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}}'''Auriol Smith''' is an English actress and theatre director. She was a founder member and associate director of the [[Orange Tree Theatre]] in [[Richmond, London]]. She co-founded the theatre in 1971 with her husband [[Sam Walters]], who became the United Kingdom's longest-serving artistic director.<ref name="Forty years">{{cite news | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14504777 | title=Sam Walters on the Orange Tree's 40 fruitful years | work=[[BBC News]] | date=23 August 2011 | accessdate=10 July 2013 | author=Tim Masters}}</ref> Walters and Smith stepped down from their posts at the Orange Tree Theatre in June 2014.<ref name="Step down">{{cite news | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23180455 | title=Walters steps down at Orange Tree | work=[[BBC News]] | date=4 July 2013 | accessdate=10 July 2013}}</ref>
}}'''Auriol Smith''' is an English actress and theatre director. She was a founder member and associate director of the [[Orange Tree Theatre]].


==Early years==
==Early years==
Whilst taking a degree in drama at [[Bristol University]] she became President of the Green Room Society at the newly founded university Drama Department.<ref>''The Life and Work of Harold Pinter'' by [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]], Faber 1996, page 66</ref> This was followed by a year in America as a [[Fulbright Scholar]], before making her professional debut at the [[Hampstead Theatre|Hampstead Theatre Club]] in January 1960 in [[Harold Pinter]]'s first play ''The Room'' (which she had originally played in a converted squash-court for the Bristol Drama Department in May 1957).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Theatre Archive Project – interviews – Auriol Smith Page 1|url=http://www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/smitha.html|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
Whilst taking a degree in drama at [[Bristol University]] she became President of the Green Room Society at the newly founded university Drama Department.<ref name="Billington">{{cite book | title=The Life and Work of Harold Pinter | publisher=Faber | author=[[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] | year=1996 | pages=66 | isbn=0-571-17103-6}}</ref> This was followed by a year in America as a [[Fulbright Scholar]], before making her professional debut at the [[Hampstead Theatre|Hampstead Theatre Club]] in January 1960 in [[Harold Pinter]]'s first play ''The Room'' (which she had originally played in a converted squash-court for the Bristol Drama Department in May 1957).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Theatre Archive Project – interviews – Auriol Smith Page 1|url=http://www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/smitha.html|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>


==Orange Tree Theatre==
==Orange Tree Theatre==
After extensive experience in repertory theatres and a year in Jamaica setting up a drama school and theatre, she and her husband [[Sam Walters]] co-founded the Orange Tree Theatre in [[Richmond, London]] in 1971, where she played many classic and modern parts. "We enjoyed doing small-scale productions in Jamaica, and hoped that eventually we'd run that kind of theatre in England. Then, when we returned in 1971, we decided that now was the time and Richmond (where we lived) was the place." (Auriol Smith in conversation with [[Marsha Hanlon]] for the Orange Tree Appeal brochure, 1991).
After extensive experience in repertory theatres and a year in Jamaica setting up a drama school and theatre, she and her husband [[Sam Walters]] co-founded the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London in 1971, where she played many classic and modern parts. "We enjoyed doing small-scale productions in Jamaica, and hoped that eventually we'd run that kind of theatre in England. Then, when we returned in 1971, we decided that now was the time and Richmond (where we lived) was the place." (Auriol Smith in conversation with [[Marsha Hanlon]] for the Orange Tree Appeal brochure, 1991).


===Performances===
===Performances===
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The new theatre opened in February 1991. Her Orange Tree performance credits there included:
The new theatre opened in February 1991. Her Orange Tree performance credits there included:
*Countess Czernyak in ''His Majesty'' ([[Harley Granville Barker]] 1992 – also Edinburgh International Festival)
*Countess Czernyak in ''His Majesty'' ([[Harley Granville Barker]]) 1992 – also Edinburgh International Festival
*Mary Faugh in ''[[The Dutch Courtesan]]'' ([[John Marston (poet)|John Marston]] 1992)
*Mary Faugh in ''[[The Dutch Courtesan]]'' ([[John Marston (poet)|John Marston]]) 1992
*Hester Bellboys in ''[[Penny For a Song]]'' ([[John Whiting]] 1992)
*Hester Bellboys in ''[[Penny For a Song]]'' ([[John Whiting]]) 1992
*Dorothy in ''[[Nice Dorothy]]'' ([[David Cregan]] 1993)
*Dorothy in ''[[Nice Dorothy]]'' ([[David Cregan]]) 1993
*Mariette in ''[[Doctor Knock (1994)|Doctor Knock]]'' ([[Jules Romains]] 1994)
*Mariette in ''[[Doctor Knock (1994)|Doctor Knock]]'' ([[Jules Romains]]) 1994
*Emma in ''Family Circles'' ([[Alan Ayckbourn]] 1996 and 1997)
*Emma in ''Family Circles'' ([[Alan Ayckbourn]]) 1996 and 1997
*Mme Lepine in ''Overboard'' ([[Michael Vinaver]], part of a French season in 1997)
*Mme Lepine in ''Overboard'' ([[Michael Vinaver]]) part of a French season in 1997
*Aglae in ''Court in the Act'' (farce [[Maurice Hennequin]] and [[Pierre Veber]] 1998)
*Aglae in ''Court in the Act'' (farce [[Maurice Hennequin]] and [[Pierre Veber]]) 1998
*Lady Wishfort in [[The Way of the World]] ([[William Congreve|Congreve]] 1999)
*Lady Wishfort in [[The Way of the World]] ([[William Congreve|Congreve]]) 1999
*Mme Dupont in ''Have You Anything to Declare?'' (farce Hennequin and Veber 2001)
*Mme Dupont in ''Have You Anything to Declare?'' (farce Hennequin and Veber) 2001
*Widow Warren in ''The Road to Ruin'' ([[Thomas Holcroft]] 2002)
*Widow Warren in ''The Road to Ruin'' ([[Thomas Holcroft]]) 2002
*Helena in ''Previous Convictions'' ([[Alan Franks]] 2005)
*Helena in ''Previous Convictions'' ([[Alan Franks]]) 2005
*Lady Smatter in ''[[The Woman Hater]]'' ([[Fanny Burney]] 2007)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / The Woman Hater|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/19376/the-woman-hater|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*Lady Smatter in ''[[The Woman Hater]]'' ([[Fanny Burney]]) 2007<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / The Woman Hater|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/19376/the-woman-hater|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*Grandma, Rieger's mother in ''Leaving'' ([[Václav Havel]] 2008)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / Leaving|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/21863/leaving|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*Grandma, Rieger's mother in ''Leaving'' ([[Václav Havel]]) 200)<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / Leaving|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/21863/leaving|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>


===Directing===
===Directing===
From 1991 to 2014 she also regularly directed at the Orange Tree. Her credits included:
From 1991 to 2014 she also regularly directed at the Orange Tree. Her credits included:
*''Cat With Green Violin'' ([[Jane Coles]]) 1991
*''Cat With Green Violin'' ([[Jane Coles]]) 1991
*''[[The Case of Rebellious Susan]]'' ([[Henry Arthur Jones]]) 1994: Time Out Award 1994
*''[[The Case of Rebellious Susan]]'' ([[Henry Arthur Jones]]) 1994: ''Time Out'' Award 1994
*''[[The Verge (play)|The Verge]]'' ([[Susan Glaspell]]) 1996
*''[[The Verge (play)|The Verge]]'' ([[Susan Glaspell]]) 1996
*''Love Me Slender'' ([[Vanessa Brooks]]) 1997
*''Love Me Slender'' ([[Vanessa Brooks]]) 1997
Line 61: Line 61:
*''Mary Goes First'' ([[Henry Arthur Jones]]) 2008<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / Mary Goes First|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/22952/mary-goes-first|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*''Mary Goes First'' ([[Henry Arthur Jones]]) 2008<ref>{{cite web|title=The Stage / Reviews / Mary Goes First|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/22952/mary-goes-first|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*''The Ring of Truth'' ([[Wynyard Browne]]) 2009<ref>{{cite web|title=Theatre review: The Ring of Truth at Orange Tree, Richmond upon Thames|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/ringtruth-rev.htm|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*''The Ring of Truth'' ([[Wynyard Browne]]) 2009<ref>{{cite web|title=Theatre review: The Ring of Truth at Orange Tree, Richmond upon Thames|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/ringtruth-rev.htm|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*''Mary Broome'' ([[Allan Monkhouse]]) March 2011<ref>{{cite web|title=Theatre review: Mary Broome at Orange Tree Theatre|url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/marybroome-rev|accessdate=29 November 2012}}</ref>
*''Mary Broome'' ([[Allan Monkhouse]]) March 2011<ref name="Loxton">{{cite news | url=http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/marybroome-rev | title=Mary Broome: Allan Monkhouse, Orange Tree Theatre (2011) | work=British Theatre Guide | date=2011 | accessdate=6 November 2014 | author=Howard Loxton}}</ref>


==Other acting and directing work==
==Other acting and directing work==
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==Television and audio==
==Television and audio==
She worked extensively on radio including Pinter's 1960 radio version of his sixty-minute play ''The Room'' for the BBC Third Programme. For ten years she presented ''[[Listen with Mother]]'' on [[BBC Radio 4]] and was a long-serving member of the Radio Drama Company. Her BBC radio credits include [[Alan Bennett]]'s ''[[Forty Years On (play)|Forty Years On]]'', the role of a tipsy summer partygoer in [[Ellen Dryden]]'s romantic comedy ''Forgetting Rosalind'' (a FirstWrites production for the BBC), and ''East of the Sun'' by [[Carey Harrison]].
She worked extensively on radio including Pinter's 1960 radio version of his sixty-minute play ''The Room'' for the [[BBC Third Programme]]. For ten years she presented ''[[Listen with Mother]]'' on [[BBC Radio 4]] and was a long-serving member of the Radio Drama Company. Her BBC radio credits include [[Alan Bennett]]'s ''[[Forty Years On (play)|Forty Years On]]'', the role of a tipsy summer partygoer in [[Ellen Dryden]]'s romantic comedy ''Forgetting Rosalind'' (a FirstWrites production for the BBC), and ''East of the Sun'' by [[Carey Harrison]].


For Naxos Smith has recorded the roles of Alice in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' with [[Samuel West]], and the Duchess of York in ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' with [[Kenneth Branagh]]. She has also acted on television in ''[[Kavanagh QC]]'', ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]'', ''[[Peak Practice]]'' and ''[[Doctors (soap opera)|Doctors]]'', among others.
For Naxos, Smith recorded the roles of Alice in ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' with [[Samuel West]], and the Duchess of York in ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' with [[Kenneth Branagh]]. She has also acted on television in ''[[Kavanagh QC]]'', ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]'', ''[[Peak Practice]]'' and ''[[Doctors (soap opera)|Doctors]]'', among others.

==Honours==
In November 2014 it was announced that she and her husband Sam Walters are to receive the Freedom of the [[London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]].<ref name="Freedom">{{cite news | url=http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/11578801.Freedom_of_the_borough_to_be_bestowed_upon_Orange_Tree_founders/?ref=rss&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed | title=Freedom of the borough to be bestowed upon Orange Tree founders | work=[[Richmond and Twickenham Times]] | date=5 November 2014 | accessdate=6 November 2014 | author=Tom Ambrose}}</ref>


==Private life==
==Private life==
Auriol Smith is the wife of Orange Tree co-founder and former artistic director [[Sam Walters]]. They have two daughters: Dorcas Walters, a former soloist and principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Octavia Walters who is a fellow actress.
Auriol Smith is the wife of Orange Tree co-founder and former artistic director [[Sam Walters]], whom she met while doing pantomime at [[Rotherham]] in 1962.<ref name="Round">{{cite journal | url=http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=745fd279-8b32-45d5-bc73-cdf56d4a2870 | title=Life in the Round | author=Richard Nye | journal=The Richmond Magazine |date=January 2014}}</ref> They have two daughters: Dorcas Walters, who was principal dancer with [[Birmingham Royal Ballet]] and now works in arts administration, and Octavia Walters, formerly an actress, now a sports injury masseur.


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* Auriol Smith's Orange Tree Theatre programme CVs, 1991 and 2007
* Auriol Smith's Orange Tree Theatre programme CVs, 1991 and 2007
* ''The Life and Work of Harold Pinter'' by Michael Billington, Faber 1996 ISBN 0-571-17103-6
* [[Michael Billington]] (1996) ''The Life and Work of Harold Pinter''. Faber ISBN 0-571-17103-6
* [[Theatre Record]] and its annual Indexes
* ''[[Theatre Record]]'' and its annual Indexes


==External links==
==External links==

Revision as of 07:43, 6 November 2014

Auriol Smith
Auriol Smith in 2010
SpouseSam Walters

Auriol Smith is an English actress and theatre director. She was a founder member and associate director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London. She co-founded the theatre in 1971 with her husband Sam Walters, who became the United Kingdom's longest-serving artistic director.[1] Walters and Smith stepped down from their posts at the Orange Tree Theatre in June 2014.[2]

Early years

Whilst taking a degree in drama at Bristol University she became President of the Green Room Society at the newly founded university Drama Department.[3] This was followed by a year in America as a Fulbright Scholar, before making her professional debut at the Hampstead Theatre Club in January 1960 in Harold Pinter's first play The Room (which she had originally played in a converted squash-court for the Bristol Drama Department in May 1957).[4]

Orange Tree Theatre

After extensive experience in repertory theatres and a year in Jamaica setting up a drama school and theatre, she and her husband Sam Walters co-founded the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London in 1971, where she played many classic and modern parts. "We enjoyed doing small-scale productions in Jamaica, and hoped that eventually we'd run that kind of theatre in England. Then, when we returned in 1971, we decided that now was the time and Richmond (where we lived) was the place." (Auriol Smith in conversation with Marsha Hanlon for the Orange Tree Appeal brochure, 1991).

Performances

In the old theatre:

The new theatre opened in February 1991. Her Orange Tree performance credits there included:

Directing

From 1991 to 2014 she also regularly directed at the Orange Tree. Her credits included:

Other acting and directing work

During 1990, as part of a busy year, she played Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World at the Royal Exchange Manchester (deputising for Sylvia Syms who was indisposed), and toured North America for the ACTER company in The Winter's Tale playing opposite Paul Shelley as Leontes. She also appeared in Christine Edzard's film The Fool.

In the West End for producer Bill Kenwright, Smith directed Dead Guilty by Richard Harris (Apollo 1995) starring Hayley Mills and Jenny Seagrove; and Michael Redgrave's The Aspern Papers (Wyndham's 1996) with Hannah Gordon. She also directed a Japanese version of Dead Guilty in Japan.

At the Theatre Royal Windsor directed Shadow of a Doubt and Canaries Sometimes Sing. At the Northampton Theatre Royal she directed Arthur Miller's Broken Glass, David Mamet's Oleanna and James Robson's Mail Order Bride; while at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough she first directed Love Me Slender.

Television and audio

She worked extensively on radio including Pinter's 1960 radio version of his sixty-minute play The Room for the BBC Third Programme. For ten years she presented Listen with Mother on BBC Radio 4 and was a long-serving member of the Radio Drama Company. Her BBC radio credits include Alan Bennett's Forty Years On, the role of a tipsy summer partygoer in Ellen Dryden's romantic comedy Forgetting Rosalind (a FirstWrites production for the BBC), and East of the Sun by Carey Harrison.

For Naxos, Smith recorded the roles of Alice in Henry V with Samuel West, and the Duchess of York in Richard III with Kenneth Branagh. She has also acted on television in Kavanagh QC, One Foot in the Grave, Peak Practice and Doctors, among others.

Honours

In November 2014 it was announced that she and her husband Sam Walters are to receive the Freedom of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[11]

Private life

Auriol Smith is the wife of Orange Tree co-founder and former artistic director Sam Walters, whom she met while doing pantomime at Rotherham in 1962.[12] They have two daughters: Dorcas Walters, who was principal dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet and now works in arts administration, and Octavia Walters, formerly an actress, now a sports injury masseur.

References

  1. ^ Tim Masters (23 August 2011). "Sam Walters on the Orange Tree's 40 fruitful years". BBC News. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Walters steps down at Orange Tree". BBC News. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  3. ^ Michael Billington (1996). The Life and Work of Harold Pinter. Faber. p. 66. ISBN 0-571-17103-6.
  4. ^ "The Theatre Archive Project – interviews – Auriol Smith Page 1". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  5. ^ "The Stage / Reviews / The Woman Hater". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  6. ^ "The Stage / Reviews / Leaving". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  7. ^ "The Stage / Reviews / Chains". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  8. ^ "The Stage / Reviews / Mary Goes First". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Theatre review: The Ring of Truth at Orange Tree, Richmond upon Thames". Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  10. ^ Howard Loxton (2011). "Mary Broome: Allan Monkhouse, Orange Tree Theatre (2011)". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  11. ^ Tom Ambrose (5 November 2014). "Freedom of the borough to be bestowed upon Orange Tree founders". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  12. ^ Richard Nye (January 2014). "Life in the Round". The Richmond Magazine.

Sources

  • Auriol Smith's Orange Tree Theatre programme CVs, 1991 and 2007
  • Michael Billington (1996) The Life and Work of Harold Pinter. Faber ISBN 0-571-17103-6
  • Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

External links

  • Orange Tree Theatre website [1]

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