The first Council of 1987 was held on 12 January. It was given the good news that Bennett's Kafka's Dick had played to 81 per cent and achieved a surplus of around £40,000. The play did not transfer but Stafford-Clark indicated that ‘long runs of this nature can clearly counter under-funding and are likely to be a feature of future programming’. The Court needed one big hit each season in order to survive and cushion those projects which it was important to do, but which did not do well at the box office. For example, a Joint Stock production of A Mouthful of Birds had only achieved 29 per cent. Ahead was Churchill's Serious Money and Dusty Hughes' Jenkin's Ear. Upstairs would see Perdition and The Emperor.

However, Perdition never appeared at the Court. It was with-drawn by Stafford-Clark on 20 January, two days before it was to receive its first performance. The circumstances which led to the decision, taken by the Artistic Director alone and not the Court's Council, constitute a quite extraordinary story, the details of which brought to a head the simmering resentment of some Court people against Stafford-Clark.