Sam Walters
Encyclopedia
Sam Walters MBE
is a British theatre director and Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre
in Richmond, London, specialising in theatre-in-the-round productions. He has also directed in the West End and at Ipswich, Canterbury and Greenwich, as well as at LAMDA, RADA
and Webber Douglas
.
at which he won the coveted Public Schools' Mace for debating in 1957, then took a degree at Oxford University, where he was president of the Experimental Theatre Club
. He trained as an actor at LAMDA, then turned to directing with the formation of the Worcester Repertory Company.
, he was invited to establish Jamaica's first full-time theatre company and drama school, and on their return to England in 1971 they founded the Orange Tree Theatre, first in a room above the Orange Tree pub, now in a purpose built theatre.
"When we started the Orange Tree Theatre in 1971, we only wanted to put on plays. There was no political or social aim, nor did we philosophise about theatre-in-the-round or a style of minimal theatre, There was no money for stage lights or a raised stage, so we performed by daylight on the same floor level as the seating. And we discovered the excitement of making the audience part of the action." (Sam Walters in conversation with Marsha Hanlon for the Orange Tree Theatre appeal brochure in 1991).
Walters won a Time Out Award for his 1987-88 season in the old theatre, being described as a ‘theatrical totter’, and in 1989 was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, part of which he spent in Prague during the revolution, and part in Moscow and Leningrad.
In 1991 he received the Charrington Fringe Award for Outstanding Achievement in Small Theatre, which was followed by the Peter Brook Empty Space Award for the work of the 1992-93 company season.
In 1993-94 he took a year away from the Orange Tree, taught in America and visited all fellow theatres-in-the-round.
He was appointed MBE in 1999.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
is a British theatre director and Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
in Richmond, London, specialising in theatre-in-the-round productions. He has also directed in the West End and at Ipswich, Canterbury and Greenwich, as well as at LAMDA, RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
and Webber Douglas
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
.
Early years
Sam Walters, educated at FelstedFelsted School
Felsted School, an English co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, Essex. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired...
at which he won the coveted Public Schools' Mace for debating in 1957, then took a degree at Oxford University, where he was president of the Experimental Theatre Club
Experimental Theatre Club
The Experimental Theatre Club is a student dramatic society at University of Oxford, England. It was founded in 1936 by Nevill Coghill as an alternative company to the Oxford University Dramatic Society , and produces several productions a year.Many famous actors and directors have been involved...
. He trained as an actor at LAMDA, then turned to directing with the formation of the Worcester Repertory Company.
Orange Tree
Together with his wife, actress Auriol SmithAuriol Smith
Auriol Smith is an English actress and theatre director. She is a founder member and associate director of the Orange Tree Theatre. She started her career as an actor, but now divides her time between acting and directing.-Early years:...
, he was invited to establish Jamaica's first full-time theatre company and drama school, and on their return to England in 1971 they founded the Orange Tree Theatre, first in a room above the Orange Tree pub, now in a purpose built theatre.
"When we started the Orange Tree Theatre in 1971, we only wanted to put on plays. There was no political or social aim, nor did we philosophise about theatre-in-the-round or a style of minimal theatre, There was no money for stage lights or a raised stage, so we performed by daylight on the same floor level as the seating. And we discovered the excitement of making the audience part of the action." (Sam Walters in conversation with Marsha Hanlon for the Orange Tree Theatre appeal brochure in 1991).
Walters won a Time Out Award for his 1987-88 season in the old theatre, being described as a ‘theatrical totter’, and in 1989 was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, part of which he spent in Prague during the revolution, and part in Moscow and Leningrad.
In 1991 he received the Charrington Fringe Award for Outstanding Achievement in Small Theatre, which was followed by the Peter Brook Empty Space Award for the work of the 1992-93 company season.
In 1993-94 he took a year away from the Orange Tree, taught in America and visited all fellow theatres-in-the-round.
He was appointed MBE in 1999.
Old Orange Tree Theatre
- Go Tell It on Table Mountain (Evan Jones) opening production 31 December 1971
- Transcending (David Cregan) February 1976
- The Land of the Palms (David Cregan) March 1976
- Audience and Private View (Václav HavelVáclav HavelVáclav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
) February 1977 - Bodies (James Saunders) April 1977
- Family Circles (Alan AyckbournAlan AyckbournSir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
) November 1978 - The Caucasian Chalk CircleThe Caucasian Chalk CircleThe Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
(Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
) January 1979 - Doctor Knock (Jules RomainsJules RomainsJules Romains, born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule , was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement...
/Harley Granville Barker) March 1979 - The Primary English Class (Israel HorovitzIsrael HorovitzIsrael Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
) November 1979 - The Way of the WorldThe Way of the WorldThe Way of the World is a play written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London...
(CongreveWilliam CongreveWilliam Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
) February 1980 - The Happy Haven (John ArdenJohn ArdenJohn Arden is an award-winning English playwright from Barnsley . His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature....
) March 1980 - Uncle VanyaUncle VanyaUncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
(ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
) February 1981 - Best Friends (Olwen Wymark) March 1981
- Fall (James Saunders) November 1981
- King LearKing LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
(ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
) January 1982 - Winter (David MowatDavid MowatDavid John Mowat is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 2010 general election.- Early life :...
) September 1983 - Nothing to Declare (James Saunders) November 1983
- The Man of ModeThe Man of ModeThe Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676 and first performed March 2 of the same year. Gibbons argues that the play "offers the comedy of manners in its most concentrated form"...
(Etherege) January1984 - The Power of DarknessThe Power of DarknessThe Power of Darkness is a five-act drama by Leo Tolstoy. Written in 1886, the play was banned in Russia until 1902.The central character is a peasant, Nikita, who seduces and abandons a young girl Marinka; then the lovely Anisija murders her own husband to marry Nikita. He impregnates his new...
(TolstoyTolstoyTolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...
/Anthony Clark) March 1984 - Four Attempted Acts (Martin Crimp) 1984
- The Dark River (Rodney AcklandRodney AcklandRodney Ackland was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter.He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London...
) September 1984 - Hard TimesHard TimesHard Times - For These Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times....
(Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
/Stephen JeffreysStephen JeffreysStephen Jeffreys is a British playwright.His plays include Like Dolls or Angels ; Carmen 1936 ; Valued Friends ; The Clink ; The Libertine - also a screenplay filmed with Johnny Depp; A Going...
) November 1984 - HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
: First Quarto Version (Shakespeare) March 1985 - Revisiting the Alchemist (Charles Jennings) October 1985
- A Variety of Death-Defying Acts (Martin CrimpMartin CrimpMartin Andrew Crimp is a British playwright.Sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, Crimp though rejects the label...
) December 1985 - A Journey to London (Vanbrugh/James Saunders) January 1986
- Sauce for the Goose (Le Dindon, Georges FeydeauGeorges FeydeauGeorges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
) February 1986 - Mother CourageMother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
(Bertolt Brecht) October 1986 - Hans Kohlhaas (Heinrich von KleistHeinrich von KleistBernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
/James Saunders) November 1986 - Largo Desolato (Václav Havel/Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
) February 1987 - A Smile on the End of the Line (Michel VinaverMichel Vinaver-Works:* Les Coréens * Iphigénie Hotel * A la renverse * 11 septembre 2001 / 11 September 2001 -References:...
) March 1987 - No More A-Roving (John WhitingJohn WhitingJohn Robert Whiting was an English dramatist and critic.Born in Salisbury, England, he was educated at Taunton School. His works include:* A Penny for a Song. A play * Marching Song. A play...
) October 1987 - Love's a Luxury (farce Guy Parton and Edward V Hoile) December 1987
- The Secret Life (Harley Granville Barker) January 1988
- Absolute Hell (Rodney Ackland) March 1988
- The Way to Keep Him (Arthur MurphyArthur MurphyArthur Murphy , also known by the pseudonym Charles Ranger, was an Irish writer.-Biography:He was born at Cloonyquin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the son of Richard Murphy and Jane French....
) September 1988 - Dealing with Clair (Martin Crimp) October 1988
- Situation Vacant (Michel Vinaver) March 1989
- Le Bourgeois GentilhommeLe Bourgeois GentilhommeLe Bourgeois gentilhomme is a five-act comédie-ballet—a play intermingled with music, dance and singing—by Molière, first presented on 14 October 1670 before the court of Louis XIV at the Château of Chambord by Molière's troupe of actors...
(MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
) April 1989 - Play with Repeats (Martin Crimp) October 1989
- We, the Undersigned (Alexander GelmanAlexander GelmanFor the writer Alexander Gelman, see Alexander Isaakovich Gelman. Alexander Gelman , born: Aleksandr Simonovich Gelman is an American theater director and the current Producing Artistic Director of Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.-Early life:Alexander Gelman was born in Leningrad,...
) November 1989 - Redevelopment (Václav Havel) September 1990
New Orange Tree Theatre
- All In the Wrong (Arthur Murphy), opening production in the new theatre, February 1991
- Nutmeg and Ginger (Julian SladeJulian SladeJulian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....
) June 1991 - Little EyolfLittle EyolfLittle Eyolf is an 1894 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play was first performed on January 12, 1895 in the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.-Plot:...
(Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
) October 1991 - Cerceau (Viktor Slavkin) Walters as a performer only, May 1992
- Dark River revival (Rodney Ackland) March 1992
- His Majesty (Harley Granville Barker) also Edinburgh Festival, September 1992
- The Dutch CourtesanThe Dutch CourtesanThe Dutch Courtesan is an early Jacobean stage play written by the dramatist and satirist John Marston circa 1604. It was performed by the Children of the Queen's Revels, one of the troupes of boy actors active at the time, in the Blackfriars Theatre in London.The play was entered into the...
(John MarstonJohn MarstonJohn Marston was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods...
) October 1992 - A Penny for a Song (John Whiting)j December 1992
- The Artifice (Susannah Centlivre) February 1993
- Nice Dorothy (David Cregan) May 1993
- A Penny for a Song (John Whiting) revival, July 1993
- Doctor Knock (Jules Romains) revival, October 1994
- Flora the Red MenaceFlora the Red MenaceFlora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The musical starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical...
(Kander and EbbKander and EbbKander and Ebb were a highly successful songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb . Known primarily for their stage musicals, Kander and Ebb also scored several movies including their most famous song, the theme song from Martin Scorsese's New York, New York...
) December 1994 - Portrait of a Woman (Michael Vinaver, translated by Donald WatsonDonald WatsonDonald Watson was founder of the Vegan Society and inventor of the word vegan.Watson was born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, into a non-vegetarian family. His journey to veganism began when he was very young, at the farm of his Uncle George...
) February 1995 - The Memorandum (Václav Havel) March 1995
- Retreat (James Saunders) May 1995
- Flora the Red Menace (Kander and Ebb) revival, August 1995
- The Maitlands (Ronald Mackenzie) October 1995
- The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
) December 1995 - The Good Woman of Setzuan (Bertolt Brecht) February 1996
- The Power of the Dog (Ellen Dryden) May 1996
- What the Heart Feels (Stephen Bill) October 1996
- Family Circles (Alan Ayckbourn) December 1996
- Inheritors (Susan GlaspellSusan GlaspellSusan Keating Glaspell was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actress, director, novelist, biographer and poet. She was a founding member of the Provincetown Players, one of the most important collaboratives in the development of modern drama in the United States...
) February 1997 - Family Circles (Alan AyckbournAlan AyckbournSir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
) August 1997 - Overboard (Michel Vinaver) October 1997
- All in the Wrong (Arthur Murphy) revival December 1997
- MacbethMacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(Shakespeare) February 1998 - Sperm Wars (David Lewis) September 1998
- Court in the Act (farce Hennequin and Veber) December 1998
- The Way of the World (Congreve) March 1999
- The Last Thrash (David Cregan) Walters as a performer only, April 1999
- Winner Takes All (farce La main passe Feydau) January 2000
- Hurting (David Lewis) March 2000
- Arms and the ManArms and the ManArms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid in Latin:"Arma virumque cano" ....
(George Bernard Shaw) September 2000 - The Daughter-in-Law (D. H. LawrenceD. H. LawrenceDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
) February 2001 - Clockwatching (Torben BettsTorben BettsTorben Betts is an award-winning English playwright and screenwriter.A consistently controversial dramatist, who has written heavily naturalistic plays as well as epic, poetic works, he has been hailed as a successor to writers as diverse as Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Bond and Howard Barker...
) March 2001 - Whispers Along the Patio (David Cregan) October 2001, also Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
- The Caucasian Chalk CircleThe Caucasian Chalk CircleThe Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents....
(Bertolt Brecht, with a new Prologue by James Saunders) November 2001 - Have You Anything to Declare? (farce Hennequin and Veber) December 2001
- Three SistersThree Sisters (play)Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
(Chekhov, translataed by Carol Rocamora as The Three Sisters) February 2002 - Happy Birthday Dear Alice (Bernard Farrell) April 2002
- The Road to Ruin (Thomas HolcroftThomas HolcroftThomas Holcroft was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer.-Early life:He was born in Orange Court, Leicester Fields, London. His father had a shoemaker's shop, and kept riding horses for hire; but having fallen into difficulties was reduced to the status of hawking peddler...
) September 2002 - Saints Day (John Whiting) October 2002
- The Game Hunter(Monsieur chasse farce, Feydeau, translated by Richard CottrellRichard CottrellRichard Cottrell is an English theatre director. He has been the Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company and the Bristol Old Vic in England, and of the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney, Australia...
) April 2003 - The Mob (John Galsworthy) September 2003
- King Cromwell (Oliver Ford Davies) November 2003
- Love's a Luxury (farce by Guy Paxton an Edward V Hoile) April 2004
- The Marrying of Ann Leete (Harvey Granville Barker) September 2004
- Myth, Propaganda & Disaster in Nazi Germany & Contemporary America (Stephen Sewell) November 2004
- Monkey's Uncle (David Lewis) October 2005
- A Journey to London (Vanbrugh in a version by James Saunders) December 2005
- The Madras House (Harley Granville Barker) September 2006
- Major BarbaraMajor Barbara (play)Major Barbara is a three act play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907.-Setting:*London*Act I: Lady Britomart's house in Wilton Crescent*Act II: The Salvation Army shelter in West Ham...
(George Bernard Shaw) October 2006 - The Skin GameThe Skin Game (play)The Skin Game is a play by the John Galsworthy. It was first performed at the St Martins Theatre, London in 1920. It has been made into a film twice, in 1921 and in 1931. The latter adapatation was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.-Plot:...
(John Galsworthy) March 2007 - The Woman Hater (Fanny BurneyFanny BurneyFrances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
) December 2007 - LeavingLeaving (play)Leaving is a 2007 tragicomedic play by Václav Havel. Although Havel has had an extensive career as a playwright, Leaving is his first play in over twenty years. The play premiered at Archa Theatre in Prague on May 22, 2008. The play is composed of five acts and requires eleven men, six women, and...
(Václav HavelVáclav HavelVáclav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
), English language premiere, September 2008 - Greenwash (David Lewis), February 2009
- Factors Unforeseen (Michel Vinaver, translated by Catherine Crimp), May 2009
- The Making of Moo (Nigel DennisNigel DennisNigel Forbes Dennis was an English writer, critic, playwright and magazine editor.-Early life:Born at his grandfather's house in Surrey, England, Dennis was the son of Lt.-Col...
), November 2009 http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6920738.ece - The Lady or the Tiger (Michael Richmond and Jeremy Paul, score by Nola York), January 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jan/06/the-lady-or-the-tiger http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/26866/the-lady-or-the-tiger
- Once Bitten (farce by Alfred Hennequin and Alfred Dellacourt, translated and adapted by Reggie Oliver), January 2011 http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/oncebitten-rev.htm
- Reading Hebron (Jason Sherman), February 2011 http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/readinghebron-rev.htm