The first revival for many years of James Saunders’ startling and innovative 1963 play, Next Time I'll Sing to You is currently showing at the Orange Tree theatre, brought to the audience through renowned director, Anthony Clark.

The play follows four actors trying to find out the truth about a hermit named James Alexander Mason, who decide in 1906 at the age of 48 to sell his cottage, build a hut in field beyond his village, surround it with ditches, hives of wild bees, barbed wire and two tonnes of corrugated iron fence to take up solitary residence. His brother left him food every day, but he was not seen again until at the age of 84, when he was brought out dead.

Throughout the play it is often difficult to work out what is going on and even the finale fails to shed any obvious light on what has been laid before your eyes for the past couple of hours.

This did allow the audience to have their own possible interpretation of the storyline, but with continuous philosophical monologues, this constant guessing became a little tedious by the end.

However, the play stays true to James Saunders’ philosophical and psychological style and, as his intention in the play was to find the meaning of existence through the life of the hermit, it is understandable why there is such a consistent philosophical feel running throughout.

Next Time I'll Sing to You is currently showing at the Orange Tree theatre on Clarence Street in Richmond and finishes on December 10.

Performances run from Monday to Saturday. Monday evenings and Saturday matinees are £14, Thursday matinee (and a post-show discussions) is £11, Tuesday to Thursday evening is £16, Friday evenings are £18 and Saturday evening performances are £21.

For more information, visit orangetreetheatre.co.uk.