The cherry on top: The Cherry Orchard at the O’Reilly
Chekhov famously wrote The Cherry Orchard – the story of the inevitable decline of an aristocratic Russian family – as a comedy. He was horrified by its first production, directed by Stanislavsky as...
View ArticleA roostic charm: Roost at the BT
Pride, guilt, class, and privilege. Matthew Parvin’s Roost, an entry in the OUDS New Writing Festival, portrays these very British afflictions with the ease of a duck taking to water – and with only a...
View ArticleRaking it in: The Laramie Project at the Simpkins Lee
Fantastic staging makes The Laramie Project a great show, even when the script’s style of introducing characters becomes a bit repetitive. Entering the theatre was a memorable experience in itself. The...
View ArticleHardly fleshed out: The Merchant of Venice
I don’t think I will ever feel anything except soul-chewing discomfort when I watch the trial scene from Merchant of Venice. With his white kippah and shining, boyish face, Ben Margalith’s Shylock...
View ArticleNot emb-Racine Phedre just yet
Racine’s Phèdre presents the story of Theseus’ second wife and her ultimately tragic love for her stepson, Hippolytus. Viewed as incestuous in Athenian society, Phèdre’s love is untenable and sharing...
View ArticleEighters gonna love: Eight at the Burton Taylor pt. 1
“Put yourself in my shoes” is the challenge posed by this production of Ella Hickson’s Eight. Beneath cascades of translucent plastic, eight pairs of shoes form the stage’s only adornment, and indeed...
View ArticleA glowing Revue: The Revenge of the Oxford Revue
The less sense the Oxford Revue makes, the more sense its comedy makes. I can’t even describe the best moments from last night’s performance, because the mere act of speaking them would tarnish their...
View ArticleSt Hilda’s Drama Society’s Arcadia
Arcadia is set in the house of Sidley Park, and across two time frames; the action alternates between 19th century to the present day and back again with at the drop of a hat. It is a great credit to...
View ArticleEight Part 2 – Review
Good things come in pairs and Eight is no exception. The Thursday/Friday set of monologues have a different flavour to that of Part 1, successfully pursuing a more comic vein while exploring the...
View ArticlePhèdre – Review
Merton’s mediaeval chapel, the chosen location for this production of Jean Racine’s Phèdre in English, was suitably atmospheric. The bell started tolling at eight o’clock for the start of the play. The...
View ArticleMolierfied by The Misanthrope
The Oxford Playhouse’s new production of The Misanthrope cuts to the very heart of Molière’s masterpiece, a raucous satire of the 17th-century French Salon. Notwithstanding some masterful adjustments...
View ArticleThwarting Thorton’s text: A duller Our Town
As American as apple pie and twice as sugary, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is a sentimental and tender examination of the life and times of the population of Grover’s Corners, a small,...
View ArticleDreaming of sueños with the Oxford Spanish Play
The Oxford Spanish Play (OSP) Company is on a quest. It more or less says it on the tin: to bring Spanish drama to Oxford in the original language. Before we welcome their third instalment — the OSP...
View ArticlePreview: La vida es sueño
As the preview of the Oxford Spanish Play’s La vida es sueño began, I felt as though I had just been shaken from a dream. A 17th-century work by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and one of the most eminent...
View ArticleDon’t bash ur bunny pal till ya try it
Ashurbanipal. Not a name familiar to most. Excepting the rapid Google searches and Wikipedia-skimming in the run-up to this interview, it was new to me too. But last Wednesday evening, the Turl Street...
View ArticleO brother, where are thou? In England Street
The opening night of England Street at the Burton Taylor left its audience stunned. The BT proved once again that a small stage, dominated by several talented actors, can come together to great effect....
View ArticleJournalism hit by Frost-bite? We’re Palin jus’ thinkin’ about it
The 20th century saw the might of the media rise, supported by the power of the interview: Diana, Princess of Wales, with Martin Bashir; Marilyn Monroe with Richard Meryman; the Sex Pistols with Bill...
View ArticleEd Barr-Sim’s Frost/Nixon rehearsal diary: Part One – Across the Easter Break
Ed, let me introduce you to a friend of mine – Sally.” “Hi Sally,” said Ed, extending a hand, “pleasure to meet you.” “You too, Ed,” said Sally, “God, it’s funny, you really remind me of Michael...
View ArticleReview: La vida es sueño
Think Beauty and the Beast crossed with Oedipus Rex and a dash of Bohemian Rhapsody, and you might get something approaching Calderón’s La vida es sueño. Prophecies, secret princes, and sleeping...
View ArticleReview: Repetition
“Can one say the same thing twice? Can one say the same thing twice?” Thus opens George Pattison’s new adaptation of Kierkegaard’s book Repetition, an exploration of the continually changing self. Are...
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