An Oak Tree

An Oak Tree photos

An Oak Tree description

To mark its 20th anniversary, Tim Crouch's An Oak Tree returns - a play performed every night with a guest actor who has never read a single word of it.

A father whose young daughter was killed in a car accident comes face to face with the man who was driving: a stage hypnotist. The two meet for the first time when the father is brought up from the audience as a volunteer in the hypnotist's act. What unfolds is a bold, absurdly comic and quietly devastating exploration of grief, suggestion and the power of the mind.

The play's celebrated conceit is unlike anything else on stage. At every performance Tim Crouch is joined by a different guest artist who has neither seen nor rehearsed the piece, and who is guided live - through spoken instructions and pages handed over on stage - in front of the audience. No two performances are ever the same. The Financial Times said it "vividly celebrates the live, raw, communal experience of theatre."

Written and performed by Tim Crouch, one of British theatre's most inventive artists, An Oak Tree helped redefine what a play could be and remains one of the most influential works of the last two decades.

Since its 2005 premiere the play has been staged in more than 19 countries with over 350 guest performers, among them Frances McDormand, Geoffrey Rush, Sharon D Clarke, Sophie Okonedo, Peter Dinklage and Laurie Anderson. This 20th-anniversary staging is presented by the Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag, Baby Reindeer and Weather Girl, with a new line-up of guest artists revealed performance by performance.

Book now for a genuinely unrepeatable night at the theatre - different, and newly made, every single time.

Playing at The Other Palace

12 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5JA GB (venue info)

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