London's Royal Court Theatre will give a world premiere to a new play from Nick Payne (Constellations), titled The Unbelievers. Tony and Olivier winner Marianne Elliott will direct, with performances running October 10–November 29. Opening night will be October 16.
Co-produced with Playful Productions, the work centers on a mother, to be played by Nicola Walker, whose teenage son disappears. Tony winner Bunny Christie is designing.
“I am so thrilled to be returning to the Royal Court, where I started my London theatre career—as an Associate Director, under Ian Rickson," says Elliott in a statement. "I am even more thrilled to be returning with this honest exploration of motherhood by Nick Payne—something we see quite rarely in my opinion. This continues my long association with designer Bunny Christie and actor Nicola Walker. I cannot wait to get started!”
The play is part of the London company's newly announced season, which also includes several additional world premieres. Dead Centre and Sign Language poet Zoú McWhinney have adapted Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky's epic poems as Deaf Republic, which centers on an occupied town whose entire population wakes up Deaf after a Deaf boy is killed. Performances will run August 29-September 13, with opening night set for September 4. Performances will feature spoken English, sign language, creative captioning, and silence.
Royal Court is collaborating with the National Theatre of Greece for Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal, and Melanie Wilson's Cow | Deer, a wordless sound exploration of two animals. The piece will run September 4-October 11 and open September 10.
The final world premiere will be Sophia Chetin-Leuner's Porn Play, about a young academic whose addiction to violent pornography threatens to unravel her career and personal relationships. Josie Rourke will direct the new work, with Ambika Mod set to star. Performances will run November 6-December 13, with opening night set for November 13.
The theatre will also host performances of touring productions, including Breach musical After the Act, running May 21-June 14; and Nassim Soleimanpour (White Rabbit, Red Rabbit)'s Echo, running June 27-July 5. The latter will feature Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar, and Juliet Stevenson, with Omar Elerian directing.
Full details and tickets are at RoyalCourtTheatre.com.
