An Oak Tree (Modern Plays)

When I say sleep, you're free again.

A man loses his daughter to a car accident. Nothing now is what it seems. It's like he's in a play - but he doesn't know the words or the moves.

Tim Crouch's critically acclaimed play playfully pushes the limits of theatre: a two-hander, where one of the actors walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they're in… until they're in it. Shockingly moving, An Oak Tree questions how we perform … and whether we know our lines.

This edition was published to coincide with the runs at Avignon Festival, France, in July 2023, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in August 2023.

Tim Crouch is a UK theatre artist based in Brighton. He writes plays, performs in them and takes responsibility for their production. He started to make his own work in 2003. Before then he was an actor.

Tim works with a number of associates and collaborators to produce his writing. There isn't a company structure; things and people are brought together when they are needed. The starting process has always been a text written by Crouch. Early work was made in response to a self-generated impulse to tell a story or explore a form. This impulse is still the first motivation but, lately, it's become slightly more formalized through the involvement of various commissioning theatres and organizations. Tim's work tours extensively to UK and international venues and festivals.