Orange Tree Theatre (OT) today announces further information for its 2024 Autumn season. The season features world premières of David Edgar’s Here in America and Hannah Khalil’s adaptation of Treasure Island alongside a revival of Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj and Jane Asher joining Oliver Ford Davies to star in Twelfth Night.
The Autumn season opens with the world première of David Edgar’s Here in America directed by James Dacre on 23 September, with previews from 14 September and runs until 19 October. Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj follows, with JMK Award winner Adam Karim directing the Obie Award winning play opening on 30 October with previews from 26 October and runs until 16 November. Hannah Khalil’s Treasure Island – an adaptation of R.L Stevenson’s 1883 novel directed by Natasha Rickman will run from 18 – 22 December.
Completing the season is a 1940s-set production of Twelfth Night directed by OT Artistic Director Tom Littler and starring Jane Asher as Maria and Olivier Award winner Oliver Ford Davies as Malvolio. Twelfth Night opens on 29 November, with previews from 23 November and runs until 25 January 2025.
Also announced today is the full cast and creative team for Suite in Three Keys. Tom Littler will direct Steffan Rizzi alongside the previously announced Stephen Boxer, Emma Fielding and Tara Fitzgerald. The creative team is completed by designer Louie Whitemore, lighting designer Chris McDonnell, sound designer and composer Tom Attwood, associate designer Jessica Staton and casting director Matilda James CDG.
Artistic Director of the OT Tom Littler said today, "The OT is a multigenerational crucible of creativity, where theatrical veterans share the stage with new talent. On Shakespeare's birthday, it's a pleasure to announce that two much-loved actors, Oliver Ford Davies and Jane Asher, will play antagonists Malvolio and Maria in Twelfth Night at the Orange Tree this Christmas. Also during the festive season, Hannah Khalil's hugely enjoyable Treasure Island will be performed by our 18—25 Young Company, in the largest-scale production seen on the OT stage for years. We're delighted that Adam Karim has won the JMK Young Directors Award with his superbly conceived production of Rajiv Joseph's Guards at the Taj, which will follow a new play by the great David Edgar, whose Here in America about McCarthyist Hollywood will be directed by James Dacre. And in a sneak preview of what's to come in 2025, we'll be following our production of She Stoops to Conquer with the 250th anniversary production of another masterpiece of eighteenth-century comedy: Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals."
Finally, the OT announced its upcoming programme of community work. Currently in rehearsals, on 6 May the OT Young Company will perform The Maladies by OT Writers Collective alumnus Carmen Nasr, directed by Ed Hill. The Young Company is an ensemble formed annually for people aged 18 to 25 seeking to develop as theatre-makers and performers. Primary Shakespeare, the OT’s flagship project bringing Shakespeare to primary schools, will be touring local schools with workshops over May and June ahead of school groups visiting the OT to see Hamlet, directed by Natasha Rickman, followed by a public performance on 23 June. Finally, a multigenerational Community Show, performed by OT Community members aged 6-96, will take over the OT stage on 28 July; this performance will bring together the OT's three youth theatres, Young Company and adult company, with over 100 performers sharing the stage.
Noël Coward’s
SUITE IN THREE KEYS
Directed by Tom Littler
Cast: Stephen Boxer, Emma Fielding, Tara Fitzgerald and Steffan Rizzi
Designer: Louie Whitemore; Lighting Designer: Chris McDonnell; Sound Designer and Composer: Tom Attwood; Associate Designer: Jessica Staton; Casting Director: Matilda James CDG
24 May – 6 Jul 2024
Press performances: Wednesday 5 June 2024 at 2.30pm: Double bill – Shadows of the Evening and Come into the Garden, Maud
Wednesday 5 June 2024 at 7:30pm: A Song at Twilight
In a luxury Swiss hotel suite, three separate stories unfold. In the full-length A Song at Twilight, an elderly writer faces blackmail at the hands of an ex-lover threatening to expose his secret past. Shadows of the Evening and Come into the Garden, Maud form a perfect double-bill, combining a late-life love triangle and a fizzing comedy about Americans abroad.
Noël Coward was one of the premiere entertainers of the 20th Century. Nicknamed, "The Master," Coward was a playwright, a lyricist, a composer, an actor, a singer, a director, and a producer. He has over fifty of his plays published, including The Young Idea, The Vortex, Fallen Angels, Hay Fever, Private Lives, A Design for Living, Tonight at 8:30, Present Laughter, This Happy Breed and Blithe Spirit.
Stephen Boxer plays Hugo Latymer, George Hilgay and Verner Conklin. His theatre credits include The Box of Delights (RSC), A Splinter of Ice (Jermyn Street Theatre), Macbeth, Stories, King Lear, The Holy Rosenbergs, Aristocrats, Power (National Theatre), Raising Martha (Park Theatre), The Inn at Lydda (Shakespeare’s Globe), Written on the Heart (Duchess Theatre), The Great Highway (Gate Theatre), A Chaste Maid (Almeida), Titus Andronicus, The Heresy of Love, Written on the Heart, The Taming of the Shrew and The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbs (RSC). His television credits include The Crown (as Denis Thatcher), Garrow’s Law and Doctors (as series regular Dr Joe Fenton); and for film, The Iron Lady, The Guard of Auschwitz, Red Joan, Teen Spirit and Postcards from London.
Emma Fielding plays Hilde Latymer, Anne Hilgay and Anna-Mary Conklin. Her theatre credits include A Museum in Baghdad (RSC), Mary’s Babies (Jermyn Street Theatre), A Woman of No Importance (Vaudeville Theatre), Terror (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (RSC), In the Republic of Happiness, Spinning into Butter (Royal Court Theatre), The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s Theatre, UK tour), Playing with Fire, Look Back in Anger, Arcadia (National Theatre), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Duke of York’s), Macbeth, Heartbreak House, 1953, School for Wives (Almeida), Private Lives (Noel Coward Theatre, Richard Rodgers Theatre). Her television credits include Van Der Valk, Close to the Enemy, Cranford; and for film, Fast Girls, Twenty8K, The Other Man, Discovery of Heaven, Pandemonium and The Scarlet Tunic.
Tara Fitzgerald plays Carlotta Gray, Linda Savignac and Maud Caragnani. She returns to the Orange Tree, having previously appeared in Duet for One. Her other theatre credits include The Secret Theatre (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Broken Glass (Kiln Theatre), A Doll’s House (Donmar Warehouse), And then there were none (Gielgud Theatre), Antigone (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, The Old Vic) and Hamlet (Almeida, Belasco Theater). Her television credits include Requiem, The Strike Series, Churchill’s Secret, In the Club, The Musketeers, Game of Thrones, The Body Farm, Waking the Dead, Jane Eyre, The Virgin Queen; and for film, The Runaways, Una, Exodus, Universal Pictures, Child 44, Five Children and It, In a Dark Place, I Capture the Castle, Secret Passage, Susan, Brassed Off, The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down a Mountain and Sirens.
Steffan Rizzi plays Felix. His theatre credits include King Lear (Almeida), Othello, The Corn is Green (National Theatre), Operation Julie (Theatr na nÓg), Waiter, There’s a Murder in My Soup (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre), Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Vulvarine (The Wardrobe Theatre) and The Secret Garden (Barn Theatre). His television credits include Pobol Y Cwm (as series regular DI Lloyd) and Respectable Girls.
Artistic Director of the OT Tom Littler directs his third production for the theatre, following The Circle (subsequently remounted by Theatre Royal Bath for a national tour) and She Stoops to Conquer. His other theatre includes Saturday Night (Jermyn Street Theatre, Arts Theatre), A Little Night Music (Budapest), Good Grief (Theatre Royal Bath), Dances of Death (Gate Theatre), Martine (Finborough Theatre), Miss Julie and Creditors (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, Jermyn Street), Tonight at 8.30, Cancelling Socrates, The Tempest, The Odyssey, 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre), Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Munich), and Hamlet (Guildford Shakespeare Company). He was Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre from 2017 to 2022, before moving to the OT.
OT AUTUMN SEASON:
HERE IN AMERICA
By David Edgar
Directed by James Dacre
14 September – 19 October 2024
Press Night: Monday 23 September 2024
On a rainswept afternoon in 1952, Hollywood and Broadway’s leading director, Elia Kazan met his closest collaborator, the playwright Arthur Miller. As the anti-communist crusade of McCarthyism blacklisted hundreds of their colleagues, Kazan and Miller faced a stark choice. Should they betray their friends, or risk never working again?
David Edgar’s illustrious career includes multi award-winning plays for the RSC and National Theatre. His compelling new drama imagines a confrontation between two giants of stage and screen, both passionately involved with an actress about to become the most famous movie star in the world.
David Edgar’s plays include Albert Speer, Playing with Fire (National Theatre), Testing the Echo (Out of Joint), If Only (Chichester Festival Theatre), Trying it On (Birmingham Rep, RSC, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and UK tour), Black Tulips (Kiln Theatre, US tour), Concerning Faith (Bush Theatre, Westminster Abbey). For the RSC, his original plays include Destiny, Maydays, Pentecost (also Young Vic), Written on the Heart (also Duchess Theatre), The Shape of the Table (also National Theatre) and The Prisoner’s Dilemma. His adaptations include Mary Barnes, Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George (Birmingham Rep), The Jail Diary of Albie Sach, Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby, Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (RSC) and English versions of Brecht’s Galileo (Birmingham Rep), Mother Courage and Her Children (Stratford Festival of Canada) and Ibsen’s The Master Builder (Chichester Festival Theatre). His television credits include The Eagle Has Landed, I Know What I Mean, Buying a Landslide, Citizen Locke, and Vote for Them; and for film, Lady Jane.
James Dacre directs. He is an Olivier and UK Theatre Award-winning Director and Creative Producer who recently launched Living Productions and is Guest Festival Director for this year’s Nevill Holt Festival. He was Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate Theatres from 2013-2023 where he produced more than 120 shows, of which 60 toured both nationally and internationally, and 42 transferred to London and were recognised with Olivier, Evening Standard, UK Theatre, WhatsOnStage and The Stage awards. During this time, the venue reached over three and a half million audience members and was twice shortlisted for Regional Theatre of the Year by The Stage (2022 and 2016) and chosen as 2020 Outstanding Theatre of the Year by Michael Billington. Prior to this, James was Associate Director at the New Vic Theatre, Theatre503 and the National Youth Theatre and directed productions for Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre, English Touring Opera, English Touring Theatre, the Royal Exchange Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Gate and in the West End and off-Broadway. He is a Board Director of Spirit of 2012, a Trustee for The Theatres Trust and Talawa Theatre Company and a Franco-British Young Leader.
GUARDS AT THE TAJ
By Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Adam Karim
In association with the JMK Award
Designer: Roisin Jenner
26 October – 16 November
Press Night: Wednesday 30 October 2024 at 7pm
“It’s crazy! Sixteen years in the making! Since we were kids, they’ve been building this!”
Agra, India, 1648. The sun rises on the final day of construction of the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful monument the world has ever seen. Imperial Guards and best friends Babur and Humayun must once again follow the Emperor’s orders, and resist the temptation to steal a glimpse.
But as morning’s first light touches the pure white domes, the urge is too strong, and Babur and Humayun are about to discover that beauty comes at a terrible price.
This is an audacious, funny and ever-surprising play about friendship, betrayal and power.
Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama and also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. His play Guards at the Taj was a 2016 Obie winner for Best New American Play and a 2016 Lucille Lortel Winner for Best Play. His play Archduke received its world premiere in 2017 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Other plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Monster at the Door, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, Mr. Wolf and Describe the Night.
Rajiv has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He is a board member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City, where he develops all his plays.
Adam Karim is a freelance theatre director and facilitator. He was most recently Donmar Warehouse Resident Assistant Director 2023 (Clyde's, When Winston Went To War With The Wireless, Trouble In Butetown). His other theatre credits as a director include Platform (East15), Pressure Drop (Immediate Theatre, The Yard, Schools tour), Second Person Narrative (Omnibus Theatre). As an assistant director, his credits include The P-Word (Bush Theatre, Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre), Sorry You're Not A Winner (Paines Plough).
TWELFTH NIGHT
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tom Littler
Starring Jane Asher and Oliver Ford Davies
23 November 2024 – 25 January 2025
Press Night: Friday 29 November 2024
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Malvolio runs the Lady Olivia’s house with puritanical zeal. By day, strict order is maintained and repeated advances from Olivia’s many admirers are firmly rebuffed. But after dark, wine flows freely and Olivia’s lady-in-waiting Maria is planning to settle old scores. When a shipwreck washes up two strangers, the scene is set for a comedy of romantic chaos.
Olivier Award-winning Oliver Ford Davies is among the greatest Shakespearean actors of his generation. He returns to the OT to play Malvolio, alongside Jane Asher playing Maria, last seen at the OT in The Circle.
OT Artistic Director Tom Littler directs a 1940s-set production of Shakespeare’s heartrending and hilarious masterpiece of mistaken identities and secret desires.
Jane Asher returns to the OT to play Maria, having previously appeared in The Circle. Her recent theatre credits include A Song at Twilight, Moon Tiger (Theatre Royal Bath), An American in Paris (Dominion Theatre), Great Expectations (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Gathered Leaves (Park Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Charley’s Aunt (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Importance of Being Earnest, Farewell to the Theatre, Bedroom Farce (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Blithe Spirit (Vaudeville Theatre), To Those Born Later, The School for Scandal and House/Garden (National Theatre). For television, her credits include Holby City (as series regular Lady Byrne), Eve, Stella, Dancing on the Edge, The Old Guys, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Crossroads, Jackanory, Wish Me Luck and The Mistress; and for film: Death at a Funeral, Burn Burn Burn, Drunk on Love, I Give it a Year, Deep End, The Masque of Red Death and Alfie.
Oliver Ford Davies returns to the Orange Tree, having previously performed in The Promise, Larkin with Women, The Linden Tree and King Cromwell. His extensive other theatre credits include All’s Well That Ends Well, Much Ado About Nothing, Saint Joan, The Life of Galileo, Playing with Fire, Absence of War, Murmuring Judges, Racing Demon, The Shaughraun, Hamlet, The Shape of the Table, Peter Gynt (National Theatre), King Lear, Coriolanus, Richard II, King Lear, Naked, Ivanov (Almeida Theatre), Cressida, Henry IV Part 2, Written on the Heart, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (RSC), Richard II (Barbican, RSC, BAM Theatre), The Soldier’s Fortune (Young Vic), Absolutely! (Perhaps) (Wyndham’s Theatre) and Heartbreak House (Theatre Royal Haymarket). His television credits include Game of Thrones, Waking the Dead, The Way We Live Now, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Kavanagh QC, Departure, Father Brown and Catastrophe; and for film, Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Atonement, Heidi, Johnny English, An Ideal Husband, Titanic Town, Mrs Brown and Sense and Sensibility.
TREASURE ISLAND
By Hannah Khalil
Pirated from the novel by R.L. Stevenson
Directed by Natasha Rickman
18 – 22 December
Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It’s the glory of the sea that has turned my head.
When the fearsome sea-dog Captain Flint dies suddenly, Jim Hawkins and friends stumble on the key to a fortune. Landlubbers all their lives, they board the good ship Hispaniola with a crew hand-picked by the trusty cook, Long John Silver.
Hannah Khalil (RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe) recreates Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel in a show for pirates of all ages, filled with sea-shanties and pieces of eight.
Performers from the OT Young Company join forces with Carne Associate Director Natasha Rickman and a professional creative team for a swashbuckling adventure.
Auditions for the OT Young Company 2024–25 (for ages 18 to 25) will be held in Summer 2024. Visit our website for more information: orangetreetheatre.co.uk/community/young-company
Hannah Khalil’s theatre credits include Hakawatis, Henry VIII, The Fir Tree (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Tempest (Little Angel Theatre), A Museum in Baghdad (The Swan Theatre), Bitterenders (Arcola Theatre), Mrs Scrooge (Fly High Stories), Myths and Adventures from Ancient Greece (Watermans Arts Centre), Dear Tomorrow – Hope from Home (Northern Stage), Not The Gingerbread Man (Fly High Stories), Penelope (Jermyn Street Theatre), Interference: Metaverse (National Theatre of Scotland), The Scar Test (Soho Theatre), Scenes from 68* Years (Arcola Theatre), Bond of Love – Walking the Tightrope (Theatre Delicatessen), Worst Cook in the West Bank (Old Red Lion Theatre and Unity Theatre), Plan D (Tristan Bates Theatre), Bitterenders (Z Space, Golden Thread’s ReOrient Festival San Francisco), Leaving Home (King’s Head Theatre). Her film credits include Suited and The Record.
Natasha Rickman directs. She is the Carne Associate Director at the OT and LAMDA. Her directing credits include Little Women (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre), The Prince (Southwark Playhouse) Antigone (Storyhouse), Now and Then (English Theatre Frankfurt), Richard II (Guildford Shakespeare Company), The Standard Short Long Drop (The Vanguard Theatre), Beauty and the Beast, The Time Machine, Duchess of Malfi, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Whatsapp (Creation), Much Ado About Nothing (RADA at the Utah Shakespeare Festival) and the forthcoming Romeo and Juliet (Orange Tree Theatre, Guildford Shakespeare Company and UK tour) among others.
The OT Young Company is an ensemble formed annually for people aged 18 to 25 seeking to develop as theatre-makers and performers. Participants experience rehearsal processes for scripted and devised work, receive masterclasses from leading industry freelancers, learn how professional theatre operates, and form a vibrant part of the OT's ecosystem of emerging artists.
COMING SOON IN 2025:
THE RIVALS
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The 250th anniversary production directed by Tom Littler
More information and on sale dates to be released in Autumn 2024.
ORANGE TREE THEATRE
1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA
Box Office: 020 8940 3633 (Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm)
orangetreetheatre.co.uk
TESTMATCH
20 April – 18 May 2024
Press Night: Wednesday 24 April at 7pm
Octagon Theatre Bolton
23 May – 1 June
Press Night: Friday 24 May at 7:30pm
THE MALADIES
OT Young Company
6 May 2024
SUITE IN THREE KEYS
24 May – 6 Jul 2024
Press Nights: Wednesday 5 June 2024 at 2.30pm: Double bill – Shadows of the Evening and Come into the Garden, Maud
Wednesday 5 June 2024 at 7.30pm: A Song at Twilight
Primary Shakespeare: HAMLET
3 June – 5 July 2024 (schools’ workshops and performances)
Mon, Tue & Fri
Public performance 23 June at 2.30pm
RED SPEEDO
13 Jul – 10 Aug 2024
Press Night: Thursday 18 July at 7pm
COMMUNITY SHOW
28 July at 2pm and 6pm
HERE IN AMERICA
14 September – 19 October 2024
Press Night: Monday 23 September 2024 at 7pm
Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thu & Sat 2.30pm
GUARDS AT THE TAJ
26 October – 16 November
Press Night: Wednesday 30 October 2024 at 7pm
Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thu & Sat 2.30pm
TWELFTH NIGHT
23 November 2024– 25 January 2025
Press Night: Friday 29 November 2024 at 7pm
Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thu & Sat 2.30pm
TREASURE ISLAND
18 – 22 December 2024
