Orange Tree Theatre

Orange Tree Theatre

Formerly London's chintziest theatre, the Orange Tree is now one of its hippest
  • Theatre | Private theatres
  • Richmond
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

Starting life as a lunchtime pub venue in Richmond in 1971, the Orange Tree Theatre graduated to a bigger, 170-seat space across the road in the early ’90s, with a permanently in-the-round set up. The building's labyrinthine interior now sprawls across a Victorian gothic former primary school, and a monolithic, appropriately tangerine-hued extension. Founder Sam Waters, who ran the theatre for 42 years, deserves an enormous amount of credit, and in its day the theatre gave a leg-up to everyone from Martin Crimp to Sean Holmes.

However, the later days of Waters's reign saw the Orange Tree become rather moribund, with a programme based upon revivals of obscure period dramas that played well with the loyal, elderly audience but seriously lacked diversity, and probably played a large amount in the Arts Council scrapping all funding to the theatre.

Since then, his successor Paul Miller has completely turned the theatre around, with a programme that still makes the odd nod to the period works of the past (Miller himself specialises in directing taut Bernard Shaw revivals) but combines it with a formidable commitment to new writing and reaching out to younger and more diverse audiences. Alistair McDowell's mad dystopian thriller 'Pomona' scored acres of acclaim and tranferred to the National Theatre, sealing the theatre's resurrection.

The Orange Tree Theatre has also come up with new ways of bringing home the bacon, relying on donations, memberships and sponsorships from its West London community. Its success is shown in a perpetually heaving foyer, full of wine-toting theatregoers who spill out onto the Richmond streets outside. 

Details

Address
1
Clarence Street
Richmond
TW9 2SA
Transport:
Rail/Tube: Richmond
Price:
Various
Opening hours:
Check website for show times
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What’s on

Playhouse Creatures

3 out of 5 stars
This April de Angelis period drama feels like a great idea that could have been done better. To be honest, it could probably be done better by De Angelis herself: she was a young woman when it premiered in Leicester way back in 1993. Her intimate drama about five of the most prominent actresses of the Restoration – that is to say, five of the first ever English actresses – feels like the sketch for a bigger and more detailed play that was never actually made. Why revive it? Well, it’s an intriguing subject. More to the point, director Michael Oakley has pulled together this cast. Current Orange Tree boss Tom Littler has definitely upped the name quotient at the small but respected Richmond theatre since taking over last year. Anna Chancellor is a very decent get as Mrs Betterton, doting actress wife to Thomas Betterton, the unseen actor-manager of the Duke’s Company for whom the actresses work. Triple Olivier nominee Katherine Kingsley – last seen on stage leading the National Theatre’s Witches musical – is wonderful as the very tough, very bosomy Mrs Marshall. But it’s the less well know youngsters who really impress. Nicole Sawyerr was excellent in last year’s art exploitation satire My Mother’s Funeral. Here she’s brilliant as the flighty, cunning Mrs Farley, who goes on what one can only call Quite A Journey over the course of the play. It’s not the biggest role, but it calls for pitch-perfect comic and tragic timing and she really does deliver.  The revelation,...
  • Drama

Ben and Imo

The Orange Tree bags the London transfer of Mark Ravenhill’s new play, an RSC production directed by Erica Whyman that transfers down from Stratford-upon-Avon with its original cast of Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates. ‘Ben’ is Benjamin Britten, the great composer who is here under terrible pressure to come up with an opera to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II in just nine month. ‘Imo’ is Imogen Holst, the multi-instrumentalist daughter of Gustav – she comes to Ben’s aid with the opera, but can their friendship survive the tempestuous creative process?
  • Drama
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