press release
World Premiere: news from nowhere presents
an oak tree
by tim crouch
TRAVERSE THEATRE
August 4 – 28th 2005
First Press Performance: August 5 @ 4.45pm
starts:
man changes tree into daughter
A father loses his daughter to a car. His response is to meet the loss with a colossal act of projection: the tree next to where she died he transforms into his girl. For him, nothing now is what it is. It’s like he’s in a play - everything represented by something else. But he’s never seen the words before and he doesn’t know the moves.
The man who killed the girl is a stage hypnotist. Since the accident, he’s lost the ability to make a convincing suggestion. His act is a disaster. He’s a drowning man. For him, everything now is exactly what it is.
For the first time since the accident, these two men meet. They meet when the Father volunteer’s for the Hypnotist’s act. He volunteers because he’s looking for some answers. And, this time, he really doesn’t know the words or the moves...
writer changes person into character
an oak tree is a two-hander. The Hypnotist is played by Tim Crouch. The Father, however, will be played by a different actor at each performance. That second actor, male or female, will walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they’re in until they’re in it. Like the Father’s transformation of the tree, this is another act of projection: the projection of a performance given from one actor to another, from a hypnotist to their subject, from the audience onto a person.
an oak tree weaves themes of human suggestibility, art and loss through a vivid and absurdly comic narrative that swoops between a tree by a road and the stage of a pub. It is a bold experiment in theatre form, but an experiment housed within a powerful and accessible story. The device of the second actor supports that story but also provides a startling image of someone discovering their own meaning from moment to moment.
For the Festival run, the Father will be played by actors working in the Traverse season, as well as by specially invited guests. Any actors who have already read or even seen the play will be disqualified from performing in it. This is an exploration of the moment of discovery as well as in the power of suggestion.
an oak tree contains that breathless balance of accessible narrative, complex idea, rich theatricality and broad humour which characterises Tim Crouch’s work. It is a remarkable play that expands the ideas of performance and story-telling explored in Tim’s 2003 hit, my arm.
...ends
Press Contacts:
Ben Chamberlain
T 0207 866 8101, F 0207 379 0801, M 07931 723 988 ben@chamberlainampr.com
Catherine Bromley
T 0131 659 7105 M 07843 626042 catherine@traverse.co.uk
more info/download images at www.newsfromnowhere.net
notes to an oak tree
an oak tree is Tim Crouch’s second play after his successful debut, my arm (2003).
written by Tim Crouch
co-directed by Tim Crouch, Karl James and a smith
(nb. ‘a smith’ is the performance/public name of artist and theatre poet, Andy Smith.)
The play’s title makes reference to an art-work by British artist Michael Craig-Martin, An Oak Tree, 1973. This work is a glass of water sitting on a shelf. Beside it is a scripted exchange in which the artist explains how, through an effortless process of intention, he has changed a glass of water into an oak tree.
Tim Crouch’s first play, my arm, the story of the author’s thirty years lived with one arm above his head, opened at the Traverse Theatre in 2003. Since then it has run in London and New York and continues to tour nationally and internationally. This year, dates include the Milan Festival and the World Stage Festival, Toronto. It is published by Faber & Faber, and was broadcast on BBC Radio Three in July 2004.
Tim is currently Writer in Residence at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany, and Artistic Associate at the Franklin Theatre, New York. He is also an Education Associate at the National Theatre. an oak tree is a recipient of an award from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. It is supported by Arts Council England and Made in Brighton Ltd, in association with the Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. It is a production of Crouch’s company, news from nowhere.
an oak tree has been developed in rehearsal with the performance writer and poet, a smith, and the dialogue specialist Karl James. The sound score was created by musician and sound artist Peter Gill.
an oak tree previewed at the Nationaltheater Mannheim in April this year. In July it will have a further series of previews in Brighton and the South East, before premiering at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. It has been selected by the British Council as part of their bi-annual Showcase of contemporary British performance and will visit Canada in 2007.
Traverse Theatre Performance Schedule:
Preview: Thursday August 4th at 2.15pm
Press Performance: Friday August 5th at 4.45pm
Sat 6 Aug (7.15pm), Sun 7 Aug (9.45pm), Tue 9 Aug (11.45am), Wed 10 Aug (2.15pm), Thu 11 Aug (4.45pm), Fri 12 Aug (7.15pm), Sat 13 Aug (9.45pm), Sun 14 Aug (11.45am), Tue 16 Aug (2.15pm), Wed 17 Aug (4.45pm), Thu 18 Aug (7.30pm), Fri 19 Aug (11.45am), Sat 20 Aug (2.15pm), Sun 21 Aug (4.45pm), Tue 23 Aug (7.30pm), Wed 24 Aug (11.45am), Thu 25 Aug (2.15pm), Fri 26 Aug (4.45pm), Sat 27 Aug (7.30pm), Sun 28 Aug (11.45am)
