Blood of My Blood opens at the Royal Court for 70th anniversary season
Joy Nesbitt's Blood of My Blood opens at the Royal Court Theatre in London on Monday 12 October 2026.
The run continues to Saturday 7 November, according to the theatre's listings Royal Court Theatre. It is staged as a world premiere, meaning this is the first full production of the play, and is co-produced with Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.
The production forms part of the Royal Court's 70th anniversary season, which was announced in October 2025 WhatsOnStage. The theatre describes the play as a haunting new work about inheritance and belonging Royal Court Theatre. The season announcement said it focuses on ancestral conjure.
Nesbitt is an American-born, UK-based playwright. Blood of My Blood is her Royal Court debut. Her previous work includes Scenes with Black Folk. The production is directed by Tatenda Shamiso WhatsOnStage.
The story moves between two periods. One is set in 1862, on the eve of the abolition of slavery. The other is set in the present day. The Guardian has described the play as both a ghost story and a reckoning with the undocumented history of enslaved people The Guardian.
Jodie Campbell plays protagonist Tallulah in the present-day story. Patrick Vaill plays her historian husband. Hannah Morrish plays two roles, Nora in the present and Amanda in 1862. Ronkẹ Adékọlụẹjọ plays Ginnie Good.
The audience sits close. Designer Natalie Pryce has built a shack and garden with a tree, with seating in traverse, meaning the audience sits on two sides facing each other across the stage. Lighting is by Simisola Majekodunmi. The soundscape is by Kayodeine.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the staging in a small room. Quotes carried on the Royal Court's official page call it a "tight, challenging, timezone-hopping debut play" from The Standard, and "funny and gut-wrenching" from The Stage Royal Court Theatre. For audiences booking now, it is a four-actor, two-period premiere anchoring the anniversary programme.
