The Royal Court’s first major project in mainland China ran between the summer of 2016 and the end of 2018. A four phase programme conceived with and supported by the British Council, the project worked with sixteen emerging Chinese playwrights.

Three major residential workshops supported this group of writers through the development of a new play. Beginning with an initial ten day meeting in the hills outside Chengdu and a second phase at a monastery in Beijing, the writers worked closely with a team from the Royal Court that included Elyse Dodgson, director Sam Pritchard and the playwrights April De Angelis and Carl Miller.

A final workshop at Wuzhen Theatre Festival outside Shanghai allowed the writers to work with a company of actors on the development of their work. And saw extracts of each play performed for the first time in front of a public audience at the festival.

Further support from the British Council, enabled a forth phase of work to take place in London during 2018. Writers Chen Si’an, Zhang Zai and Yang Jingguan worked with a company of actors on further development of their plays and a series of public readings at the Royal Court.

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