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     Royal Court Theatre - Information & History
The Royal Court Theatre is situated on Sloane Square in the heart of London's trendy Belgravia and Chelsea. The building was originally designed by Walter Emden in 1888 and remained mostly unaltered until 1932 when it was converted into a cinema to accommodate the growing desire to watch talking movies. The building suffered a great deal of damage during the 'Blitz' bombing in 1940 and it remained derelict until it was acquired, rebuilt and finally reopened its doors to theatre lovers in 1952.
The English Stage Company opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 1956 as a subsidised theatre producing new British plays, international plays and some classical revivals, under the Artistic direction of George Devine. This was the making of the Royal Court Theatre. Under Mr. Devine's direction, he aimed to discover 'hard-hitting, uncompromising writers', and create a company that would challenge and stimulate British Theatre.
In January 1956, he placed an advert in The Stage calling for scripts, and received over 700 submissions. One particular script stood out from the rest, by John Osborne, entitled 'Look Back In Anger'. The script had already been rejected by Laurence Olivier, Terence Rattigan and Binkie Beaumont. Despite this, George Devine was convinced this script would make a fantastic play and on the 8th of May 1956 the play opened at the Royal Court Theatre.
At first the play 'Look Back in Anger' opened to empty houses and received mostly terrible reviews with a few exceptions, but Devine stood by both the playwright and the play, which expressed the anger and frustration of the younger generation in the 1950's and touched on a vibrant nerve that was about to burst forth onto the general public and society only a couple of years later.
'Look Back in Anger' was only the third production by the newly formed English Stage Company and this ground breaking play, which took courage and conviction to pursue under the forceful direction of George Devine, is now considered to mark the beginning of modern British drama.
The Royal Court was Britain's first national theatre company and stayed true to George Devine's mission of being a writer's theatre. Its plays challenged the social, artistic and political thinking of the day and pushed back boundaries on what was acceptable and what was possible. This was a very brave break from tradition and showed tremendous vision by George Devine and his company. This vision and depth of mission often brought the Royal Court Theatre into regular conflict with the then Lord Chamberlain's Office, which still had the rule of law on its statue books to act as theatre censor of all productions put for public consumption. This censorship law originated way back at the start of the royal mandate of Charles II of 1663. It was the King who issued these 'letters patent' [licence] to the first permissible theatre companies post puritanical Cromwellian England, which had banned all public performances as frivolous and unnecessary.
The King gave royal consent to the first 2 parties one of whom was Thomas Killigrew who formed a production company called 'The Kings Company' who, along with Sir William Davenant who formed the Dukes Company, had the monopoly to create theatres and to perform legally in London. This effectively created a monopoly for the production of so termed 'legitimate drama', which remained unchallenged right up to 1843. This legitimacy was continued by the Lord Chamberlain's office to provide censorship of all productions and was challenged by the productions requested by the English Stage Company.
Three plays in particular were refused a license to be performed at all, Osborne's 'A Patriot for Me', and Edward Bond's 'Saved' and 'Early Morning'. The legal battles that ensued finally led to the abolition of the Lord Chamberlain Office in 1968 and the end to a 100 year old censorship law.
The 1960's and 1970's saw the expansion and consolidation of the Royal Court's reputation as freedom fighter for the writers and playwrights of the day to be able to express their artistic and maybe politically challenging ideas through the theatre. The Royal Court Theatre had proved that it was possible to speak out against the constraints of convention through artistic expression.
The Royal Court Theatre was a platform for many ground breaking writers including Peter Gill, Howard Brenton, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Wole Soyinka, Athol Fugard, Joe Orton, Ann Jellicoe, David Storey, David Edgar, Sam Shepard and Mary Oalley, all who started their careers at the Royal Court. Plays such as 'Saved' by Edward Bond, 'The Philanthropist' by Christopher Hampton and 'The Kitchen' by Arnold Wesker are now firmly established as building blocks of the modern British stage. The Royal Court Theatre became home for Caryl Churchill who went on to create 17 plays for the Royal Court.
The Royal Court Theatre had started with a 400 seat capacity proscenium arch Theatre Downstairs, and then in 1969 it opened a second theatre, the 60 seat Studio Theatre Upstairs. The studio theatre was one of the first black box studios opened by a mainstream theatre. It was responsible for productions such as Richard O'Brien's now infamous 'The Rocky Horror Show', which pushed the boundaries of sexuality, transvestism and bondage and is still a popular production worldwide.
The Royal Court Theatre is also responsible for the creation of the Young People's Theatre which was set up in 1966 to develop and produce the best new writing by young people under 25, encouraging writers from all sections of the community to express their views and speak their minds. This freedom of expression led to the first Young Writers' Festival in 1973, which is now a regular event.
George Devine's mission was finally accomplished - the Royal Court Theatre had survived and was now an established medium for the expressive arts. In 1979 the theatre saw a new Artistic Director in the form of Max Stafford-Clark. The 1980's were tough times for the Royal Court Theatre. During a period of funding problems and rising costs, it was a turbulent period for the theatre. Max Stafford Clark not only steered the Royal Court Theatre through a decade of financial uncertainty, he also nurtured a new group of emerging playwrights, such as Hanif Kureishi, Sarah Daniels, Jim Cartwright and Andrea Dunbar, as well as productions by Howard Barker with 'Victory' and 'Our Country Good' by Timberlake Wertenbaker and 'Rat in the Skull' by Ron Hutchinson, which are all testimony to the new director's continuance of gritty determination to survive and flourish.
One play that realised this vision is 'Top Girls' by Caryl Churchill, which opened in 1982 at the Royal Court Theatre, which truly captured the spirit of the decade. Throughout the 1980's, the Royal Court Theatre continued to swim against the tide of lavish West End musicals and comfortable comedies that were being staged elsewhere. In contrast the Royal Court continued to put on productions and permit writers who questioned and challenged.
The 1990's saw a return to the wild fury of the 1950's with a stream of writers including Stephen Daldry, Sarah Kane, Jez Butterworth, Martin McDonagh, Mark Ravenhill and Joe Penhall, who all created vibrant, noisy productions symbolising the increasingly violent society. The Royal Court Theatre continued with its ground breaking and challenging productions right up to 1997, when it was forced to close for urgently needed rebuilding works, as the building was contravening health and safety regulations. The Royal Court Theatre had sent a strong message to the theatre land of the West End, London and Theatre goers that the Royal Court was here to stay and re-open. The refurbishment works were extensive but it was decided to maintain the original façade and the intimacy of the auditorium has been preserved.
The Royal managed to take over 2 other theatres, namely the Duke of York on St.Martin's Lane, which became a larger more expansive home for the Theatre Downstairs, and the Studio Theatre Upstairs moved to an adapted Ambassador's Theatre on West Street. From these 2 new homes the English Stage Company continued to expand its work putting on more productions, not only from interesting playwrights in Britain but from around the world, continuing George Devine's original vision of creating a venue of truly international proportions and to provide a stage for frustrated playwrights who may not be able to convert scripts to stage in their own country due to constraints and protocols.
The renamed Young Writers' Programme continues to this day to attempt to discover new writers in communities up and down the country.
The New Royal Court Theatre finally reopened its doors in February 2000 to start a new millennium in the same form, as a powerhouse of new theatrical ideals. Ian Rickson as new Artistic Director continues the role and manages to turn out more new plays than any other theatre in Britain a veritable theatrical factory of vision. The Young Writers' Festival Season produces the hottest new talent from within the UK and from around the World.
After 50 years in existence, writers, directors, actors and audiences still look to the Royal Court Theatre for the possible classics of the future. Plays that were once considered immoral, subversive or blasphemous are now studied in schools and performed all over the world, all thanks to the un-stinting, persuasive and gritty determination and persistence by the Artistic directors at the Royal Court Theatre.
George Devine wanted to create a modern theatre of experiment and enlightenment. Well, 50 years on, the Royal Court Theatre stands at the centre of a live and vigorous modern culture of theatre that lives and breathes that very vision every day and every night.
The Royal Court Theatre is still a leading force in World Theatre and is still producing new plays of high quality and expressing problems from society to the stage. The Royal Court's pivotal role in the promotion of new playwrights is undisputed and confirmed by the New York Times that recently described the Royal Court as 'The most important theatre in Europe'.
Royal Court Theatre & Jerwood Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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