BBC Radio 4 and the Royal Court Theatre have announced a major collaboration to celebrate the theatre’s 70th anniversary, bringing some of the most influential contemporary plays of the last seven decades to audiences across the UK.
The season begins with a new radio production of Lucy Kirkwood’s acclaimed play The Children, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 26 September.
First produced at the Royal Court in 2016 before enjoying international success, including a Broadway transfer, The Children follows retired nuclear physicists Hazel and Robin as the unexpected arrival of their former colleague Rose forces them to confront questions of responsibility, morality and sacrifice in the shadow of a nuclear disaster.
The new production stars Emma Fielding as Rose, Anastasia Hille as Hazel and Stanley Townsend as Robin. It has been directed by Mary Peate and produced by Jessica Dromgoole for Hooley Productions.
Alongside The Children, playwright Mark Ravenhill has curated a week-long season of BBC archive productions drawn from seven decades of Royal Court history.
The collection includes Look Back in Anger by John Osborne, Roots by Arnold Wesker, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Random by debbie tucker green and Cuttin’ It by Charlene James.
The broadcasts feature an array of celebrated performers including Ben Whishaw, David Bradley, David Troughton, Siobhan Finneran, Sheila Hancock, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Elliot Levey, Helen McCrory and Brigit Forsyth.
Alison Hindell, Commissioner for Radio 4 Drama and Fiction, said: “These productions showcase the breadth, ambition and enduring relevance of great playwriting. As the biggest commissioner of audio drama in the world, the BBC is proud to bring these remarkable stories to a wider audience, so that everyone can access brilliant contemporary theatre through the visionary lens of the Royal Court.”
Royal Court Theatre Executive Director Will Young said: “It’s an absolute gift for the Royal Court to have this collaboration with Radio 4 during our 70th Anniversary. Opening up their archival treasure trove of seven decades of pioneering playwrights from our stages, and making that freely available to listeners – with Mark Ravenhill as our national guide through contemporary British theatre – is thrilling. Look Back In Anger, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, Cuttin’ It, Random, Roots, Our Country’s Good, Top Girls, plus a radio premiere for The Children what a feast, and what a reminder of the value of a public service broadcaster.”
Mark Ravenhill said: “I’ve got a particular bond with the Royal Court Theatre, as they discovered and produced my first play, so it’s been fascinating to work through the archive of BBC radio productions of Royal Court plays and to select seven of them for Radio 4 Extra. It’s a chance for listeners to share the journey that Royal Court new plays have made in the last seventy years, to hear the swaggering male voice of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger – the Court’s first big hit – and then trace the emergence of powerful Black and female voices in more recent years. Radio brings a fresh intimacy to a series of plays that have become contemporary theatre classics and provides a great introduction to plays that the listener may never have encountered.”
Following the broadcast of The Children, the archive productions will air on BBC Radio 4 Extra each evening and will also be available on BBC Sounds for 28 days after broadcast.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
