Orange Tree Theatre

Events at Orange Tree Theatre

• Alisons House

  Performance

  7 Oct 2009 to 7 Nov 2009

  It is 18 years since Alison Stanhope, the country's foremost poet, died. Now the house must be sold. But the house holds secrets. Is it right for the family to protect itself and its past or does Alison belong to everyone? Inspired by the life and work of Emily Dickinson, this play won Susan Glaspell the 1930 Pulitzer Prize and our production develops our relationship with the author after productions of The Verge, Inheritors and the recent Glaspell Season, which included the hugely successful Chains of Dew.

   

• The Lady or the Tiger

  Musical

  16 Dec 2009 to 13 Feb 2010

  This show is very special for the Orange Tree. We produced it in the summer of 1975. We brought it back for Christmas. It transferred into the West End. We revived it in 1989. But the time has come to produce it in the new theatre. The King of a semi-barbaric kingdom builds a new arena. He needs big event to open with. When his search bears fruit it causes heart ache for the beautiful princess. The music and lyrics are written by the same team who wrote Wild Wild Women. The music is stunning. This is a Christmas show to die for.

   

• The Making of Moo

  Performance

  11 Nov 2009 to 12 Dec 2009

  At the farewell ceremony for the creator of the new dam, a murder is committed. The engineer, Frederick Compton, learns that while he may have brought this backward nation electricity and water, he has killed their river god. He and his wife cannot simply abandon the country to a lawless, godless future. They must stay. A new god must be created. First presented at the Royal Court with a cast that included Joan Plowright, John Osborne and George Devine as the civil engineer turned high priest, who said of this biting satire ?exactly what I want to have said in my theatre.

   

• The Ring of Truth

  Performance

  3 Sep 2009 to 3 Oct 2009

  Tom Gore and his wife Emma have much to celebrate, especially as a promotion to a directorship seems to be in the bag. But then a ring is lost. An engagement ring. Emma is distraught while Tom insists on remaining rational, maintaining that, ultimately, it is only a symbol. Yet their world is suddenly plunged into a chaos of over-amorous lodgers, hysterical nannies and suspicious policemen. The loss of a ring cannot surely threaten a marriage, a child, an extended family, promotion, careers, friends, colleagues, workers, and indeed a whole village - can it? Both funny and thrilling this is another Orange Tree re-discovery to be relished.