Latest news with #TimCrouch
Irish Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
An Oak Tree at the Young Vic review: Pregnant Jessie Buckley brings extra poignancy to this theatrical wonder
An Oak Tree Young Vic, London ★★★★☆ An Oak Tree unpicks what it means to make-believe. Returning for a 20th-anniversary production, Tim Crouch's tricksy two-hander sees him toy with a guest star who has never seen the script before they are fed it, piece by piece, in front of an audience. Thrumming with liveness as it tells a story of grief, the play illuminates the manipulation and the wonder of the way stories transform us. Inspired by Michael Craig-Martin's 1973 conceptual artwork that insists a glass of water is an oak tree, Crouch's theatrical illusion talks things into being. He tells us a piano stool is an oak tree and an oak tree is a girl, so each insistence becomes true. He tells us his guest is a grieving father, and suddenly what we can see cracks in two. By layering these suggestions, he highlights the wizardry of any actor walking on to any stage, saying they are a character and asking us to believe them. READ MORE The script is always the same, but, with a different second actor each night, every performance is unique. On Tuesday night we are gifted Jessie Buckley, laughter spilling out between her allotted lines. Crouch is a showman, handing the Irish star her scripts on clipboards and feeding her lines, asking if she's okay then telling her to say yes. As we watch her, she watches him, the trust and determination and delight evident in the sideways lean of her smile. It becomes a game between them, but never to the point of excluding us. An Oak Tree: Jessie Buckley and Tim Crouch at the Young Vic in London. Photograph: Pamela-Raith Underneath the absurdity of the conceit, the story's sadness is a butterfly net chasing us through the show, fluttering at our backs until it swallows us whole. Buckley's speech about losing a child, given to her one line at a time as Crouch stands in the shadows, gains extra poignancy as she holds her pregnant belly. The play's manipulation – of the actor's freedom, of our feelings – is deliberate and all-knowing. The wonder of the performance lies in the way Crouch appears to point back at what he has done, drawing our attention to the architecture of the action. He is a scientist explaining his technique, a magician rolling up his sleeves, a puppeteer showing us how he pulls the strings. He tells us it's not real and still we insist that it is. He lays bare the act of making theatre. – Guardian An Oak Tree is at the Young Vic , London, until Saturday, May 24th
New European
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
Jessie Buckley and the worst night of theatre in 50 years
Please don't even think about going to see Tim Crouch's An Oak Tree, a strange, self-indulgent, and, above all, mind-numbingly boring piece of improvised theatre that was first performed around 20 years ago and has since been periodically and sadistically revived with star names such as Hugh Bonneville and David Tennant somehow being persuaded to put in guest appearances. On the first night of this latest revival, the star name was Jessie Buckley. She is a good actress and an amiable human being who stood on stage with a script she hadn't seen before – that's one of the silly conceits of this show, the guest stars don't get to see the script beforehand – doing what she could to maintain her dignity as Crouch stood beside her accusing her of, among other things, defecating in her trousers. The play is supposedly about bereavement but it's so loosely written that it soon loses its focus. It's all quite honestly mystifying and often distasteful and I can genuinely say an hour and 15 minutes has never – in 30 years of theatregoing – gone by quite so painfully slowly for me in a theatre. Theatre-makers should always give the punters at least a sporting chance of enjoying themselves, but Crouch has determined on this occasion to give them absolutely no chance. I turned to my companion at the end – a seasoned theatregoer and former Sunday Times and Observer journalist – and asked him if it was just me. Was it really as boring and pointless as I'd thought it was? He said it was the worst night at the theatre he'd experienced in more than half a century.
Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
An Oak Tree review — with a new star every time, no two nights are the same
'How free am I?' asks the Irish actress Jessie Buckley, called up on stage to play the second role in Tim Crouch's experimental play An Oak Tree. Crouch, dressed as a stage hypnotist in suit trousers and silver waistcoat, first frowns then smiles. 'Every word you say is scripted,' he says, 'but otherwise …' There won't be many more spontaneous utterances in a show designed as a theatrical hall of mirrors. Authenticity is not only not quite the point but is under interrogation too, even as the show's depiction of grief becomes as emotionally intense as it is playful. Or it can do, anyway. First staged in 2005, Crouch's show, inspired by Michael Craig-Martin's artwork of the same name, is about a grieving
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
An Oak Tree review – Tim Crouch's tricksy two-hander is still a theatrical wonder
A n Oak Tree unpicks what it means to make-believe. Returning for a 20th anniversary production, Tim Crouch's tricksy two-hander sees him toy with a guest star who has never seen the script before they are fed it, piece by piece, in front of an audience. Thrumming with liveness as it tells a story of grief, the play illuminates the manipulation and the wonder of the way stories transform us. Inspired by Michael Craig-Martin's 1973 conceptual artwork that insists a glass of water is an oak tree, Crouch's theatrical illusion talks things into being. He tells us a piano stool is an oak tree and an oak tree is a girl, so each insistence becomes true. He tells us his guest is a grieving father, and suddenly what we can see cracks in two. By layering these suggestions, he highlights the wizardry of any actor walking on to any stage, saying they are a character and asking us to believe them. The script is always the same but, with a different second actor each night, every performance is unique. Tonight, we are gifted Jessie Buckley, laughter spilling out between her allotted lines. Crouch is a showman, handing her scripts on clipboards and feeding her lines, asking if she's OK then telling her to say yes. As we watch her, she watches him, the trust and determination and delight evident in the sideways lean of her smile. It becomes a game between them, but never to the point of excluding us. Underneath the absurdity of the conceit, the story's sadness is a butterfly net chasing us through the show, fluttering at our backs until it swallows us whole. Buckley's speech about losing a child, given to her one line at a time as Crouch stands in the shadows, gains extra poignancy as she holds her pregnant belly. The play's manipulation – of the actor's freedom, of our feelings – is deliberate and all-knowing. The wonder of the performance lies in the way Crouch appears to point back at what he's done, drawing our attention to the architecture of the action. He is a scientist explaining his technique, a magician rolling up his sleeves, a puppeteer showing us how he pulls the strings. He tells us it's not real and still we insist that it is. He lays bare the act of making theatre. At the Young Vic, London, until 24 May
