Orange Tree Theatre announces new season including Lucas Hnath, Niamh Cusack and ”Northanger Abbey”

The Orange Tree Theatre (OT) has unveiled its productions for its first full year of programming under new artistic director Tom Littler.

The season opens with the inaugural Greenhouse Festival, a showcase of the theatre’s OT New Artists programme in collaboration with the drama school LAMDA. The festival will feature four productions by graduating LAMDA students, including Ross Willis’ Wolfie and Enda Walsh’s The Small Things, which will be directed by Martha Barnett and Robert Elwood, respectively.

The season also includes the first major London revival of Polly Stenham’s breakout hit That Face, with Niamh Cusack headlining the cast. Mustapha Matura’s Meetings will follow, directed by JMK Award winner Kalungi Ssebandeke in the first major UK revival.

In January, the OT will present Northanger Abbey, a new play by Zoe Cooper inspired by Jane Austen’s novel and directed by Tessa Walker. The play will be a co-production with the Octagon Theatre Bolton, the Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, and Theatre by the Lake.

The season also includes a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn, and the UK premiere of Kate Attwell’s Testmatch, directed by Diane Page and co-produced with ETT (English Touring Theatre) and Octagon Theatre Bolton.

Noël Coward’s Suite in Three Keys directed by Littler will also feature, and, completing the season, is the European premiere of Lucas Hnath’s Red Speedo directed by Matthew Dunster and co-produced with David Adkin.

hey will also welcome back Flute Theatre as an associate company with a production of Twelfth Night directed by Kelly Hunter for autistic individuals and their families.

Artistic Director Tom Littler said: “We’re excited to announce this year of great theatre at the Orange Tree. It builds on the OT’s history of a creative conversation between classics and new work, contemporary revivals and work with and for young people. The Orange Tree is a wonderful space to get to the heart of a play; to the human experience at its centre. These very different plays are united by their compassion and their heart.”