offering annual open applications for six grants of up to £6,000 each. The Genesis Foundation returns with a multi-year partnership, providing investment for play commissioning and development, underwriting a suite of annual Genesis Commissions and Genesis Labs.

Award-winning drama production company Character 7 is entering a multi-year partnership to expand the Royal Court’s Open Submissions Festival, doubling the initiative to run two week-long festivals each year from 2026.

The Concord Theatricals Unpublished Playwrights Award will launch for 2026 with an expanded package for two plays from debut writers, Georgie Dettmer’s Are You Watching? and Joy Nesbitt’s Blood of my Blood, continuing with one award per year from 2027.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 4 November.