Live Lunch, Royal Court

Six up-and-coming Royal Court young playwrights offer up some bitesize theatre this autumn, with an indisputable gastronomic theme. 

After the success of the show Gastronauts , where actors served up a multi-course meal to audience members seated at restaurant tables, the Royal Court put new writing back on the menu in the form of six plays written by graduates of its writers’ programme, to fit specially into a working lunch hour — all the shows start at 1.15pm. Associate Director Lucy Morrison is excited about the project: “ They have searched their souls and trusted their talents to write a play to be shared with a live audience in a matter of weeks .”

Luke Barnes, Clara Brennan, Sarah Kosar, Nessah Muthy, May Sumbwanyambe and Chris Thompson worked collaboratively in order to create these plays, each of which will performed as a reading once a week every Friday until the end of October. By now, you may well recognise some of the names. Here's our guide to highlight to the upcoming season: 

Luke Barnes

Luke Barnes is an actor/writer you might know as Rast from Game of Thrones. He has just completed writing and starring in the film Toby. With nine published plays at only twenty-six, he is well on his way to becoming a powerful voice in British theatre. Last month his play at the Edinburgh Fringe, Beats North, made it into the Telegraph’s ‘What to See’ List and praised for its innovation and “twist on the live theatre experience.” Don’t miss his Live Lunch play The Girl Who Looks Up at the Stars—about ‘dreaming, grafting and making it big in a small town.’ 

Chris Thompson

Albion opens this week at the Bush, set in a local pub with a satirical eye on both the English Defence League and karaoke, starring Hollyoaks’ Natalie Casey. Writer Chris Thompson was a social worker for many years, heavily influencing his debut play Carthage which stormed the Finborough Theatre earlier this year. The Guardian gave it four stars: ‘this strikes me as a highly promising first play that leaves the audience to make its own deductions from the available evidence and which suggests that guilt can never be assuaged by a legal exoneration.”. His Live Lunch play Burn is described compellingly as one ‘about fluorescent lights and love.’

Nessah Muthy

Nessah Muthy was one of the brains behind Gastronauts, which divided audiences but again won approval for testing the barriers of theatrical rules. Originally a theatre usher, Muthy is an exciting new voice amongst Asian writers. Lyn Gardner was a fan of her ‘playful work [Gastronauts]... a reminder that new writing comes in many flavours and textures’. For Live Lunch, Muthy has written a short piece about ‘escape, infamy and hyper-sexualisation’ entitled Beastie.