Open Court: Death Tax, Royal Court - theatre review

There’s something delicious about the fact it was that strict formal innovator Caryl Churchill who suggested the idea of an old-fashioned weekly repertory company forming the centrepiece of the Royal Court’s summer jamboree, Open Court. New artistic director Vicky Featherstone has boldly let more than 140 writers loose in the building for six weeks to get up to all sorts of creative high-jinks; during this time a company of 14 actors will rehearse one play by day while performing another by night. The end of the pier comes to Sloane Square.

Firstly, I’d recommend getting to the theatre early, picking up a set of headphones from the front desk and heading off to the 10 listening points for the Lost in Theatre plays. These short audio dramas reward us handsomely with our own private soundscape in public.

This week’s Weekly Rep offering is Death Tax by American playwright Lucas Hnath, a pleasingly nimble-footed domino-row of moral dilemmas toppling in a nursing home. The centre of emotional gravity shifts uneasily, as an elderly lady (Anna Calder-Marshall) accuses her daughter of paying a nurse (Natasha Gordon, splendid) to hasten her demise and thus speed up the inheritance.

It’s a thoughtful meditation on money and ageing and whether one can outlive the other. Sensitively directed by John Tiffany, with some tweaking and pruning this would merit a full-length run.

Until July 20 (020 7565 5000, royalcourttheatre.com)