Oxford Playhouse Archives - North West End UK

Casting announced for imitating the dog’s Frankenstein

14Jan

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Casting announced for imitating the dog’s Frankenstein

imitating the dog’s two-handed version of Frankenstein will feature RSC actor Georgia-Mae Myers and Nedum Okonyia. This time Co-Artistic Directors Pete Brooks, Andrew Quick and Simon Wainwright offer their trademark multimedia exploration of Mary Shelley’s timeless classic novel as a psychological thriller asks the eternal question – what is it to be human? In this version a couple confront their own fears about impending parenthood as they recreate a version of Frankenstein that erupts into life as everyday objects are transformed into glaciers, a ship at sea, a dissecting room, and a house on fire. Set and Costume Designer Hayley Grindle has created a transformative space j housing the digital tricks and video-mapping t...

Persephone – Oxford Playhouse Livestream

13Nov

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

REVIEWS

Persephone – Oxford Playhouse Livestream

Oxford University students present their production ‘Persephone’ on the main stage at Oxford Playhouse, in what is the first production by their production company Jazz Hands Productions since the Playhouse re-opened. The mythical Greek tale of Persephone (Bethan Draycott), daughter of Demeter (Maddie Hall) (the goddess of harvest and fertility), and Zeus (Lorcan Cudlip-Cook). Persephone is an innocent young woman who loves nothing more than wandering through the woods and enjoying the natural world. On one of these walks, she is taken by Hades (Peter Todd), ‘God of the Underworld’, as he has fallen in love with her beauty and wants her to live with him as ‘Queen of the Underworld’. Demeter is heartbroken at Persephone’s disappearance; she had hidden her daughter away to kee...

A Cold Supper Behind Harrods – Oxford Playhouse Online

13Jun

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

South East

A Cold Supper Behind Harrods – Oxford Playhouse Online

Written by David Morley, “A Cold Supper Behind Harrods” came into being following Morley’s meeting with ex Special Operations Executive operative, Leo Franks in the 1990s when Morley was working on a television programme called “War Heroes”. Morley felt he hadn’t done Franks’ memory justice and so penned this play which embodies what Franks told him: some of the real truth behind the Special Operations Executive, not the glossed up version told to the public. It was initially a radio play and the three lead actors who originally appeared in it have returned for the transfer to this stage version. Directed by Philip Franks, tonight’s show was a live-streamed, script in hand version which in itself presented challenges for actors and the production crew. They have had very little rehearsa...

David Jason, Stephanie Cole & Anton Lesser for One Night Only

24Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

David Jason, Stephanie Cole & Anton Lesser for One Night Only

Original Theatre Company, in association with Perfectly Normal Productions, is delighted to reunite David Jason, Stephanie Cole and Anton Lesser, the original stars of the BBC Radio 4 play, A Cold Supper Behind Harrods, for a one night only, semi-staged, rehearsed reading to be live streamed from the stage of the Oxford Playhouse at 7.30pm on Friday 11 June. The play, written by David Morley and originally presented on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 7 September 2012, will be directed by Philip Franks, who also directed the original radio play. Tickets are on sale now via www.originaltheatreonline.com The performance will be followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team. 50 years after the war that first brought them together, three Special Operations Executive agents meet once a...

Aakash Odedra’s virtuoso solo show Rising on the main stage at Curve Leicester before touring

19Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Aakash Odedra’s virtuoso solo show Rising on the main stage at Curve Leicester before touring

Rising is the solo show that launched the extraordinary performer and choreographer Aakash Odedra onto the dance scene. On 24th and 25th May, it will be the first live work back on the main stage at Curve, Leicester where Odedra is an Associate Artist. After that, the show tours to Oxford and Poole. First performed in 2011, Rising notably featured solo works by three of contemporary dance’s biggest stars – Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – alongside work by Odedra himself. As critic Judith Mackrell said at the time, it was “the dance equivalent of a red-carpet event”. Each of the choreographers used Odedra’s background in the classical techniques of Kathak and Bharatanatyam to explore process, aesthetics and a new way of looking at the solo dancer. The result w...

All-star cast for The Picture of Dorian Gray at Bolton Octagon

21Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

All-star cast for The Picture of Dorian Gray at Bolton Octagon

Russell Tovey, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley head an all-star cast for a digital production of The Picture of Dorian Gray at Bolton Octagon. They’ve joined forces with Barn Theatre in Cirencester, the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich will co-produce The Picture of Dorian Gray with Theatr Clwyd in Mold and the Oxford Playhouse in Oxfordshire to offer the production as co-producers. Fionn Whitehead is in the title role, are Alfred Enoch as Harry Wooton, Lumley as Lady Narborough, Emma McDonald as Sibyl Vane and Tovey as Basil Hallward with Fry as the Interviewer. From the creative team behind the critically acclaimed What a Carve Up!, the belov...

Fionn Whitehead to star in new digital production of The Picture of Dorian Gray

8Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Fionn Whitehead to star in new digital production of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Fionn Whitehead, star of Dunkirk and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, will take on the titular role in an upcoming contemporary digital adaptation of the Oscar Wilde classic, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Most recently seen starring in the Lionsgate and Saban Films’ Don’t Tell A Soul, Fionn Whitehead is best known for his critically acclaimed performance as the protagonist Tommy in Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award nominated war film, Dunkirk. The Picture of Dorian Gray, from the team behind the celebrated digital production of What a Carve Up!, is set to push the theatrical form like its predecessor; utilising elements found in radio plays, films, documentaries as well as traditional theatrical techniques. Set in a profile pic-obsessed, filter-fixated world where online and reality blur...

Dunkirk star Fionn Whitehead stars in online production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray

20Jan

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Dunkirk star Fionn Whitehead stars in online production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Fionn Whitehead, star of Dunkirk and Black Mirror, will take the title role in a new online adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic play The Picture of Dorian Gray (16th – 31st March) directed by Theatr Clwyd’s Artistic Director Tamara Harvey. Most recently seen starring in the Lionsgate and Saban Films’ Don’t Tell A Soul, Fionn Whitehead is best known for his critically acclaimed performance as the protagonist Tommy in Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award nominated war film, Dunkirk. Set in a profile pic-obsessed, filter-fixated world where online and reality blur, influencer Dorian Gray makes a deal. For his social star never to fade. For the perfect self he broadcasts to the world to always remain. But as his mental health starts to decline, as corruption and murderous depravity start to...