★★★★★ “It is alive, relevant, moving, and very well crafted…a piece of great theatre.” Time & Leisure
★★★★ “Pamela Carter has brushed the cobwebs from this strange corner of Anglo-German relations and spun an irreverent new play about what it means to be English…how lucky we are, to have a playwright like Carter” The Arts Desk
★★★★ “An impressive achievement…this briskly-paced story supplies its audiences with a surprisingly balanced account of a key event in interwar history” LondonTheatre1
“Carter’s schoolboys embody human connectedness, warmth, a final camaraderie before the chill of history. Unmissable. ”Fringe Review
“The audience is immediately drawn into their world…excellent performances” Broadway World
“A stinging exploration of boyhood and patriotism…makes us wincingly love the boys they are, but fear for the men they might become” The Guardian
Guten Tag meine Herren und Frauen von Deutschland. We have travelled here from London, England. You may have heard of it.
On the morning of 17 April 1936, a group of 27 schoolboys, led by their teacher and newly arrived in Nazi Germany, set out on the first of a seven-day walking tour of the Black Forest.
By 8pm that evening, local villagers were searching for them in a blizzard.
You did say you wanted to take the scenic route.
Inspired by true events: a story of (mis)adventure and blind optimism, nationhood, and courage in the face of disaster.
Pamela Carter’s work includes The End Of Eddy (Unicorn Theatre), LINES (Yard Theatre), and Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner (National Theatre of Scotland).
Following his critically acclaimed, award-winning production of The Sugar Syndrome, Oscar Toeman (Actually, Trafalgar Studios; After October, Finborough) returns to the Orange Tree to direct.
✅ Book with confidence: If you or a member of your group cannot attend the performance just let us know up to 24 hours beforehand and we’ll help you exchange into an alternative performance or you can have credit to use another time. If a show is postponed or cancelled, we will offer credit for a future performance or a refund.
Most performances are available to book at full capacity. There are also a selected number of distanced performances with face coverings and reduced capacity. Should you wish to transfer from a full capacity performance to a distanced performance for your comfort, please contact our Box Office team who will be happy to assist you.
✅ Distanced performances are available on:
Tue 26 April 7.30pm, Sat 30 April 2.30pm, Wed 4 May 7.30pm, Sat 7 May 2.30pm, Tue 10 May 7.30pm, Sat 14 May 2.30pm , Tue 17 May 7.30pm, Thu 19 May 7.30pm, Tue 24 May 7.30pm, Sat 28 May 2.30pm
All other performances are at full capacity.
✅ We ask you to please consider wearing a mask when joining us for a performance, to protect the actors and reduce risk of cancellations, however it is not a requirement of entry.
