The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) announce that Kyoto will transfer to @sohoplace for a limited 16-week run from Thursday 9 January to Saturday 3 May 2025.
The production transfers direct from its critically acclaimed run in Stratford-upon-Avon; one of 17 productions announced as part of Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s inaugural programme as RSC Co-Artistic Directors and their first co-production with Good Chance.
The London transfer will see Tony award-nominated actor Stephen Kunken (Billions, The Handmaid’s Tale) reprise his celebrated role as American oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman, after making his RSC debut earlier this year.
The announcement coincides with the release of further casting for the RSC’s upcoming productions of The Red Shoes and Twelfth Night. The productions run from the 7 November 2024 to 19 January 2025 in the Swan Theatre and 5 December 2024 to 18 January 2025 in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, respectively.
Global in scale and yet personal at heart, Kyoto is a fast-paced, politically charged thriller which places audiences at the heart of the historic 1997 Kyoto climate summit, a world where big oil, big money and big egos clash in the battle to secure the world’s first legally binding emissions targets. Written by Good Chance co-founders, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (The Jungle, The Walk with Little Amal) and directed by Stephen Daldry (Stranger Things The First Shadow, Billy Elliot, The Inheritance) and Justin Martin (Stranger Things The First Shadow, Prima Facie), this breathless and gripping tale recounts the fateful hours of tense negotiation which lead up to the historic signing of the UN’s landmark climate conference in December 1997. The production features a unique production design by award-winning designer Miriam Buether.
Also returning to the cast Jenna Augen (Shirley), Olivia Barrowclough (Secretariat), Jorge Bosch (Raul Estrada-Oyuela), Nancy Crane (USA), Andrea Gatchalian (Kiribati, AOSIS), Togo Igawa (Japan, Ohki), Kwong Loke (China, Zhong), Dale Rapley (Bolin, Santer, Gore), Raad Rawi (Saudi Arabia, Al Sabban) and Ferdy Roberts (UK, Prescott, Houghton).
The full creative team for Kyoto comprises; Miriam Buether (Set Designer), Natalie Pryce (Costume Designer) Aideen Malone (Lighting Designer), Christopher Reid (Sound Designer), Akhila Krishnan (Video Designer), Paul Englishby (Composer), Gemma Stockwood (Dramaturg) and Julia Horan CDG (Casting Director).
