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White Pearl Tickets

The Royal Court's White Pearl is the new debut play by New Yorker Anchuli Felicia King

To be confirmed

Performance dates

10 May - 15 June 2019

Run time To be confirmed.

Includes interval

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White Pearl Royal Court tickets are on sale now!

What is the new play White Pearl about?

White Pearl tells the tale of Clearday™, a start-up cosmetics company based in Singapore that successfully developed into a leading cosmetics brand in just under a year. Now seen as a world-renowned sensation, the company gets caught in high water when a working draft of their latest advert for skin cream leaks onto the internet. The video goes viral in the worst possible way and the company finds itself in the biggest global PR nightmare since Pepsi’s controversial Kendall Jenner ad.

Whitewashing takes front and center in White Pearl

As the YouTube views continue to climb day by day, outrage begins to plague social media while news outlets begin covering the story. Clearday™ can’t be seen as a racist corporation and they scramble to take the video down on all platforms before America wakes up to see their shameful faux pas. Will they manage to save their big reputation in time or will it be a dark day for Clearday™? White Pearl is a thought-provoking play that will spark debate on how far companies should go in their pre-screening process before they green light a project that could be damaging to the way their brand is perceived.

Anchuli Felicia King in her playwrighting debut

White Pearl is the first play by Anchuli Felicia King, a multidisciplinary artist based in New York who is of Thai-Australian descent. It is directed by Nana Dakin, who is best known for her work on Mary Jane at the New York Theater Workshop as Directing Fellow and for her work on Wild Goose Dreams at the Public Theatre in NYC.

Don’t miss this fantastic new Royal Court production. Book your tickets to White Pearl early and secure the best seats and prices when you use our interactive seating plan!

Special notes

Captioned performances: 22, 29 May, 5 and 12 June 2019 Audio Described performance: 8 June 2.30pm Relaxed environment performance: Saturday 1 June at 2.30pm

Recent Reviews

3.6
9 reviews
Irina Tan

The attempt on addressing racism amongst Asians was rather weak. There’s so much to talk about historically for the tensions that exist. It felt very glossed over and slightly unfocused.

Judith Raymo

Insipid dialogue with an overuse of four-letter words. Portrays young Asian women as a bunch of overindulged spoiled brats. Definitely wouldn’t recommend to anyone over the age of 25. Older theatregoers beware.

François Bonnafy

Very interesting play. the actresses and the lone actor played well and immersed themselves and us, in a subject which is very relevant in modern business life. Of course being French, I am not absolutely happy with the caricatural villain being French, but it is a refreshing change from the mustachioed western oriental Saddam look-alike, the guttural Russian, the heels-clicking German, not to mention the long-nosed Jew of yore. It is fascinating to see how thoroughly the former British colonies assimilated the very special view of the English on the French. The theater itself is comfortable and offer good views. Spectators are allowed to bring their glass in, but behave in a civilized fashion. I highly recommend both the play and the venue

Liza Dodds

Interesting treatment of racism from Asians about Asians and black people.

Shosh Morris

Underwhelmed. An old message served up in fancy dress. Clever staging but nothing original to say. Why is your theatre so cold?

Lenah Susianty

very entertaining

Martin

The diction in the first 15 minutes or so was poor or at least the people in my party said this afterwards and they are by no means all deaf. I thought the set was 5*, it really created the feeling of being in a ultra high-speed business world where your job and livelihood are on the line the whole time. The actor who stood out for me was the short, oriental woman who wore black and white and appeared to be, at least in the first half,the right hand woman to the absolutely gorgeous exec in the red hot outfit.

Stephen Gagen

As a Director myself, I would not have staged this play in its present form. The premise is a good one, and it is full of good ideas, but the writing is essentially undramatic and is clearly the work if an inexperienced playwright. The script is in dire need of the attentions of a dramaturg. Plays need to show things, not talk about things. The direction could have been better. Too many scene changes! Also, the cast needed to be encouraged to engage with the audience. They were all bound up with themselves, usually acting behind a table or counter too, so that we could not see them clearly. I'm a little surprised that Royal Court staged such an undeveloped work.

Alison Goncalves

A thought provoking work. Time flew!

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