Theatre News

Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree to return with guest stars including Luke Thompson, Indira Varma and Michelle Terry

The show celebrates its 20th anniversary

Alex Wood

Alex Wood

| London |

22 January 2025

Luke Thompson, Tim Crouch and Indira Varma, photo by Lee Malone, Francesca Moody Productions and David Reiss
Luke Thompson, Tim Crouch and Indira Varma, photo by Lee Malone, Francesca Moody Productions and David Reiss

The Young Vic has announced that Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree will be staged to mark the play’s 20th anniversary.

Presented by Francesca Moody Productions in association with the London venue, the production will feature Crouch performing alongside a different guest artist at each performance. Which artist (who has not seen or read the play beforehand) will only be revealed to the audience on the night.

The story follows a father who has lost his daughter in a car accident and the driver of the car, who is a stage hypnotist. Their first meeting occurs when the father volunteers for the hypnotist’s act, resulting in an exploration of grief, suggestion, and the power of the mind.

An Oak Tree first premiered in 2005 and has since been performed in 19 countries, with over 350 guest artists, including Frances McDormand, Geoffrey Rush, Sharon D Clarke, Sophie Okonedo, and Peter Dinklage.

The play pioneered the concept of the theatrical ‘cold-read’, where guest performers enter the story without prior preparation. Directed by Crouch alongside Karl James and Andy Smith, the play includes music by Peter Gill.

Among the first guest artists announced are Ṣọ́pẹ́ Dìrísù, Michelle Terry, Luke Thompson, Russell Tovey, and Indira Varma, with more to be confirmed. Each will perform for one night only, joining Crouch live on stage.

Crouch said today: “Exactly 20 years ago a laboratory was created in a small room above a pub in south London where an experiment took place. Actors were invited to try out a new play I’d written called An Oak Tree – like trying out a new drug formulation. Each time a different actor who knew nothing about the play they were going to be in – a blind test each time. For some of the actors the drug was euphoric. For some it was heartbreaking. For some it was riotous. For some it was hard work. But the experiment was never less than enthralling. Twenty years later and that experiment is still ongoing with 374 blind tests to date. 374 actors who have done the play with me. And the laboratory has moved on from London to New York to LA to Russia to South America to Australia to Asia. Each time an actor who doesn’t know the play. Each time the same conditions. Each time a different result.

“Twenty years since that room above a pub and the laboratory is the Young Vic, a theatre that has consistently proved its devotion to the new; a theatre that has developed an audience that is open and enquiring and engaged. I’m thrilled to see what happens to the experiment there. I’m thrilled to meet actors in the moment of performance. Actors I’ve never met in a play they’ve never met. Meeting an audience for one time only.”

Thompson added: “I’m very excited to join the Oak Tree family and be a part of a piece which I think takes the very best thing about going to the theatre, that is, something actually happening live in front of you rather than filtered through a screen. I’d say more but I have no clue what I’m in for…”

Tickets are available via the Young Vic’s website, with priority booking for members open now and general sale starting on 27 January. The Young Vic’s full 2025/26 season, the first under new artistic director Nadia Fall, will be announced later this year.

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