The Royal Court Theatre in London has announced six productions for the final part of its 2025 season, running from May to December 2025.
The six new shows include four World Premieres – Deaf Republic, Cow | Deer, The Unbelievers, and Porn Play, and two touring productions After the Act, and ECHO.
The four world premieres at the Royal Court are:
Deaf Republic (29 August to 13 September 2025): A deaf boy is killed in an occupied town and the next morning the whole population wakes up deaf in Deaf Republic, an expansive production about solidarity and collective resistance from world-renowned theatre company Dead Centre and Sign Language Poet Zoë McWhinney, based on the multi-award-winning epic poems by Ukrainian-American poet, Ilya Kaminsky.
Cow | Deer (4 September to 11 October 2025): Made entirely with sound and no words, Cow | Deer is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson, which radically decentres humans in an exploration of our relationship to animals and the environment, in co-production with the National Theatre of Greece.
The Unbelievers (10 October to 29 November 2025): Time fractures in Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers, directed by Marianne Elliott, designed by Bunny Christie and starring Nicola Walker as a mother facing the disappearance of her son, in this co-production with Playful Productions about family, memory and hope.
Porn Play (6 November to 13 December 2025): Studies show that women are statistically more likely to watch violent pornography than men. Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s Porn Play explores women’s relationship to porn through one academic’s addiction, directed by Josie Rourke and starring Ambika Mod.
The two touring productions coming to the Royal Court are:
After the Act (21 May to 14 June 2025): Coming to London following its acclaimed national tour, Breach’s new musical After the Act unpacks an act of oppression that sparked a generational riot. From 1988 to the present, the show remixes archival research and personal accounts of Section 28 as a turning point in LGBTQIA+ history. By Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens, composed by Frew.
ECHO ( 27 June to 5 July 2025): Nassim Soleimanpour’s boundary-pushing ECHO, a production about home and belonging, returns to the Royal Court following its debut in 2024, ahead of an extensive international tour. Directed by Omar Elerian, new performers taking to the stage without rehearsal include Mel Giedroyc, Nish Kumar and Juliet Stevenson.
Royal Court artistic director David Byrne said in a statement: “The best thing about being Artistic Director at the Royal Court is the opportunity to support playwrights working in every form and texture for the stage. This season is the full feast of what new writing for the contemporary stage looks like now. Every production in this season is an unmissable piece of theatre, each bringing together world-class artists to present electric new work to audiences. Come and join us.”
In other Royal Court news today, the second iteration of its Open Submissions Festival for new writing will take place from 14 to 18 October 2025. Also, playwright Tife Kusoro (G) is joining the Royal Court on attachment for eighteen months, generously supported by Peggy Ramsay’s Playwrights ’73 bursary. As part of her attachment, Tife will write a new play, and will support the inaugural Young Playwrights Festival in July, inspiring the next generation of British playwrights.
Coming up at the Royal Court Theatre in Manhunt adapted and directed by Robert Icke, from 28 March; Scenes From A Repatriation from 25 April; and 4.48 Psychosis from 12 June.
Nicola Walker is currently starring in new West End comedy Unicorn at the Garrick Theatre, until 26 April.
More about tickets to The Unbelievers at the Royal Court Theatre in London
More about tickets to Porn Play at the Royal Court Theatre in London
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