Following the successes of its sold-out 2019 premiere and subsequent run in 2021, the award-winning seven methods of killing kylie jenner by Jasmine Lee-Jones, directed by Royal Court Associate Director Milli Bhatia, will be available to stream worldwide for three weeks from Sunday 27 March 2022, World Theatre Day. The cast features Tia Bannon and Leanne Henlon. As director, for the Royal Court: Baghdaddy, Maryland, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Living Newspaper, My White Best Friend (and Other Letters Left Unsaid), This Liquid Earth: A Eulogy in Verse [Edinburgh International Festival], Half Full (& RWCMD), Dismantle This Room. Read more: Idris Elba’s Tree at Manchester International Festival: ‘A shallow exploration of roots’ Television/digital includes: Have Your Circumstances Changed?, Brainstorm, The Astro Science Challenge, Women of Troy. As Cleo continues her campaign, the tangled throbbing mess overhanging Rajha Shakiry’s dark set lowers ominously over the heads of the characters – the net is closing in.

One of the most significant elements of the play is its use of language. The play relies on modern language inspired by internet speak and includes elements such as memes and pop culture references. In particular, @INCOGNEGRO’s tweets make clever use of language and are written like poems. In my search for a show trailer, I instead stumbled upon this oh-so-Hollywood report on Jasmine Lee Jones‘ play and fawning over the young reality TV star. ‘Confused by the title… and maybe a little scared’.

Reviews

YT woman born into rich American family, somehow against all odds, manages to get more rich…” [slow hand clap] And why those of us who, like Kylie Jenner, have been born white or wealthy or more privileged, must do much more to listen, to understand, to redress. To lighten the load others have been shouldering for generations. The setting of the story is modern-day England. Half of the play takes place IRL (in real life), mostly in Cleo’s bedroom, while the other half takes place online. As the threats continue, the friendship is put to the test. ‘What’s you’re suffering from is an acute case of lightyitis,’ Cleo tells the paler skinned Kara. ‘You might as well be calling me a half breed,’ Kara retorts.

After two successful runs at the Royal Court, the play is streaming until April 17. It’s a shame that technical bandwidth issues break the flow with occasional buffering issues; but drama rarely gets more contemporary than this. Forbes Magazine claims Kylie Jenner’s a 'self-made billionaire' and Cleo isn’t having a bar of it. She’s got a lot to say and on the internet, actions don’t always speak louder than words… We will accept proof of vaccination via Excelsior Pass, the NYC Covid Safe Pass, a copy or photo of your CDC vaccination card, and/or a copy or photo of an official immunization record from outside the United States. The creative team for seven methods of killing kylie jenner on stage includes: Rajha Shakiry (Designer), Jessica Hung Han Yun and Amy Mae (Co-Lighting Designers), Elena Peña (Sound Designer), Delphine Gaborit (Movement Director), Jemima Robinson (Associate Designer) and Shereen Hamilton (Assistant Director).

On Twitter on the night

Those that do not abide by any health and safety protocols will be denied entry or removed from the facility. Cleo wants to kill Kylie Jenner. Her friend Kara just wantsCleo to chill out and stop tweeting elaborate death threats about Insta-celebrities: the title’s ‘Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner’. But for Cleo, the success of 21-year-old ‘self-made millionaire’ Jenner taps into something much deeper. Jasmine Lee-Jones’s powerfully original debut play follows these two female friends having the most blistering, agonising, meme-scattered row of their lives. Nothing’s off-limits, from primary school humiliations to the vast structural privilege that light-skinned women have. Following the successes of its sold-out 2019 premiere and subsequent run in 2021, this award-winning play is now available to stream worldwide for three weeks only. Their responses to follow-up questions were similarly vague. If they were hoping to start a conversation, it seems they were strangely unwilling to continue it.

Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner’ transfers to the Royal Court’s Downstairs Theatre to open its 2021 season. This review is from its debut Upstairs in July 2019. Leanne Henlon replaces Danielle Vitalis. In some ways, the downward spiral of the tweet from witty callout to unbridled mess isjust a vehicle forthe friendship of Cleo and Karato play out in. It’s one rooted in chaos, strengthened in conflict and underpinned by a deep, clawing love. Under Sebbens’ deft direction, even in moments when Lee-Jones’ dialogue threatens to move into the didactic, Maturure and her co-star still make it feel like a whole lot of fun. If this decision by Harris and Enright – neither of whom is a person of colour – was meant as a call to action to increase the diversity of reviewers overall, then great, though this was a misguided way to do it. If it’s because they thought only PoC would understand this show to the level required to offer fair and unbiased criticism, it’s a highly flawed stance. Good critics – irrespective of their lived experience – put their biases to one side and identify what does and doesn’t work in a piece of art. Cleo and Kara have grown up with social media, and are comfortable with its abbreviations: their conversation is dotted with WTF, FFS, IDK and IRL among others. No need to spell out the sentiments: the verbal emoji’s speak for themselves.When leading international news organisations join the conversation, Cleo is thrilled. Her words are on the world stage, and she is finally heard. Memes of Kermit the Frog sipping tea and Oprah Winfrey colour the conflict, but then the trolls get deeper, darker and dirtier. Offensive to the extreme. As assistant director, for the Royal Court: Inside Bitch (& Clean Break), Poet in da Corner, One For Sorrow, Instructions for Correct Assembly, Girls & Boys. For the Royal Court: two Palestinians go dogging, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Maryland, Living Newspaper, Baghdaddy.

This is a desperately topical play that wears the politics of gender, identity and race on its sleeve – sometimes too much so. Cleo and Kara openly debate the issues and while they deliver hard-hitting messages, it sometimes feels as if the characters have stepped outside the drama to comment on the world. And despite the intrigue of the title, it feels fairly plotless and sometimes static, even though Lee-Jones’s dialogue is acerbic and entertaining. Rajah Shakiry’s set consists of a tangled network of ropes, with dozens of strands hanging down on the performers – the multiple threads of social media made tangible. There are moments of visual wit, too, and Elena Peña’s intricate sound design both drives and punctuates the action. The tweets they perform are by turns funny, angry and deeply offensive, complete with laughs and screeches, acronyms (LOL, FFS, OMG) and monkey impressions enacted from the racist tweets. Jasmine Lee-Jones won multiple awards for her debut play directed by Milli Bhatia including the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Most Promising Playwright Awards, and the Alfred Fagon Award. She originally developed as a writer through the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Court programme as part of their commitment to nurturing new voices. Milli Bhatia was previously Trainee Director at the Royal Court and is now a Literary Associate.Jasmine Lee-Jones won multiple awards for her debut play directed by Milli Bhatia including the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Most Promising Playwright Awards, and the Alfred Fagon Award. She originally developed as a writer through the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Court programme as part of their commitment to nurturing new voices. Milli Bhatia was previously Trainee Director at the Royal Court, and is now an Associate Director. Complete vaccination is fourteen days following a final dose of the Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Moderna, or Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Both Henlon and Bannon truly excel in their roles. Henlon brings a raw grit and determination to the character of Cleo, while ensuring she remains likeable. Bannon delivers clever one-liners, which make the audience laugh out loud. Their easy banter in the first section, and later, the hurt they display when recounting upsetting situations in the past feels so genuine, it is easy to forget that we are watching a play.