Thursday 19th June 2025

Theatre

Review: CRUSH – ‘A classic coming-of-age’

Rumours of drastic script revisions and casting changes meant that I entered The North Wall (a former swimming pool, so I’ve been told), with a degree of apprehension. But...

Review: Blood Wedding – ‘A lunar eclipse on the stage’

A trembling bride. A distrustful mother. Two murderous rivals vying for a single, wavering...

Review: Crocodile Tears – ‘Techno-futuristic, but why?’

There is a lot to like about Natascha Norton’s Crocodile Tears. Female lead Elektra...

Review: ART – ‘Charm, jazz, and friendship at its wittiest’

ART is charming. Centred around long-time friends Yvan (Ronav Jain), Marcus (Rufus Shutter) and...

Review: As You Like It – ‘What’s not to like?’

At last, the sun is coming out to play, and the Mansfield Players’ staging of As You Like It has given this summer’s outdoor...

Review: And Then There Were None – ‘Entertaining, suspenseful and very much worth your attention’

Hafeja Khanam’s take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery And Then There Were None for this year’s OUDS BAME showcase was entertaining, suspenseful and...

Review: 113 – ‘An elusive, intangible, and shifting reality’

When I entered the Burton Taylor Studio to the sound of a mildly haunting cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, the whispered-yet-screechy vocals verging...

A ‘Closer’ look at intimacy in Labyrinth’s new production

Labyrinth Production’s upcoming production of Patrick Marber’s Closer is a novel step up in the kinds of physical and emotional intensity that the Oxford...

Review: Cyrano de Bergerac – ‘A clever adaptation of a timeless play’

I’m ashamed to admit I almost mistake Cuigy (Kate Burke) and Brissaille (Nancy Gittus) for incredibly dapper audience members before the play begins. The...

Review: Medieval Mystery Play Cycle – ‘Comedy, choirs and inflatable hammers’

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Medieval mystery play cycle. What I was not anticipating was Lucifer recast as a finance bro...

Staging the radio play: The audio-visual world of ‘Under Milk Wood’

“Love the words!”That was the crisp command from Dylan Thomas, the 20th-century Welsh poet, to the cast of his radio play Under Milk Wood,...

‘The Little Clay Cart’ brings Sanskrit back to life

As students left Oxford on the last weekend of Hilary, I visited St John’s College’s auditorium to witness the final hurrah of term: the...

40 years after the miners’ strike, James Graham’s ‘This House’ still has a lot to offer

‘Humphrey: ‘If the right people don’t have power, do you know what happens? The wrong people get it. Politicians. Councillors. Ordinary voters.’Bernard: ‘But aren’t...

Persuading the public: The play as propaganda

The play as propaganda has a long history. From the regime-affirming productions of Hieron, tyrant King of Syracuse, to Lucy Prebble’s play The Effect,...

Shakespeare and the ‘Dark Lady’

Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most well renowned English playwright. Thus, the chance that the bard might have been strongly influenced by a woman, as...

Julie review – Free shots, toxic relationships, immersive theatre

My ticket to see Julie resembled an invite to a birthday party, promising a live DJ and that I would be greeted by ‘partygoers’...

The Goat Review: ‘raw, absurdist, and honest’

Clarendon Productions brings The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Edward Albee) to the Michael Pilch studio, painfully, humorously, and soulfully. Seated in the round,...

The Busy Body Review: ‘Theatre of the Real’

The Busy Body (1709) is one of the many plays written by Susanna Centlivre. Centlivre is often referred to by critics and historians as...

In conversation with ‘The Children’

‘If you’re curious as to how and why cows, nuclear reactors, tricycles, peperami, and old people doing yoga all fit into one play…come and...

Sanskrit drama returns to Oxford

Building on a strong recent tradition of plays performed in Sanskrit (with surtitles!) we are delighted to present this beautiful drama from ancient India,...

Exploring ‘Into the Woods’

Last week, I sat down with Luke Nixon, Lydia Free, and Isobel Connolly, the directorial force of a new ‘vivid and visionary’ production of...

Review: Moth – ‘An unabashed, piercing piece of theatre’  

An acute attention to detail marks Moth as a standout in the world of student theatre.

Review: Endgame – ‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness’

The play invites us to laugh at our powerlessness in the face of an apocalyptic fate.

Review: NUTS – ‘a harrowing portrait of deceit and desire’

NUTS works in its ability to keep the audience on edge, waiting for the delicately thin emotional facades the characters have built to come crashing down. 

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