Reading Time: 3 minutesA 2020s companion piece to ‘Jerusalem’? Dear England is a rousing play spotlighting the nuances of national identity, pride and place. As it stands, every roundabout I’ve recently passed has had a St George’s flag flying. Patriotism…
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhitney Houston’s legacy looms large in a vocally stunning but dramatically uneven ‘The Bodyguard’ I love musicals – always have, always will – but there’s a particular kind of heartbreak when a great story doesn’t quite find…
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhat’s left when someone leaves? This was the overarching question in Andrea Maciel and Gabriela Flarys’ production Deluge, an experimental piece of multimedia theatre examining the universally confusing experience of loss. Opening with a curdling scream and Flarys dressed in red-stained garms, it was evident that this show would combine alarm and humour in equal measure.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe black box studio at the Burton Taylor Theatre was an intimate and atmospheric backdrop to this brand-new musical, making its debut at the Oxford’s Offbeat Festival. Soundtracked by a fantastic live band (Georgia Ayew on drums, Jennie Beard on bass and writer-composer Bart Thiede on keys), the show follows the relationship between Séan from Ireland (Liam McGrath) and Stan from Poland (Cam Gray), as they navigate their way through the complexities of EU migration, religious upbringing and LGBTQI+ identities.
Reading Time: 2 minutesOxford’s Offbeat Festival and The Old Fire Station welcomed award-winning, female and queer-led company Vertebra Theatre to the stage with Electra Untitled, their modern adaptation of Sophocles’ Greek tragedy.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Pasadena Roof Orchestra, a group that’s been performing since the sixties, transported us to yesteryear and the golden era of swing and jazz music.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis farce-within-a-farce pays homage to the theatre with riotous caricature, expert slapstick and witty wordplay As I arrived at the Oxford Playhouse, there were at least six coach loads of theatre-goers pouring into the auditorium. Much like…
Reading Time: 3 minutesLaurie Lee’s captivating trilogy is soulfully reimagined for the stage with an outstanding orchestral arrangement I have a great love of Laurie Lee’s writing; no one captures landscape, nostalgia and world exploration quite as evocatively as him.…
Reading Time: 3 minutesAn inspiring night of witty wordplay and transportive storytelling by slam poetry powerhouses As anyone who’s been to the Old Fire Station in Oxford will know, it’s a welcoming venue of committed localists. On a chilly November…
Reading Time: 3 minutesAward-winning choreographers Morgann Runacre-Temple and Jessica Wright (known in the industry as Jess and Morgs) are the partnership behind Scottish Ballet’s highly-anticipated Coppélia, having lifted Arthur Saint-Léon’s original story of an eccentric toy-maker into its modern milieu: a cautionary tale about human relationships with AI