Highlights for week beginning October 10

Oxford Playhouse

Friday, October 11

Call 01865 305305 or www.oxfordplayhouse.com

The nation’s favourite gardener will speak about his travels visiting gardens across the world, what really happens behind the scenes when filming, how he made his own organic garden and how understanding nature can enrich all our lives.

Genre

The Family Have Been Informed

The Old Fire Station, Oxford n Friday and Saturday, October 11 and 12

wegottickets.com Repatriation is at the heart of a new play by Oxfordshire writer Doc Andersen-Bloomfield, as four actors enact 12 different stories about war and its consequences. It follows the stories of the survivors, the fallen, and families waiting at a repatriation ceremony. The characters interact with the audience as they learn to deal with grief and loss.

Revenge drama

The Duchess of Malfi

Cornerstone, Didcot

Saturday, October 12

cornerstone-arts.org Eyestrings Theatre Company cuts to the heart of this stupendous Jacobean masterpiece with a thrilling new adaptation. A woman dares to disregard her social status and a powerful family is destroyed. Seven actors present a piece of theatre about mortality, class and sex, as relevant today as it was in the 17th century. Will be very memorable.

Compact Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice pocket-size

The Theatre, Chipping Norton

October 16

chipping-nortontheatre.com

This Propeller company production does what it says on the tin in this 60-minute version of the Merchant of Venice. This is the ideal introduction not just to Shakespeare, but also to the thrill and excitement of theatre, where the audience is encouraged to be frank and uninhibited in an open talkback session afterwards.