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Image description: video call rehearsal of Richard II “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this [virtual] England” Not the Way Forward’s production of Richard II, directed by Dorothy McDowell and produced by Juliet Dowley, moves Shakespeare from the stage into the homes of its cast. With the pandemic and lockdown, a new way of […]
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Content warning: this article contains brief mentions of sexual abuse and substance abuse. Last week, I was fortunate to have a ticket to a private performance of ‘People, Places, and Things’, held in the kitchen of a student house in Cowley. With the playwright – Duncan Macmillan – having not yet released the rights to […]
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There is nothing I want more in the world right now than one of the pyjama suits worn in ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’. The red, Grinch-like, pointy-toed costumes look cosy as well as fashionable. This dance number was accompanied by some of the most evil people from throughout history performing sex acts on each other […]
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The dishevelled set promises exactly what the voyeur is here to see: drugs; sex; cigarettes; fishnets and feistiness. There will be no taboo left unshaken here. The steady rhythm seeps onto the stage and the hustlers are infected, masterfully delivering their dance of life in the 1980s streets of LA. A captivating introduction into the […]
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It was a Saturday morning when I found myself sat waiting to preview The Oxford Revue’s Playhouse show playing on Monday 17th June. As I sat waiting for a fellow reviewer, I was told I would be privy to seeing a few sketches from the show. As I waited, all the comics were sat around […]
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Hoof and Horn Productions are excited to announce that they are putting on the visceral and compelling play Hustlers from the 11th-15th of June (7th Week) at the BT Studio before their run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They can also reveal that they’ve been confirmed for one of the biggest stages at this […]
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With classic literature like Shakespeare, it can be difficult to provide a new outlook that gives age-old plays new meaning. As seen in the 2010 film adaption of Macbeth, which is set in the Soviet Union, it is not uncommon for directors to take creative liberties in order to retell stories in unique and original […]
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The musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is written by Tom MacRae, based on the real-life story of Jamie Campbell; a 16-year old lad from a Sheffield council estate who wants to follow his dream of becoming a drag queen, despite the bullies, homophobia, and disapproving, estranged father. With the support of his family, friends, and […]
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I went to see As You Like It at Stratford-upon-Avon a couple of weeks ago, which is running at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until the end of August. Unfortunately the play is far from Shakespeare as I like it. The problem lies in the production’s sheer business – there is a glitter-sprinkling, spangle-vested jester, a […]
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Sizzling with chaotic, hilarious energy, ‘The Reunion’ promises to be an electric piece of theatre. Written, directed and masterminded by Tommy Hurst and Bernard Visser, the premise surrounds two funeral directors (satirically named Hearse and Cloak) attempting to piece together the story behind the death of a recently deceased big shot criminal Sebastian Coxcomb. This […]
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Adaptations of this musical have famously been met with varying degrees of success, but this modern version was charming. Full of sex, social satire and entangled relationships, just as it should be, it managed to give us characters that were hilarious caricatures and nuanced studies in human emotion simultaneously. That struck me early on as […]
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When asked to review this evening of jazz from the Red Brick Jazz Sextet, and comedy from The Oxford Revue, I had to make a rather odd confession to the editors. “But I’m performing,” I explained awkwardly. Thankfully, performing a stand-up set amongst numerous others featured in an evening of mostly musical entertainment doesn’t actually […]
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A half-empty theatre rarely bodes well. The curtain rose as my heart sank, and this underwhelming, under-rehearsed, and unambitious production began with over a minute of supposedly tension-building music and flashing lights that did little more than to make me overly conscious of the hundreds of empty seats in the New Theatre. Just because a […]
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Question and answer sessions with the cast of a play following its performance have become a common event in theatre these days. As someone who takes an avid interest in the behind the scenes aspect of plays I’ve attended quite a few, although I can safely say none have been quite like the fictitious version […]
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When a couple of years ago I heard that there had once been a musical focusing on the world’s most famous web-slinging superhero, I remember thinking it was a weird choice for a show subject, but then thought of it no further. This remained the case until I was contacted to review student writers Caleb […]
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Image: Dick Whittington, The Oxford Playhouse. Credit: Geraint Lewis. Description: A Pantomime Dame. Acting, singing, dancing, and, perhaps most importantly, joking around; the Pantomime, a staple of the British festive theatre season, seemingly has it all. With that being said, I’ve always found myself wondering how the Pantomime got to become so popular, and why they […]
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Image credit: Pixabay How to Save a Rock With A Circle is exploratory. It has a think about individual versus collective action, about whether the last polar bear should stay in its natural habitat or be confined to a zoo, about how one piece of information (the carbon footprint generated by having a child) can […]
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Image Credit: Quangpraha (CC0) By the time I get a chance to talk to Michael, The Fishermen has already made the long journey down from Edinburgh to London. It’s where both Michael Ajao and Valentine Olukoga, the stars of the award-winning stage performance, come from, and the difference in energy there is apparently palpable – with […]
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Life meets death meets virtual life in Hereafter, a new play by Chloë Taylor exploring the inhumane and even inhuman treatment of bereavement in the world of work. Eva (Martha Harlan) is grieving her dead husband when she is called in to work and asked by her boss with a sickening faux empathy to be […]
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