Monday
February 24
The
Rat Pack - Live from Las Vegas
Teenagers
have apparently been joining pensioners in the audience for this
"amazing" tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and
Sammy Davis Junior.
Perhaps
that's due to Robbie Williams's crooning on his Swing When You're
Winning album.
The
show features many of the hits of the three great singers, as
well as some of the comedy they indulged in.
Time:
7.30pm
Tickets: 拢13.50-拢17.50
Venue: The Oxford Apollo
Tonight
only
The
Vagina Monologues
Men
should not be put off by the title of this hit show - it's not
just aimed at women.
The
play was born out of interviews with 200 women and has been described
by critics as "powerful, humorous and brave".
They
could have been talking about the men who have dared to see it.
One man who did said afterwards: "It was embarrassing, but
in a good way."
Another
said: "I expected to feel like a fly on the wall that maybe shouldn't
be there." But he added, "I got inside, and it turned out to be
one of the most fun, fascinating, multi-faceted things I've seen
in a long time."
Three
actress give voice to "lusty, outrageous, poignant and highly
original" stories. It's said to be suitable for children
aged 12 upwards, at parents' discretion.
Venue:
Oxford Playhouse
until March 1
Times
and prices vary:
Mon-Thur:
7.30pm
Tickets:
拢12.50-拢19.50
(concessions 拢10.50-拢17.50)
Fri-Sat:
5.30pm
Tickets: 拢8.50-拢17) (concs 拢6.50-拢15)
Fri-Sat:
8.30pm
Tickets: 拢14.50-拢21.50 (concs 拢12.50-拢19.50)
7
Seconds
The
publicity blurb for this play by Laura Teodorescu is presented
in poetic form. It begins:
This
is a strange story of three couples,
Like any other, but each special
They
make mistakes,
They are giving,
They are taking,
They are trying
To do their best
To have a rest.
Which
is pretty unconventional as blurbs go - shame it doesn't tell
us much.
Time:
7pm
Tickets: 拢5 (拢4)
Venue: St John's College Auditorium, Oxford
Until
Thursday
Booking via Oxford Playhouse box office
Tuesday
February 25
Nashville
Nights & Dixie Days
 |
| Nashville
Nights All Stars sing Country - all styles |
The
Nashville Nights All Star Band and Singers take the audience through
two hours of hits, in both Old and New Country style.
A
powerful finale is promised.
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: 拢10-拢12
Venue:
Oxford
Apollo
Tonight only
The
Winter's Tale
Compass
Theatre presents Shakespeare's searing tale of love and friendship,
torn apart by a tyrant king's jealousy.
Time:
8pm
Tickets: 拢10 (concs 拢8, schools/students 拢5)
Venue: Chipping Norton Theatre
Tonight only
Too
Much The Sun
Nicholas
Pierpan's "intriguing" play won first prize in this
year's of the Oxford University Drama Society New Writing Festival.
It
is receiving its premiere this week, along with the three other
works chosen for performance (see below).
It
tells the story of an old clock-maker, convinced his life is under
threat, who sets out a puzzle of "locks, clocks and guns".
Read
our New
Writing Festival feature
Time: 7pm (12pm Saturday)
Tickets: 拢8.50 (concs 拢6.50); see the festival website
for ticket offers
Venue: Moser
Theatre, Wadham College, Oxford
Runs
until March 1
Splitting
Anna
Three
men attend the launch of a book by feminist writer - but it's
not the book that they're interested in.
Amanda
Walker's play is one of four being performed as part of the Oxford
University Drama Society New Writing Festival.
Read
our New
Writing Festival feature
Time: 7.30pm (5.30pm Saturday)
Tickets: 拢8.50 (concs 拢6.50); see the festival website
for ticket offers
Venue: Burton
Taylor Theatre, Oxford
Runs
until March 1
The
Fine Art of Falling to Pieces
"I
lived a sensible, ordered life before I started seeing you,"
says one of the characters in this comedy of Oxford student life.
"Everything
you do is drama. It always has to be, "Hey Richard, let's
go to London and deliberately not buy a map and get lost and miss
the bus back, it'll be so incredibly romantic."
Lizzie
Nunnery's play is the lightest of the four being performed this
week in the OUDS New Writing Festival.
Read
our New
Writing Festival feature
Time: 9pm (8pm Saturday)
Tickets: 拢8.50 (concs 拢6.50); see the festival website
for ticket offers
Venue: The
Old Fire Station, Oxford
Runs
until March 1
Retrospect
How
topical can you get? Brian Mullin's darkly funny play isn't actually
about the current tensions over Iraq, but it's certainly a timely
staging.
It
has US missiles rooting out terrorism in Central Asia while in
the Hague, a dictator on trial for war crimes says he was doing
the same thing, in his own way. How do we know, asks the play,
who our enemies really are?
The
play is being performed as part of the Oxford University Drama
Society New Writing Festival.
Read
Tim Bearder's review
and our New Writing Festival feature
Time: 7.30pm (2.30pm and 7.30pm Saturday)
Tickets: 拢8.50 (concs 拢6.50), see the festival website
for ticket offers
Venue: The
Old Fire Station, Oxford
Runs
until March 1
A
Foot in the Door
The
Mill at Sonning is the first theatre to stage this new comedy
by Richard Harris.
It revolves around an elderly widow named May who gets few calls
at home - except from people trying to sell her something.
Naturally,
she agrees to hear their sales pitch (sorry, that should read
"for a cuppa and a chinwag").
But
inviting them all round at the same time on the same night is
not what they're expecting.
The
dramatic personae include Jilly, who demonstrates electonic musical
keyboards, and a a decorator whose assistant, Angela, wears a
false moustache and hides behind him.
The ticket price includes a meal at The Mill's restaurant, with
the Thames flowing past your window. And no, you can't buy tickets
just for the show.
Time: evenings dine 6.30-7.15pm; performance 8.15pm. Matinees
(Sat and Sun) dine 12.30-1.15pm; performance at 2.15pm
Tickets: 拢26.50-拢37.50 (includes meal/coffee)
Venue: The Mill at Sonning
Runs until April 6 (not Mondays)
The
Vagina Monologues
7
Seconds
Wednesday
February 26
Spirit
of the Dance
If
you like your music illustrated by a frenzy of massed tapping
feet, then this latest manifestation of the craze for Irish dance
is for you.
Six
companies are currently touring Spirit of the Dance round the
world, scopping up nine global awards so far.
More
than 20 million people world-wide have soaked up the raw energy
of this foot-stomping production, which mixes powerful Irish dance
mixed with the passionate rhythms of tango, flamenco and salsa.
Doubtless many of them had trouble getting to sleep afterwards.
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: 拢12-拢16
Venue:
The Oxford Apollo
Tonight only
The
Vagina Monologues
7
Seconds
Retrospect
A
Foot In The Door
Thursday
February 27
The
Sing-a-long-a Sound Of Music
 |
| Well
doh re me - it's Julie Andrews. Join in, everyone! |
The
producers of the show may have trouble spelling "sing-along-a-"
but otherwise they seem to have hit all the right buttons. This
is more than a show: it's a phenomenon.
Actually,
it's just a very big karaoke session. The old Julie Andrews film
is screened with the lyrics in subtitles, so the audience can
sing along.
It's
great for hen nights, apparently.
Many
of the audiences turn up in elaborate costumes inspired by the
show: be warned that not everyone appreciates the jape when people
turn up in Nazi uniforms.
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: 拢12.50
Venue:
Oxford Apollo
Tonight only
Wild
Girl, Wild Boy
A play
for children aged seven and up, set in a land of dreams, magic and
memories. The wild boy watches as fairies grow and spiders spin
spells, and young Elaine wonders if her imagination is playing tricks.
Times: 1.30pm and 6.30pm
Tickets: 拢3.50 (under 18s 拢2.50)
Venue: Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
Tonight and tomorrow
The
Vagina Monologues
7
Seconds
Retrospect
A
Foot In The Door
Friday
February
28
Roy
"Chubby" Brown
 |
| Chubby's
humour is as colourful as his jacket. |
Several
theatres refuse to let this man on their stages, but apparently
Oxford audiences are sufficiently broad-minded to cope with "the
rudest and crudest" comedian in England.
He
had a top three hit with a single whose name could not be reproduced
on this site, and top-ranking videos with titles that also present
problems when it comes to getting mainstream publicity.
He's
funny and blue, but perhaps the most amazing aspect of his performance
is that he's so energetic: he has just endured three operations
to clear an aggressive cancer of the vocal chord.
Time:
7.30pm
Tickets: 拢17
Venue:
The Oxford Apollo
Tonight only (probably just as well)
The
Plumed Serpent
Quetzalcoatl - A Tale Of Gods And Monsters
British
actor Stuart Cox created this most unusual production after spending
time in the mountains of central Mexico, near the legendary birthplace
of Quetzalcoatl.
Quetz-who,
you ask? Oh, you know - he's the Plumed Serpent god and king of
the Toltecs.
The
Who-tecs, you say?
If
you need to ask, then let Mr Cox take you on a journey through
Mexican myth, in a show combining comedy, tragedy, poetry, masks
and movement - and the live music of Carlos Garcia Hernandez.
Stuart
Cox is also leading a three-hour workshop on creating a theatre
production, starting at 10am on Saturday, March 1. See Web Links,
left.
Time:
8pm
Tickets: 拢10 (concs 拢8, schools/students 拢5)
Venue: Chipping Norton Theatre
Tonight only
Hamlet
The
1157 Performance Group outlandishly places Shakespeare's play
in a contemporary setting, blitzing the text with noise and images
from record decks, microphones, film and movement.
Possibly
not one for the purists.
Time:
7.45pm
Tickets: 拢8/拢6
Venue: The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury
Tonight only
Boxed
Twelfth Night
Box
Clever presents one of Shakespeare's most accessible comedies,
complete with moving box hedges, luminous yellow socks and girls
dressed as chaps. This production is hosted under the Arts At
Large Rural Touring Scheme. Suitable for all ages.
Time:
8pm
Prices: 拢6/拢4
Venue: Stratton Audley church, Stratton Audley, near Bicester.
Telephone 01869 278 584
The
Vagina Monologues
Retrospect
Wild
Girl, Wild Boy
A
Foot In The Door
Saturday
March
1
Harry
Hill
 |
| Harry
Hill: it takes a bit of neck to wear a collar like that |
Watch
Harry Hill in his Channel 4 comedy show and you might find it
disturbing to reflect that he used to be a doctor.
The
gags come fast in a show that is strangely like a 70s TV show.
But
Morecambe and Wise would never go in for jokes quite like those
of Dr Hill.
One
newspaper described the Perrier-winning comic as "a man whose
talent is as big as his collars".
So
that's why the collars keep getting bigger.
Time:
7.30pm
Tickets: 拢16.50
Venue: The Oxford Apollo
Tonight
only
Dance
Of The Drunken Monks
Sankaplam
dance theatre company presents a spectacular adaptation of a 7th
Century farce, inspired by South Indian drama forms such as Koodiattam.
Words, movemens, costume, make-up and design all have their own
significance in this tale of a drunked Kapalika monk and his woman.
Time:
8pm
Tickets: 拢7 (concs 拢4.50)
Venue: Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
Tonight only
The
Vagina Monologues
Retrospect
A
Foot In The Door
Sunday
March
2
A
Foot In The Door
Monday
March
3
Fiddler
On The Roof
 |
| Paul
Nicholas is a rich man when it comes to energy |
Paul
Nicholas promises an exuberant performance as the dairyman in
a Jewish village, doing his best to preserve tradition in a changing
Czarist Russia.
Tevye
dreams of riches and respect, but his traditional values come
under pressure when his daughters reject the matchmaker's advice,
and marry for love.
If
I Were A Rich Man and all the other songs of the original production
are there, and so is Jerome Robbins' dramatic choreography.
All
day long you'll deedle deedle dum...
Time:
7.30pm
Tickets: 拢7.50-拢17.50
Venue: The Oxford Apollo
Until March 8
There's
a Time and Place
Younger
members of Chipping Norton Youth Theatre go through a working
day, using skills learned in their weekly drama sessions.
Time:
7.30pm
Tickets: 拢3.50 (concs 拢2)
Venue:
Chipping Norton Theatre
Tonight and Tuesday
Tuesday
March
4
Lady
Windermere's Fan
The
Oscar Wilde Society presents the Victorian wit's controversial
response to the traditional theatrical view of fallen women -
a social comedy that exposes the "dreadful irony" in
values of the age.
Time:
7.30pm (and 2.30pm Saturday)
Tickets: 拢8.50 (concs 拢6.50).
Venue: The Old Fire Station Theatre, Oxford
Until March 8
Fiddler
On The Roof
A
Foot In The Door
Wednesday
March
5
La
Boheme
Oxford
City Opera and Oxford University Dramatic Society present one
of the most popular operas ever written. Puccini's love story
is set in a bohemian world of passion, full of emotional intensity.
Times:
2.30pm (Thurs and Sat), 7.30pm (Weds, Thurs and Sat) and 8pm (Friday)
Tickets: 拢8-拢15 (concs 拢8-拢13) - all performances
Venue: The Oxford Playhouse
Until March 8
Fiddler
On The Roof
A
Foot In The Door
