Having just moved into non-college owned accommodation, I suddenly realise a) how much I miss heating b) how bloody expensive heating is. In devising a solution I pretty much have daytime covered, what with libraries and the spiritual warmth of the Cherwell office. Nighttime is a problem, not least because even my love of heat won’t tempt me to the dubious warmth to be had at Park End.
As in all things in life, the answer is of course to be found at the theatre. But as with Park End, you don’t want to be kept warm in any old way, so it is always best to pick the best option. Here follows our take on the best plays to keep you warm and possibly even entertained this coming term.
In all sincerity, I hate musicals with what I am convinced will one day become a diagnosable condition. But this term’s upcoming production of Singing in the Rain is undeniably intriguing. Not so much the play, but the ambition of the technical spectacle promises to make this a landmark production for Oxford theatre. Although the singing won’t for me be much of a draw, the rain certainly will be. I hear rumours that the producers intend to actually pour water all over the stage. For sure, you can’t say you’re not getting your money’s worth.
In addition, some complex video work seems to be in store with OBA president Hendrik Ehlers in charge of directing the live and recorded video. Still, with such unbearable music and such a profusion of fluids being discharged, perhaps that Third Week you might go to Park End anyway.
Next we have String; a promising piece of new writing addressing communication in the modern era.They want to do this in an interestingly literal way, with a huge installation of winding string that (I presume) represents the entrapment of interconnecting relationships permitted by an online world. So edgy is this production that chatting to its graphic designer as I write this piece, I still don’t really know what it’s about. In any case, dix points for set design in the BT of all places. Coming in Fourth Week.
For me the most intriguing piece this term is an adaptation of The Master and Margarita — the famous Bulgakov novel about Satan visiting the Soviet Union. For those of you who have read the original you will know what an absolutely mad idea it is to try and adapt it. A murderous
talking cat and the eponymous devil from the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy For…” are among the spectacles we should encounter at St John’s gardens in Sixth Week. Make sure you bring a coat.
The upshot is that after a Trinity full of safe crowd-pleasers, it seems some ballsier showings in Michaelmas will give me reason to escape the chill of my house
