“A captivating, blurry, thought-provoking trip through grief from one of the best”
Tim Crouch is known for creating divisive, interesting, influential work, and An Oak Tree is no exception. First staged in 2005, this 20th anniversary production at the Young Vic feels fresh as ever. The story is simple: a father loses his daughter in a car accident. The driver of the car that killed her is a stage hypnotist. The two men meet for the first time when the father volunteers for the hypnotist’s act. The twist? At each performance, Crouch is joined by a different guest artist who has neither seen nor read a single word of the play.
What follows is something funny, remarkable, captivating, and moving, all with the air of a magician showing us how he’s doing the trick. Crouch guides his guest, in our case the wonderful Jessie Buckley, through each moment like a kind yet uncanny parent. Or puppeteer. There are instructions Crouch delivers to Buckley that the audience can hear, and those he delivers via a mic and headphones to Buckley alone. There are purely scripted moments, and times where Buckley is encouraged to play. It’s a spellbinding thing, to watch a talented performer journey through each scene with the naivety of a willing child–or a grieving father.
To narrow down what the show is about beyond stock themes feels unfair to the endeavour. Sure, it’s about grief and loss and what those things make us do – but it’s also about the leverage of belief, perspective versus reality, the illusion of control, the impact of contrivance. It’s a show about theatre, about the relationship the audience has with those onstage. Of course there are times we don’t accept that Jessie Buckley is a 6ft 2 grieving father in his 40s, but then there are times we do. The character thinks she has turned her dead daughter into a tree. Unbelievable? Sure. But aren’t we turning Buckley into something else?
While the show inevitably contains jeopardy (who knows how our performer might react?), in Crouch’s experienced hands the show feels strangely secure and its plot surprisingly watertight. There are many writers out there who wish they were as good as Tim Crouch.
The show also serves as a pleasant reminder of what talented theatremakers can do with merely a handful of chairs and a mixing desk. No need for the glitzy distractions of Gatsby here, only simple, well-employed sound effects and masterful writing which dips and dives from lyrical poeticism to uncomfortable bluntness, from self-deprecating jabs to heart-hitting misdirections. There are many worse versions of this play being created in a world without Crouch.
On our night, Jessie Buckley was a joy to watch–equal parts heartwarming and compelling. Was her cackling a character choice or her embarrassment escaping? The genius is that either works in this show involving grief; there’s a ridiculousness in the sadness. Buckley was as happy to play the joke (even tongue-playing a piano at one stage) as she was to scream at the audience if the moment suggested it. It is easy to imagine how each actor could bring something new to this work, even things they might not realise, such as Buckley’s pregnant belly which added a new angle to her character’s loss. One thing’s for sure; we’re safe with Crouch at the wheel.
It’s hard to put a number on a show like this. What I can say is that I’ve been telling everyone about it. About how it has made me think about control and theatre and belief and the role of the audience as contributors. Mostly about grief and the way its inevitability can lead to both deep connection and strong detachment.
It’s a great night out. You just have to say yes.
An Oak Tree runs until 24th May at the Young Vic. Tickets are available here.