Tag oxford

REVIEW: Moby Dick

Reading Time: 3 minutesSimple8 is an award-winning theatre company based in London, whose main aim is to tackle theatre in bold, physical and innovative ways. It was an absolute honour to witness such a standout piece of art that incorporated both storytelling and a dynamic ensemble aspect.

REVIEW: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Reading Time: 2 minutesThis production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona had a wonderfully modern feel, but kept to the original words with a level of understanding, and modern humour, that ensured they came across with a purity that could be fully appreciated. The modernity of football boots, manicures, Hinge, and Take Me Home, Country Roads gave new levels of accessibility to this Shakespearean comedy. 

REVIEW: Unfortunate – the Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch

Reading Time: 3 minutesWe all know the story of the Little Mermaid – Ariel yearns to explore the world beyond the sea and strikes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula, trading her beautiful voice for human legs. Ariel spends time with the young prince Eric on land, they fall in love, blah blah blah. The plot thickens as a cunning plan to sabotage occurs, and many incidents ensue. Ultimately, Ariel achieves her happy ending and Ursula unfortunately bites the dust. It’s the classic “good guys always win and bad guys always lose” trope. 

REVIEW: Manon Lescaut

Reading Time: 2 minutesI think I can comfortably assume that the English Touring Opera’s production of Manson Lescaut at the Oxford Playhouse is vastly different from its first performances in Turin, 1893. Director and librettist Jude Christian’s fascinating biography of recent work had me on tenterhooks for the main event, and her revival of this Puccini classic did not fail to excite the senses and turn the classical world on its head. 

REVIEW: Me and My Girl

Reading Time: 2 minutesThis week, the Oxford Playhouse was home to the wonderful Musical Youth Company of Oxford (MYCO) with their production of ‘Me and My Girl’, a playful musical following Bill (Daniel Hayns) and Sally (Hetty Hughes), a pair of young Cockneys from Lambeth. Their relationship faces a challenge as the Harefords, an aristocratic family, name Bill their only legitimate heir. Bill doesn’t quite fit in, his current behaviour won’t get him his inheritance and the family certainly won’t accept Sal.

REVIEW: Blue Stockings

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe creativity of the Oxford Playhouse’s Young Company came shining through before the show even began. Audience members were invited up onto the stage itself, transformed into a beautifully intimate black box performance space. The audience were seated in traverse configuration, framing a stage flooded with warm light, enhanced by a gobo to imitate sunlight through stained glass. This, alongside the University of Cambridge banners hanging from the flies, situated us vividly within a College chapel.