Today the Royal Court announces its 70th anniversary programme: honouring the past, celebrating the present, and shaping the future of theatre.

The announcement details an entire year of programming for 2026, with 12 productions across the venue’s two historic stages, alongside new national projects and partnerships to drive investment and ambition for the next decade of new writing in the UK.

Artistic Director David Byrne said: “Everybody back to ours. The Royal Court is turning 70 with the most thrilling season we could imagine. On our stages and far beyond, we’re throwing a legendary, year-long party and you’re all invited.”

MAJOR NEW PARTNERSHIPS TO INVEST IN FUTURE TALENT

• New and returning partners mark the anniversary with support towards the Court’s investment in the future of theatre, collectively offering an antidote to the climate of austerity and risk-aversion facing the current generation of new theatre-makers.

• Genesis Foundation return to the Royal Court with a major new multi-year partnership investing in play commissioning and development, underwriting a suite of annual Genesis Commissions and Genesis Labs for the future pipeline of new work – including Ryan Calais Cameron’s The Afronauts in 2026 now publicly announced as the first Genesis Commission.

• Character 7 – the award-winning drama production company enter a multi-year partnership to expand the Royal Court’s Open Submissions Festival, doubling the initiative to run two week-long festivals each year from 2026: a gateway for the best work by new and unknown writers, and offering audiences a glimpse at the future of contemporary theatre.

• The Concord Theatricals Unpublished Playwrights Award will launch for 2026 with an expanded package of two plays from debut writers, Georgie Dettmer’s Are You Watching? and Joy Nesbitt’s Blood of my Blood, before continuing with one award per year from 2027.

• Further support for the season and expanding the Court’s artistic programmes is provided by extraordinary commitments from new and returning partners including Backstage Trust, Common Humanity Arts Trust, Jerwood Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Executive Director Will Young said: “Our 70th anniversary isn’t just about the past – it’s a moment to direct every bit of new thinking and resource into the pipeline for the next 70 years. Collectively, these new projects and partners not only expand our ambitions on stage, but also represent an additional quarter of a million pounds which the Royal Court will invest every year in the future of playwriting, all dedicated to supporting new writers and developing new plays.”

Tickets for all newly announced productions will go on sale to supporters from 12pm on Tuesday 28th October, to Friends and Good Friends at 12pm on Thursday 30th October, and to the general public at 12pm on Tuesday 4th November.

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Royal Court Theatre and Nica Burns present

The Afronauts

By Ryan Calais Cameron Saturday 14 November – Saturday 19 December 2026

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Press Night: Monday 23 November

‘As long as a man can dream, he can push the limits of what’s possible’

Zambia, 1964: the space race has a new contender.

As the world’s great powers set their sights on the moon, a schoolteacher gathers a group of misfit dreamers and trains them for lift-off.

The true(ish) story of the Zambian Space Program, and a nation’s defiant dream to reach for the stars. A World Premiere from Sky Arts Award-winning playwright Ryan Calais Cameron (For Black Boys…, Retrograde).

Ryan Calais Cameron says: “The Afronauts is a love letter to the dreamers history forgot. It’s about what happens when imagination becomes a form of resistance, and how the fight for freedom isn’t just political, it’s cosmic. At its heart, this play asks: what does liberation look like when the whole universe is watching? For me, it’s not just a story about reaching the moon, it’s about the courage to believe we belonged there all along.”

The Afronauts is the first Genesis Commission, generously supported by the Genesis Foundation.