Tom Littler is a British theatre director and the Artistic Director of the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
T ...
in
Richmond, London
Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commiss ...
. He was the founder of theatre company
Primavera Productions
Primavera Productions is a professional theatre company founded in 2003 by Tom Littler, who is also the Artistic Director. It is based in London, UK.
Primavera is particularly noted for its revivals of rarely performed plays, although this does n ...
, a former Associate Director of
Theatre503
Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers.
History
The the ...
formerly Artistic Director of
Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated on Jermyn Street, in London's West End. It is an off-west end studio theatre.
History
Jermyn Street Theatre opened in August 1994. It was formerly the changing rooms for staff at a Spaghetti ...
, which he turned into a producing theatre.
His West End credits include
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...
's ''
Saturday Night'' (for Primavera) which starred
Helena Blackman
Helena Blackman (born 10 December 1982 in Southampton) is a British musical theatre actress, best known for being the runner-up in the hit BBC1 Reality TV programme '' How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?''.
She trained at the Guildford Sc ...
, the runner-up of ''
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria''. Littler was also resident director of the 2009 revival of ''
A Little Night Music
''A Little Night Music'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', it involves the romantic lives of several couples. ...
'' at the Garrick Theatre and
Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms.
It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate, Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in ...
. Littler directed the premiere of ''Dances of Death'' by
Howard Brenton
Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Chur ...
, a new version of ''
The Dance of Death'' by
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
at the
Gate Theatre (London) in 2013, starring
Michael Pennington
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington (born 7 June 1943) is a British actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has writ ...
. He also directed the premieres of Brenton's biographical play about
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
, ''The Blinding Light'', at Jermyn Street Theatre, and his new version of ''
Miss Julie
''Miss Julie'' ( sv, Fröken Julie) is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg. It is set on Midsummer's Eve and the following morning, which is Midsummer and the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. The setting is an estate of ...
''.
Littler was a regular Associate Director of the Peter Hall Season at the
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...
, working with Sir
Sir Peter Hall on productions including ''Little Nell'' by
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray (21 October 1936 – 7 August 2008) was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years. While teaching at Q ...
, ''
A Doll's House
''A Doll's House'' (Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having bee ...
'' with Catherine McCormack, ''Born in the Gardens'' by Peter Nichols, and ''
The Browning Version'' by
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...
.
Littler succeeded
Paul Miller as Artistic Director of the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
T ...
in December 2022.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littler, Tom
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
British theatre directors