Royal Court reveals complete 2025 season

The Royal Court Theatre has today revealed the final wad of shows for 2025.

Six productions, playing between May to December, complete artistic director David Byrne’s programme for the year.

In addition, the theatre has announced plans for the second iteration of the Open Submissions Festival later this year, an 18-month attachment for playwright Tife Kusoro, and the opening of submissions for the inaugural Young Playwrights Award.

The first of four world premieres is Deaf Republic. Based on the poems by Ukrainian-American poet, Ilya Kaminsky, it follows an occupied town who wake up deaf after a deaf boy is killed. From Dead Centre and sign language poet Zoë McWhinney, it’ll run from 29 August to 13 September.

Cow | Deer, a collaboration between Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson, is made entirely with sound and no words. Radically decentering humans in an exploration of our relationship to animals and the environment, the co-production with the National Theatre of Greece plays from 4 September to 11 October.

Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers follows from 10 October to 29 November. Directed by Marianne Elliot, designed by Bunny Christie and starring Nicola Walker as a mother facing the disappearance of her son, it is a co-production with Playful Productions. Find out more here.

Finally, Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s Porn Play explores women’s relationship to porn through one academic’s addiction. Directed by Josie Rourke and starring Ambika Mod, it’ll play from 6 November to 13 December.

In terms of touring productions, Breach’s new musical After the Act remixes archival research and personal accounts of Section 28 from 1988 to the present as a turning point in LGBTQIA+ history. Composed by Frew and by Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens, it’ll visit the Royal Court from 21 May to 14 June.

Following its debut in 2024, Nassim Soleimanpour’s ECHO returns to the Royal Court. Directed by Omar Elerian, performers take to the stage without rehearsal. This run, from 27 June to 5 July, will include Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar and Juliet Stevenson, before embarking on an international tour.

Byrne said today: “The best thing about being artistic director at the Royal Court is the opportunity to support playwrights working in every form and texture for the stage. This season is the full feast of what new writing for the contemporary stage looks like now. Every production in this season is an unmissable piece of theatre, each bringing together world-class artists to present electric new work to audiences. Come and join us.”

Tickets for the newly announced productions go on sale to the general public at 12pm on Monday, 31 March.

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