London's Orange Tree Theatre has announced full programming for its 2025 season. The season at the intimate southwest London theatre, which boasts 190 seats in the round, will consist of six new plays—including four world premieres—two rediscoveries, and a classic comedy.
The first, Churchill in Moscow, will reunite playwright Howard Brenton and Artistic Director Tom Littler for their sixth collaboration with actor Roger Allam. The play explores an imagined meeting between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin in 1942.
A revival of April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures will follow, directed by Michael Oakley and starring Anna Chancellor, which will later transfer to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath. Orange Tree will then present the London premiere of the RSC production of Mark Ravenhill’s Ben and Imo, directed by Erica Whyman, with Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates reprising their roles. The spring will culminate with a revival of Terence Rattigan’s penultimate play In Praise of Love, directed by Amelia Sears.
Come autumn will be Poor Clare by Chiara Atik, directed by Blanche McIntyre, and the world premieres of two new adaptations: August Strindberg’s Dance of Death newly adapted and directed by Richard Eyre, and Hedda, a new play by Tanika Gupta inspired by Ibsen’s classic Hedda Gabler. The 2025 season will culminate with Littler directing the 250th anniversary production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comic classic The Rivals, alongside the OT Young Company members performing in Alice in Wonderland, a new play by Chinonyerem Odimba inspired by Lewis Carroll’s famed novel.
Said Littler, “It's sometimes said that history never repeats itself, but it does rhyme. This year of programming digs into the past to ask questions about the present and the future. Questions about power and those who wield it; about the shadow of war; about privilege and class; about heritage; about secrecy and honesty. These are rich plays: entertaining, exciting, and provocative. We can't wait to share the work of these outstanding writers with our audiences in Richmond and beyond.”
For more information, visit OrangeTreeTheatre.co.uk.
