Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon takes a look at what critics have had to say about this new play at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
‘Utterly soul-nourishing’: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy – Royal Court Theatre
Frank Ocean fills the air, and audience members tap their feet and nod their heads in time. I jokingly ask my mum if she recognises the song as I recall how I wailed and begged about 10 years ago for her to download his album onto her iPod.
‘Portrays the male black British experience with joy as well as pain’: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy – Royal Court Theatre
Ryan Calais Cameron does it again: he portrays the male black British experience with joy as well as pain.
‘Nothing in the play is ever about the surface of things’: seven methods of killing kylie jenner – Royal Court Theatre (Online show)
While the title of Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play is provocative by anyone’s standards, there is more to it than meets the eye.
‘The kind of work that, in ten years’ time, people will still be wondering at’: THE GLOW – Royal Court Theatre
The concept is like a Doctor Who plot opened up beyond the confines of a genre, to encompass limitless possibilities. It is both enthralling and disturbing.
‘Richly layered with big ideas about good & evil’: THE GLOW – Royal Court Theatre
Though a master of testing the theatrical limits of space and time, the first half of Alistair McDowall’s latest play unfolds like a straightforward Gothic thriller.
‘Bewitching & beguiling, buzzing in my mind’: THE GLOW – Royal Court Theatre
Bizarre, beautiful and breathtaking – time-travelling fantasia boasts a brilliant staging and a spoof playtext essay.
‘The controversy has generated more heat than the play itself’: RARE EARTH METTLE – Royal Court Theatre
Al Smith’s new play was jinxed before it started – and, bogged down in cartoonish detail, it never really recovers.
‘Arthur Darvill is stand-out as a filthy rich businessman’: RARE EARTH METTLE – Royal Court Theatre ★★★★
Al Smith’s new play Rare Earth Mettle at the Royal Court is a meaty piece that covers a lot of ground.
NEWS: Ian Rickson’s production of Jerusalem is set for the West End with Mark Rylance & Mackenzie Crook reprising their roles
Sonia Friedman Productions and the Royal Court Theatre have confirmed the return of Ian Rickson’s production of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem to London’s West End for a strictly limited 16-week engagement. Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook will reprise their celebrated roles as Johnny “Rooster” Byron and Ginger respectively, with further casting to be announced at a later date.
NEWS: Step 4 of the Government roadmap is still on track for 19 July, announces PM Boris Johnson
Next Monday prime minister Boris Johnson will announce his decision on whether legal restrictions – including those related to social distancing and wearing of face masks – will be lifted in England on 19 July when Step 4 of the Government roadmap is due to be reached.
‘When the weight of history & trauma is carried into the present’: seven methods of killing kylie jenner – Royal Court Theatre
A mocking tweet over the veracity of the ‘self-made’ adjective launches Jasmine Lee-Jones’ play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, now transferred to the Royal Court’s Downstairs main house after its premiere in the Upstairs studio two years ago.
‘Complex & sophisticated’: seven methods of killing kylie jenner – Royal Court Theatre
Leanne Henlon as Cleo and Tia Bannon as Kara deliver extraordinarily versatile performances endowed with conviction and passion in seven methods of killing kylie jenner at the Royal Court Theatre.
NEWS: Royal Court Theatre announces its reopening programme
London’s Royal Court Theatre has announced its reopening programme, running from 16 June to 18 December 2021. Highlights include: seven methods of killing kylie jenner by Jasmine Lee-Jones, The Song Project created by Chloe Lamford, Wende, Isobel Waller-Bridge and Imogen Knight, Is God Is by Aleshea Harris, What If If Only by Caryl Churchill and Rare Earth Mettle by Al Smith.
NEWS: Clint Dyer is appointed deputy artistic director of the National Theatre
The National Theatre has announced that Clint Dyer has been appointed deputy artistic director. He will work closely with Rufus Norris, director and joint chief executive, and Emily McLaughlin, director of new work, to support and shape the NT’s creative output.
NEWS: Finalists announced for new online theatre award OnComm
Since the start of the Covid pandemic closures in 2020, many independent, alternative and fringe theatre venues and companies across the UK and beyond responded to the challenges of lockdowns by taking their shows online – and OffWestEnd has responded to this whole new strand of theatre by launching a new award, the OnComm, for the best of this new stream of online theatre.
NEWS: The Black British Theatre Awards reveal 2020 nominees & announce the ceremony will be broadcast on Sky Arts
The BBTAs have revealed the 2020 Black British Theatre Awards nominee list, voted almost entirely by the public and representing some of the finest work by Black performers and creatives in UK theatre. The 2020 awards ceremony will air on Sky Arts this autumn, as part of the channel’s free to air line-up.
NEWS: The Royal Court Theatre reopens in November 2020 with socially distanced Living Newspaper project
From 12 November to 19 December 2020 London’s Royal Court Theatre will reopens its doors with new socially distanced live performances around the building under the title Living Newspaper: A Counter Narrative.
Unprecedented or uninteresting? Do bad times provoke bad art?
We are living, I have frequently been told, through weird times. Maybe. But do weird times necessarily require weird art? Do bad times provoke bad art?
After Matt Smith & Claire Foy in Lungs, here are 5 more plays perfect for the social distance treatment
The idea of re-performing Lungs while the actors safely socially distance got me thinking about other plays which have been performed over the past year or two that could be similarly revived.