Oscar winner Jessie Buckley will make her Royal Court debut in Nina Segal's Afterbirth, part of a newly announced season at the Sloane Square theatre that also brings the Broadway hit Purpose to London, puts Juliet Stevenson in a new domestic thriller and pairs V with Tobias Menzies for Complicité.
The Royal Court Theatre has unveiled the first part of its 2027 programme: one transfer from Broadway and six world premieres, the last of them already dated for early 2028. Supporters can book from 12pm today, 28 October. Friends and Good Friends follow at 12pm on Friday 30 October, and general booking opens at 12pm on Wednesday 4 November.
Artistic director David Byrne, three years into the job, said: “Three years since I became Artistic Director of the Royal Court, and coming out of our 70th anniversary year, this is the most thrilling season we could imagine bringing together. I almost can’t believe it’s ours - but of course it is, because this extraordinary set of knotty, original, adventurous new plays couldn’t be truly at home anywhere else.”
The theatre revealed the line-up in a music video made with British-Chilean artist Naomi in Blue, set to her new single Who Knows and featuring performers from across the season, among them Jessie Buckley, Juliet Stevenson and Tobias Menzies.
Purpose
First up in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs is the European premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Purpose, which won both the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It runs from 16 January to 27 February 2027, with press night on 25 January. Steppenwolf Theatre Company brings its Broadway staging to London intact, with Phylicia Rashad directing.
The play centres on the Jaspers, a family of civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen with a public name to guard. A snowstorm shuts three generations in together, and the things they have kept quiet start to come out. Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis, Jon Michael Hill, Harry Lennix and LaTanya Richardson Jackson return from the original Broadway company, joined by Kalyne Coleman. The Broadway creative team transfers too, including set designer Todd Rosenthal, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Amith Chandrashaker and sound designers Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen.
We're Gonna Kill Billy
Upstairs, Alex Medland makes a professional debut with We're Gonna Kill Billy, from 18 February to 27 March 2027 (press night 24 February). Four teenage girls set out to stop a billionaire from building a marina that would wreck local wildlife, and their opening move is to kidnap his grandson. The comic eco-thriller won the Concord Theatricals Unpublished Playwright Award. Royal Court associate director Aneesha Srinivasan directs, with set and costume design by Shankho Chaudhuri, and the production doubles as a ReStage and NT Green Store case study in cutting theatre's environmental footprint.
The Apology
Complicité returns to the Court with The Apology, written by and starring V, the Tony-winning writer formerly known as Eve Ensler, who appears as herself opposite Emmy winner Tobias Menzies and a choral ensemble. In it she calls up her dead father to face the abuse he inflicted on her as a child. Complicité's artistic director Simon McBurney directs and Es Devlin designs the set. The world premiere plays the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 19 March to 24 April 2027, with press night on 30 March.
War Face
Georgie Dettmer, named the Court's 2027 Jerwood New Playwright, reunites with director Jess Edwards for War Face, upstairs from 22 April to 1 May 2027. Set among British Army veterans at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, it has been built with serving and retired soldiers in collaboration with the Chelsea Pensioners, and is performed by a mixed company of veterans and actors. Orange Juice Productions co-produces.
The Briar Patch
Olivier winner Juliet Stevenson leads the world premiere of Ciara Elizabeth Smyth's The Briar Patch, directed by David Byrne in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 14 May to 26 June 2027 (press night 24 May). Smyth calls it a domestic thriller about losing faith in those closest to you. Dara has gaps in her memory and the odd hallucination, and when a family friend is arrested amid a local scandal, the questions she asks could take her life apart. It is presented in association with Prime Cut.
Working Men
Benjamin Kuffuor's George Devine Award-winning Working Men gets its world premiere upstairs from 4 June to 10 July 2027, with press night on 10 June. A quantity surveyor, a building contractor and a project manager arrive on a council estate for what should be a routine site visit. It turns into the day that shapes the rest of their lives. Like The Briar Patch and We're Gonna Kill Billy, it was first heard at the Court's Open Submissions Festival, which returns for a fourth edition this season.
Afterbirth
Looking further ahead, Jessie Buckley makes her Royal Court debut in Afterbirth from 15 January to 26 February 2028, with press night on 24 January. Associate playwright Nina Segal follows Annie, who insists she is fine after the birth of her baby, through the disorienting stretch that comes after. Maria Aberg directs, Rosanna Vize designs set and costumes, and English Touring Theatre co-produces. It goes on sale now alongside the 2027 shows.
The Young Playwrights Award Festival also returns to the Downstairs space from 8-10 July 2027, showing plays by writers aged 13 to 18 from across the UK.
For more information, visit the official website.
