Celebrated Play At University Theatre
Tim Crouch’s celebrated play An Oak Tree comes to Lancaster University’s Nuffield Theatre following huge success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a three-month run off-Broadway, and UK, European and Canadian tours.
An Oak Tree, at The Nuffield on Friday 23 & Saturday 24 November, is a unique two-hander in which the second actor has never seen or read a word of the play… until they’re in it. Second actors who have appeared in the production include Christopher Eccleston, Kathryn Hunter, Toby Jones, Laurie Anderson, Frances McDormand and Mike Myers.
An Oak Tree is the story of two men brought together by loss: a father whose daughter has been killed in a car accident and the driver of that car, a stage hypnotist. For the first time since the accident these two men meet, when the father volunteers for the hypnotist’s act.
The play weaves themes of human suggestibility, art and loss through a vivid and absurdly comic narrative that swoops between a tree by a road and the stage of a pub. The guest second actor provides a startling image of someone discovering their own meaning from moment to moment. It is an experiment in theatre form housed in a powerful and accessible story.
Tim Crouch is a writer, performer and teacher. He is currently an Education Associate at the National Theatre and Associate Artist for the FranklinTheatre in New York. As a writer, Tim's first play, My Arm, opened at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival, 2003. Since then, it has run in New York and London, and toured both nationally and internationally. His latest play, ENGLAND, was awarded a Fringe First and a Herald Arch Angel award at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival.
"An Oak Tree" is a fascinating slice of unconventional theater that will keep the audience intrigued long after the final curtain...When Crouch and his guest get deeply into it ...the puzzle becomes more than tantalizing. Different, unusual and unexpected, "An Oak Tree" is an intriguing tightrope-walk of a play" VARIETY MAGAZINE
“Crouch has a subtle but charismatic stage presence and although this piece constantly wears its sense of itself on its sleeve, it does so without resorting to whimsy or smugness. It’s a hugely generous gesture from Crouch, since it openly embraces the role of the audience. This may sound clever-clever theatre; but it’s also funny, humane and sometimes almost unbearably distressing.” Metro ****
Tim Crouch An Oak Tree
Friday 23 & Saturday 24 November @ 8pm
Venue: Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University
Tickets: £8, £6 concessions
Box office: 01524 594151
Email: boxoffice@nuffieldtheatre.com
Website and online booking: www.nuffieldtheatre.com