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.
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.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe ‘Scummy Mummies’ are celebrating their 10th anniversary with a live tour of their ’Greatest Hits’.
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.
Reading Time: 3 minutes‘Ballet Black’ breathe exciting new life into a classical art form, smashing through multiple glass ceilings while retaining faultless beauty.
Reading Time: 3 minutesStravinsky's The Rake’s Progress is not the typical story of a Rake; the plot was unexpectedly about a man, originally with low funds, in love, who learnt more and more about love throughout the opera.
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.
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.
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.
Reading Time: 2 minutesDom Joly, the amazing English comedian and writer best known for the multi-award-winning prankster TV series Trigger Happy Show, has once again struck genius with his new stage performance – Dom Joly – The Conspiracy Tour.