Orange Tree Theatre

London's only permanent theatre in the round with a special atmosphere in a small and intimate venue. Sam Walters is the artistic director of the Orange Tree.

The Orange Tree Theatre opened on the 31 December 1971 in the upstairs room of the Orange Tree pub near to Richmond Station. It was part of the explosion of “alternative” theatre than blossomed in the late 60s and early 70s. It proved the right time and the right place, and having had to do the first lunchtime performance twice to accommodate the numbers who came, the theatre developed throughout the 70s, often relishing the queues on the stairs eager for seats in those days before any form of booking at all!

The new Orange Tree Theatre, seating 172, London’s only full time professional theatre in the round, opened in February 1991, in what had been a school, just across the road from the pub. The first production was Arthur Murphy’s All in the Wrong.