The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre. In 1956 it was acquired by and is home to a resident company, the English Stage Company.

History[link]

The first theatre[link]

The first theatre on Lower George Street, off Sloane Square, was the converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel, opened as a theatre in 1870 under the name The New Chelsea Theatre. Marie Litton became its manager in 1871, hiring Walter Emden to remodel the interior, and it was renamed the Court Theatre.^[1]

Scene from The Happy Land, showing the scandalous impersonation of Gladstone, Lowe, and Ayrton

Several of W. S. Gilbert's early plays were staged here, including Randall's Thumb, Creatures of Impulse (with music by Alberto Randegger), Great Expectations (adapted from the Dickens novel), and On Guard (all in 1871); The Happy Land (1873, with Gilbert Abbott à Beckett; Gilbert's most controversial play); The Wedding March, translated from Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie by Eugène Marin Labiche (1873); The Blue-Legged Lady, translated from La Dame aux Jambes d'Azur by Labiche and Marc-Michel (1874); and Broken Hearts (1875). By 1878, management of the theatre was shared by John Hare and W. H. Kendal.^[2]

Further alterations were made in 1882 by Alexander Peebles, after which its capacity was 728 (including stalls and boxes, dress circle and balcony, amphitheatre, and gallery).^[3] After that, Arthur Cecil (who had joined the theatre's company in 1881) was co-manager of the theatre with John Clayton.^[4] Among other works, they produced a series of Arthur Wing Pinero's farces, including The Rector, The Magistrate (1885), The Schoolmistress (1886), and Dandy Dick (1887), among others.^[5] The theatre closed on 22 July 1887 and was demolished.^[6]

The current theatre[link]

The present building was built on the east side of Sloane Square, replacing the earlier building, and opened on 24 September 1888 as the New Court Theatre. Designed by Walter Emden and Bertie Crewe, it is constructed of fine red brick, moulded brick, and a stone facade in free Italianate style. Originally the theatre had a capacity of 841 in the stalls, dress circle, amphitheatre, and a gallery.

Cecil and Clayton yielded management of the theatre to Mrs. John Wood and Arthur Chudleigh in 1887, although Cecil continued acting in their company (and others) until 1895.^[4] The first production in the new building was a play by Sydney Grundy called Mamma, starring Mrs. John Wood and John Hare, with Arthur Cecil and Eric Lewis.^[7]

Harley Granville-Barker managed the theatre for the first few years of the 20th century, and George Bernard Shaw's plays were produced at the Royal Court for a period. It ceased to be used as a theatre in 1932 but was used as a cinema from 1935 to 1940, until World War II bomb damage closed it.^[8]

The interior was reconstructed by Robert Cromie, the number of seats being reduced to under 500. The theatre re-opened in 1952.^[9] George Devine became artistic director and opened the English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956 as a subsidised theatre producing new British and foreign plays, together with some classical revivals.^[10] Devine aimed to create a writers' theatre, seeking to discover new writers and produce serious contemporary works. He produced John Osborne's Look Back in Anger in 1956, the first first play identified as being by one of the Angry young men. During this period, the ESC became involved in issues of censorship. Their premiere productions of Osborne's A Patriot for Me and Saved by Edward Bond (both 1965) necessitated the theatre turn itself into a 'private members club' to circumvent the Lord Chamberlain, formally responsible for the licensing of plays until the Theatres Act 1968. The succès de scandale of the two plays helped to bring about the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK.

During the period of Devine's directorship, besides Osborne and Bond, the Royal Court premiered works by Arnold Wesker, John Arden, Ann Jellicoe and N. F. Simpson. Subsequent Artistic Directors of the Royal Court premiered work by Christopher Hampton, Athol Fugard, Howard Brenton, Caryl Churchill, Hanif Kureishi, Sarah Daniels, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Martin McDonagh, Simon Stephens, and Leo Butler. Early seasons included new international plays by Bertolt Brecht, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Marguerite Duras. In addition to the 400-seat proscenium arch Theatre Downstairs, the studio Theatre Upstairs was opened in 1969, at the time a 63-seat facility.^[8][11] The Rocky Horror Show premiered there in 1973.

Though the main auditorium and the façade were attractive, the remainder of the building provided poor facilities for both audience and performers, and the stalls and understage often flooded throughout the 20th century. By the early 1990s, the theatre had deteriorated dangerously and was threatened with closure in 1995. The Royal Court received a grant of £16.2 million from the National Lottery and the Arts Council for redevelopment, and beginning in 1996, under the artistic directorship of Stephen Daldry, it was completely rebuilt, except for the façade and the intimate auditorium. The architects for this were Haworth Tompkins. The theatre reopened in February 2000, with the 380-seat Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, and the 85-seat studio theatre, now the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Since 1994, a new generation of playwrights debuting at the theatre has included Joe Penhall, Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Roy Williams amongst others.

The theatre was Grade II listed in June 1972.^[12]

Over the last decade, the Royal Court has placed a renewed emphasis on the development and production of international work. By 1993, the British Council had begun its support of the International Residency programme (which started in 1989 as the Royal Court International Summer School) and by early 1996 a department solely dedicated to international work had been created. A creative dialogue now exists between innovative theatre writers and practitioners in many different countries including Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Romania, Russia, Spain, Syria and Uganda. Many of these projects are supported by the British Council and more recently by the Genesis Foundation, who also support the production of international plays. The International Department has been the recipient of a number of awards including the 1999 International Theatre Institute award. [1]

The English Stage Company also attends international festivals, in May 2008 presenting The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg at the "Contact International Theatre Festival" in Poland.^[13]

From 2007 to 2012, the theatre's Artistic Director was Dominic Cooke; the Associate Director is Sacha Wares and the deputy artistic director is Jeremy Herrin. Vicky Featherstone, the first female artistic director, previously head of the National Theatre of Scotland, will replace him in April 2013.^[14][15] Other Artistic Directors have included Ian Rickson (1998 – 2006), Max Stafford-Clark, Stuart Burge, Robert Kidd, Nicholas Wright, Lindsay Anderson, Anthony Page, and William Gaskill.^[16] Young writers (between 18 and 25) can apply to the Young Writers' Programme, which seeks to promote their works.

Productions[link]

Productions 2008 - Aug 2011[link]

Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

• Chicken Soup with Barley by Arnold Wesker - 02/06/2011 - 16/07/2011
• Wastwater by Simon Stephens - 31/03/2011 - 07/05/2011
• The Heretic by Richard Bean - 4/2/2011 - 19/3/2011
• Get Santa! by Anthony Neilson - 1/12/2010 - 15/1/2011
• Tribes by Nina Raine - 14/09/2010 - 13/11/2010
• Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris - 26/08/2010 - 02/09/2010
• Sucker Punch by Roy Williams - 11/06/2010 - 31/07/2010
• Posh by Laura Wade - 09/04/2010 - 22/04/2010
• Off The Endz by Bola Agbaje - 11/02/2010 - 13/03/2010
• The Priory by Michael Wynne - 19/11/2009 - 16/01/2010
• Enron by Lucy Prebble – 17/09/09 - 07/11/09
• Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth - 13/07/2009 - 22/08/2009
• Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn - 20/05/2009 - 27/06/2009
• The Fever by Wallace Shawn - 02/04/2009 - 02/05/2009
• Wall by David Hare - 14/04/2009 - 25/04/2009
• Over There by Mark Ravenhill - 02/03/2009 - 21/03/2009
• The Stone by Marius von Mayenburg - 05/02/2009 - 28/02/2009
• Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza by Caryl Churchill - 06/02/2009 - 21/02/2009
• Wig Out by Tarell Alvin McCraney - 20/11/2008 - 10/01/2009
• Now or Later by Christopher Shinn - 03/09/2008- 01/11/2008
• Paradise Regained by Mark Ravenhill - 30/09/2008 - 04/10/2008
• Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar - 02/07/2008 - 19/07/2008
• The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg - 10/06/2008 - 28/06/2008
• The City by Martin Crimp - 24/04/2008 - 07/06/2008
• Random by Debbie Tucker Green - 07/03/2008 - 12/04/2008
• The Vertical Hour by David Hare - 17/01/2008 - 01/03/2008

Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

• The Village Bike by Penelope Skinner - 24/06/2011 - 06/08/2011
• The Acid Test by Anya Reiss - 13/05/2011 - 11/06/2011
• Remembrance Day by Aleksey Scherbak, translated by Rory Mullarky - 18/03/2011 - 16/04/2011
• Our Private Life by Pedro Miguel Rozo - 11/02/2011 - 13/03/2011
• Kin by E.V Crowe - 19/11/2010 - 23/12/2010
• Red Bud by Brett Neveu - 21/10/2010 - 13/11/2010
• Wanderlust by Nick Payne - 09/09/2010 - 09/10/2010
• Spur of the Moment by Anya Reiss - 14/07/2010 - 21/08/2010
• Ingredient X by Nick Grosso - 20/05/2010 - 19/06/2010
• The Empire by DC Moore - 31/03/2010 - 08/05/2010
• Disconnect by Anupama Chandrasekhar - 17/02/2010 - 20/03/2010
• Cock by Mike Bartlett - 13/11/2009 - 19/12/2009
• The Author by Tim Crouch - 23/09/2009 - 24/10/2009
• Grasses of a Thousand Colours by Wallace Shawn - 12/05/2009 - 27/06/2009
• Tusk Tusk by Polly Stenham - 28/03/2009 - 02/05/2009
• A Miracle by Molly Davies - 13/03/2009 - 21/03/2009
• Shades by Alia Bano - 28/01/2009 - 21/02/2009
• The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell - 21/11/2008 - 20/12/2008
• Faces In The Crowd by Leo Butler - 18/10/2008 - 08/11/2008
• The Girlfriend Experience by Alecky Blythe - 18/09/2008- 11/10/2008
• Relocated by Anthony Neilson - 06/06/2008 - 05/07/2008
• Oxford Street by Levi David Addai - 02/05/2008- 31/05/2008
• Bliss by Oliver Choiniere - 28/03/2008- 26/04/2008
• Scarborough by Fiona Evans - 07/02/2008 - 15/03/2008

Other spaces around the Royal Court

• Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat by Mark Ravenhill - 08/04/2008- 19/04/2008
• Contractions by Mike Bartlett - 29/05/2008 - 14/06/2008
• The Caravan by Liam O'Driscoll, Mimi Poskitt and Ben Freedman - 10/02/2009- 28/02/2009

[edit] Controversy over Seven Jewish Children

Caryl Churchill's play Seven Jewish Children opened at the theatre in February 2009. Many Jewish leaders and journalists have criticised Seven Jewish Children as antisemitic,^{[17][18][19][20]} contending that it violates the rule that "a play that is critical of, and entirely populated by, characters from one community, can be defended only if it is written by a member of that community".^[21] Further, Associate Director Ramin Gray has been accused of hypocrisy, as he is reported to have stated that he would be reluctant to stage a play critical of Islam.^[22][23]

Michael Billington in The Guardian described the play as "a heartfelt lamentation for the future generations".^[24] The paper contended that the play, though controversial, is not antisemitic,^[25] yet Seven Jewish Children was viewed by another Guardian writer as historically inaccurate and harshly critical of Jews.^[26] Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chairman of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, called the play "a libellous and despicable demonisation of Israeli parents and grandparents" and expressed fear that it would "stoke the fires of antisemitism". He added that the play is a modern blood libel drawing on old anti-Semitic myths.^[17] Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic Monthly also calls the play a blood libel.^[18] Columnist Melanie Phillips wrote that the play is "an open vilification of the Jewish people... drawing upon an atavistic hatred of the Jews" and called it "Open incitement to hatred".^[17] The New York Times wrote that the play "at times paints heartless images of Israelis."^[19]

In reply, the Royal Court issued the following statement:

"Some concerns have been raised that the Royal Court's production of Seven Jewish Children, by Caryl Churchill is anti-Semitic. We categorically reject that accusation.... While Seven Jewish Children is undoubtedly critical of the policies of the state of Israel, there is no suggestion that this should be read as a criticism of Jewish people.... In keeping with its philosophy, the Royal Court Theatre presents a multiplicity of viewpoints. The Stone, which is currently running... asks very difficult questions about the refusal of some modern Germans to accept their ancestors' complicity in Nazi atrocities. Shades, currently in our smaller studio theatre... explores issues of tolerance in the [London] Muslim community."^[23]

Digital Theatre[link]

The Royal Court was one of the launch organisations for Digital Theatre, a project which makes theatre productions available in video download form. The first performance filmed and released was Over There'.^[27]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ainger, Michael (2002). Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514769-3. 
• Bergan, Ronald (1992). The Great Theatres of London: An Illustrated Companion. London: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 1-85375-057-3. 
• Earl, John; Michael Sell (2000). Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950. Theatres Trust. pp. 135–36. ISBN 0-7136-5688-3. 
• MacCarthy, Desmond (1907). The Court Theatre 1904-1907 A Commentary and Criticism. London: A. H. Bullen. 
• Roberts, Philip (1999). The Royal Court Theatre and the modern stage. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47962-2. 
• History of the theatre
• Profile of the theatre and other Victorian theatres
• Napoleon, Davi (1991). Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater. Iowa State University Press. ISBN 0-8138-1713-7.  (Includes a detailed comparison of the Royal Court and a theater in New York City that was influenced by it; also includes discussion of Royal Court plays that the Chelsea presented, including Saved, Total Eclipse, and The Contractor)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Royal Court Theatre, London

• Royal Court Theatre website
• The Guardian, 21 July 2009, The Royal Court Upstairs marks 40 years of scaling new heights
• History of the Royal Court Theatre
• Catalogue of the Royal Court Theatre/English Stage Company Archive held at the V&A

Court Theatre or Royal Court Theatre may refer to:

• Court Theatre (Chicago), a theatre in Illinois
• Court Theatre (Huntingdon, Tennessee), listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in Carroll County
• Court Theatre (New Zealand), a theatre company in Christchurch
• Court Theatre of Buda, a theatre in Budapest, Hungary
• Royal Court Theatre, a theatre in London, U.K.
• Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, a theatre in England, U.K.

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Court Theatre"
• All pages beginning with "Royal Court Theatre"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

For alternative meanings of the word "court", see: Court (disambiguation).

The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure. In the largest courts many thousands of individuals comprised the court, many officials or servants in the permanent employ of the ruler, and others attending in hope of political or financial gain, or merely for the society and entertainments offered. As well as being the centre of political life, courts were usually the drivers of fashion, and often where literary, musical and artistic trends first developed. Courts are found in all monarchical high cultures, although relatively little is known about Pre-Columbian court life, for example.

Ambassador Kosa Pan and Siamese envoys pay their respect to Louis XIV at his court in Versailles.

Patronage[link]

The 'Court of Lahore'.

A royal household is the highest ranking example of this. A regent or viceroy may hold court during the minority or absence of a hereditary ruler, and even an elected head of state may develop a court-like entourage of unofficial, personally-chosen advisors and "companions". This position may have been first raised to semi-official status in the entourage of Alexander the Great, based on Persian conventions.^[1] The French word compagnon, and its English derivation "companion", literally connotes a "sharer of the bread" at table, and indeed the court is an extension of the great individual's household; wherever members of the household and bureaucrats of the administration overlap in personnel, it is sensible to speak of a "court", whether in Achaemenid Persia, Ming China, Norman Sicily, the Papacy before 1870 (see Curia) or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of "clientage" that is discussed under vassal.

Court culture[link]

The Macartney Embassy. Lord Macartney salutes Emperor Qianlong, but refused to kowtow.

Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills and in constitutional situations. Accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote castles or to practical administrative centers. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres.

Etiquette and hierarchy flourish in highly-structured court settings and may leave conservative traces over generations.

History[link]

East Asia[link]

The courts of Chinese Emperors were among the largest and most complex of all, with the Manchu dynasty occupying the whole Forbidden City and other parts of Beijing. In the late first millennium, the Japanese developed an exquisitely refined court that played an extremely important role in their culture.

Medieval Europe[link]

After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, a true court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great and in the court of Charlemagne. In the Roman East, a brilliant court continued to surround the Byzantine emperors.

In Western Europe, consolidation of power of local magnates and of kings in fixed administrative centres from the mid-13th century led to the creation of a distinct court culture that was the centre of intellectual and artistic patronage rivalling the abbots and bishops, in addition to its role as the apex of a rudimentary political bureaucracy that rivalled the courts of counts and dukes. The dynamics of hierarchy welded the court cultures together.

Local courts proliferated in the splintered polities of medieval Europe and remained in early modern times in Germany and in Italy. Such courts became known for intrigue and power politics; some also gained prominence as centres and collective patrons of art and culture. In medieval Spain (Castile), provincial courts were created. Minor noblemen and burguesie allied to create a system to oppose the monarchy on many policy issues. They were called "las Cortes de Castilla". These courts are the root of the current Spanish congress and senate.

As political executive functions generally moved to more democratic bases, noble courts have seen their function reduced once more to that of a noble household, concentrating on personal service to the household head, ceremonial and perhaps some residual politico-advisory functions. If republican zeal has banished an area's erstwhile ruling nobility, courts may survive in exile.

Africa[link]

A member of court of the Emir of Kano parading on horseback outside the Gidan Rumfa at the annual Durbar festival. Nigeria, West Africa.

The kingship system has been an integral part of the more centralized African societies for millennia. This is especially true in West African sahel, where royal courts have been in existence since the 9th century Takrur and Ghana empires. The ruler of the 13th century Mali empire, Mansa Musa, brought a large number of his court with him on the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, the courts of the Ashanti in modern Ghana, the Mande in Mali, the Bamum of Cameroon, the Kanem of Chad, and the Hausa emirs of northern Nigeria continue the pageantry and court lifestyle traditions once common to the region.

Caliphate courts[link]

All four major Caliphates had sophisticated courts; this enabled Cordoba, Cairo and Baghdad (the seats of Umayyad, Fatamids and Abbasids) to become the largest, most culturally developed cities of their time. This drew talented people from all walks of life—such as musicians, singers, poets and scientists—to seek employment under the patronage of elite bureaucrats, emirs and Sultans at court. The other Caliphate was the Ottoman, which employed its court's culture to stabilize an empire inhabited by huge non-Islamic populations spanning three continents. Everything from Algeria to the Balkans to Yemen was controlled by the court in Istanbul.

The royal courts in the Islamic world were mostly run by rulers, but there were the exceptions of important elite families such as Barmakids and Nizams who established their own minor courts, enabling them to encourage arts and improve the empire even if the ruling king was useless. All Islamic courts had two things in common, which is that they helped to stabilise politics and society of the empires but they also harbored great bribery and manipulation.

Court officials[link]

Court officials or office-bearers (one type of courtier) derived their positions and retained their titles from their original duties within the courtly household. With time such duties often became archaic, but titles survived involving the ghosts of arcane duties, generally dating back to the days when a noble household had practical and mundane concerns as well as high politics and culture. Such court appointments each have their own histories. They include:

• Almoner
• Butler
• Chamberlain
• Chancellor
• Chapelmaster
• Chaplain = Arch
• Cofferer
• Confessor
• Constable
• Cup-bearer
• Dapifer
• Doorward
• Falconer
• Gentleman of the Bedchamber
• Gentleman Usher

"Triboulet", illustration for the theatre play "Le Roi s'amuse" ("The King Takes His Amusement") by Victor Hugo. Gravure by J. A. Beaucé (1818-1875) and Georges Rouget (1781-1869).

• Grand Almoner
• Grand Panetier, Panifer
• Grandmaster
• Grand Master of the Hunt
• Great officers
• Groom of the Stool
• Herald
• Intendant of the civil list
• Jester = fool
• Keeper of the seal
• King of arms
• Knight -/ Earl Marshal
• Lady-in-waiting
• Maid of Honour
• Majordomo
• Master of the Horse
• Master of the Hunt
• Page
• Panter or pantler
• Secretary
• Pursuivant
• Seneschal
• Standard bearer
• Steward

Court seats[link]

One of the criteria of Norbert Elias' concept of a court society is that it existed in space.^[2] Because the German word hof, meaning an enclosed courtyard, can apply to a rural farmstead with outbuildings and walls forming the perimeter, it has also been used for the palatial seat where the court was held. Thus hof or "court" can become transferred to the building itself. For example, though the grand residence Hampton Court on the Thames above London has been a palace where Thomas Wolsey held court as Catholic cardinal (built after the Italian ideal for a cardinal's palace) until his fall and its confiscation by Henry VIII and where William and Mary held court, 1689–94—and though it is built round two main courts—the structure itself, however, is no longer the seat of a court in the sense of this article.

As an example, ambassadors to the United Kingdom are still accredited to the Court of St. James's, and courtiers of the monarchy still have offices in St James' Palace, London. The present monarch, however, holds court at Buckingham Palace, where dignitaries are received.

Some former seats of power (see official residence):

• Castile, medieval Christian province in central current Spain
• Alhambra in Granada, seat of the last Muslim dynasty in current Spain
• The Forbidden City, imperial palace complex walled off from Beijing
• Wawel Castle (Kraków) and Warsaw's Royal Castle (Poland)
• Château de Versailles near Paris in France
• Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria
• Sanssouci in Potsdam near Berlin
• The Vatican in the Papal States
• The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Urbino, seat of a duchy in the Marche
• The Red Fort, palatial fortress of the Mughal emperors in Delhi, India
• Shaniwar Wada palace fort of the Maratha Peshwas in Pune, India

See also[link]

• Aliénor de Poitiers who documented the etiquette of the Burgundian Court in the late 15th century.
• Curia regis
• Courtier
• Masque
• Courtesy book

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Elias, Norbert (1983) [1969]. The Court Society [Die höfische Gesellschaft]. trans. Edmund Jephcott. Oxford. . On the sociology of the court, originally completed in 1939.
• Fox, Robin Lane (1973). Alexander the Great. 

Further reading[link]

• Adamson, John (ed.). The Princely Courts of Europe, 1500–1750. Ritual, Politics and Culture under the Ancien Regime, 1500-1750. London, 1999.
• Birke, A., and R. Asch (eds.). Courts, Patronage and the Nobility at the Beginning of the Modern Period, 1450–1650. 1991.
• Burke, Peter. The Fabrication of Louis XIV. New Haven and London, 1992.
• Charles-Edwards, T.M. et al. The Welsh king and his court. Cardiff, 2000.
• Dickens, A.G. (ed.). The Courts of Europe: Politics, Patronage and Royalty, 1400–1800. 1977. Emphasis on patronage.
• Duindam, Jeroen. Myths of Power: Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court. Amsterdam, 1995. Critique of Elias. English translation of dissertation Macht en Mythe (1992).
• Duindam, Jeroen. Vienna and Versailles. The courts of Europe’s Dynastic Rivals 1550-1780. Cambridge, 2003.
• Jaeger, C.S. The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the Formation of Courtly Ideals 939–1210. Philadelphia, PA, 1985.

Antiquity[link]

• Spawforth, A.J.S. (ed.). The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies. Cambridge, 2007

Early Middle Ages[link]

• Cubitt, C. (ed.). Court Culture in the Early Middle Ages. The Proceedings of the First Alcuin Conference. Turnhout, 2002
• Hen, Yitzhak. Roman Barbarians: The Royal Court and Culture in the Early Medieval West. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-333-78665-9.
• Jones, S.R., R. Marks and A. J. Minnis (eds.). Courts and Regions in Medieval Europe. York, 2000.
• Jong, M. de and F. Theuws (eds.). Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages. Leiden, 2001

External links[link]

• Courtstudies.org, The Society for Court Studies, offering a bibliography on court history
• Oxford University bibliography of Early Modern courts 1580–1700, structure and patronage, 2002
• "Court culture: representations of intimacy": division between Hall and Chamber in late medieval noble and royal households

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Noble courts

This article may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Please remove or replace such wording, unless you can cite independent sources that support the characterization. (October 2009)

The Royal Court is a music production crew created by producer King arrived on the scene in 2007 with the hit single "Ice Box" by Omarion ^[1] (from the album 21), co-produced with Timbaland, which generated over 100,000 radio spins and fostered more than 15 remixes.

Discography[link]

2006[link]

[edit] Omarion - 21

• "Ice Box" (prod. by King Logan, Johnkenun Spivery, Timbaland )
• "Beg For It" (prod. by King Logan, Johnkenun Spivery, Timbaland )

2007[link]

[edit] Bobby Valentino - Special Occasion

• "Anonymous" (prod. by King Logan and Timbaland)
• "Rearview (Ridin)" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland, )

[edit] Omarion & Kat DeLuna - Feel The Noise OST

• "Cut Off Time"^[2] (prod. by King Logan, Johnkenun Spivery and Timbaland)

[edit] Mario - Go!

• "No Definition" (prod. by King Logan and Timbaland, )

[edit] NLT - Not Like Them

• "She Said, I Said" ^[3] (prod. by King Logan, Johnkenun Spivery, and Timbaland)

[edit] The DEY - The DEY Has Come EP

• "Get The Feeling"^[4] (prod. by Timbaland, King Logan, Johnkenun Spivery)

2008[link]

[edit] Ashlee Simpson - Bittersweet World

• "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland)
• "Murder (I Get Away..)" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland)
• "Bittersweet World" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland)
• "Rag Doll" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbalandn)
• "Rule Breaker" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland)
• "What I've Become" (prod. King Logan, Jerome Harmon, and Timbaland)

2009[link]

[edit] Chris Cornell - Scream

• "Enemy" (prod. by King Logan, Jerome Harmon, Timbaland, and Ryan Tedder)

[edit] Keri Hilson - In a Perfect World…

• "Slow Dance" (prod. by King Logan and Johnkenun Spivery)

[edit] Omarion feat Lil Wayne -

• "Comfort" (prod. by King Logan)

[edit] Rihanna -

• "Like It" (prod. by King Logan)

[edit] Jennifer Lopez - Love?

• "Countdown"
• "Whippin My Hair"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Online Article on "The Royal Court"
• The Thomas Crown Chronicles' "Royal Court" News Archives
• The Royal Court on Myspace
• King Logan on Myspace
• Gil Walker on Myspace
• Photos of The Royal Court from King Logan's Myspace Site:
  • King Logan, Sir John, Gil
  • Sir John, Gil, Timbaland, King Logan
  • Timbaland, Gil, Justin Timberlake, King Logan, Sir John
  • Sir John, Justin Timberlake, King Logan, Danjahandz

Lucy Kirkwood (born c. 1984) is a British playwright. She is writer in residence at Clean Break Theatre Company.

Kirkwood is from East London and has a degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh where she performed as part of the improvisational comedy troupe, The Improverts.

History[link]

In 2005, she wrote and starred in her first play, Grady Hot Potato, at the Bedlam Theatre. It was also selected for the National Student Drama Festival.

The following year she took two productions of her second play, Geronimo to the Edinburgh Fringe, under the title The Umbilical Project. The two plays, Cut and Uncut, were an experiment in cutting the cord between writer and production. Uncut was directed by Lucy herself and Cut by a completely separate company under the direction of Matt Addicott. No contact was made between the two companies during the rehearsal period, prompting the tag line "Two casts, two crews, two directors, two venues, one new play... no communication".^[1]

Her third play Guns or Butter, about soldiers being overcome by the horror of war, was written for the Terror 2007 Festival at the Union Theatre, London.^[2]

Tinderbox, a dark comedy set in a fictional 21st Century England, premiered at the Bush Theatre in 2008. It starred Jamie Foreman and Sheridan Smith.^[3] In the same year she also contributed to the Bush's 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Her version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, entitled Hedda, premiered at London's Gate Theatre in 2008 to favourable reviews.

Kirkwood's promenade play about Sex Traffiking It Felt Empty When The Heart Went At First^[4] But It Is Alright Now was produced by Clean Break Theatreat the Arcola theatre. Her short Horror piece Psychogeography premiered at the Bush in 2008 and was revived at the Southwark Playhouse. She is also under commission to the Manhattan Theatre Club to write a science play. She is also developing a TV series with Kudos Film & Television and writes for the Company Pictures TV series Skins.^[5]

External links[link]

• Lucy Kirkwood at the Internet Movie Database

References[link]