Instagram story viewer> @anoaktreeplay> Tagged

An Oak Tree

@anoaktreeplay

1K

followers

18

following

Tim Crouch’s must-see theatrical event returns. No two shows are the same.🌳
NEXT UP: Bessie Carter
•
@francesca_moody_productions @theotherpalace

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 21st 2026
.
Kadiff Kirwan @kadiffkirwan Kadiff foregoes the @skittles that are in the dressing room. This is a man who, as a child, fled Montseratt after a volcano killed members of his family, arrived in London around the time that Damilola Taylor was murdered, moved up to Preston, returned to London as a young man, worked for the chef Gary Rhodes, went to @cssdlondon and became an actor. Why would he have a Skittle? Why would he be scared of going on stage in a play he doesn’t know. He’s stronger than that. His body is so powerful. But he has an earring and a smile of such tenderness. And he listens as I talk. And he leans in and he gets it. His presence on stage is monumental. I feel like a fragment beside him - which works well for the play. But also there is a lightness, a levity that lets the humour in. And he connects his voice to the story. It’s wonderful. As we leave the stage he says ‘that was a trip’. As he enters the dressing room he takes a Skittle.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

28

0

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 20th 2026
.
Sean Gilder. Sometimes I have to rethink everything in this show. Sean arrives a bit late and I edit down my pre-show briefing. Usually I talk to the second actor about the concept of ‘unlocking’. In the play I will use the phrase ‘unlock’ in performance to encourage the actor to understand how quick things will move. How good it is to be able to unlock out of a moment and be present in the new moment. It’s not essential that I tell the actor about this but I don’t mention it to Sean in the pre-show and last night I watch him have this mighty tussle with the switchbacks in the play. It’s like he climbs inside the character and he can’t get out. The story has trapped him. It’s monumental, profound, beautiful, moving, true. True is the word. Sean’s struggle is true. No spin, no veneer. He sits inside it. Tears well up; his voice breaks. Afterwards he says he didn’t know when he was the character and when he was himself. It’s like I’m working beside this fathomless well of feeling and everything from me has to change. All the habits of the show are renegotiated. I say that An Oak Tree always communicates itself but sometimes it sings. Last night it sings for its life.
.
Sean has been encouraged to do the play by his mate David Threlfall. Sean tells David that he’s worried that sometimes when he sight reads the words jump about. ‘Crouch will fucking love that!’ says Threlfall. And Crouch does love that. This thing is not about perfection. Perfection is anathema to art. It’s about being human. Where we are messily both ourselves and the character we present.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

29

3

an oak tree is a really fun experience that balances comedy and grief whilst being completely new to the actor who's performing! i had a such a great evening #anoaktree #theatretok #theatrekid #theatreshows #whattowatch @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay [pr/invite]

73

3

An Oak Tree is one of the most unique pieces of theatre I've had the joy of experiencing. Written and performed by @thistimcrouch with a different guest actor joining him each night without ever seeing the script beforehand, discovering the story live alongside the audience. The production is running at The Other Palace from 5th October to 15th November 2026, and I was lucky enough to see @rosaliemaecraig on 9th October.

The story follows a grieving father who comes face to face with the stage hypnotist responsible for his daughter's death. It's a powerful exploration of grief, memory and the power of suggestion, with moments of humour that make the emotional impact even stronger.

What I hadn't expected was how intimate the evening would feel. I was completely gobsmacked when Rosalie Craig stood up from the front row, as I hadn't realised she was sitting there before the play began. Sitting near the front, I found myself completely immersed in the performance. There were several moments where Rosalie Craig looked directly towards me when I thought I'd just be sat in the dark and the actors can't see me 😂. To my surprise, I found myself wondering if I was imagining it, only for it to happen again. I'm assuming actors feed off the audience as I really felt the emotion of what was happening. One moment in particular has stayed with me. During a quiet scene, I silently laughed as I thought, "Shit, am I staring too much?" 😂 Then Rosalie laughed back with me too! It felt human and made my year. Whether it was simply the magic of live theatre or the connection between performer and audience, it's a special memory I'll always treasure. If I lived closer to London, I'd definitely be back to see Suranne Jones on 15th November.

I first noticed Rosalie Craig in 1899, then in Riot Women, which I'm absolutely obsessed with and can't wait to see it return. I even visited Hebden Bridge this year (yet to upload photos). I only wish I'd seen Rosalie Craig on stage sooner. Though I remember seeing her husband, Hadley Fraser, in The Phantom of the Opera. I also wanted to include the official after-show Polaroid as a souvenir of a truly special evening. Photo ©Tim Crouch.

7

0

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 18th, 2026
.
Theatre shouldn’t have the comedy and tragedy mask as its emblem. It should have Juliet Stevenson. Juliet Stevenson and Juliet Stevenson. She’s nervous when she arrives - which is a sign that she’s alive. But alongside her nerves she is up for it. Which is a sign that she’s super-alive! She’s like a young initiate. Halfway through the pre-show meeting she gets it. ‘Oh, this is what we’re trying to achieve on stage every time. A state where we genuinely don’t know what’s happening next.’ She is the best apprentice to this show. The best novice. She makes connections to everything. Neural pathways opening up.
.
In performance, she retains this open state. At times, she’s almost subdued, working the play out. Working out who she is, where she is, what this is. But a subdued Juliet Stevenson is an expansive anyone else. Her connection to the text is innate and revelatory. I can’t quite believe she’s in my play. In a jump suit. Being brilliant. All hail Juliet Stevenson.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

82

3

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 17th 2026. Evening.
.
Sid Sagar. Yesterday was a day of beautiful faces. Sid is such an open, engaged and thoughtful man. He arrives early and we chat about writing and acting and our old alma mater, Bristol University, where Sid moonlighted during his history degree on a touring production of The History Boys. Double history.
.
The play thrives with Sid in it. He has a writer’s sensibility and an actor’s instinct. It’s a rare combination. Time seems to stand still around him; the story passes through him and plays over him. He’s dappled by it. Despite being lost moment-by-moment in the mechanism of the play he retains a core of self-possession and the language lands. Sid gives himself to the play: generous, skilled, expansive. Everything was present; everything was conveyed. A two show day. Happy Tim.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

21

2

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 17th 2026. Matinee.
.
Josh Finan is from the Wirral and wears a great pair of shoes that look like walking boots but are actually shoes. He also has a great face. He smiles when he listens. I wish I’d had a face like Josh Finan’s when I was his age. It cries out to be cast. This afternoon Josh is cast as Andy Smith, a 46 year old father with a crumpled Gore-Tex jacket and a bloodshot eye. It’s not usual casting for Josh but he’s great in the role.
.
Josh’s journey through the play is pure and clear and playful. His voice is strong and connected. When l was writing An Oak Tree I studied a stage hypnotist called David Knight who’s from the North of England. I think I always thought the events of the play happen in the North. There’s a mention in An Oak Tree of the Oxford Road and I’ve always thought this was Manchester’s Oxford Road - although here in London’s Victoria there’s a nearer Oxford Road. Josh’s voice makes this writer very happy. The play feels rooted in its origins.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

67

1

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 16th 2026
.
Bessie Carter steps up to the oche and immediately wins the game by giving me a thank-you card. No one has ever given me a thank-you card before An Oak Tree. I’m utterly disarmed by it. I don’t deserve one. The thanks are all due in the other direction. Anyone who agrees to step into the unknown in front of a paying audience deserves my undying gratitude.
.
Bessie is a life force. Energy swirls around her. She’s a vortex. Theatre is in her bones, her sinews, her fingers. She radiates it. Brought up in it, on it, through it. The daughter of two phenomenal actors (who are both in the audience last night). On stage she is up for it. So up for it! Loose-limbed and restless and ranging - searching for the connection. Front-footed, luminous, radiant. She is far from the grieving father the play makes of her - but still the story communicates. Last night an object lesson in just how different this ride can be. Every time. Thanks, Bessie.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

49

0

An Oak Tree Announce Line-Up

• Khalid Abdalla, Matthew Baynton, Phoebe Campbell, Caitlin FitzGerald, Jack Holden, Melanie La Barrie and Sid Sagar are announced as part of the lineup for Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree at The Other Palace, running until 15 November 2026, produced by Francesca Moody Productions (FMP).

Today, Francesca Moody Productions (FMP) has announced that Khalid Abdalla, Matthew Bayton, Phoebe Campbell, Caitlin FitzGerald, Jack Holden and Sid Sagar will join the line-up for An Oak Tree running at The Other Palace until 15 November. A play that shaped the theatre landscape, its groundbreaking premise sees a different guest artist join Tim Crouch for every performance, stepping on stage without ever having read or rehearsed the play.

Tickets on sale now from theotherpalace.co.uk/an-oak-tree

#theatre #london #stageplay #westend

76

1

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 15th 2026
.
Gemma Whelan @gemwhelan is the most human human - grounded, alert, open, trusting, generous, funny. She wants me to know that she’s mid-process grieving her mum. She knows the play touches on loss and she wants to check in with me about permissions within the play to feel. It’s the most tender question. You can sense the grief in her like an underground river. She is permitted to feel. She’s permitted to do anything, go anywhere. I’m inviting all of her on stage. Just before the play begins Gemma phones her kids to wish them goodnight. And then the play begins.
.
I’ve never met Gemma before but I’ve met her voice in the world. Her voice agent has sent her a good luck card! Her voice! There’s a concept of ‘auditory face’ - that we know someone as much by their voice as their face. (‘See with your ears’.) And Gemma’s voice leans into the play and springs it open! Such a connected presence. No ounce of self-consciousness. Just service. The writer of the play last night is overjoyed! As is this co-director. And me, this other actor, who stands beside her on stage. The things our ears see! All of Gemma is there. A standing ovation last night. For Gemma’s mum.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

369

12

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 14th 2026
.
Tom Mothersdale. Tom’s come straight from rehearsals for Cloud 9 at @nationaltheatre and he’s got that translucent, porous quality of someone in the middle of a creative process. I suspect he always has that quality. It’s a beautiful thing. He’s been encouraged to do Oak Tree by Sam Troughton (Oak alumnus 2007) who’s also in Cloud 9 - and by Caryl Churchill herself who’s seen An Oak Tree maybe 10 times, we think, and who’s in the front row last night.
.
Tom’s nervous and attentive. We banter about our West Sussex upbringings (there’s a large Storrington/Steyning contingent in the audience last night). That banter slides into more focussed work and then into the play. And then we cling to the lightness as the subject darkens. The story throws some hard shapes at the second actor and Tom rises to them, committing fully to each moment with no idea if this is what the play wants of him. It’s all what the play wants. It’s only what the play wants.
.
At the end, Tom has no memory of what just happened. It was, he says, a trip. I think this play is like a dream for the second actor. It is only present tense and so it bypasses that part of the brain connected to memory storage. No time to reflect and store. Thanks, Tom. You played brilliantly.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

68

3

An Oak Tree @theotherpalace October 13, 2026
.
Clare Perkins. clareperkinsofficial Sister to Dorothy and Travis. Daughter of Anthony. (None of these things are true, sadly.) She’s nervous when she arrives and who can blame her. Nerves are good. Language around risk and bravery in theatre is often bogus. I worked with someone in the early 1990s who said that being an actor was like being a soldier in Northern Ireland. This is utter bollocks. But this play puts you out there. The second actor can’t access any of the defences we spend so much of our lives erecting. Clare doesn’t know me from Adam and all my reassurances beforehand count for nothing until the play begins. But when the play begins, oh boy when the play begins, Clare gets it. You can’t imagine this play until you’re in it; until you begin to understand its mechanisms. And then, I hope, it’s simple. Moment by moment. Clare is moment-by-moment steadfast and responsive and connected and lost and found. The nerves disappear. The voice engages. She shouts into the void. It’s wonderful. You should have been there.
.
#anoaktree @theotherpalace @francesca_moody_productions @anoaktreeplay

30

2