The Royal Court is no stranger to the headlines. The fabled new writing theatre burst on to the scene with John Osborne’s shockingly naturalistic 1954 play Look Back in Anger, which outraged pompous critics by daring to show someone washing up dirty dishes on stage. Its increasingly proud tradition of iconoclastic new dramas reached a shocking peak with Sarah Kane’s 1995 debut play Blasted, which the Daily Mail‘s theatre critic deemed a “disgusting feast of filth”. But in 2024, as its 70th anniversary loomed, this storied venue was making headlines for less exciting reasons. The Royal Court’s chairman, Anthony Burton,...