The Oxford Times | Theatre/Art

The school of hard knocks

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:15:09 +0000

For 12 years, Vivienne Franzmann worked as a drama teacher in several North London comprehensive schools.

Simon Munnery: The North Wall

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:08:46 +0000

When comedian Simon Munnery last passed in October 2010 as warm-up to Stewart Lee at the Regal in Cowley Road, writes Nick Utechin.

Some Like It Hotter, Oxfordshire Theatre Company, touring

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:51:56 +0000

Oxfordshire Theatre Company’s latest production (in conjunction with the Watermill, Newbury) is a witty, fast-paced and moving reflection on the afterlife.

Oedipussy: Royal&Derngate, Northampton

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:43:21 +0000

Those admirable pranksters Spymonkey virtually write their own review of their new show Oedipussy in what is posted on the warning notices we pass on the way into the Royal Theatre’s auditorium. The list of perils ahead runs: “Nudity, smoke, strobe lighting, bodily mutilation (ankles, eyes), scenes of incest, rape, infanticide, suicide, pestilence and animal sacrifice.”

You're Not Like Other Girls Chrissy: The Rotunda, Iffley

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:45:36 +0000

On January 31, those lucky enough to get tickets to The Rotunda saw the first sell-out performance in a new tour of You’re Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy, a one-woman show by Caroline Horton.

Joan Bakewell: Oxford Playhouse

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:37:59 +0000

‘Evenings with . . .” can be desultory or pompous affairs — self-serving and often self-demeaning. Friday’s Playhouse event was never going to be like that: the guest was writer and broadcaster Joan Bakewell, and a good-sized audience enjoyed 75 minutes of sensible insight, wise counsel and memories of an impressive career.

'Tis Pity She's a Whore: Oxford Playhouse

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:39:02 +0000

The Grand Guignol climax to John Ford’s Caroline revenge tragedy ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore comes so close to ‘designer violence’ as sometimes to provoke more laughter than fear from those watching.

The Hothouse: Oxford Playhouse

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:24:47 +0000

Theatregoers travel once more into the strange but familiar territory that has come to be called Pinterland courtesy of a fine revival this week by the student company Illyria Productions of The Hothouse. Harold Pinter wrote the play in 1958, but put it aside in favour of work on The Caretaker. It was not to surface again for more than 20 years, when its status as an important part of the writer’s oeuvre was at once recognised.

Family values stripped bare

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:33:53 +0000

HOW controversial would a play about incest be if it were written today?

Joan shares her journey

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:36:50 +0000

Dame Joan Bakewell is most famous for three things: a broadcasting career that goes back to Late Night Line-Up in the 1960s, an affair with Harold Pinter and her role as champion of older people (unbelievably she’s 78).