Orange Tree Theatre Archives - North West End UK

8Mar

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

Uncle Vanya – Orange Tree Theatre

Trevor Nunn directs this powerful reincarnation of Uncle Vanya, which meditates on human love, the spaces we inhabit, and the purpose we cultivate for ourselves. The design and setting of this version remain in 1897 - the time contemporary to Chekhov’s writing - while the written text itself also remained largely faithful to the original. The added humour was refreshing, which invited the essence of the piece into the mouths of the 21st Century actors without diverting or detracting from Chekov’s original. For example, the professor’s demand “Friends, lend me your ears” was quickly followed by the quip “I’ll give them back at the end” - with no harm done to the plot! The acting was simply faultless; phenomenal performances were offered by each and every actor. In particular, Andrew Ric...

29Jan

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Northanger Abbey – Orange Tree Theatre

Northanger Abbey? I hardly know ‘er! Zoe Cooper’s transformative adaptation of Austen’s offbeat gothic satire reinvents the much-neglected classic, leaning into its absurd humor, and imbuing it with a novel gravitas. Eschewing the modernizing impulse that so often muddies queer retellings of canonical works, this adaptation remains firmly rooted in the time and place of its origin and weaves a compelling original story out of each of the book’s special strands. This play packs a punch but doesn’t quite hit the spot. Designer Hannah Sibai’s work makes a most pleasing first impression. The cozy in-the-round Orange Tree Theatre is decked out in all hot pink and bedazzled with no less than seven chandeliers. A light aroma of fog pervades the space, hinting at the gothic vibes to come in th...

31Mar

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

You Bury Me – Orange Tree Theatre

‘You Bury Me’ unearths a young woman's longing for hope, her city and love. Don’t miss the show for its heartfelt performance and fantastic script. Ahlam's 'You Bury Me' is a coming-of-age love letter to adolescent curiosity, revolution and cities. Set in Cairo, it captures the life and times of young teenagers a few years after the Arab spring revolution. The Paines Plough co-production, interspersed with vigorous ensemble choreography and pop culture references, realistically brings on stage friends, bloggers, and students' lives, expressing themselves against the backdrop of an almost invisible oppressive regime. Set to the noise and chaos of a bustling city portrayed through its soundscapes and poetry. Cairo is like the character for the author, a muse and a longing. The team's ...

The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Orange Tree Theatre

21Oct

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Orange Tree Theatre

The solid life of sugar water opens at the Orange Tree Theatre to critical acclaim. The venue is a cosy setting for the play that brings the intimacy of a young couple to stage. They meet greet, to moving in and falling in love. It's a masterpiece on how theatre can dwell with poignancy on often untold stories and transport us to witness human beings with their rawest emotions. The audience enters the dark theatre that has ‘the bed’ centre stage lighted below. Around the room the screens display the dialogues as uttered by the actors on stage. Indiana Lown-Collins commitment to make access cool with the brilliant collaboration of designer Ica Niemez shines through. Actors Katie Erich and Adam Fenton arrive with authenticity, as they bring Alice and Phil to life with their sign, t...

13Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Yellowman – Orange Tree Theatre

Written by Dael Orlandersmith, this beautifully written two-hander is a masterpiece in storytelling of epic proportions. Whilst incredibly simple in design, the work is also superbly complex and intricate in nature, as Orlandersmith has interwoven duologue, storytelling, and testimony to narrate, in a poetic style, the intricacies of love, hate, bigotry, loss and difference that has haunted the African-American communities for hundreds of years. ‘Yellowman’ tells the story of two childhood friends. Alma and Eugene have grown up together. Alma, a dark-skinned African American girl, with a gin-sodden mother and dreams of a life beyond the confines of their small town. Eugene is lighter skinned, mixed heritage, educated and from a wealthier background. The story is one of raw contrasts, a...

14Jun

By Khushboo ShahNo Comments

London

The False Servant – Orange Tree Theatre

Gender fluid yet stereotypical, Martin Crimp’s translation of Pierre Marivaux’s French play The False Servant is probably the outcome of Commedia del'arte being shredded off its extreme archetypes and placed in a slightly modern context. Often reminiscent of Shakespeare and Moliere’s comedy, filled with subplots, disguise and conceit, wit and irony, courtship and lust, Orange Tree Theatre production presented The False Servant directed by their artistic director Paul Miller. The play opens announcing its period origins with the ensemble walking and bowing to festive and joyful music. We first meet Trivelin (Will Brown), the voluble and opportunistic aristocrat reduced to poverty by circumstance and Frontin (Uzair Bhatti) who introduces Trivelin to his mistress/ master successfully prov...

10Feb

By Alice RoseNo Comments

London

Two Billion Beats – Orange Tree Theatre

Orange tree Theatre’s new show ‘Two Billion Beats’ follows two sisters who meet at the bus stop. Both tackling their secondary school experience in very different ways. Asha, the older sister and arguably the smartest in the school is inspired by the revolutionary figures of the past. Bettina, the younger is tackling a revolution of her own, against her bullies on the bus. We meet them at the bus stop, detention and the park as Bettina does her best to avoid being by herself but one day, she asks Asha for help and as their political beliefs and the cause and effect begins to unravel, we question the damage of our actions. Safiyya Ingar and Anoushka Chadha beautifully portray the sisters with such depth and humour, pushing each other’s buttons with rage and burning sisterly love. Their ...

While The Sun Shines – Orange Tree Theatre

26Nov

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

While The Sun Shines – Orange Tree Theatre

British writer Terence Rattigan’s 1943 comedy ‘While The Sun Shines’ makes a grand return at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, after its sold-out run in 2019. Directed by Orange Tree Theatre’s artistic director Paul Miller, the show breathes a new life into Rattigan’s sharply-written farce about a lovers’ quarrel in the backdrop of the war through well-crafted performances and an engaging in-the-round staging. When it was first published, the show surpassed the success of Rattigan’s 1936 comedy ‘French Without Tears’ and had an immensely popular run of over 1000 performances on the West End. Many attribute this to Rattigan’s ability to wring humour from ordinary characters in absurd situations as well as subtly acknowledge the circumstances and implications of war in day-to-day life...

16Apr

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

REVIEWS

Outside – Orange Tree Theatre

This is the companion piece to Orange Tree Theatre’s Inside which featured three new short plays from emerging and established writers and Outside follows the same format with three more short plays livestreamed from the Orange Tree Theatre auditorium. The three plays have a distinct link in so much that they look at personal connection during difficult times and how healing can sometimes take place through mutual understanding and the ability to forgive Two Billion Beats by Sonali Bhattacharyya features two schoolgirl sisters one of whom is in detention. It’s a slim story but the dialogue between the two sisters (Asha played by Zainab Hasan & Bettina played by Ashna Rabheru) crackled along at a fair pace. It was unfortunate that the performance suffered from some so...

Inside – Orange Tree Theatre Live Stream

28Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Inside – Orange Tree Theatre Live Stream

In the first of two instalments of a series curated by OT Literary Associate Guy Jones, Inside looks at the lives of three women who feel that they have been forgotten by the world. In a world premiere livestreamed from Orange Theatre Company’s auditorium, the three 30-minute plays are part of the Orange Tree Theatre’s digital project, OT On Screen. The first of the three plays is written by Deborah Bruce called Guidesky and I and we walk in the shoes of Diana (Samantha Spiro). Diana is a mature single woman who is feeling the affects of the long lockdown, having recently lost her mother. We find Diana leaving her flat to go and clear out her mother’s house, having also lost her job recently. Her frustration is vented on Guidesky 125, who is the online customer ...