The Royal Court Theatre is a renowned non-commercial venue in Sloane Square, London, celebrated for championing new writing and contemporary plays. Originally opened in 1870 and rebuilt in 1888 in red brick with an Italianate facade, it became the home of the English Stage Company in 1956, launching “kitchen sink” dramas like John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.
 
It includes the 380-seat Jerwood Theatre Downstairs (main house) and the 85-seat Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
 
Interesting facts
Originally a converted Nonconformist Ranelagh Chapel from 1870 (demolished and rebuilt in 1888 by Walter Emden), it hosted farces before wartime bomb damage left it derelict until 1952. Its Theatre Upstairs, opened in 1969 as one of London’s first black box studios, premiered The Rocky Horror Show in 1973 as a cult sci-fi musical upstairs.