:00:11. > :00:18.The Royal Court Theatre, Sierra Leone Square, London, SW3, in the
:00:19. > :00:22.heart of exclusive Chelsea. For over 50 years, it's been a
:00:23. > :00:27.flagship for new British writing and a bastion of provocative
:00:28. > :00:32.ground-breaking work -- Sierra Leone Square. From John Osborne's Look
:00:33. > :00:38.Back in Anger to Jerusalem, its productions have left audiences
:00:39. > :00:42.reeling and sparked national debate. This has been political theatre at
:00:43. > :00:47.its best, produced by the elite of the theatre world. And now, this
:00:48. > :00:52.most reveered theatrical institution has a new artistic director at the
:00:53. > :01:00.helm who's on a mission to shake things up even further. Pf
:01:01. > :01:04.Welcome on stage, Vicky Featherstone, the Royal Court's
:01:05. > :01:08.first female artistic director in its 57-year history.
:01:09. > :01:16.Hello, ladies and gentlemen. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
:01:17. > :01:26.Oo, being heckled. I can deal with that. I want I won't keep you from
:01:27. > :01:30.your vodka for very long. Tonight the Royal Court opens for its summer
:01:31. > :01:36.season with the playwrights at centre stage. The events follows a
:01:37. > :01:40.radical shakeup of the Royal Court and Vicky makes her mission clear.
:01:41. > :01:44.Open court is all about bravery. Theatre has to be about bravery. If
:01:45. > :01:47.it's not about bravery, there's no other reason for us to exist. It's
:01:48. > :01:51.about them having the rights to fail, it's about being scare and
:01:52. > :01:57.putting yourself out there. So here's to bravery!
:01:58. > :02:03.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE If she was standing on the edge of a
:02:04. > :02:08.cliff and the fields were burning behind her, she'd say, come on,
:02:09. > :02:13.let's jump. She's the Thelma and Louise for me. She'll be wanting to
:02:14. > :02:16.Constantly change things. I'm obsessed with change, Constantly
:02:17. > :02:30.want things moving forward. Vicky Featherstone is well used to
:02:31. > :02:34.putting herself out there. Before she landed the top job at the Royal
:02:35. > :02:38.Court, she headed up the new National Theatre of Scotland and
:02:39. > :02:41.create add company known for its experimental boundary-breaking work
:02:42. > :02:47.that stages productions in the most unlikely locations.
:02:48. > :02:53.Tower blocks. Ferries. Old glue factories. Pubs. With no home-base,
:02:54. > :02:57.the venues the National Theatre of Scotland sought out were many and
:02:58. > :03:03.vary and their productions such as the Iraq war drama, Black Watch,
:03:04. > :03:14.tackled contemporary note issues head-on.
:03:15. > :03:21.You think it's on Sky? I hope so. And reached out to audiences well
:03:22. > :03:26.beyond the theatre-going crowd. It's close to Featherstone's heart. I
:03:27. > :03:30.can't bear inequality and elitism even though I've been given a very
:03:31. > :03:34.blessed life, you know, with the kind of education my parents gave
:03:35. > :03:37.me, all that kind of support and the confidence that I have as a result
:03:38. > :03:40.of that. I feel a huge responsibility to opening up the
:03:41. > :03:44.doors to people who might not have had access to that kind of
:03:45. > :03:48.experience and whatever the kind of barriers are to that to trying to
:03:49. > :03:51.break those down. Vicky Featherstone's democratic
:03:52. > :03:56.approach is refreshing and certainly welcome. But the question is, can
:03:57. > :04:00.she mount her spirited attack from right here in the heart of the
:04:01. > :04:02.theatrical establishment in exclusive Chelsea? And turn the
:04:03. > :04:05.Royal Court into a place where people be from all walks of life
:04:06. > :04:11.come to see their lives reflected, not just the prif limbed few. I
:04:12. > :04:17.think Vicky Featherstone's big challenge is to make the Royal
:04:18. > :04:22.Courts absolutely central, not just to British theatre, but no British
:04:23. > :04:27.life. At its peak moments, the Royal Court's actually been that, but the
:04:28. > :04:31.last director, Dominic Cook, was sometimes unadventurous, in that he
:04:32. > :04:35.was doing plays audiences wanted to see about middle class life, but he
:04:36. > :04:38.wasn't necessarily breaking boundaries. What the Royal Court
:04:39. > :04:44.needs to do next is to recover something of that excitement,
:04:45. > :04:51.danger, sense of daring, that at its best it's had in the past.
:04:52. > :04:54.How did you feel when you were first appointed? Can you cast your mind
:04:55. > :04:57.back and remember how it felt travelling to work that first
:04:58. > :05:01.morning? What was going through your mind? I think as I jumped on the
:05:02. > :05:05.Tube, I kind of thought, well, this is it, you know. It's that thing
:05:06. > :05:09.when everything's still potential with this vast possibility in front
:05:10. > :05:13.of me and a thrilling adventure really in terms of what I was about
:05:14. > :05:18.to expose myself to. I wasn't daunted because I've got to a point
:05:19. > :05:23.in my life where I kind of think if you are daunted by things, they hold
:05:24. > :05:26.you back and you need to have a leap of faith. But I was terrified
:05:27. > :05:31.because of the uhs triof the Royal Court and how extraordinary it is
:05:32. > :05:35.and because I'd been given a job I never imagined I would have had and
:05:36. > :05:39.I have to get it right. How did you feel when you put your foot under
:05:40. > :05:42.your desk in the office, all the incredible directors over the years
:05:43. > :05:48.have been there. Were you nervous or daunted at that point? Yes. When I
:05:49. > :05:56.started in here, I got a letter at the top and it said that the Dame
:05:57. > :06:02.used to sit in that office over there with George Devine who created
:06:03. > :06:06.the Royal Court with the windows open watching people flooding out
:06:07. > :06:10.into the theatre into Sierra Leone Square arguing over whether they
:06:11. > :06:15.liked the play. And he used to say, this is what I'm here for, to shake
:06:16. > :06:21.things up a bit and she said to me, that's what you are here for again,
:06:22. > :06:24.to shake things up a bit and to spread things about a bit too. That
:06:25. > :06:30.is what the open season is all about. I've come to sample the
:06:31. > :06:34.events on offer, starting with the Lost In Theatre trail. It was us
:06:35. > :06:41.commissioning ten writers to pick a spot in the theatre and to write
:06:42. > :06:48.monologue in response and the audiences could come in and download
:06:49. > :06:53.it and play it on an MP 3. It's about seeing the building in a
:06:54. > :06:57.different way. It was great for me because I never thought I'd be in
:06:58. > :07:03.the shower at the Royal Court, for example. I've been coming hering
:07:04. > :07:08.since I was a little girl. How important was it to use the building
:07:09. > :07:12.that way and say to people, be part of the theatre in a way that you
:07:13. > :07:15.wouldn't normally be? That's something we can build on. A lot of
:07:16. > :07:20.the changes that the Royal Court for me are about perception actually.
:07:21. > :07:27.From the outside, I'd always felt the rim court felt it was difficult
:07:28. > :07:31.to get into -- the Royal Court. Actually, the not like that. I want
:07:32. > :07:33.to be able to push that story. It's a really important part of throwing
:07:34. > :07:47.those doors open. You also did playwright at your
:07:48. > :07:51.table. That was another initiative in the summer. What was the idea
:07:52. > :07:56.behind that? Saturday mornings, people turned up with their bacon
:07:57. > :08:01.butte and cup of coffee and the playwright would read their script
:08:02. > :08:06.to them. How about a glass bottom boat? We can go snorkel... When you
:08:07. > :08:11.heard about this plan, did you think Vicky was mad? No, but I thought,
:08:12. > :08:14.well, who is going to do that, and in fact there was a lot of chat
:08:15. > :08:18.between the writers on the phones going, oh, my God, they have
:08:19. > :08:21.approached me to do this, what should we do and I thought, I've
:08:22. > :08:27.never done this before, it will be interesting, why not try it.
:08:28. > :08:32.You interested in a little weed... How do you feel about Vicky taking
:08:33. > :08:35.over this building? Well, I think it's really exciting because I've
:08:36. > :08:39.often felt about coming into the Royal Court that it was a bit like
:08:40. > :08:44.going into the men's changing rooms and everyone was about to get going
:08:45. > :08:48.and have a shower together. I'm not saying there shouldn't be men around
:08:49. > :08:53.but definitely there'll be more women feeling able to come forward
:08:54. > :08:58.with their plays because I think a lot of playwrights who're women
:08:59. > :09:02.don't bring their plays here. I want to have a look at the very
:09:03. > :09:12.beginning because I want to see about how we open it. The need for
:09:13. > :09:16.that see change seems under way under Featherstone's running of the
:09:17. > :09:22.Royal Court. Actors are given just seven days to prepare for each play.
:09:23. > :09:31.I hate my family. But, not as much as I hate myself. This week, it's a
:09:32. > :09:36.production by Nicole Beckwith. It's an all-female cast and it puts women
:09:37. > :09:41.firmly centre stage. Tell us, what is the play about? About a woman who
:09:42. > :09:47.is 55 and she's decided to have a child, be a surrogate, because she
:09:48. > :09:55.wants a son. I'm having a baby! Oh, my God... Her daughters are aged
:09:56. > :10:01.15-35 and she says that, daughters grow to resent them. There's no such
:10:02. > :10:05.thing as a private relationship and if any of my daughters weren't that,
:10:06. > :10:09.they would know that. You have four daughters. Normally you would have a
:10:10. > :10:14.lot of time to get Tono each other and to get into the swing, but with
:10:15. > :10:17.just one week, does it speed up the process massively? It does. Also
:10:18. > :10:22.because Nicole lives in America, we have had one Skype chat and that's
:10:23. > :10:25.it. So yes, everything has to be really fast-tracked. You is spend a
:10:26. > :10:38.lot of time getting to understand and know the lines, so you rehearse
:10:39. > :10:43.much more quickly. You always take us by surprise. And not in a good
:10:44. > :10:49.way. Why is everyone in this room? What room are we in We are spending
:10:50. > :10:53.quality time here. Are we in the laundry room. Exactly right.
:10:54. > :10:59.Are you worried that people want to class it a women's play by a women
:11:00. > :11:02.playwright directed by a female director and some kind of women's
:11:03. > :11:05.thing? I don't worry about that at all. I believe that the kind of best
:11:06. > :11:09.theatre is urgent theatre with stories that need toe be told and
:11:10. > :11:14.people that need to kind of hear them. And, you know, I'm not saying
:11:15. > :11:19.that we'll only ever do plays by women ever again, but we have every
:11:20. > :11:22.right to put this on. It's often the press and media that are the ones
:11:23. > :11:28.that put that kind of boundary around it being that sort of thing.
:11:29. > :11:32.When I do something, I don't think, I'm in a women's perspective on
:11:33. > :11:38.something and I don't think, I'm going to do this for women. It's a
:11:39. > :11:45.play, but people do put it in a box. But we can break out of the boxes
:11:46. > :11:50.every day. Proving she's as good as her word,
:11:51. > :11:54.Featherstone made sure part of her open court season broke free of the
:11:55. > :12:03.Sierra Leone Square address to reach other parts of London. P
:12:04. > :12:08.- July, Peckham had a soap opera, played by a community cast.
:12:09. > :12:12.We did a call out with all the residents to get them to come in and
:12:13. > :12:16.tell us a story. It was a bit like an AA meeting. We had all the
:12:17. > :12:21.residents come down and tell us what they wanted in a soap opera. So the
:12:22. > :12:25.simple things like asking them to think of people they know in the
:12:26. > :12:30.area that they don't speak to but see daily at the train station or at
:12:31. > :12:34.the shop. Slowly we built up characters from that. People have
:12:35. > :12:43.genuinely interested in who those people could be. What is your
:12:44. > :12:48.reaction to that then? We are excited. We are weird like that. We
:12:49. > :12:53.like drama. We like the, oh, my God, kind of thing. We are not like, oh,
:12:54. > :12:57.we are like roar! And then, what we did is, myself and
:12:58. > :13:02.Rachel, we took all the information and created a soap opera Bible from
:13:03. > :13:08.all their stories and that's how recreated the basis for the soap
:13:09. > :13:14.opera. Look, it's nothing bad. Don't need to overreact. A salon under my
:13:15. > :13:21.shop? ! Over the course of five weeks, two-minute open sods were
:13:22. > :13:27.filmed and screened on the website, performed in front of an audience in
:13:28. > :13:32.Peckham. For Featherstone, it was proof of the transformative power of
:13:33. > :13:36.theatre. Good evening, everybody. My name's Vicky, I'm the artistic
:13:37. > :13:41.Director of The Royal Court Theatre. I've been watching it online. It's
:13:42. > :13:46.something which is going to change the Royal Court forever and every
:13:47. > :13:51.single person who's been involved in creating a soap opera has done
:13:52. > :13:58.something life-changing. Change your own life, change other people's
:13:59. > :14:03.lives. Somebody you should be deeply, deeply proud of.
:14:04. > :14:11.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Ouch! When are you people going to
:14:12. > :14:16.learn about customer service? ! You were there at the omnibus
:14:17. > :14:20.performance in Peckham. What was the atmosphere like that night? Hot. It
:14:21. > :14:24.was in the middle of our amazing heatwave. That was thrilling that it
:14:25. > :14:28.was so hot. It was like our bodies were sort of bouncing off thele was
:14:29. > :14:33.and it felt incredibly alive and vital. There was a huge mixture of
:14:34. > :14:37.all the kind of life really that is Peckham and it was great to see it
:14:38. > :14:39.all in one room because usually they just walk past each other on the
:14:40. > :14:47.street. It showed a different part of
:14:48. > :14:52.Peckham. I moved out of Peckham to Sidcup about four years ago so
:14:53. > :14:57.coming back and seeing something different, something positive, was
:14:58. > :15:01.really good. Pf The cast members obviously seemed to
:15:02. > :15:05.be into it and they obviously seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't just acting
:15:06. > :15:10.roles, I think they were actually feeling part of it. They are part of
:15:11. > :15:17.Peckham, you know, and that is really what it's all about. I think
:15:18. > :15:21.this is like the first thing I've properly done. To do it in Peckham
:15:22. > :15:24.where I live, it's amazing. Everyone associates Peckham with negative and
:15:25. > :15:29.bad things, this is a chance for us to finally be something good and I'm
:15:30. > :15:35.in it so it's amazing. It's almost like, almost a dream
:15:36. > :15:40.come true, but it's a dream not yet dreamt but it's come true,
:15:41. > :15:45.unimaginable. I can't believe it. For the local cast, the dream will
:15:46. > :15:53.not end here. Featherstone's taken the bold step of bringing the cast
:15:54. > :15:57.back to the Royal Court. Peckham is staking over Sierra Leone Square!
:15:58. > :16:04.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE My mum was originally from Peckham
:16:05. > :16:07.so she's really excited about it. Before Peckham's people storm the
:16:08. > :16:11.Sierra Leone Square, it's time to take stock of the summer season and
:16:12. > :16:21.see what lessons can be carried forward into the fuzzture that are
:16:22. > :16:25.useful. -- Sierra Leone Square. -- Sloane Square. It was incredible. It
:16:26. > :16:29.brought the qhoel building together and I worked with 140 writers to
:16:30. > :16:36.make that happen. I need to put that into something which is thorough and
:16:37. > :16:42.has more detail to it Gloucestershire it.
:16:43. > :16:48.I have been invited to the productions, it's a dark comedy
:16:49. > :16:53.written by Dennis Kenny, whose show Mathilda is still playing in the
:16:54. > :16:58.West End. Too Kelly, the chance of getting his play on at the West End
:16:59. > :17:02.is what excites most. To be working at the Royal Court is amazing. I
:17:03. > :17:07.always wanted more than anything else actually in my entire career,
:17:08. > :17:12.to work at the Royal Court. It's all downhill from there? ! That's it,
:17:13. > :17:15.yes. I'm not interested in a director that comes along and wants
:17:16. > :17:19.everything written out. You can havy's got a bunch of brilliant
:17:20. > :17:23.ideas of how to interpret a play. I want to try something which probably
:17:24. > :17:28.won't work, but we just have to break the thing of it. Can we just
:17:29. > :17:32.see, can Alan, Pippa and Tom literally at that point just get up
:17:33. > :17:37.and walk off... What in particular are the qualities of Dennis' writing
:17:38. > :17:41.that made you want to bring him here? There is a hugely playful
:17:42. > :17:45.quality in his writing which is truthful for the way in which we
:17:46. > :17:49.should see the world and it's the balance between playfulness and
:17:50. > :17:54.naughtiness and something with searing naughtiness and shocking
:17:55. > :17:59.brutality about the way we live. George saw something? George saw
:18:00. > :18:05.that he could convince her to take that massive cells or foetus or
:18:06. > :18:10.emerging soul, depending on your point of view, and turn it into
:18:11. > :18:13.medical waste. The fact that she would live with that for the rest of
:18:14. > :18:19.her life. All her problems will disappear. His
:18:20. > :18:26.life with Tanya would survive. Goodness or coward else? Goodness or
:18:27. > :18:31.coward else? Good, good, good. How much are the actors reacting and
:18:32. > :18:35.chipping in? I was even couraged by the fact that I have brilliant
:18:36. > :18:39.actors, encouraging an environment where there's no such thing as a
:18:40. > :18:46.stupid question, no blame culture, everyone can kind of try and
:18:47. > :18:51.discover things. Vicky creates an incredibly relaxed atmosphere and
:18:52. > :18:59.you feel she's an incredible member of the ensemble piece anyway. She's
:19:00. > :19:04.really funny as well with a nighty sense of humour as well. -- naughty.
:19:05. > :19:09.She's tough. There's no mollycoddling. It's a wonderful
:19:10. > :19:13.mixture of being incredibly inclusive, yet a point comes where
:19:14. > :19:19.she's like, right, you know, I can't include you any more unless you
:19:20. > :19:24.bring a lot to the party. Vicky is challenging and she asks a lot of
:19:25. > :19:29.you, you know. That's something that's really Ballsy. If you have
:19:30. > :19:32.got something to say, you say it. If she's got something to say, she'll
:19:33. > :19:39.say it. Everything's kind of out in the open and discuss and decided
:19:40. > :19:43.upon together as a group. September has arrived and the Peckham actors
:19:44. > :19:49.have started their run at the Royal Court. The three of the cast, Kelly,
:19:50. > :19:55.Alice and marine, it's been an unforgettable experience for them. I
:19:56. > :19:58.remember this. Yes, yes! Oh, my God. I remember seeing that. I walked in
:19:59. > :20:02.through the stage doors and it was like, oh, my God and they are coming
:20:03. > :20:06.up going, here is your changing rooms and it's like, oh, my God, I
:20:07. > :20:11.have a changing room and lights and this is not real. I think the thing
:20:12. > :20:17.for me was when I saw them set up the stage. For Featherstone, the
:20:18. > :20:23.event has been far more than a one-off permanent and community
:20:24. > :20:28.theatre. I'm interested in the two way traffic so that people don't
:20:29. > :20:32.feel we balloon in, then leave. We have a conversation with the
:20:33. > :20:39.community, bring them into the Royal Court, then they feel that they have
:20:40. > :20:44.a career here going forward. It's not for me, that's how I felt. But
:20:45. > :20:52.it's for anyone, everyone, that's how I feel now. Ladies and gentlemen
:20:53. > :21:02.of the Peckham community company, this is your final call...
:21:03. > :21:07.What did SW3 make of it. Do they know what a soap opera is? They've
:21:08. > :21:11.got Made in Chelsea. What was extraordinary was that people were
:21:12. > :21:15.pouring through the doors who'd never formally come here, coming to
:21:16. > :21:30.see their friends, rethat I haves. That for me is when you put your
:21:31. > :21:34.money where your mouth is This was a play about a community acted by
:21:35. > :21:42.members of the community. I would havele thought it had a lot of
:21:43. > :21:46.resonance. It's a different environment, different audience. I
:21:47. > :21:50.didn'the feel I was learning much, I just thought it didn't quite work
:21:51. > :21:54.when it was uprooted from its natural home. Whatever the critical
:21:55. > :22:05.response, the effect it's had on the cast has been profound. Growing up
:22:06. > :22:11.and raising kids here, when I started going to theatre, I didn't
:22:12. > :22:14.see enough black female different acth anales, whether young or old.
:22:15. > :22:19.That's one of the things I loved about the project, you know. There's
:22:20. > :22:25.one of us Oxford educated and there's one of us who's downright,
:22:26. > :22:29.Nigerian educated, you know, yes! It's beautiful to be involved in
:22:30. > :22:37.something like that. We have learnt a lot from each other. Good morning.
:22:38. > :22:41.How are you? Obviously keen to embrace more ventures, Featherstone
:22:42. > :22:48.is keen to make her mark. With this in mind, she's brought in
:22:49. > :22:57.award-whipping screenwriter Abi Morgan to write a script for the New
:22:58. > :23:01.Year. It's a violent kind of hurt factor where you don't want to get
:23:02. > :23:06.up any more. It's basically taken from a series of transcripts which
:23:07. > :23:10.has been published as a book about a couple in the early 80s. She's
:23:11. > :23:15.having an affair and she's sent him a fax saying, we can't go on like
:23:16. > :23:19.this, we'll have a contract, I'll give you sexual favours and you buy
:23:20. > :23:23.me a house, I won't ask what or where, I'll just do them. It throws
:23:24. > :23:27.up so many questions. Abi is the right person to be doing this.
:23:28. > :23:30.Questions of sex within marriage and relationships are intriguing. I'm
:23:31. > :23:34.often interested in this when I talk to my friends because a lot of
:23:35. > :23:39.marriages have this silent bartering that goes on. This is a play that
:23:40. > :23:45.will confront some of the conversations I've had. This will be
:23:46. > :23:49.the fifth time I've worked with Abi. She jumps into worlds that she knows
:23:50. > :23:53.nothing about and writes about them as if she's been living that life
:23:54. > :24:01.forever. Her television work, sex traffic, The Hour, the Iron Lady, it
:24:02. > :24:05.was like she was in Thatcher's head. She's incredible. So you can almost
:24:06. > :24:09.take to it the peak of an argument then break out of it? Yes,
:24:10. > :24:13.brilliant. What Vicky has done and is doing at this precise moment is
:24:14. > :24:17.pushing my theatre bones back in place. What needs to be achieved by
:24:18. > :24:22.tend is that they need to find agreement. Her taste is impeccable.
:24:23. > :24:27.Its taste is challenging and if anybody can pull out a half decent
:24:28. > :24:31.play out of me, it will be Vicky. Working closely with writers has
:24:32. > :24:36.been key to Featherstone's success so far. Before she's judged on her
:24:37. > :24:40.success of failure of the forthcoming collaboration are with
:24:41. > :24:43.Morgan, the spotlight is on the Dennis Kelly play that's just opened
:24:44. > :24:50.on the main stage. And while the critics have applaud
:24:51. > :25:00.the good intentions, much more is riding on Kelly's play.
:25:01. > :25:06.Hope it's good! I found the Dennis Kelly play
:25:07. > :25:11.fascinating. It was a big anticapitalist satire, also a feisty
:25:12. > :25:17.play about a man who sells his soul in order to become rich and
:25:18. > :25:26.successful. Say yes, cell. And you can join our society, you can be one
:25:27. > :25:31.of us. I'll give you so much. So very, very much. There was one
:25:32. > :25:35.scene, a brilliant scene, when the hero has to decide which part to
:25:36. > :25:39.take, whether he'll support his loyal employer or whether he'll go
:25:40. > :25:45.with the power-dressed city woman who'll take over the firm, and he's
:25:46. > :25:49.caught in a moral dilemma. That scene was brilliant as an explicit
:25:50. > :25:54.demonstration of how capitalism works. What should I do? Shall I
:25:55. > :26:02.sell? In that moment, George understood everything. That moment,
:26:03. > :26:08.George understood his life. It didn't surprise me. Many plays have
:26:09. > :26:17.made that point before. Capitalism dedestroys. The Bible told us that
:26:18. > :26:24.message long ago. It worked because of the I havingour with with which
:26:25. > :26:29.it was done. When George looked at the old man,
:26:30. > :26:36.he looked at him with fresh, energetic eyes. He hoped his mouth
:26:37. > :26:39.and he said... Yes, you must sell. So I naught, as that can calling
:26:40. > :26:45.card, if you like, as a starting point with the Vicky Featherstone
:26:46. > :26:53.regime, it was a promising one. It showed that she wants to tackle big
:26:54. > :26:58.themes. Tripe to see what the other critics made of the play -- time to
:26:59. > :27:04.see. The crickets have been evenly divided. Four stars in the Times and
:27:05. > :27:10.the Guardian with the acting singled out as outstanding. Two stars in the
:27:11. > :27:16.Evening Standard. Charles Spencer saying he regrets to report that
:27:17. > :27:23.it's a punishing dud. The critical response has been uneven? Yes, very
:27:24. > :27:26.mixed. How does that feel? Well, a few years ago it would have broken
:27:27. > :27:31.my heart because all you ever want is for everybody who sees the work
:27:32. > :27:36.to feel as passionate and proud of it as you do and I feel deeply proud
:27:37. > :27:39.of that play and that production. But I think it's really important
:27:40. > :27:43.that the Royal Court doesn't put on work that is to be enjoyed by
:27:44. > :27:48.everyone. All I hope though is that people want to discuss what they
:27:49. > :27:52.feel about it. When it becomes difficult is when people don't want
:27:53. > :27:56.to discuss their feelings and they think they can throw out an opinion
:27:57. > :28:02.and that they are correct. Criticism will come of the Royal Court, but
:28:03. > :28:05.without failure, you can't have risk and ambition in many ways and I
:28:06. > :28:11.don't think she would survive without that possibility of risk and
:28:12. > :28:17.always pushing, always striving, fail, fail better, fail again.
:28:18. > :28:22.Failure at the Royal Court is about the plays. My job really is to keep
:28:23. > :28:27.scanning Britain, the world, if you like, and having those conversations
:28:28. > :28:31.with the play wriingts and saying, what's the urgent stories, what do
:28:32. > :28:37.we need to be thinking about next? What do you want to be writing about
:28:38. > :28:46.Sevenoaks and, we need to put that knowledge and interrogation of our
:28:47. > :28:52.society into a play -- about the next thing. She'll defend her plays
:28:53. > :28:56.to the hilt. She'll go on taking risks whatever happens. Easy for one
:28:57. > :29:01.wish ever every luck.