USA

The theatre’s engagement with the more experimental aspects of American theatre led to relationships with avant-garde artists like Wallace Shawn, Sam Shepard and Robert Wilson in the 1970s, in the early stages of their careers. The Court’s relationship with Wallace Shawn has been a particularly fruitful one, recently celebrated in the 2009 Wallace Shawn season, which featured revivals of two seminal plays, The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon both of which had their UK premieres at the Royal Court.

For many years, the Royal Court held an exchange with New Dramatists in New York, which, in 1992, resulted in the British premiere of Weldon Rising by Phyllis Nagy, who went on to write The Strip in 1995. In 1993, Harold Pinter’s production of David Mamet’s Oleanna had all of London talking. In 1998, Christopher Shinn’s first play Four was given its premiere as part of the Royal Court Young Writer’s Festival. Shinn went on to write Other People, Where Do We Live, Dying City and Now or Later, all of which presented by the Royal Court.

Throughout the early 21st century, the Royal Court produced several of Rebecca Gilman’s plays as well as Wig Out! by Tarell Alvin McCraney and most recently the European premieres of two plays by Bruce Norris: The Pain and the Itch and Clybourne Park. The Autumn 2010 season will also see the premiere of Brett Neveu’s new play Redbud.