The Royal Court Announces Principal Casting For Autumn Productions THE PRIORY & More

The Royal Court Theatre's autumn season will focus on British playwriting talent, with new plays from Mike Bartlett, Tim Crouch, Lucy Prebble and Michael Wynne, tackling subjects as diverse as sexuality, abuse, authorship, financial scandal and the disappointed hopes of the Affluenza generation.

"This season sees the Royal Court doing exactly what we are here to do producing provocative new plays by exciting young writers, asking essential questions about the world we live in, celebrating its joys and exploring its contradictions. In troubled times, the need to come together and share our experiences becomes stronger than ever, which is why it is so thrilling to see four of Britains most exciting writers engage with the world, personally and politically." -Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director.

The first play in the main house, the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, will be ENRON, by Lucy Prebble, a former member of the Royal Court's Young Writers Programme and winner of the George Devine award for her debut play The Sugar Syndrome, which premiered at the Royal Court in 2004. Directed by Headlong Theatre's Artistic Director Rupert Goold, with a cast including Amanda Drew, Tom Goodman-Hill, Tim Pigott-Smith and Samuel West, the play re-imagines the story of the collapse of one of Americas highest-profile financial institutions, and the repercussions it still has on todays financial turmoil. ENRON is a co-production with Headlong Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre, and will play at the Royal Court in September after a summer run in Chichester.

Next comes The Priory, written by Michael Wynne and directed by Jeremy Herrin. The Priory runs in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 26 November to 9 January 2010 (previews from 19 November).

The Priory puts under the microscope the lives of a group of successful thirty-somethings during their New Years Eve celebrations at a converted rural priory. This buoyant new comedy charts with knowing aplomb, the increasingly obvious cracks in their seemingly perfect lives. Michael Wynne received his break-through the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival with The Knocky in 1994. This is his seventh play. The cast will include Jessica Hynes and Rachael Stirling. Hynes won a Tony nomination this year for her performance in The Norman Conquests. She is best known for her on-screen collaborations with Simon Pegg including Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. Stirling's theatre credits include Pygmalion and Theatre of Blood (NT/Improbable), while her screen work includes Tipping the Velvet and The Young Victoria.

The Royal Court's Studio Theatre, the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, turns 40 this year, and a week of events in November - Get Upstairs - will celebrate the venue's key role in the last four decades of British theatre. The upstairs space was the first studio space in any theatre in London.

The first autumn production in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs is The Author, by Tim Crouch, a formally inventive piece which takes the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs as its setting, and explores how far the artist, or indeed the audience, is prepared to go in the name of Art. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and occasionally deeply disturbing, the piece will feature Tim Crouch in the cast. It is Tim's sixth play, and his first commissioned and produced by the Royal Court.

Finally, Cock, by Mike Bartlett, will close the calendar year in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. The play runs from 18 November to 19 December (previews 13 November).

A challenging look at The categorisations of sexuality, it features a young man who leaves his boyfriend only to find the woman of his dreams. Now he must choose between them. Like Lucy Prebble and Michael Wynne, Mike Bartlett is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. This is his third play in three years for the Royal Court following last years Contractions and 2007s My Child. The play will be directed by James Macdonald, and will feature Ben Whishaw, noted for his performance in the title role of Trevor Nunn's Old Vic production of Hamlet in 2004 and has since been seen on stage in ...Some Trace of Her (NT), Leaves of Glass (Soho), The Seagull (NT) and Mercury Fur (Paines Plough). Film credits include Perfume and Brideshead Revisited.

The work of new writers with whom the Royal Court's International Department has been working in Nigeria since 2006 will be showcased in a presentation and seminar in October.

The season will also see a celebration of the life and works of the Royal Court's late President and Chairman, Sir John Mortimer, whose unstinting support and wisdom was invaluable to the Royal Court for many years. This special event is entitled John Mortimer at the Court and Later at the Bar.

This season at the Royal Court also sees the appointment of Jeremy Herrin as Deputy Artistic Director. Jeremy is currently Associate Director at the Royal Court, and was previously Associate Director at Live Theatre Newcastle. At the Royal Court, he has directed Tusk Tusk, The Vertical Hour and That Face.

The Studio, the research and play development arm of the Royal Court incorporates the theatres continuing work with young writers, as well as such projects as Critical Mass, which works with black and minority ethnic writers and whose graduates include Levi David Addai and Bola Agbaje, and Unheard Voices, which works with emerging writers from groups and communities whose voices are under-represented on the British stage. The Studio will continue to nurture talented young writers, as it has done with Mike Bartlett, Lucy Prebble and Michael Wynne.

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1.

To Book tickets, contact the Box Office at 020 7565 5000 or visit www.royalcourttheatre.com.

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