Orange Tree Theatre has announced new shows for 2026, including performances of two Shakespeare comedies and a play led by David Suchet in locations across Richmond, as part of strands OT on the Hill and OT in the Church.
As part of OT on the Hill, Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing will be performed in repertory in the gardens of Thomas’s College.
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Directed by Tom Littler
Summer 1939. Four friends escape to the country to write, read, and study – away from the distractions of town life. But the best laid plans go awry. The friends are soon thwarted by a group of eccentric locals obsessed with amateur theatricals and, worse, the arrival of four dazzling women from town. Now our heroes face a challenge: how to pursue true love – without their companions finding out…
Much Ado About Nothing
Littler links the stories of Love’s Labour’s Lost to Much Ado About Nothing to create a satisfying saga of love.
Summer 1945. To celebrate victory, four women return to the village where they passed an idyllic prewar summer. Unbeknownst to them, their onetime lovers are also on their way back. As a reunion masked ball is thrown and the inept Home Guard fail to keep order, the course of true love runs anything but smooth.
Then as part of OT in the Church, Littler and Francesca Ellis direct Suchet in TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral. Suchet plays Thomas Becket in this sweeping, atmospheric drama blending dazzling poetry with live choral music, in Richmond’s striking St John the Divine Church from October 12 – November 7, 2026.
1170. A nation divided. Once the best of friends, King Henry II and his Archbishop, Thomas Becket, are now mortal enemies. Ignoring his allies’ fears, Becket, the ‘turbulent priest’, returns to Canterbury, tempting the monarch’s wrath. As the women of Canterbury seek shelter in the sacred space of the cathedral, four knights ride out on a deadly mission. The only question: who will blink first?
Then in Spring 2027, Littler will also direct Roger Allam and Freddie Fox in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Richard II.
Ticket details for Labour’s Love’s Lost, Much Ado about Nothing and Murder in the Cathedral here.