New Writing
New Writing
Embedded Files
‘One of the joys of the Orange Tree was that we were always encountering new plays…’
(Auriol Smith, Founder, Actor and Former Director)
The Orange Tree has at the same time attracted and nurtured new writing. In its first ten years alone, it produced 89 new plays.
James Saunders (1925-2004) was a supporter from the very beginning. Already an established playwright and coincidentally living on the same street as Walters and Smith, his absurdist plays were performed regularly at the Orange Tree.
The theatre also holds claim to staging the first play by another local writer, Martin Crimp (1956-). ‘Living Remains’ was produced in 1982 and followed by the next five of Crimp’s early plays, culminating in a new play written to mark the theatre’s 40th anniversary.
The Orange Tree was not afraid to take chances, and in 1988 it gave a successful full production to ‘Sperm Wars’ by David Lewis, a script which had arrived unsolicited in the post.
Other important and longstanding relationships were made with the writers David Cregan (1931–2015), Olwen Wymark (1932–2013) and Fay Weldon.
Top: ‘Dealing with Clair’, 1988.
Image credit: © Unknown. Image supplied by the OT.
Bottom: ‘Sperm Wars’, 1988.
Image credit: © Unknown. Image supplied by the OT.
'I still think of Martin as the chap who queued up outside Mrs Gail's nursery school in Parkshot, conveniently close to the theatre... I see him, still, standing outside waiting for his kids at the nursery school, rather than thinking of him as a great nationally-renowned playwright. That’s not to diminish in any respect his role, but it's the localism that’s the thing. I think the local is so, so important; accessibility is the fact that you know the actors, you see them in the streets'
(Paul Velluet, Former Trustee)
Perhaps the Orange Tree’s most significant relationship, however, was with the Czech playwright, former dissident and later president of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel (1936-2011). By chance in 1976, Walters became aware of one of Havel’s plays, ‘Audience’, which the Orange Tree staged the following year and, consequently, found itself in the news.
‘Audience’, 1977. Image credit: © Andrew Ward.
That year had seen the founding of Charter 77, a civic campaign in Czechoslovakia named after a document which accused the socialist government of prohibiting free speech. One of its leading instigators, Havel was tried for subversion and penalised by the Czech government. The Orange Tree’s productions arose considerable interest and the pub filled with members of London’s Czech community. A petition was organised and the Richmond Fringe marched on the Embassy with the playwright, Tom Stoppard, who was born in Czechoslovakia.
So began an enduring connection with Havel: on behalf of the Czech Embassy, the theatre hosted a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Charter 77, and in 2008 it gave the first production outside Prague of Havel’s final play, ‘Leaving’, attended by the playwright.
‘There is something unique to these islands that produces new plays like we used to produce North Sea oil…’
(Paul Miller, Artistic Director)
1: ‘An Octoroon’, 2017. Image credit: © The Other Richard. 2: ‘Pomona’, 2015. Image credit: © The Other Richard. 3. 'Play House', 2012. Image credit: © Robert Day.
‘It opens with everyone dying, basically… you find out how they ended up that way by the end...’
(Alistair McDowall, Writer)
‘Yeah, exactly. And then a character becomes a seagull’
(Ned Bennett, Director)
Other emerging writers have also found their voices at the theatre more recently, including Zoe Cooper (‘Jess and Joe Forever’) and Joe White (‘Mayfly’). In 2014, a production of ‘Pomona’ written by Alistair McDowall and directed by Ned Bennett – who had first encountered the Orange Tree on a school trip – exploded onto the stage. Set in a dystopian wasteland with nightmarish characters and a surreal atmosphere, ‘Pomona’ blew critics away. Another great success was ‘An Octoroon’, a nineteenth-century text reworked by another emerging playwright, Branden Jacob-Jenkins, to explore slavery and African-American heritage. Both plays quickly transferred to the National Theatre after sold-out runs.
‘I very much hope that it remains in the round... that it continues to do a very broad selection of writing and that it isn’t afraid of new unexplored authors.
I’d like it to always have that as its ethos’
(Auriol Smith, Founder, Actor and Former Associate Director)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse