Built 1888 by Walter Emden and Bertie Crewe on the East Side of Sloane Square as a successor to a former "Royal Court Theatre" on the south side of Sloane Square (a converted chapel opened as "New Chelsea Theatre" in 1870, demolished in 1877). 1920 auditorium rebuilding. 1935-1940 used as a cinema. Damaged by bombs in 1940. Interior redesign by Robert Cromie. Re-opened 1952 as a live theatre. Various rebuildings. 2000 rebuilding by Haworth Tompkins. The theatre contains the main auditorium ("Jerwood Theatre Downstairs" with 370 seats) and a studio theatre (opened 1971, now named "Jerwood Theatre Upstairs" with originally 63, now 85 seats).

Notable world premieres:

• John Osborne: Look Back in Anger (8 May 1956)
• Samuel Beckett: Fin de partie (3 Apr 1957)
• John Osborne: The Entertainer (10 Apr 1957)
• John Arden: Live like pigs (30 Sep 1958)
• Samuel Beckett: Krapp's Last Tape (28 Oct 1958)
• Edward Bond: The Pope's Wedding (9 Dec 1962)
• John Osborne: Inadmissible Evidence (18 Aug 1964)
• John Osborne: A Patriot for Me (30 June 1965)
• Edward Bond: Saced (3 Nov 1965)
• Edward Bond: Early Morning (31 Mar 1968)
• Christopher Hampton: Total Eclipse (11 Sep 1968)
• John Hopkins: This Story of Yours (11 Dec 1968)
• Christopher Hampton: The Philanthropist (3 Aug 1970)
• Christopher Hampton: Savages (12 Apr 1973)
• Edward Bond: The Sea (22 May 1973)
• Richard O'Brien: The Rocky Horror Show (at Studio Theatre, 19 June 1973)
• Christopher Hampton: Treats (5 Feb 1976)
• Samuel Beckett: Footfalls / That Time (20 May 1976)
• Martin Sherman: Bent (12 May 1979)
• Caryl Churchill: Top Girls (28 Aug 1982)
• Ariel Dorfmann: Death and the Maiden (9 July 1991)
• Sarah Kane: Blasted (17 Jan 1995)
• Harold Pinter: Ashes to Ashes (12 Sep 1996)
• Mark Ravenhill: Shopping & Fucking (1 Oct 1996)
• Sarah Kane: Cleansed (6 May 1998)

Links: royalcourttheatre.com, Theatres Trust, EUTA, CinemaTreasures, Wikipedia