Evelyn Hoskins and Irfan Shamji in Mayfly, photo by Helen Murray; Paul Bradley and Belinda Lang in Humble Boy, photo by Manuel Harlan; Claire Price and Zubin Varla in Poison, photo by The Other Richard Good programming is an art, and Paul Miller is clearly on a continuous roll Aleks Sierz, The Arts Desk on Humble Boy Since November 2016 when :DISCOVER was launched, you have raised an incredible 70,000 to support the Orange Tree Theatre s work. At the start of our new season, and the final year of Arts Council England s match funding for :DISCOVER, we are delighted to report on the progress made over the last 12 months and how your support makes a huge impact on the Theatre and our future work. Your support of :DISCOVER has directly impacted the successes of the last year at the OT. It enables you, the audience to EXPERIENCE the next generation of theatre talent at work, EXPERIMENT with groundbreaking new plays and EXPLORE lesser-known contemporary plays that inspire theatremakers today. You may remember that our original aim was to raise 100,000 over three years to continue supporting the future of the OT. The campaign has been hugely successful to-date and as such, with your help we aim to raise 50,000 this year thereby exceeding the original target and helping us to exceed expectations for the Theatre s diverse and evolving programme.
The Merchant of Venice, designed by Jessica Staton, photo by Ellie Kurtz; Vivian Oparah and Cassie Clare in An Octoroon at the National Theatre, photo by Helen Murray; Irfan Shamji in Mayfly, photo by Helen Murray. EXPERIENCE the next generation of theatre talent at work Since November 2017 we have produced five new plays including the showcasing of two international writers and one writing debut. Through :DISCOVER and your contributions to the campaign, we champion new theatre talent and continue to support their development in the early stages of their career. In April 2018, we opened Joe White s debut play, Mayfly, directed by Guy Jones, the OT s Literary Associate. This was a truly home-grown production as Joe was a member of our 2017 Writers Collective. The cast included Irfan Shamji in his second professional role. Following Mayfly, Irfan has been cast in productions at the Royal Court and Almeida theatres. Without the Orange Tree, I'd never have had my first play published, and sold all over the world; I'd never have been able to feel, first-hand, where a scene works and where it fails, where it rises and falls; but, most importantly, I'd never have sat in a room, surrounded by people laughing and crying and connecting with my words - sharing the space, finding grace in commonality, and connection through storytelling. Joe White, writer of Mayfly In June this year, Vivian Oparah and Iola Evans reprised their roles as Minnie and Zoe in An Octoroon at the National Theatre. An Octoroon at the Orange Tree was the stage debut for both Vivian and Iola. Vivian s performance at the OT was nominated for an Off West End Theatre Award. This year, six writers have taken part in the Orange Tree s increasingly impactful Writers Collective (Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard). As well as regular meetings and workshops with industry experts, at the end of the year, we presented Uprising, a showcase of short plays by the writers, directed by Roy Alexander Weise (Nine Night, National Theatre and Trafalgar Studios, Evening Standard Award nominee for the Emerging Talent Award). Uprising is a chance for the writers to showcase their work on the OT stage and raise their profile within the industry. I thought the voices in the room were really well chosen to be as diverse and engaging as possible - it really felt like I was learning something new from each writer, we were all so different in our styles and what we wanted to explore. Feedback, 2018 Writers Collective participant
Claire Price and Zubin Varla in Poison, photo by The Other Richard; Robert Lonsdale in Utility, photo by Helen Murray; Sally Mesham and Katie Elin-Salt in Out of Love, photo by Jonathan Keenan EXPERIMENT with groundbreaking new plays :DISCOVER gives you the opportunity to experiment with new plays, by helping the OT to commission and produce premieres by emerging British writers, and international artists less-known in the UK Last year we reported that we had commissioned Chris Bush, and with the RSC co-commissioned Zoe Cooper to each write a play, working closely with OT Literary Associate Guy Jones. Chris play, Motherland touches on travel and identity as two people learn how to be themselves after the breakdown of their relationship. Zoe s play Out of Water is about queer parenthood and what it s like to settle down somewhere that isn t your home. As you read this report, we hope you will also have seen that Out of Water premieres at the OT in 2019. This Off-West End theatre, led by its artistic director Paul Miller, has an exceptional record in welcoming voices from the rest of Europe. Aleks Sierz on Poison The OT remains committed to producing plays not only from the UK, but from further afield. In November 2017, Paul Miller directed Dutch writer Lot Vekeman s Poison. The production was nominated for four Off West End Awards. In June we produced Utility, by Emily Schwend, the European Premiere of this Yale Drama Prize winning play. Over 4,400 people saw the show in its five-week run: more than saw the original production in New York. The production was nominated for Best New Play at the Off West End Awards. Last year we reported that we had co-commissioned three new plays with Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd. Out of Love, Black Mountain and How To Be A Kid toured from August 2017 in the Paines Plough Roundabout to ten venues before a six-week run at the OT in January 2017. More than 10,200 people saw the tour and a further 8,000 attended the run in Richmond.
Paul Bradley and Belinda Lang in Humble Boy, photo by Manuel Harlan; Tia Bannon and Remus Brooks in Losing Venice, photo by Stuart Burgess; Sue Wallace and Ian Gelder in The March on Russia, photo by Helen Maybanks EXPLORE lesser-known contemporary plays that inspire theatre-makers today The support you have given to :DISCOVER is key to the OT s ambition to embed revivals of lesser-known contemporary plays in the artistic programme. Last year, we reported on how we hoped to develop the contemporary revivals strand as a pivotal part of the OT s ongoing programme. Your investment has enabled us to produce two such plays this year: The March on Russia by David Story and Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones. Storey, who died this year, had a natural ear for the rhythms of domestic bickering; Hamilton matches it with a knack for articulating emotion in the rituals of domestic life Kate Maltby, The Times on The March on Russia September 2017 s production of The March on Russia saw Alice Hamilton return to the OT after directing 2016 s German Skerries by Robert Holman. Alice, along with co-artistic director Barney Norris, founded Up in Arms Theatre Company, and she is an impressive emerging directing talent. The March on Russia dealt with the relationships within a family on the eve of an anniversary, and was seen by over 6,000 people in its four-week run. The revival of Charlotte Jones Humble Boy was directed by Artistic Director Paul Miller. The play hadn t been seen in London since its 2001 premiere at the National Theatre. It was a sell-out success, with 7,390 people seeing the show in its six-week run at the OT. "a sparkling revival of a modern classic... both very clever and very funny... fast and furious, with each character brilliantly delineated... still fresh and relevant." Ben Lawrence, The Telegraph Most recently, the OT presented the first major revival of Jo Clifford s Losing Venice since its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1985. Paul Miller s production combined elements of punk in a scathing look at toxic masculinity within an empire. TOURING: OT ELSEWHERE :DISCOVER has enabled us to invest in touring beyond the OT s Richmond home. To be able to present our work to a wider audience is an ongoing OT ambition. Since we last reported to you a further 18,000 people have seen OT shows on tour enabling us to reach more audiences than ever: 90,000 in 2017/18. Roland Schimmelpfennig s Winter Solstice, an OT co-production with Actors Touring Company ran at the Theatre in January 2017. In early 2018 it toured to six venues with an audience of over 3,000 seeing the production. Kika s Birthday, a co-production with Little Angel Theatre and Wizard Presents was our Christmas show for younger audiences in 2017. Since then it has had two further runs: at Little Angel Theatre and at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where a further 500 people saw the show. This is a show to celebrate and it s possibly the only time you ll be delighted to find a mouse peeping its nose out of a bag of flour. Chris Wiegand, The Guardian on Kika s Birthday in Edinburgh
Last year we reported that The End of Hope, MA in Theatre Directing alumnus Max Elton s final piece, had transferred to the Soho Theatre. Over 3,100 saw the production at the Soho Theatre where it received a finalist nomination for Best New Play at the Off West End Awards in early 2018. Max Elton s production is outrageous from the very first beat, and never lets up. There s a laugh at every line, and even when there s no text, the audience still giggles Charlie Wilks, Broadway World Following its 2017 UK Premiere at the OT, An Octoroon transferred to the National Theatre in June 2018. The production was seen by 11,900 people at the NT s Dorfman Theatre, selling out in just under half an hour. Given its British premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre, the production now arrives at the National Theatre like a heat-seeking missile, releasing its energy and power, its comedy and its deep, dark anger. Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage Future Currently playing at the OT is a contemporary revival of Dealing with Clair, an early Martin Crimp play that was first produced by the OT 30 years ago in our original venue over the Orange Tree pub next door. The play is directed by English Touring Theatre s Artistic Director Richard Twyman. Richard Twyman directs a play that feels entirely modern Chilling stuff serves as a reminder of how Martin Crimp can zero in, with unnerving accuracy, on the deeply unlikeable aspects of ordinary people. Ann Treneman, The Times Your support has contributed towards our :DISCOVER new play, Rose Lewenstein s Cougar which premieres at the OT in February 2019. Rose is an emerging talent and the play explores a relationship between an older woman and younger man. Environmentalism is at the heart of the play: our senseless consumption of the world s resources is reflected by the characters imbalanced consumption of each other. Chelsea Walker, director of Low Level Panic in 2017, returns to the OT to direct Cougar: another emerging talent in directing. And as referenced earlier in the report we re thrilled to produce the world premiere of Zoe Cooper s Out of Water, co-commissioned with the RSC. Thank you With your support, the OT goes from strength to strength. Your donations and the match funding have made a huge difference to the OT s programme; this year, together we ve shown that a 180-seat auditorium can be the start of something bigger, with 55,000 seeing plays in our space, and a further 33,000 on tour. Without your support, we could not have made this significant impact on UK theatre. Thank you. Thanks to the overwhelming success of :DISCOVER, we plan to establish this transformative three-year campaign as an annual appeal from 2019. This will ensure we can continue to invest in new work and new artists, and achieve successes in this report for years to come. Our 2018/19 Season marks the final year of match funding from Arts Council England. Donations will be matched until June 2019: donate today and your support will be doubled. To continue your support you can donate online, sign up for a regular gift here, or contact Rebecca in the Development Team directly on 020 8940 0141 ext 204 or at rebecca.frater@orangetreetheatre.co.uk.
How your donation was used Experience 20% Experiment 41% Explore 39% Touring 1% Twitter comments on recent work at the OT