The Orange Tree Theatre today announces that it has appointed Tom Littler as the company’s new Artistic Director.
Currently Artistic Director and Executive Producer of the West End’s Jermyn Street Theatre, Littler will succeed Paul Miller who is stepping down in December 2022 after more than eight years in post.
Since 2017, Littler has run Jermyn Street Theatre, winning the 2022 OffWestEnd Best Artistic Director Award after transforming the theatre into a producing house. Under his leadership, Jermyn Street Theatre won the 2021 Stage Award for Fringe Theatre of the Year and a 2022 Critics’ Circle Commendation for exceptional theatremaking during lockdown, alongside the National Theatre and the Old Vic.
Tom Littler said today, “I’ve loved the Orange Tree for many years, and I’ve hugely admired Paul’s tenure at this local, London, and national theatre. I’m delighted to join such a brilliant team and help lead this unique theatre into a vibrant new chapter. My five years at Jermyn Street Theatre have been the most demanding, fulfilling and pleasurable of my life, and I’m grateful to all the staff, freelancers, audiences and trustees.”
At Jermyn Street Theatre, Littler has produced over forty full-scale productions and co-produced with theatres in Bath, Cumbria, Frankfurt, Guildford, Newbury, New York, Scarborough and York, and online with Digital Theatre and the London Review of Books. Over half the work has been new writing. During the pandemic, Jermyn Street Theatre ran an award-winning programme of community work and digital theatre. Whilst at Jermyn Street Theatre, Littler created a trainee artistic directorship, appointed a cohort of Creative Associates from underrepresented backgrounds, and launched the award-winning Footprints Festival. Littler was previously Associate Director of Theatre503 and Artistic Director of Primavera.
Littler has directed throughout the UK and Europe and has been nominated for eight OffWestEnd Best Director Awards. Notable productions include the first West End revival of Noël Coward’s nine-play Tonight at 8.30 cycle; producing and co-directing 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre and Digital Theatre); Miss Julie and Creditors (Theatre by the Lake, Jermyn Street Theatre); Hamlet with Freddie Fox (Guildford Shakespeare Company); The Tempest with Michael Pennington (Jermyn Street Theatre); Dances of Death (Gate Theatre); Cabaret (English Theatre, Frankfurt; Deutsches Theater, Munich) and Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night (Jermyn Street and West End).
