If Clarendon Productions’ Amadeus is a story about raising Gods and ghosts there is no denying that they would have been appeased by such a display of energy and creativity. So much of the director’s personality shines through, which is a sign of quite how excellently his vision was realised.
Theatre
Quite Literally Standing on History Right Now
From the moment that people saw that This is How we Walk on the Moon would be immersive, there was speculation about what this would entail and how it would be pulled off. The space was transformed, the creative team having considered the ways that immersive theatre could be used on a small scale.
Down With Toad
Toad of Toad Hall was my second and final experience directing as an undergrad at Oxford. It was a pleasure to work with such a talented and lovely group of actors... an experience that may well have been perfect without the fire alarm shop stop!
People Who are Lonely
Angels in America is a play about lonely people grasping for connection across the parallel lines of their different lives. The rendition that has been playing at The Oxford Playhouse this week was moving, graceful and beautifully handled.
This is the Poison of Deep Grief
Every Oxford Drama show has a unique reputation, for some it is excellence and for others it is the purely chaotic nature of the production. In the case of the O'Reilly Hamlet this week, it was the loss of Yorick’s skull on opening night that made this the most discussed show of term.
I’ll Forgive you if You Forgive Me
Unbroken Productions' Still Life was a quiet depiction of a classic meet cute, in which leads Allen and Bellorini were poetic in their careful development of the fragile relationship
Death is a Mirror
Taking the late spot at the Burton Taylor Studio this week, Kin is a two-hander starring the talented team Wren Talbot-Ponsonby and Lily Massey. Playing two sisters Sarah and Lilly (respectively) reunited at their father’s death bed after twenty years apart, these two navigate the highs and lows of such an encounter adeptly.
Behind the Scenes
Navigating the theatre world with chronic fatigue
Breaking a Leg and other Theatre Disasters
Do you know where the phrase 'break a leg' comes from? It does not, as I have almost witnessed, come from that moment in which everything goes awry and the actor slips from the chair they're standing on, but rather from the concept that actors did not get paid unless they stepped onto stage, breaking … Continue reading Breaking a Leg and other Theatre Disasters
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
The vision of the director is filtered through a hundred hands and in the case of Les Mis there are many more than we may at first consider. Victor Hugo's book went through a French iteration before it reached Cameron Mackintosh's hands and became the phenomenon that we are now familiar with.
Wild Rose and Pearls 