Creative Team Announced For INSIDE BITCH

You've seen Orange is the New Black. You've seen Locked Up. You've seen Bad Girls. So, what have we got that's different? Well, for one, we've been to prison.

Clean Break and The Royal Court Theatre announces the creative team for its Royal Court Theatre co-production Inside Bitch. Conceived by Stacey Gregg and Deborah Pearson, the production is devised by Lucy Edkins, Jennifer Joseph, TerriAnn Oudjar and Jade Small. Design is by Camilla Clarke (winner of the 2015 Linbury Prize for Stage Design), with lighting design by Natasha Chivers (recipient of an Olivier Award for Sunday in the Park with George), sound design by Ella Wahlstr m (DV8's John), and choreography by Yassmin V Foster (Queens of Sheba). Milli Bhatia (Trainee Director at the Royal Court, with credits including Shine) is Assistant Director.

Created by women who aren't guessing, Inside Bitch is a devised ensemble performance from Clean Break's Members, a playful subversion of the representation of women in prison and how things aren't quite as seen on TV.

"We've got the real shit, and trust me, it's dark as fuck, and it will knock your socks off!

Inside Bitch is the first production of Clean Break's 40th Anniversary Programme. Further Spring season highlights include Belong, a new play by Brazen Clean Break's Young Artists as part of Arcola Theatre's Creative/Disruption Festival (24 25 February) and Evolution 2019: Who Run the World? at Lyric Hammersmith (7-8 March); All The Lights Are On, a project in partnership with Cardboard Citizens; and Rebel Voices: Monologues for Women by Women, an anthology of 40 monologues from 40 Clean Break voices published by Methuen.

Clean Break changes lives and changes minds through theatre on stage, in prison and in the community. It produces ground-breaking plays with women writers and actors at the heart of its work. Founded in 1979 by two women prisoners who believed that theatre could bring the hidden stories of imprisoned women to a wider audience, it is still the only theatre company of its kind remaining true to these roots; inspiring playwrights and captivating audiences with the company's award-winning plays on the complex theme of women and crime.

Its commissioned playwrights have included Zawe Ashton, Alice Birch, Deborah Bruce, Lin Coghlan, E V Crowe, Vivienne Franzmann, Tanika Gupta, Katie Hims, Sam Holcroft, Theresa Ikoko, Lucy Kirkwood, Chloe Moss, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Winsome Pinnock and Rebecca Prichard.

Recent success for the company has included receiving a Tonic Award for its dedication to changing women's lives through theatre and commitment to new writing. Thick as Thieves by Katherine Chandler, the company's first co-production with Theatr Clwyd premiered on 17 October 2018, before a tour of UK theatre and prison tour. Other activity during 2018 included Alice Birch's [BLANK] - a co-commission with National Theatre Connections (which was performed by young people around the UK and at the National Theatre); participating in Artichoke's PROCESSIONS project; and Belong, created by a group of young women with Natasha Marshall, Clean Break's Channel 4 Playwright in Residence and winner of a Most Promising New Playwright Offie for Half Breed.

Royal Court Theatre is the writers' theatre. It is the leading force in world theatre for energetically cultivating writers - undiscovered, emerging and established.

Through the writers, the Royal Court is at the forefront of creating restless, alert, provocative theatre about now. We open our doors to the unheard voices and free thinkers that, through their writing, change our way of seeing.

Over 120,000 people visit the Royal Court in Sloane Square, London, each year and many thousands more see our work elsewhere through transfers to the West End and New York, UK and international tours, digital platforms, our residencies across London, and our site-specific work. Through all our work we strive to inspire audiences and influence future writers with radical thinking and provocative discussion.

The Royal Court's extensive development activity encompasses a diverse range of writers and artists and includes an ongoing programme of writers' attachments, readings, workshops and playwriting groups. Twenty years of the International Department's pioneering work around the world means the Royal Court has relationships with writers on every continent.

Within the past sixty years, John Osborne, Beckett, Arnold Wesker, Ann Jellicoe, Howard Brenton, David Hare and many more started their careers at the Court. Many others, including Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, debble tucker green and Sarah Kane have followed.

More recently, the theatre has fostered new writers such as Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, Penelope Skinner and Alistair McDowall and produced many iconic plays from Laura Wade's Posh to Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem and Martin McDonagh's Hangmen.

Royal Court plays from every decade are now performed on stage and taught in classrooms and universities across the globe. It is because of this commitment to the writer that we believe there is no more important theatre in the world than the Royal Court.

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