Welcome to the next phase of our Recovery Season. As we enter our 50th year, we are very proud to be able to continue our recovery with this classic mixing of the old and new at the Orange Tree, alongside the renewal of our Community programme.

Although more recently British theatre has paid particular attention to his more sombre plays, in the 1930s and 1940s, Terence Rattigan was mostly celebrated for his comedies. Just as French Without Tears delighted audiences in the 1930s, While the Sun Shines was one of the most effervescent theatrical experiences of the 1940s, comfortably outlasting the war that was its setting. While the Sun Shines is a farce, not a form that Rattigan worked in very often – despite the pleasure he took in meticulous play construction.

Nathan Queeley-Dennis and Fiona Drummond will appear in PINOCCHIO at the Orange Tree this December, an enchanting new family show playing from 14 December.

One of the most successful productions in Orange Tree history is returning and we're excited to announce the cast for this five-star hit show. A rare revival of Terence Rattigan's greatest hit; it played for over 1,000 performances in the West End when it opened in 1943. The Guardian said it “Comes up fresh as paint”. Artistic Director “Paul Miller’s delightful production fizzes with fun... Make hay with a glorious night of theatre.” (Evening Standard).

Associate Director Ameera Conrad writes about the first few weeks of rehearsals for the UK premiere of Michele Lee's Rice, an Orange Tree Theatre and Actors Touring Company co-production playing at the OT from 9 October and livestreaming on 4-5 November

Zainab Hasan and Sarah Lam will appear in the UK premiere of Michele Lee's play RICE, directed by Matthew Xia. Our co-production with ATC previews from 9 October 2021 and will also be live-streamed on 4 & 5 November. 

We're excited to announce the cast of Athol Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act. JMK Award Winner Diane Page directs Scarlett Brookes, Richard Sutton and Shaq Taylor.

Playwright Bryony Lavery talks to OT Literary Associate Guy Jones about her 2004 play Last Easter, which receives its London premiere at the OT from 3 July.

Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Peter Caulfield, Jodie Jacobs and Ellie Piercy will appear in the London premiere of Last Easter directed by Tinuke Craig. Previewing from 3 July, it will also be streamed live via OT on Screen on 22 and 23 July.

Diane Page is the winner of this year’s JMK Award with her production of Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act by Athol Fugard about a interracial relationship under threat in Apartheid South Africa. This OT production - in association with the JMK Award - is part of our Recovery Season, previewing from 28 August. It will also be streamed live via OT On Screen on 23 and 24 September.

Alex Bhat, Joe Bolland, Jordan Mifsúd, Dorothea Myer-Bennett and Hara Yannas will appear in the two short plays that make up SHAW SHORTS - How He Lied to Her Husband and Overruled. Our first plays to reopen the theatre to in person audiences from 22 May, they're directed by Artistic Director Paul Miller, following his hugely successful rediscoveries of Shaw's early plays Candida, Misalliance, The Philanderer and Widowers' Houses.