Garden: A Preview
When I arrived to watch a rehearsal of Garden, most of the cast were wearing plant pots on their heads. This, it turned out, was not a daring fashion statement, but an image which captured the essence...
View ArticleAjax: For Greek Drama Experts and Novices Alike
Open air theatre in a college garden is one of those ridiculously wonderful “Oxford” things that you just have to do in Trinity term. It’s up there with punting, croquet and Pimms. So, I was very...
View ArticleMerlot and Royal: A Great Cast and Catchy Tunes Slightly Hampered by New Writing
Merlot & Royal, an original musical by Imogen Mechie, opened at the Tingewick Hall with great potential, but it failed to live up to a promising start. Set in the 1950s, Merlot & Royal concerns...
View ArticleRewritten: Questioning the Success of this Experimental Piece
Rewritten is a commendable, experimental piece of student theatre, attempting to offer a visualisation of the mental post-mortem succeeding an unsuccessful relationship. Unfortunately, as the events of...
View Article‘Avenue Q’: A Coming-Of-Age Story With A Twist
Avenue Q is a coming-of-age story with a twist: most of the characters are Sesame Street-style puppets. The latest show from Oxford Operatic Society, Avenue Q combines catchy songs and skilful...
View Article‘Garden’: A Cerebral Piece With A Very Human Heart
Once again, Jack Bradfield and Poltergeist Theatre prove that they’re cleverer than us. In the nicest possible way. Garden, Bradfield’s latest piece of new writing, takes everything that last summer’s...
View Article‘If you’re going to see one Revue show, this is it’: An Interview with the...
The Oxford Revue perform regularly each term, but their biggest night falls this week with The Cambridge Footlights and The Durham Revue at the Oxford Playhouse. We sat down with two of the Revue’s...
View ArticleGirls Will Be Girls is a Triumphant Production
I think everybody in Oxford remembers waiting for a letter to arrive, a letter which at the time may have felt like it was deciding your fate, a letter informing you whether or not you had been...
View ArticleHenry IV: A Quality Production in which the Actors Really Shine
Henry IV part 1 is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s more confusing plays to follow: some prior knowledge of the Wars of the Roses may be helpful in order to keep straight which Henrys and Richards are who....
View ArticleCoriolanus: A Passionate and Aggressive Adaptation
The Worcester College Gardens production of Coriolanus is a passionate and aggressive adaptation, one of Shakespeare’s final Roman tragedies. Despite being the second longest play in Shakespeare’s...
View ArticleThe Oxford Revue and ‘Friends’: A Review
Oxford, Cambridge, Durham: an alliance (or rivalry) for the ages. Although the title of the evening was ‘The Oxford Revue and Friends’, the rivalry and tension between each university’s comedic troupes...
View ArticleSkylight: A Preview
I walked into the Burton-Taylor Studio halfway through a run of the show. The cast continued with the performance without pause as I settled in, provoking the feeling that I’d stumbled into someone’s...
View ArticleThe Oxford University Light Entertainment Society: A Profile
The Oxford drama scene has nurtured some of the finest acting talent in Britain, the hallowed training ground of artists as varied as Hugh Grant, Rosamund Pike and Tom Hooper. It is a Serious Business....
View Article‘Skylight’: Poignant, Realistic and Unexpectedly Funny
The attention to detail in Hugh Tappin’s production of Skylight is remarkable. Stepping into the Burton Taylor Studio felt like walking into a ramshackle flat, complete with a shabby, tea-stained...
View ArticleSweat and Introspection: HOTTER at the Old Fire Station
On walking into the auditorium at the Old Fire Station, the aesthetic which greeted us was uber millennial feminism: fur coats, crop tops, fluffy cushions, flares, and lots and lots of pink. In this...
View ArticleSTOP: An Original Musical Highlighting Mental Health
STOP, a new musical by Leo Munby and Annabel Mutale-Reed, is a moving piece of theatre that considers mental health sensitively. STOP follows the story of four different people who each arrive at the...
View ArticleCoriolanus: A Passionate and Aggressive Adaptation
The Worcester College Gardens production of Coriolanus is a passionate and aggressive adaptation, one of Shakespeare’s final Roman tragedies. Despite being the second longest play in Shakespeare’s...
View ArticleA Modern Day Adaptation of Caesar in the O’Reilly
Plays are performed in places, and the effect that seemingly obvious fact can have on the play can sometimes be palpable. In the case of Cosmic Arts’s strong, new performance of Shakespeare’s Caesar,...
View ArticleBacchae at the Oxford Playhouse
Presenting a play entirely in Greek to a modern audience might seem like an extraordinary task, but through the interplay of choreography, music, and outstanding individual performances, this...
View ArticleThree Parallel Places at Michael Pilch Studio
Three Parallel Places is an ambitious new piece of writing by Hannah Chilve-Vaughan which, through its winning central performance, manages to capture the spirit of the itinerant classical figures by...
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