The Royal Court Theatre has unveiled the rest of its 2025 programme, with four world premieres and two touring productions on the slate.
Deaf Republic, Cow | Deer, The Unbelievers and Porn Play will all make their debuts, while After the Act and ECHO will also appear.
Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow. Tickets: www.royalcourttheatre.com
Here’s more details for each production:
After the Act
By Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens, composed by Frew and directed by Billy Barrett
Wednesday, May 21 – Saturday, June 14, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Abseiling lesbians! Queers in the classroom! Moral panic in the streets! And an act of oppression that inspired a generational riot.
In 1988, a law banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools. Now, this electrifying new musical tells the story of Section 28 – and the teachers, pupils and activists who lived through it.
ECHO
By Nassim Soleimanpour, directed by Omar Elerian
Friday, June 27 – Saturday, July 5, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Performers include Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar and Juliet Stevenson
A different performer takes to the stage for each show – with no rehearsal and no idea what’s going to happen next.
Adventuring across time and space, guided by Nassim from his flat in Berlin, performer and audience embark on a global journey of belonging, connection, and the meaning of home.
Deaf Republic
By Dead Centre and Zoë McWhinney, adapted from the book by Ilya Kaminsky, directed by Dead Centre
Friday, August 29 – Saturday, September 13, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
A gunshot in occupied territory. A deaf boy is killed for disobeying orders he couldn’t hear. The next day, the whole town wakes up deaf.
Cow | Deer
Co-created by Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson
Thursday, September 4 – Saturday, October 11, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Wind in tall trees. White sky. Rain soon. Hooves on earth. Twigs. Snap. Wait. Listen.
A new experiment in performance from Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson. Using only sound and no words, a quartet of performers and foley artists evoke the lives of two animals – a cow and a deer.
The Unbelievers
By Nick Payne, directed by Marianne Elliott, starring Nicola Walker
Friday, October 10 – Saturday, November 29, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
‘I love my son. My son is alive.’
A teenager disappears. Time fractures. His mother will never give up hope. The Unbelievers is a new play about the moments that shatter our world, and the ones that help us piece it back together.
Porn Play
By Sophia Chetin-Leuner, directed by Josie Rourke, starring Ambika Mod
Thursday, November 6 – Saturday, December 13, 2025
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
‘You can’t fight it anymore. So, you give in to your temptation.’
Ani is a dazzling young academic with a secret addiction to violent pornography. As her career and relationships unravel in between lectures on Paradise Lost, can she confront her uncontrollable desires?
Top image: Season composite (supplied)