Tilda Swinton is returning to the stage for the first time in more than 35 years as part of the Royal Court Theatre’s 70th anniversary celebrations, which will see Gary Oldman back at the theater that helped launch his career.
Swinton will reprise her acclaimed 1988 performance in Manfred Karge’s Man to Man, which will see her reunite with the play’s original director Stephen Unwin and designer Bunny Christie. The production will run in the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from September 5 next year.
Man to Man will also play the Berliner Ensemble before transferring to an off-Broadway theater in Spring 2027.
Oldman’s relationship with the Royal Court stretches back four decades when he appeared in a string of plays – the last one being Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money 39 years ago.
The Slow Horses star’s return is linked to the Royal Court’s earliest days. The actor will star in and direct Krapp’s Last Tape for a limited four week run from May 8. The actor performed the Samuel Beckett play earlier at the York Theatre Royal. It was originally performed at the Royal Court in 1958 with Patrick McGee. Oldman’s production will run in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from May 8, 2026.
The English Stage Company at the Royal Court was created by George Devine. And Tony Richardson and their first season was launched in 1956. However, the play that put the Royal Court on the map was the third production, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.
Royal Court artistic director David Byrne. Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
The theater, located in London’s Sloane Square district, also presented Mary Ure and Alan Bates in the 1956 UK premiere of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which is why it makes perfect sense to transfer Kimberly Belflower’s Tony Award nominated play John Proctor is the Villain, a contemporary reassessment of Miller’s classic drama. The play directed by Danya Taymor will run at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from March 20, 2026. The play’s A-list producers include Wagner Johnson Productions,Wessex Gove, Sonia Friedman, Runyonland and John Mara Jr which signals, to me at any rate, that tentative plans are in place for it to transfer into the West End after the Royal Court.
The season was introduced by artistic director David Byrne.
Luke Norris’s Guess How Much I Love You? will launch the 70th anniversary from January 16, 2026 in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. It stars Robert Aramayo, who’s giving a sublime performance in hit film I Swear, and Rosie Sheehy, and will be directed by Jeremy Herrin.
The Royal Court was founded as the home for new work and it’s to their credit that artistic chief Byrne and executive director Will Young still champion new writers.The provokably titled Between The River And The sea by Yousef Sweid and Isabella Sedlak, directed by Sedlak, will play at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from April 15. Sweid, a Palestinian-Israeli actor, explores the chaos of identity ,truth and family life originally performed the solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Several of the productions both Downstairs and Upstairs at the Royal Court are underpinned financially by New York-based producers Brian and Dayna Lee.