Theatre

“There’s a play in that”: interview with ‘The Gang of Three’ playwright Robert Khan

It’s Budget Day as I sit in the foyer of the Oxford Playhouse. Down in Westminster, Chancellor Healey faces his first major test. But up here, another Chancellor Healey...

Behind glass: Lighthouse Productions’ ‘The Seagull’

The thematic potency and the overall success of Lighthouse Productions’ iteration of Anton Chekhov’s 'The Seagull' all came together in a great and terrible revelation.

‘Burning Down the House’: A review 

During the odd ‘in-between’ space that is Week 0, I searched for a show to give me something to do, amid the random dilly-dallying and the odd collection currently occupying my time.

Must theatre be so dire? Thoughts on the “unworthy scaffold”

If 'art est celare artem' (true art is to conceal art), then theatre is pretty poor art. You ain't fooling me into thinking that's a storm.

The Last Five Years: Review

00 Production’s performance of The Last Five Years pulls off the ambitious project with surprising grace. I say surprising because bringing a musical to the small screen,...

The Last Five Years- Preview

Having watched the preview, I am excited to see and listen to the full-length production of the musical. Both Maggie Moriarty as Cathy and...

Review: Richard II

Not Way Forward Productions has managed to put up a brilliant virtual version of ‘Richard II’ in pre-recorded video format. It is well-executed -...

Ralph Fiennes: from Hamlet… to Lear?

With his aquiline nose, translucent skin and deep pale eyes, Ralph Fiennes certainly makes an impression. And that is even before he speaks or emotes -...

NT Live’s Twelfth Night: Review

The French philosopher and moralist Jean de la Bruyère once remarked “life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those...

‘The Last Five Years’: discussing adaptation, distance and theatre’s survival

Imagine if you could see how your relationships would end as soon as you started them. In The Last Five Years, this premise is...

The intimacy of isolation: reflections on performing alone

“Lights up. The actor is alone” - type aspiring playwrights all over the world, unconsciously in unison. I anticipate reading this line (or something similar) over...

A Taste of Honey Today

A Taste of Honey, a play by the Salford-born writer Shelagh Delaney, debuted in 1958 and is widely considered to be a landmark work...

The era of digital drama

When you imagine ‘going to the theatre’, an image of you in your dressing gown, sitting on the sofa and eating popcorn probably doesn’t come to mind....

Richard II, coronavirus and creativity – in conversation with Dorothy McDowell

It seems like there’s enough drama happening in the real world to justify dark theatres and empty stages. The Edinburgh Fringe has been cancelled,...

‘Food For Thought’: The Buffa

What do buffet staff think about as they watch you stuff down your fourth plate of chicken chow-mein? Maybe they’re questioning why anyone drinks cows’ milk...

Review: Dr Faustus

“Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.”  As clawing hands ooze from behind a bookshelf, as twisted shadows creep against the walls,...

Translating nature into the theatre

Audition season for Trinity plays is beginning. Prepare your monologues and get ready to neglect your studies. More importantly though, get shopping for a...

Review: The Oxford Revue and Friends

To keep an audience laughing consistently at amateur comedy sketches for over two hours is the impressive achievement of the cast of ‘Oxford Revue...

Preview: RENT

I wouldn’t consider myself the biggest fan of the 2005 film RENT. I know, I know – I’m a bad musical theatre fan. But I tried...

Review: BOYS

Boys, by Ella Hickson, centres on a group of men at the crisis point between university and the real world. As both Benny and...

Review: Angels in America

“Holocausts can occur,” Larry Kramer asserts in his Reports from the Holocaust: The Making of an AIDS Activist, “and probably most often do occur,...

Review: Kafka’s Dick

When one mentions the play, Kafka’s Dick, needless to say, it raises a few eyebrows (at least in my experience). Though the title has some relevance...

Preview: Hero-Man

How flawed are the moral dynamics in children’s superhero cartoons, and can we critique them through the medium of rock opera? These are the...

Preview: Pleading Stupidity

As Storm Dennis raged, I wondered if it was strictly necessary that I went to the preview of Pleading Stupidity.It was a whole six minutes’...

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