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!

In 1975 Young’s Brewery renovated the pub and we moved from lunchtime to evening productions. James Saunders became a house playwright, writing Bodies for the theatre, as did David Cregan. The theatre produced a plethora of plays by Vaclav Havel and involved itself in Czech politics. The move towards the re-discovery of overlooked and forgotten plays began with Dr. Knock and The Power of Darkness. The musical The Lady or The Tiger and The Primary English Class transferred to the West End and there were the beginnings of a thriving schools programme.

The development continued into the 80s when we presented the first six plays of Martin Crimp and began a relationship with the French writer Michel Vinaver, six of whose plays we have also produced. The 1987/1988 the season, which contained the premieres of Rodney Ackland’s Absolute Hell, Harley Granville Barker’s The Secret Life and the late John Whiting’s No More A-Roving, won the theatre a Time Out Award. It was time to build the new theatre, which had been in the pipeline since the mid 70s.

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.

We had not begun in 1971 by intending to work only “in the round”. But the first production, done by daylight at lunchtime, where the audience and the actors shared the space, clearly had its effect. When the possibility of creating a new theatre became concrete, we knew what we wanted. The Orange Tree is entirely committed to this form of theatre and all the productions are always in the round.

There is always a desire to have a permanent company, whenever possible, and to nurture and develop relationships with actors, writers, directors and designers. Auriol Smith and Geoffrey Beevers, who have been involved with the theatre since the start, won Time Out Awards in the 1990s for The Case of Rebellious Susan and Adam Bede respectively.

Since 1991 our schools work has expanded and an estimated 20,000 participants are now actively involved each year. Our Shakespeare projects aim to introduce his plays to pupils aged 6 – 18 in an imaginative and accessible way. They also give young people, who otherwise might be denied the opportunity, the chance to participate in high quality live theatre.

Since 1986 we have also ran our own highly successful Trainee Director scheme. Each year the scheme provides the important first step for two young directors to assist on all productions and then direct a showcase at the end of their year. ‘Graduates’ include Dominic Hill (Artistic Director at Dundee Rep), Anthony Clark (Artistic Director at Hampstead), Rachel Kavanaugh (Artistic Director at Birmingham Rep), and Sean Holmes (RSC).

The policy of new plays, re-discoveries, foreign work and, occasionally, even in the round, musicals, has continued. The Orange Tree is now one of the most highly respected off-West-End theatres in London and the wide range of theatre productions draws loyal audiences from Richmond, surrounding areas of London – and well beyond.

“A pocket sized National Theatre” Michael Billington has written in The Guardian.