Auriol Smith (born 1936) is an English actress and theatre director. She was a founder member and associate director of the Orange Tree Theatre 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 Commis ...

. She co-founded the theatre in 1971 with her husband Sam Walters, who became the United Kingdom's longest-serving artistic director. Walters and Smith stepped down from their posts at the Orange Tree Theatre in June 2014.

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. 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 Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

's first play ''The Room'' (which she had originally played in a converted squash-court for the Bristol Drama Department in May 1957).

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: *Penelope in ''A Slight Accident'' ( James Saunders) Lunchtimes, January 1976 *''Find Me'' ( Olwen Wymark) 1977 *Teacher in ''The Primary English Class'' (

Israel Horovitz Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 – November 9, 2020) was an American playwright, director, actor and co-founder of the Gloucester Stage Company in 1979. He served as artistic director until 2006 and later served on the board, ex officio and ...

) November 1979 *Woman in ''Living Remains'' ( Martin Crimp) Lunchtimes, 9–25 July 1982 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 *Mary Faugh in '' The Dutch Courtesan'' ( John Marston) 1992 *Hester Bellboys in '' Penny For a Song'' ( John Whiting) 1992 *Dorothy in '' Nice Dorothy'' ( David Cregan) 1993 *Mariette in '' Doctor Knock'' ( Jules Romains) 1994 *Emma in ''Family Circles'' ( Alan Ayckbourn) 1996 and 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 *Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World ( Congreve) 1999 *Mme Dupont in ''Have You Anything to Declare?'' (farce Hennequin and Veber) 2001 *Widow Warren in '' The Road to Ruin'' ( Thomas Holcroft) 2002 *Helena in ''Previous Convictions'' ( Alan Franks) 2005 *Lady Smatter in '' The Woman Hater'' ( Fanny Burney) 2007 *Grandma, Rieger's mother in ''Leaving'' (

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

) 200)

Directing

From 1991 to 2014 she also regularly directed at the Orange Tree. Her credits included: *''Cat With Green Violin'' ( Jane Coles) 1991 *'' The Case of Rebellious Susan'' ( Henry Arthur Jones) 1994: ''Time Out'' Award 1994 *''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' ( Susan Glaspell) 1996 *''Love Me Slender'' ( Vanessa Brooks) 1997 *''Dissident, Goes Without Saying'' (Michael Vinaver) 1997 *'' Lips Together, Teeth Apart'' (

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...

) 1998 and 1999 *'' The Cassilis Engagement'' ( St John Hankin) 1999 *''The Captain's Tiger'' (

Athol Fugard Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (; 11 June 19328 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaki ...

) 2000 *''Flyin' West'' ( Pearl Cleage) 2001 *''Three Sisters Two'' ( Reza de Wet) 2002 *'' The House of Bernarda Alba'' (

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

) 2003 *''Simplicity'' ( Lady Mary Wortley Montagu after Pierre Marivaux) 2003 *'' Doña Rosita the Spinster'' (Lorca) 2004 *''The Women of Lockerbie'' ( Deborah Brevoort) 2005 *''Tosca's Kiss'' ( Kenneth Jupp) 2006 *''Nan'' (

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

) 2007 *'' Chains'' ( Elizabeth Baker) 2007 *''Mary Goes First'' ( Henry Arthur Jones) 2008 *''The Ring of Truth'' ( Wynyard Browne) 2009 *''Mary Broome'' ( Allan Monkhouse) March 2011

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 David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

's ''Oleanna'' and James Robson's ''Mail Order Bride''; while at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

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 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

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 Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, theatre director, and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio. West was nominated for the BAFTA Award f ...

, and the Duchess of York in ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

'' with

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

. She has also acted on television in '' Kavanagh QC'', '' One Foot in the Grave'', '' Peak Practice'' and '' Doctors'', among others.

Honours

She and her husband Sam Walters received the Freedom of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in December 2014.

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 Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

in 1962. They have two daughters: Dorcas Walters, who was principal dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet and is now a Gyrotonic instructor, and Octavia Walters, formerly an actress, now a sports injury masseur and hypnotherapist.

References

Sources

* Auriol Smith's Orange Tree Theatre programme CVs, 1991 and 2007 * Michael Billington (1996) ''The Life and Work of Harold Pinter''. Faber * '' Theatre Record'' and its annual Indexes

External links

*Orange Tree Theatre websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Auriol Living people English theatre directors British women theatre directors English television actresses English stage actresses English radio actresses 1936 births