Royal Court Theatre

Who we are

The Royal Court Theatre is the writers’ theatre.

It is the leading force in world theatre for vigorously cultivating writers - undiscovered, new, and established. Through the writers we are at the forefront of creating restless, alert, provocative theatre about now. The uniqueness of our environment enables writers to ask questions we don’t yet know need to be asked in ways we cannot yet imagine, inspiring audiences and influencing future writers.Through the writers we strive to constantly reinvent the theatre ecology. We seek to find, cultivate, and create tomorrow’s major writers and the classic plays of the future.

We seek stories from everywhere and create theatre for everyone, and we see our audience as one of our chief collaborators. We invite and enable conversation and debate, allowing our writers and their ideas to reach and resonate beyond the stage, and the public to share in the thinking.

Our culture and values

Freedom: Platforming controversial views, mess and uncertainty, ahead of public and peer consensus.

Innovation: Encouraging experimentation and risk, and protecting artists’ right to fail.

Dissonance: Finding strength in contradiction and contrast, from our establishment name to sharing our stages with incendiary work and conflicting voices.

Ambition: Rigorously and abundantly supporting big imaginations and bold artistic visions, acting as the antidote to a wider culture of creative austerity.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

The Royal Court is committed to being an actively anti-racist organisation and embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion across all areas of our work. We believe that theatre should reflect and represent the communities we serve, not just on stage, but in our staff, leadership and culture.

Over the past few years, we have taken important steps to challenge racism and inequity within our organisation. We have built on earlier foundations to strengthen our approach, introducing clearer timelines, more robust accountability measures and a long-term strategy for change. 

We have re-centred our work on anti-racism with a clearer, more focused approach. At the same time, we have expanded our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion more broadly, recognising that challenging racism is inseparable from challenging all forms of discrimination and oppression, including those based on gender identity, sexuality, disability, class and other intersecting identities.

As part of this commitment, we have anti-racism and EDI action plans, updated policies that our continually reviewed, and regular training for staff. These are supported by our Code of Conduct, which sets out the standards of behaviour we expect across our organisation. We are also developing inclusive guidance and practices to support staff wellbeing and foster a culture of openness and respect.

Anti-racism and inclusion are ongoing practices that require continuous learning, reflection and adaptation. Our commitment is to embed these values across all areas of our work for the long term.