There’s something truly endearing about seeing an actor genuinely succumb to the role they’re playing; I can’t help but feel that Rory Grant, playing Septimus Hodge in Arcadia at the O’Reilly, might have taken this slightly too far. As I entered the rehearsal room for this preview, he strode towards me, and provided me with a list of adjectives he’d like to be described as for his first appearance in a student newspaper. I will leave them here so I can get on with my job: “Humorous, attractive, sexually alluring, witty, well-endowed, thrustily lunging, wry, candid, channelling the zeitgeist, the voice of a generation, a star of the future and a raw talent.” The fact that this was exactly the way that Stoppard’s vivacious tutor might have introduced himself made for a blurring of lines between the performative and the earnest, which I suspect the playwright himself would have rather enjoyed.

With the pleasantries out of the way, I was treated to a showing of the first two scenes of Arcadia. For those that aren’t familiar with the play, it concerns the country house of Sidley Park, in two temporally distant, but thematically proximate times – 1809 and the modern day. The 1809 scene was dominated by the precocious protégé Thomasina, portrayed by Tallulah Vaughan with just the right blend of doe-eyed naivety and cutting wit – the discussion of carnal embrace, and her relative degree of ‘innocence’ had a fraught tension to it which I can only hope will carry through in the performance.

Similarly attention grabbing was Thomasina’s mother, Lady Croom – played by Lara Marks, who channels a chillingly Bracknell-esque tone when expressing her outrage at the changes to the Gazebo in the garden. The contrast between self important mother and genius daughter is compounded by Thomasina’s tutor Septimus, whose questionable sexual exploits not only further his charge’s learning, but almost lead to a fight with Ezra Chater (Fred Wienand) – the bumbling botanist and cuckold, who “thinks he’s written a poem”, and whose literary pretensions Septimus preys on to great effect.

The farcical events of duels and landscape gardening which predominate the 1809 scenes are given new meaning in the modern scenes – egotistical academics Bernard Nightingale (Ollie Skan) and Hannah Jarvis (Imo Reeve-Tucker) fight over book sales and Byron, both equally certain that they know the truth about Sidley, and intent on getting what they want out of the house. Skan brings a slightly manic energy to Bernard, which had me in uncontrollable fits of giggles; Reeve-Tucker on the other hand brings a refreshing blast of no-nonsense honesty to a play that has an undeniable volume of nonsense in it. These pretentious dons are, of course, just as farcical as their 19th century forebears at Sidley, as great theories about Byron, Romanticism and the irrational spirit collapse into the realities of Septimus Hodge the randy tutor.

Speaking to the directors, Issy Fidderman and Surya Bowyer, the thing that really shone through was their shared devotion to the text. This O’Reilly bid was first put together in early Michaelmas, when more than 150 people auditioned for just 14 places on the cast. As a result, they’ve spent an inordinate amount of time poring over Stoppard’s script, in all its post-modern intricacy.

Stoppard has, on occasion, been accused of self-indulgence – increasingly esoteric and learned references make for longer scripts, and bored-er audiences. There are no worries of that with this production, where focus on the layers of humour (everything from quantum physics to your mum jokes), and frenetic pace of the drama are at the heart of the production. Without giving away any spoilers, an increasingly cluttered stage, and intermingled time zones lead to a crescendo full of heat, light, laughs, sorrow, and just maybe, the inevitable heat death of the universe. This is not one to be missed.

It’s always a risky business, al fresco theatre, and especially so in Oxford where the rain seems to find a way of sticking around even when the rest of Britain is sunny (and especially if for once you don’t need to be in the library). When I arrive at Queen’s gardens to see a preview of the Eglesfield Musical Society’s open air production of Sweeney Todd, the sky is threateningly grey, and it’s just on the edge of starting to pour down on me; the tension amongst the cast and crew is palpable. They’re well prepared for any eventuality, however, be it rain or shine, armed with an alternative indoor theatre venue and a plethora of long-range forecasts.

Sweeney Todd, the tale of the “demon barber of Fleet Street,” follows a murderous joint enterprise between barber Sweeney and his neighbour, Mrs Lovett, who have their fingers (and customers) in many pies. The scene I saw showed Eoghan McNelis giving hints of both the relaxed and maniacal side of Sweeney while Mrs Lovett was expressively portrayed by Lila Chrisp, with an infectious humour and lyrical cockney accent that had me grinning from the outset. In several productions of this show I’ve found Mrs Lovett to be the show-stealer, so watch this space!

I manage to grab a few moments with director Olivia Hugh-Jones between numbers, and she explains the challenges of staging an outdoors production and the limits it necessarily places on staging and sound, but from what I see and hear they seem to be on to a winner. Plus, it does come with its benefits – as the show goes on and the themes become darker, so will the sky in a beautiful, effort free lighting effect. Coupled with colourful washes on the walls of the quad and carefully placed spotlights (“The cheekbones!” enthuses the director), this should be very effective.

The Victorian setting of the original show has made way for a more contemporary and “less is more” staging which has certainly been done successfully before and seems to be well set up here, using modern monochrome costumes and pared back scenery. Olivia explains that “performances have to be honest and open – especially since the cast will be very much exposed outside.”

Considering that the first outdoor tech rehearsal was only the previous day, the cast and orchestra are sounding remarkably tight, with only a few missed lines or rushed sections, which will hopefully settle down by the time of the real thing.

First time musical director Laurence Jeffcoate capably led the orchestra (and this was despite several key members being absent, I was later informed!), but he lays the credit firmly at the feet of the “fantastic” players and cast. I hope the sound carries well for the actual performances; the orchestra is off to the side of the stage due to the shape of the quad and it can be a challenge to make sure the balance between voices and music is right, but from what I heard they’re coping well.

If the rest of the show is at the standard of the little I saw, this looks to be an exciting performance of what is a brilliant musical; all the cast and crew can do is hope for the rain to hold off. If you want to go then it’s best to hope for no rain too – tickets have already sold out but more will be available on the door if performances are outside! I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed.