Ding Dong The Wicked - Royal Court Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
AS AN addition to the Royal Court’s Autumn Season, Ding Dong The Wicked, a new short play by Caryl Churchill, will run in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs between October 1 and October 13, 2012 .
The thirty minute play will be directed by Royal Court Artistic Director, Dominic Cooke, and take place around the evening’s performance of Caryl Churchill’s main stage play Love and Information, with matinee and late night showings on certain days.
Announcing the new addition, Cooke said:
“It’s been 40 years since the Royal Court first staged a play by Caryl Churchill and in that time she has led the way in reinventing our notion of what a play can be. Ding Dong The Wicked is as fresh and unusual as anything she’s written and while it differs from Love and Information in content and form, to see both plays in one night will be an inspiring evening. This is the fourth play of Caryl’s that I’ve directed and I can’t wait”.
In the new play a child is shut in her room, a dog is dead in the road, someone is kissing her brother in law. A family locked in hatred is sending a son to war. Meanwhile in another country…
The cast of Ding Dong The Wicked includes Claire Foy (BBC’s Little Dorrit), Sophie Stanton (EastEnders), Daniel Kendrick (Vera Vera Vera) and Stuart McQuarrie (Clybourne Park, Wanderlust).
Caryl Churchill is one of the UK’s most influential playwrights and her association with the Royal Court dates back to 1972 with her play Owners. As well as Love and Information, her other plays at the Royal Court include Seven Jewish Children, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Top Girls, This is a Chair, Far Away, A Number, Cloud Nine and Serious Money.
Dominic Cooke’s recent credits at the Royal Court include In Basildon, Chicken Soup with Barley, for which he was nominated for an Evening Standard Award, and the multi award-winning production of Clybourne Park for which he received an Olivier Award nomination. This season, he will also be directing Choir Boy and In the Republic of Happiness.
For more information visit www.royalcourttheatre.com/.