Francesca Moody Productions presents
AN OAK TREE
By Tim Crouch
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About
When I say sleep, you’re free again.
A rare chance to see the play that shaped a theatre landscape. When it opened in 2005 Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree changed the rules of the game, bringing into the centre of its action an actor who has neither seen nor read the play.
In a performance of controlled virtuosity, the playwright guides that actor through a story of loss, suggestion and the power of the mind.
No two shows are the same. Each ‘vividly celebrates the live, raw, communal experience of theatre’ (Financial Times). This is an audience experience like no other.
Through the life of the play Tim has worked with some of the great actors in the world – from Frances McDormand to F Murray Abraham, from Sophie Okonedo to Laurie Anderson, from Geoffrey Rush to Peter Dinklage.
Winner of an Off-Broadway Obie Award 2007
Press
Cast
Tim Crouch
Tim Crouch is an Obie-award winning writer and theatre-maker based in Brighton, UK. His plays include My Arm, An Oak Tree, ENGLAND (a play for galleries), The Author, I, Malvolio, Adler & Gibb, Beginners, Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, Superglue, Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel and (with Andy Smith) what happens to the hope at the end of the evening.
Directing credits include House Mother Normal (New Perspectives/Brighton Festival), I, Cinna (the poet), The Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear (RSC), PEAT, (Ark, Dublin) Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore and Beginners (Unicorn Theatre) and The Complete Deaths (Spymonkey).
Beginners won the 2019 Writers Guild of Great Britain Best Play for Young Audiences. Tim created and co-wrote Don’t Forget the Driver, a six-part series for BBC2 which won Best TV Comedy at the Venice TV awards, 2019.
timcrouchtheatre.co.uk @thistimcrouch
JENNY MCCARTHY
Jenny is a teacher, performer and singer based on the island of Jersey. Her passion for theatre was ignited at a young age after becoming a founder member of Jersey Arts Centre’s youtheatre, where she performed in a variety of plays and musicals from Brecht and Shakespeare to the Broadway musical ‘Pippin’.
Jenny went on to study Drama at the University of Exeter after which she performed in professional theatre. Roles included: Princess Jasmin in ‘Aladdin’; and one of the actors in Mark Ravenhill’s ‘Pool No Water’.
Now back living in Jersey, Jenny works as a Drama and English teacher and sings professionally with the bands Sister Disco and Retro Gramophone, whilst continuing to perform in the excellent community theatre on offer in the Island.
Credits
Written by Tim Crouch
Performed by Tim Crouch and a different second actor at every performance
Directed by Tim Crouch, Karl James and Andy Smith
Music by Peter Gill
Produced by Francesca Moody Productions
– Executive Producer: Francesca Moody
– Associate Producer: Grace Dickson
– Production Assistant: Elly Roberts
Second actors 2023: Pippa Haywood (8th June, Bristol), Adele James (9th June, Bristol), Polly Frame (10th June, Bristol), Natacha Koutchonov (6th July, Avignon), David Geselson (8th July, Avignon), Teresa Coutinh (9th July, Avignon), Cynthia Loemij (10th July, Avignon), Adama Diop (11th July, Avignon) Morven Macbeth (4th Aug, Edinburgh), Nicole Cooper (5th Aug, Edinburgh), Helen Monks (6th Aug, Edinburgh), Archie Backhouse (8th Aug, Edinburgh), Pippa Evans (9th Aug, Edinburgh), Isobel McArthur (10th Aug, Edinburgh), Letty Thomas (11th Aug, Edinburgh), Yasser Zadeh (12th Aug, Edinburgh), Jessica Hardwick (13th Aug, Edinburgh), Nathan Queeley-Dennis (15th Aug, Edinburgh), Josette Bushell Mingo OBE (16th Aug, Edinburgh), Rufus Norris (17th Aug, Edinburgh), Dawn Sievewright (18th Aug, Edinburgh), Alexa Davies (19th Aug, Edinburgh), Sally Reid (20th Aug, Edinburgh), David Threlfall (22nd Aug, Edinburgh), Ben Target (23rd Aug, Edinburgh), Paul Higgins (24th Aug, Edinburgh), Chris Thorpe (25th Aug, Edinburgh), Corey Montague-Sholay (26th Aug, Edinburgh), Neshla Caplan (27th Aug, Edinburgh) and more to come..
Karl James
Karl has co-directed Tim Crouch’s My Arm, An Oak Tree, ENGLAND, The Author, What Happens To Hope At The End of The Evening, Adler & Gibb and Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation.
Most of Karl’s time is spent as director of The Dialogue Project, enabling people to have conversations when the stakes are high. His audio work has featured on BBC’s radio series Short Cuts, in A Different Kind of Justice for BBC Radio 4, at Latitude Festival and in Third Coast’s Filmless Festival in Chicago. Karl’s podcast series is called 2+2=5 and his book on how to have better conversations ‘Say It and Solve It’ was published in 2013.
www.thedialogueproject.com
www.understandingdifference.blogspot.com
Andy Smith
Andy Smith is a theatre-maker who has collaborated closely with Tim Crouch since 2004, most recently co-directing (along with Karl James) Truth’s A Dog Must To Kennel (2022) and total immediate collective imminent terrestrial salvation (2019). Other recent works include COMMONISM (2018, in collaboration with Amund Sjølie Sveen), SUMMIT (2018) and The Preston Bill (2015). He is currently developing CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY, one of series of plays designed for groups of people to meet, read together, and then discuss. He is a part-time lecturer in theatre practice at The University of Manchester.
https://www.andysmiththeatre.com
FMP
Francesca Moody Productions is an Olivier award-winning and Tony nominated production company.
Current and upcoming productions include: A Doll’s House (Hudson Theatre, New York), Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder (Underbelly Edinburgh, Bristol Old Vic, HOME Manchester), An Oak Tree (Avignon Festival, Lyceum Theatre), Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible Is Going to Happen (Bush Theatre).
Recent productions include: A Streetcar Named Desire (Phoenix Theatre), Berlusconi: A New Musical (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Harold Pinter Theatre), Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder (Roundabout), Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible Is Going to Happen (Roundabout), Mum (Soho Theatre), Leopards (Rose Theatre), Baby Reindeer (Bush Theatre, Roundabout).