More guest artist names announced today for Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree include Lorraine Ashbourne, Alfred Enoch, Eddie Marsan, Nina Sosanya, Meera Syal, and David Tennant.
They join the previously announced Adjoa Andoh, Jessie Buckley, Arthur Darvill, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Mark Gatiss, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Michelle Terry, Alex Lawther, Luke Thompson, Russell Tovey, and Indira Varma who will perform opposite Tim Crouch for the 20th anniversary of the production. Each guest artist will only be revealed to audiences live on the night, as they join Tim on stage.
The Young Vic Theatre and Francesca Moody Productions have today announced more guest artist names to be featured in Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree, playing from 6 – 24 May 2025. Tickets are on sale now at youngvic.org.
An Oak Tree is presented by Francesca Moody Productions, the Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, in association with the Young Vic in the groundbreaking play’s 20th anniversary year.
Each guest artist will take to the Young Vic stage on a different date to perform alongside Tim, who returns to star in the production. Additional names announced today include Alfred Enoch (How to Get Away With Murder, Pericles), Lorraine Ashbourne (Alma’s Not Normal, Sherwood), Eddie Marsan (Vera Drake, Back to Black), Nina Sosanya (The Other Place, Baby Reindeer), Meera Syal (A Tupperware of Ashes, Goodness Gracious Me), and David Tennant (Dr Who, Macbeth).
They join the previously announced Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Richard II), Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter, Cabaret), Arthur Darvill (Broadchurch, Oklahoma!), Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Gangs of London, Slow Horses), Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, The Motive and the Cue), Julie Hesmondhalgh (Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Punch), Michelle Terry (Tribes, The Cafe), Alex Lawther (The End of the F**ing World*, Black Mirror), Luke Thompson (Bridgerton, A Little Life), Russell Tovey (Being Human, American Horror Story: NYC), and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Present Laughter). Each guest artist will only be revealed to audiences live on the night, as they join Tim on stage.
Written, performed, and co-directed by award-winning theatre maker, writer, actor, and director Tim Crouch, this bold, absurdly comic, and profoundly moving story of loss, suggestion, and the power of the mind pioneered the idea of the theatrical ‘cold-read’ and has significantly influenced other artists that have gone on to explore this form. In every performance, a different guest artist steps into the unknown, having never seen, read, or rehearsed the play before, and will only perform it once during the run.
Since its premiere in 2005, over 350 different guest artists including Frances McDormand, Geoffrey Rush, Sharon D Clarke, Alanis Morrissette, Sophie Okonedo, and Peter Dinklage have appeared in the play in 19 different countries from Lithuania, Argentina, and the UK to Hong Kong, Australia, and the USA. An Oak Tree is directed by Tim Crouch, Karl James, and Andy Smith, and the play also features music by Peter Gill.
A father loses his daughter in a car accident. The driver of the car that killed her is a stage hypnotist. The two men meet for the first time when the father volunteers for the hypnotist’s act. What follows is a live theatrical experience like no other – a bold and absurdly comic story of loss, suggestion, and the power of the mind.
An Oak Tree will be presented at the Young Vic Theatre by Francesca Moody Productions (FMP) in association with the Young Vic. FMP’s work in theatre has originated two of the most globally successful television shows of the last decade: Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. Upcoming and current projects include My Master Builder (opening at Wyndham’s Theatre in April); How to Win Against History (opening at Bristol Old Vic in June) and Garry Starr: Classic Penguins (opening at Soho Theatre in July).
Tim Crouch said, “Exactly twenty years ago a laboratory was created in a small room above a pub in South London where an experiment took place. Actors were invited to try out a new play I’d written called An Oak Tree – like trying out a new drug formulation. Each time a different actor who knew nothing about the play they were going to be in – a blind test each time. For some of the actors the drug was euphoric. For some it was heartbreaking. For some it was riotous. For some it was hard work. But the experiment was never less than enthralling. Twenty years later and that experiment is still ongoing with 374 blind tests to date. 374 actors who have done the play with me. And the laboratory has moved on from London to New York to LA to Russia to South America to Australia to Asia. Each time an actor who doesn’t know the play. Each time the same conditions. Each time a different result.
Twenty years since that room above a pub and the laboratory is the Young Vic, a theatre that has consistently proved its devotion to the new; a theatre that has developed an audience that is open and enquiring and engaged. I’m thrilled to see what happens to the experiment there. I’m thrilled to meet actors in the moment of performance. Actors I’ve never met in a play they’ve never met. Meeting an audience for one time only.”
An Oak Tree opens at the Young Vic on 6 May 2025. The Young Vic’s 2025/26 Season, the inaugural programme under new Artistic Director Nadia Fall, will be announced later this Spring.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
