I remember this play seeming a bit slow and dated, but it did hold our attention and the acting was very good.
Tag: Orange Tree Theatre
Nan, John Masefield, Orange Tree Theatre, 5 May 2007
Very Orange Tree, this one.
Written in the Edwardian era. Set 100 years or so before that.
Janie is usually unenthusiastic about these period pieces, but we have been supporters of the Orange Tree for a long time and tend to get withdrawal symptoms if we reject all of the period stuff.
Mostly Orange Tree regulars in the cast. Auriol Smith directing, Sam Walters hovering around like an expectant father (we were there very early in the run).
Here’s the Orange Tree Archive to tell you all about it – click here. Didn’t realise the archive went back this far – pleasant surprise to find this. Even some headlines from the reviews – well done Orange Tree.
It was a very good production, this. One of the better ones there. Kate McGuiness was especially good in the lead.
The Skin Game by John Galsworthy, Orange Tree Theatre, 7 April 2007
Sam Walters really had got himself locked into the early 20th Century by this time. Frankly, we didn’t think this Galsworthy piece had aged very well. Add to that Sam’s strict orthodoxy about not cutting text, it was quite a long evening at the theatre.
Well acted and directed, we stuck it out for both halves although we did consider making a break for it at half time.
Click here for a link to the Orange Tree resource on this play/production.
The critics liked it rather more than we did. Click here for a link that finds reviews and stuff.
The Captain’s Tiger by Athol Fugard, Orange Tree Theatre, 21 October 2000
Not top drawer Fugard, this, but Janie and I are/were partial to Athol Fugard’s work and partial to The Orange Tree. This was to be the premier of a new Fugard play at one of our favourite places. What could there be not to like? We weren’t disappointed.
The cast: Peter Gale, Ben Warwick, Chad Shepherd and Leah Muller were all excellent. Auriol Smith directed this one well.
I think we went to see this just after press night.
Nicholas de Jongh liked it:
Tiger de Jongh Standard 23 Oct 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Dominic Cavendish found Fugard’s “self rite of passage” theme a bit smug, yet still he really liked it:
Tiger Cavendish Telegraph 24 Oct 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Unusually, The Guardian didn’t cover this one. How are Janie and I supposed to know what to think about this sort of play unless our friend, Michael Billington, tells us?
Seriously, we pretty much agreed with the above two reviews. It felt a little self-indulgent but we could forgive Athol Fugard some self-indulgence as he has entertained us so much and did so again in this piece.
No doubt we ate at Don Fernando and no doubt the waiters asked after The Duchess, as was their wont back then when Janie and I went to Richmond without her.
Dealer’s Choice by Patrick Marber, Orange Tree Theatre, Synergy Productions (Synergy Theatre Project) 14 May 2000
An unusual Sunday evening performance, this by a theatre company of prison inmates, performing through Synergy Productions, now known as Synergy Theatre Project. I sense from the website archive that Dealers Choice at The Orange Tree might have been their first ever production. 25 years later, Synergy is still going strong.
Esther Baker directed the cast, who came from HMP Latchmere House.
I remember we thought the performances and production was very good. Similar quality to the “semi-professional” productions we might see at The Questors Theatre with The Duchess, e.g.
Dealer’s Choice was an early Marber play that we missed when it was first produced. We are both so glad to have seen this production of it at The Orange Tree, as part of a small audience, witnessing the early stages of Synergy Theatre Project’s fine work.
Hurting by David Lewis, Orange Tree Theatre, 15 April 2000
We don’t often do last nights of runs, but, ahead of spending several weeks on our travels, we booked the only night of this run that we could do.
This was a good four-hander of a play with a reliable Orange Tree cast.
Kate Bassett in the Telegraph liked it, in similar “good but not great” terms as we might have used:
Hurting Bassett Telegraph 21 Mar 2000, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Nick Curtis in The Standard, on the other hand, hated it:
Hurting Curtis Standard 13 Mar 2000, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Paul Taylor in The Independent gets the casting vote – he liked it a lot:
Hurting, Paul Taylor, Independent 18 Mar 2000, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Where was Michael Billington, who was a regular Orange Tree reviewer back then, that’s what I want to know? And where did Janie and I eat? That second question is easier – for sure we’d have eaten at Don Fernando’s back then.
The Story of Jude by Geoffrey Beevers, Orange Tree Theatre, The Room, 22 October 1999
This was the last ever production in the Room above The Orange Tree pub itself. The bespoke Orange Tree Theatre had been up and running for a while by then and the decision was made to stop doing some shows above the pub still. A shame in a way, as we loved that small venue. But understandable.
Here is a preview of the show from the Richmond & Twickenham Informer:
Jude Richmond Informer 01 Oct 1999, Fri The Richmond and Twickenham Informer (Richmond upon Thames, London, England) Newspapers.com
Judging by the markings in both of our diaries, we had planned to go away for a couple of weeks that October and then changed our minds. Probably because we didn’t think we could leave Gavin unmanaged doing the works at Clanricarde Gardens. This was one of several things we booked up to replace the holiday. We both did some work but worked light during those weeks.
It wasn’t a great play or production, but the story was interesting and Mairead Carty was always very watchable.
We went to a restaurant named Burnt Chair in Duke Street afterwards. It was loved more for its wine list than its food, according to my 2003 Hardens and also this tombstone piece in The Standard when the place died in 2014.
Lips Together, Teeth Apart by Terrence McNally, Orange Tree Theatre, 12 December 1998
The end of a weird quarter, during which we only went to the theatre five times, all of those visits being in Richmond.
Anyway, we both rather liked this play/production, rating it:
A good one.
Very much an off-Broadway play, Lips Together, Teeth Apart worked really well in the round at The Orange Tree.
Nick Curtis was quite taken with it in The Standard:
Lips Curtis Standard 17 Nov 1998, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
No doubt we ate at Don Fernando’s afterwards – we pretty much always did, although I seem to recall trying an alternative place (Italian I think) that proved less satisfactory on one of those five autumn 1998 visits to Richmond.
The House Among The Stars by Michel Tremblay, Orange Tree Theatre, 31 October 1998
Our Richmond-fest continued with this Canadian (or should I say Quebecois?) play. My log was pretty clear on our take:
Dreadful, we almost missed it due to bad weather and road condition, but still left at half time.
Nick Curtis in The Standard was kinder than that, although still awarded it a blob:
Tremblay Curtis Standard 28 Oct 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
The local Chronicles spoke highly of it:
Tremblay Starr Chronicles 05 Nov 1998, Thu The Feltham Chronicle (Hounslow, London, England) Newspapers.com
No doubt Janie and I enjoyed our Don Fernando dinner afterwards, despite the play.
Sperm Wars by David Lewis, Orange Tree Theatre, 3 October 1998
My log is silent on this one. I think we quite liked it but clearly didn’t rave about it. Our diaries add nothing. Not even the fact that, almost certainly, we went to Don Fernando afterwards for a Spanish meal.
The local gazette papers had a rave review for this piece:
Sperm Harrison Gazettes 16 Oct 1998, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com
Nick Curtis in The Standard was less sure:
Sperm Curtis Standard 23 Sep 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com