Vicky Featherstone - All Change at the Royal Court The Culture Show

The Royal Court Theatre, Sierra Leone Square, London, SW3, in the

heart of exclusive Chelsea. For over 50 years, it's been a

flagship for new British writing and a bastion of provocative

ground-breaking work -- Sierra Leone Square. From John Osborne's Look

Back in Anger to Jerusalem, its productions have left audiences

reeling and sparked national debate. This has been political theatre at

its best, produced by the elite of the theatre world. And now, this

most reveered theatrical institution has a new artistic director at the

helm who's on a mission to shake things up even further. Pf

Welcome on stage, Vicky Featherstone, the Royal Court's

first female artistic director in its 57-year history.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Oo, being heckled. I can deal with that. I want I won't keep you from

your vodka for very long. Tonight the Royal Court opens for its summer

season with the playwrights at centre stage. The events follows a

radical shakeup of the Royal Court and Vicky makes her mission clear.

Open court is all about bravery. Theatre has to be about bravery. If

it's not about bravery, there's no other reason for us to exist. It's

about them having the rights to fail, it's about being scare and

putting yourself out there. So here's to bravery!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE If she was standing on the edge of a

cliff and the fields were burning behind her, she'd say, come on,

let's jump. She's the Thelma and Louise for me. She'll be wanting to

Constantly change things. I'm obsessed with change, Constantly

want things moving forward. Vicky Featherstone is well used to

putting herself out there. Before she landed the top job at the Royal

Court, she headed up the new National Theatre of Scotland and

create add company known for its experimental boundary-breaking work

that stages productions in the most unlikely locations.

Tower blocks. Ferries. Old glue factories. Pubs. With no home-base,

the venues the National Theatre of Scotland sought out were many and

vary and their productions such as the Iraq war drama, Black Watch,

tackled contemporary note issues head-on.

You think it's on Sky? I hope so. And reached out to audiences well

beyond the theatre-going crowd. It's close to Featherstone's heart. I

can't bear inequality and elitism even though I've been given a very

blessed life, you know, with the kind of education my parents gave

me, all that kind of support and the confidence that I have as a result

of that. I feel a huge responsibility to opening up the

doors to people who might not have had access to that kind of

experience and whatever the kind of barriers are to that to trying to

break those down. Vicky Featherstone's democratic

approach is refreshing and certainly welcome. But the question is, can

she mount her spirited attack from right here in the heart of the

theatrical establishment in exclusive Chelsea? And turn the

Royal Court into a place where people be from all walks of life

come to see their lives reflected, not just the prif limbed few. I

think Vicky Featherstone's big challenge is to make the Royal

Courts absolutely central, not just to British theatre, but no British

life. At its peak moments, the Royal Court's actually been that, but the

last director, Dominic Cook, was sometimes unadventurous, in that he

was doing plays audiences wanted to see about middle class life, but he

wasn't necessarily breaking boundaries. What the Royal Court

needs to do next is to recover something of that excitement,

danger, sense of daring, that at its best it's had in the past.

How did you feel when you were first appointed? Can you cast your mind

back and remember how it felt travelling to work that first

morning? What was going through your mind? I think as I jumped on the

Tube, I kind of thought, well, this is it, you know. It's that thing

when everything's still potential with this vast possibility in front

of me and a thrilling adventure really in terms of what I was about

to expose myself to. I wasn't daunted because I've got to a point

in my life where I kind of think if you are daunted by things, they hold

you back and you need to have a leap of faith. But I was terrified

because of the uhs triof the Royal Court and how extraordinary it is

and because I'd been given a job I never imagined I would have had and

I have to get it right. How did you feel when you put your foot under

your desk in the office, all the incredible directors over the years

have been there. Were you nervous or daunted at that point? Yes. When I

started in here, I got a letter at the top and it said that the Dame

used to sit in that office over there with George Devine who created

the Royal Court with the windows open watching people flooding out

into the theatre into Sierra Leone Square arguing over whether they

liked the play. And he used to say, this is what I'm here for, to shake

things up a bit and she said to me, that's what you are here for again,

to shake things up a bit and to spread things about a bit too. That

is what the open season is all about. I've come to sample the

events on offer, starting with the Lost In Theatre trail. It was us

commissioning ten writers to pick a spot in the theatre and to write

monologue in response and the audiences could come in and download

it and play it on an MP 3. It's about seeing the building in a

different way. It was great for me because I never thought I'd be in

the shower at the Royal Court, for example. I've been coming hering

since I was a little girl. How important was it to use the building

that way and say to people, be part of the theatre in a way that you

wouldn't normally be? That's something we can build on. A lot of

the changes that the Royal Court for me are about perception actually.

From the outside, I'd always felt the rim court felt it was difficult

to get into -- the Royal Court. Actually, the not like that. I want

to be able to push that story. It's a really important part of throwing

those doors open. You also did playwright at your

table. That was another initiative in the summer. What was the idea

behind that? Saturday mornings, people turned up with their bacon

butte and cup of coffee and the playwright would read their script

to them. How about a glass bottom boat? We can go snorkel... When you

heard about this plan, did you think Vicky was mad? No, but I thought,

well, who is going to do that, and in fact there was a lot of chat

between the writers on the phones going, oh, my God, they have

approached me to do this, what should we do and I thought, I've

never done this before, it will be interesting, why not try it.

You interested in a little weed... How do you feel about Vicky taking

over this building? Well, I think it's really exciting because I've

often felt about coming into the Royal Court that it was a bit like

going into the men's changing rooms and everyone was about to get going

and have a shower together. I'm not saying there shouldn't be men around

but definitely there'll be more women feeling able to come forward

with their plays because I think a lot of playwrights who're women

don't bring their plays here. I want to have a look at the very

beginning because I want to see about how we open it. The need for

that see change seems under way under Featherstone's running of the

Royal Court. Actors are given just seven days to prepare for each play.

I hate my family. But, not as much as I hate myself. This week, it's a

production by Nicole Beckwith. It's an all-female cast and it puts women

firmly centre stage. Tell us, what is the play about? About a woman who

is 55 and she's decided to have a child, be a surrogate, because she

wants a son. I'm having a baby! Oh, my God... Her daughters are aged

15-35 and she says that, daughters grow to resent them. There's no such

thing as a private relationship and if any of my daughters weren't that,

they would know that. You have four daughters. Normally you would have a

lot of time to get Tono each other and to get into the swing, but with

just one week, does it speed up the process massively? It does. Also

because Nicole lives in America, we have had one Skype chat and that's

it. So yes, everything has to be really fast-tracked. You is spend a

lot of time getting to understand and know the lines, so you rehearse

much more quickly. You always take us by surprise. And not in a good

way. Why is everyone in this room? What room are we in We are spending

quality time here. Are we in the laundry room. Exactly right.

Are you worried that people want to class it a women's play by a women

playwright directed by a female director and some kind of women's

thing? I don't worry about that at all. I believe that the kind of best

theatre is urgent theatre with stories that need toe be told and

people that need to kind of hear them. And, you know, I'm not saying

that we'll only ever do plays by women ever again, but we have every

right to put this on. It's often the press and media that are the ones

that put that kind of boundary around it being that sort of thing.

When I do something, I don't think, I'm in a women's perspective on

something and I don't think, I'm going to do this for women. It's a

play, but people do put it in a box. But we can break out of the boxes

every day. Proving she's as good as her word,

Featherstone made sure part of her open court season broke free of the

Sierra Leone Square address to reach other parts of London. P

- July, Peckham had a soap opera, played by a community cast.

We did a call out with all the residents to get them to come in and

tell us a story. It was a bit like an AA meeting. We had all the

residents come down and tell us what they wanted in a soap opera. So the

simple things like asking them to think of people they know in the

area that they don't speak to but see daily at the train station or at

the shop. Slowly we built up characters from that. People have

genuinely interested in who those people could be. What is your

reaction to that then? We are excited. We are weird like that. We

like drama. We like the, oh, my God, kind of thing. We are not like, oh,

we are like roar! And then, what we did is, myself and

Rachel, we took all the information and created a soap opera Bible from

all their stories and that's how recreated the basis for the soap

opera. Look, it's nothing bad. Don't need to overreact. A salon under my

shop? ! Over the course of five weeks, two-minute open sods were

filmed and screened on the website, performed in front of an audience in

Peckham. For Featherstone, it was proof of the transformative power of

theatre. Good evening, everybody. My name's Vicky, I'm the artistic

Director of The Royal Court Theatre. I've been watching it online. It's

something which is going to change the Royal Court forever and every

single person who's been involved in creating a soap opera has done

something life-changing. Change your own life, change other people's

lives. Somebody you should be deeply, deeply proud of.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Ouch! When are you people going to

learn about customer service? ! You were there at the omnibus

performance in Peckham. What was the atmosphere like that night? Hot. It

was in the middle of our amazing heatwave. That was thrilling that it

was so hot. It was like our bodies were sort of bouncing off thele was

and it felt incredibly alive and vital. There was a huge mixture of

all the kind of life really that is Peckham and it was great to see it

all in one room because usually they just walk past each other on the

street. It showed a different part of

Peckham. I moved out of Peckham to Sidcup about four years ago so

coming back and seeing something different, something positive, was

really good. Pf The cast members obviously seemed to

be into it and they obviously seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't just acting

roles, I think they were actually feeling part of it. They are part of

Peckham, you know, and that is really what it's all about. I think

this is like the first thing I've properly done. To do it in Peckham

where I live, it's amazing. Everyone associates Peckham with negative and

bad things, this is a chance for us to finally be something good and I'm

in it so it's amazing. It's almost like, almost a dream

come true, but it's a dream not yet dreamt but it's come true,

unimaginable. I can't believe it. For the local cast, the dream will

not end here. Featherstone's taken the bold step of bringing the cast

back to the Royal Court. Peckham is staking over Sierra Leone Square!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE My mum was originally from Peckham

so she's really excited about it. Before Peckham's people storm the

Sierra Leone Square, it's time to take stock of the summer season and

see what lessons can be carried forward into the fuzzture that are

useful. -- Sierra Leone Square. -- Sloane Square. It was incredible. It

brought the qhoel building together and I worked with 140 writers to

make that happen. I need to put that into something which is thorough and

has more detail to it Gloucestershire it.

I have been invited to the productions, it's a dark comedy

written by Dennis Kenny, whose show Mathilda is still playing in the

West End. Too Kelly, the chance of getting his play on at the West End

is what excites most. To be working at the Royal Court is amazing. I

always wanted more than anything else actually in my entire career,

to work at the Royal Court. It's all downhill from there? ! That's it,

yes. I'm not interested in a director that comes along and wants

everything written out. You can havy's got a bunch of brilliant

ideas of how to interpret a play. I want to try something which probably

won't work, but we just have to break the thing of it. Can we just

see, can Alan, Pippa and Tom literally at that point just get up

and walk off... What in particular are the qualities of Dennis' writing

that made you want to bring him here? There is a hugely playful

quality in his writing which is truthful for the way in which we

should see the world and it's the balance between playfulness and

naughtiness and something with searing naughtiness and shocking

brutality about the way we live. George saw something? George saw

that he could convince her to take that massive cells or foetus or

emerging soul, depending on your point of view, and turn it into

medical waste. The fact that she would live with that for the rest of

her life. All her problems will disappear. His

life with Tanya would survive. Goodness or coward else? Goodness or

coward else? Good, good, good. How much are the actors reacting and

chipping in? I was even couraged by the fact that I have brilliant

actors, encouraging an environment where there's no such thing as a

stupid question, no blame culture, everyone can kind of try and

discover things. Vicky creates an incredibly relaxed atmosphere and

you feel she's an incredible member of the ensemble piece anyway. She's

really funny as well with a nighty sense of humour as well. -- naughty.

She's tough. There's no mollycoddling. It's a wonderful

mixture of being incredibly inclusive, yet a point comes where

she's like, right, you know, I can't include you any more unless you

bring a lot to the party. Vicky is challenging and she asks a lot of

you, you know. That's something that's really Ballsy. If you have

got something to say, you say it. If she's got something to say, she'll

say it. Everything's kind of out in the open and discuss and decided

upon together as a group. September has arrived and the Peckham actors

have started their run at the Royal Court. The three of the cast, Kelly,

Alice and marine, it's been an unforgettable experience for them. I

remember this. Yes, yes! Oh, my God. I remember seeing that. I walked in

through the stage doors and it was like, oh, my God and they are coming

up going, here is your changing rooms and it's like, oh, my God, I

have a changing room and lights and this is not real. I think the thing

for me was when I saw them set up the stage. For Featherstone, the

event has been far more than a one-off permanent and community

theatre. I'm interested in the two way traffic so that people don't

feel we balloon in, then leave. We have a conversation with the

community, bring them into the Royal Court, then they feel that they have

a career here going forward. It's not for me, that's how I felt. But

it's for anyone, everyone, that's how I feel now. Ladies and gentlemen

of the Peckham community company, this is your final call...

What did SW3 make of it. Do they know what a soap opera is? They've

got Made in Chelsea. What was extraordinary was that people were

pouring through the doors who'd never formally come here, coming to

see their friends, rethat I haves. That for me is when you put your

money where your mouth is This was a play about a community acted by

members of the community. I would havele thought it had a lot of

resonance. It's a different environment, different audience. I

didn'the feel I was learning much, I just thought it didn't quite work

when it was uprooted from its natural home. Whatever the critical

response, the effect it's had on the cast has been profound. Growing up

and raising kids here, when I started going to theatre, I didn't

see enough black female different acth anales, whether young or old.

That's one of the things I loved about the project, you know. There's

one of us Oxford educated and there's one of us who's downright,

Nigerian educated, you know, yes! It's beautiful to be involved in

something like that. We have learnt a lot from each other. Good morning.

How are you? Obviously keen to embrace more ventures, Featherstone

is keen to make her mark. With this in mind, she's brought in

award-whipping screenwriter Abi Morgan to write a script for the New

Year. It's a violent kind of hurt factor where you don't want to get

up any more. It's basically taken from a series of transcripts which

has been published as a book about a couple in the early 80s. She's

having an affair and she's sent him a fax saying, we can't go on like

this, we'll have a contract, I'll give you sexual favours and you buy

me a house, I won't ask what or where, I'll just do them. It throws

up so many questions. Abi is the right person to be doing this.

Questions of sex within marriage and relationships are intriguing. I'm

often interested in this when I talk to my friends because a lot of

marriages have this silent bartering that goes on. This is a play that

will confront some of the conversations I've had. This will be

the fifth time I've worked with Abi. She jumps into worlds that she knows

nothing about and writes about them as if she's been living that life

forever. Her television work, sex traffic, The Hour, the Iron Lady, it

was like she was in Thatcher's head. She's incredible. So you can almost

take to it the peak of an argument then break out of it? Yes,

brilliant. What Vicky has done and is doing at this precise moment is

pushing my theatre bones back in place. What needs to be achieved by

tend is that they need to find agreement. Her taste is impeccable.

Its taste is challenging and if anybody can pull out a half decent

play out of me, it will be Vicky. Working closely with writers has

been key to Featherstone's success so far. Before she's judged on her

success of failure of the forthcoming collaboration are with

Morgan, the spotlight is on the Dennis Kelly play that's just opened

on the main stage. And while the critics have applaud

the good intentions, much more is riding on Kelly's play.

Hope it's good! I found the Dennis Kelly play

fascinating. It was a big anticapitalist satire, also a feisty

play about a man who sells his soul in order to become rich and

successful. Say yes, cell. And you can join our society, you can be one

of us. I'll give you so much. So very, very much. There was one

scene, a brilliant scene, when the hero has to decide which part to

take, whether he'll support his loyal employer or whether he'll go

with the power-dressed city woman who'll take over the firm, and he's

caught in a moral dilemma. That scene was brilliant as an explicit

demonstration of how capitalism works. What should I do? Shall I

sell? In that moment, George understood everything. That moment,

George understood his life. It didn't surprise me. Many plays have

made that point before. Capitalism dedestroys. The Bible told us that

message long ago. It worked because of the I havingour with with which

it was done. When George looked at the old man,

he looked at him with fresh, energetic eyes. He hoped his mouth

and he said... Yes, you must sell. So I naught, as that can calling

card, if you like, as a starting point with the Vicky Featherstone

regime, it was a promising one. It showed that she wants to tackle big

themes. Tripe to see what the other critics made of the play -- time to

see. The crickets have been evenly divided. Four stars in the Times and

the Guardian with the acting singled out as outstanding. Two stars in the

Evening Standard. Charles Spencer saying he regrets to report that

it's a punishing dud. The critical response has been uneven? Yes, very

mixed. How does that feel? Well, a few years ago it would have broken

my heart because all you ever want is for everybody who sees the work

to feel as passionate and proud of it as you do and I feel deeply proud

of that play and that production. But I think it's really important

that the Royal Court doesn't put on work that is to be enjoyed by

everyone. All I hope though is that people want to discuss what they

feel about it. When it becomes difficult is when people don't want

to discuss their feelings and they think they can throw out an opinion

and that they are correct. Criticism will come of the Royal Court, but

without failure, you can't have risk and ambition in many ways and I

don't think she would survive without that possibility of risk and

always pushing, always striving, fail, fail better, fail again.

Failure at the Royal Court is about the plays. My job really is to keep

scanning Britain, the world, if you like, and having those conversations

with the play wriingts and saying, what's the urgent stories, what do

we need to be thinking about next? What do you want to be writing about

Sevenoaks and, we need to put that knowledge and interrogation of our

society into a play -- about the next thing. She'll defend her plays

to the hilt. She'll go on taking risks whatever happens. Easy for one

wish ever every luck.