Jeremy Irons, Edward Fox, Emily Mortimer & More Set for Royal Court's John Mortimer Tribute,

The Royal Court Theatre will celebrate the life of its late chairman and president Sir John Mortimer with an evening of readings, performances and music by some of British theatre's biggest names in the The Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, followed by further events in the Royal Court Café Bar. Playwright Stephen Jeffreys will curate the evening, entitled John Mortimer at the Court... and later at the Bar, will be directed by Nina Raine and take place on November 15.

Participating artists so far include (subject to availability): Sinead Cusack, Joanna David, EdWard Fox, Jeremy Irons, Richard Johnson, Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola, Richard Wilson and Harriet Walter.

Tickets will be £125 each, with proceeds going to The Royal Court Theatre's Writers Development Fund.

Sir John Mortimer, who died in January 2009, was Chairman of The Royal Court Theatre from 1990 until 2000, overseeing its major redevelopment programme in the mid-Nineties, and President from 2000 until his passing. As well as a hugely successful career as a QC, he was an acclaimed novelist, playwright and anti-censorship campaigner.

Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Royal Court, said of Sir John: "As one of Britain's most eloquent, and successful, champions of free speech and campaigners against censorship, he was a peerless role model to us all. His loss is felt deeply by anyone who met him, or who experienced his love of theatre, his passion for justice, or his incomparable zest for life."

Stephen Jeffreys' plays for the Royal Court include The Libertine and I Just Stopped By To See The Man. His other work for the stage includes Lost Land (Steppenwolf), The Clink (Paines Plough/Riverside), A Going Concern (Hampstead) and A Jovial Crew (RSC). He was previously Literary Associate at the Royal Court, and is currently a member of the Royal Court's governing Council.

Nina Raine's previous directing credits include Shades (Royal Court), Behind the Image (Royal Court - Rough Cut), Unprotected (Liverpool Everyman / Traverse), for which she won the TMA award for Best Director, Vermillion Dream (Salisbury Playhouse) and Eskimo Sisters (Southwark). She made her playwriting debut with Rabbit (Old Red Lion / West End), which she also directed, and which won the 2006 Evening Standard Award and the 2006 Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.