![]() Max Stafford-Clark became Artistic Director in 1979 and steered the Royal Court through the turbulent 1980s. ‘The undisputed epicentre of new writing in this country’ - Time Out This led to the first Young Writers Festival in 1973, which was a regular event for the next two decades. The Young People’s Theatre was set up in 1966 to develop and produce the best new writing by young people under 25, encouraging writers from all sections of society to find their voice. Plays such as Saved by Edward Bond, The Philanthropist by Christopher Hampton and The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker are now staples of the British stage. Writers such as Peter Gill, Christopher Hampton, Athol Fugard, Howard Brenton, David Hare, David Storey, Joe Orton, Ann Jellicoe, Wole Soyinka, David Edgar, Sam Shepard and Mary O’ Malley all cut their teeth at the Royal Court. The 1960s and 1970s expanded and consolidated the Royal Court’s reputation. Early productions included The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’ Brien and Owners by a new writer for the stage, Caryl Churchill, who went on to write 17 plays for the Royal Court. In 1969, the Royal Court opened the 60-seat Theatre Upstairs, one of the first black box studios opened by a mainstream theatre. ‘Absolute proof of the power of live theatre’ - Observer These battles led to the abolition of the Lord Chamberlain Office in 1968. Three plays were refused a license to be performed at all (Osborne’s A Patriot for Me and Edward Bond’s Saved and Early Morning). Throughout the 1960s the Royal Court regularly came into conflict with the Lord Chamberlain Office (the official censors of the London stage). Its plays have challenged the artistic, social and political orthodoxy of the day, pushing back the boundaries of what was possible or acceptable. The Royal Court was Britain’s first national theatre company, and has held firm to its vision of being a writers theatre. Look Back in Anger opened to empty houses and mostly terrible reviews (with the exception of Kenneth Tynan in the Observer), but Devine stood by both the playwright and the play, which expressed the anger and frustration of the younger generation in the 1950s. The one that stood out was Look Back in Anger, a play already rejected by Laurence Olivier, Terence Rattigan and Binkie Beaumont. In January 1956, he placed an advert in The Stage calling for scripts and received over 700 submissions. George Devine aimed to discover ‘hard-hitting, uncompromising writers’, and create a company that would challenge and stimulate British theatre. It was the third production of the new English Stage Company, under Artistic Director George Devine, and is now considered the play that marks the beginning of modern British drama. On, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court on Sloane Square. ![]() ‘The most important theatre in Europe’ - New York Times ![]()
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