Here at Cherwell Stage we love to encourage brilliant new critics. Recently, a keen fresher off ered to review a play for us before term. Naturally we were delighted. But we were reckless; our would-be critic was far too overwhelmed by the whole experience. The damage from the shock maybe irreversible; below we publish his impressions of the ‘play’.
“The cast is huge, I have never seen such a massive immersive theatre project. I can’t imagine how much money was spent making everybody on the entirety of Turl Street look so ridiculous – how could they have bought so many brightly coloured trousers in order to be so tastelessly combined with so many gratuitously patterned jumpers?
“I don’t understand who these characters are or what their motivation is, but it is clear this play is a tragedy. For example, there is the unparalleled dramatic meta-irony of the characters on the Cowley Road scenes: they think that there is no irony in the fact all they do is ironic. Truly this production is audacious in even considering to present something so sad.
“Nevertheless, the most horrifi c spectacle was no doubt that at the Oxford Union. Shakespearean delusions of grandeur were set in a funny red brick building just off Cornmarket. I still can’t believe that such a respectable institution as the Oxford Union could play host to such debased proceedings. Truly not even the most provocative productions plumb the depths of depravity I saw in the ‘chamber’. Still, in spite of these genre references I can’t piece it all together, what is the overriding story behind the façade of pretension, poor dress sense and Machiavellian politics? I don’t even know what the play is called, someone mentioned it might be ‘-1st week’?”
The reader will be reassured to know that the author of this extract is now being contained at the Cherwell offices until he recovers from shock
