Theatre News

Royal Court writers direct favourite plays at Duke of York’s

| London's West End |

21 June 2012

As part of the Royal Court’s current residency at the Duke of York’s Theatre, four of the UK’s leading playwrights will direct readings of their favourite plays. Playwright’s Playwrights will feature Nick Payne, Polly Stenham, Roy Williams and Dave Eldridge.

The writers will have less than two days to bring their beloved productions to life for the unique afternoon readings starting on 29 June 2012. The full cast for each play will be announced for stage readings on Friday afternoons throughout the summer.

Nick Payne will direct Kenneth Lonergran’s The Starry Messenger on Friday 29 June. Polly Stenham has chosen John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger presented on Friday 6 July. Barrie Keeffe’s Abide with Me will be directed by Roy Williams on Friday 13 July. David Eldridge’s pick is Robert Holman’s Across Oka, to be performed on Friday 20 July.

The first Playwright’s Playwright occurred in 1999 with the aim of giving audiences an insight into the influences and tastes of leading writers and allow them to hear readings of often unknown plays.

Artistic director of the Royal Court Dominic Cooke commented on the event saying, “Playwrights’ Playwrights offers audiences a unique opportunity to experience landmark plays from a completely new perspective. Playwrights often make fine directors of other writers’ work and here four Royal Court writers are given free rein to choose a play from any era. It’s always fascinating to see which play they choose and to contemplate how that play may have been influential on their writing.”

– Julianna Fazio