BBC Radio 4 and the Royal Court Theatre have announced a collaboration to broadcast contemporary drama from the theatre's history and the BBC archive. The partnership features a new radio production of Lucy Kirkwood's play The Children. This production will broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 26 September from 15:00 to 16:30. The cast includes Anastasia Hille, Stanley Holloway, and Emma Fielding.
Playwright Mark Ravenhill curated a selection of radio adaptations from seven decades of BBC archives. This collection includes works such as Look Back In Anger, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, Cuttin' It, Random, Roots, Our Country's Good, and Top Girls. The archive productions feature actors including Ben Whishaw, David Bradley, David Troughton, Siobhan Finneran, Sheila Hancock, Nikki Amuka Bird, Elliot Levey, Helen McCrory, and Brigit Forsyth.
Following the broadcast of The Children, these archive plays will air on BBC Radio 4 Extra at 20:30 each evening. The BBC will also make these productions available on the Spotlight feed of BBC Sounds for 28 days after the initial broadcast. Alison Hindell, Commissioner for Radio 4 Drama and Fiction, confirmed the BBC is the largest commissioner of audio drama globally. Will Young, Executive Director of the Royal Court Theatre, confirmed the timing of the collaboration coincides with the 70th anniversary of the theatre.
The Royal Court Theatre premiered The Children in 2016 before the production transferred to Broadway.