A Room With Review

Review: Uncle Vanya at the Keble O'Reilly Theatre No small-talk tonight - I have too much to say. Fennec Fox Productions' and director  Joshua Robey's overwhelming production of Uncle Vanya  is the greatest theatrical triumph of the term so far, and easily one of the strongest pieces of Student Theatre I have ever seen.  Anton Chekhov's classic, here in a contemporary adaptation by Robert Icke, follows eight characters on a rural estate run by the work-wearied "Uncle Johnny" ( Ezana Betru ) and his youthful niece Sonya ( Lucía Mayorga ). He must share his house with his ex-brother-in-law and retired academic Alexander ( Gillies Macdonald ), the professor's young wife Elena ( Laura Boyd ), his own elderly mother ( Robyn Hayward ), a nervous dependent named Cartwright ( Oli Spooner ), the household's gentle nanny ( Georgina Cooper ), and an eccentric loose cannon called Michael ( Rufus Shutter ). By the end, it has become clear that half the cast is in...

Review: In Praise of Love at the Burton Taylor Studio Only five days after reviewing Your Funeral , I am off to see another play at the Burton Taylor about the romantic relationship of a terminally ill woman (last year, many jokes were made about how OUDS had suddenly become very concerned with incest - I confess that we may have had some part in this with ‘Tis Pity - have we found this year’s equivalent?). It’s the earlier slot this time, but my walk there is nevertheless cloaked in darkness, as we seem to be from about 3pm now. Once again, I have apprehensions. Dark, emotive topics like terminal illness need to be dealt with carefully - one can't neglect their emotional gravity, but too much unrelieved misery risks exhausting an audience. It’s a difficult balance to strike. But then, my worries before Your Funeral were proven unmerited - I go in with an open mind. Unfortunately, 2046 Productions' production of In Praise of Love confirms many of my fears. Terrence Rattigan...

Review: Your Funeral at the Burton Taylor Studio I first read Nick Samuels' Your Funeral in August 2024, when we were performing together at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was an exciting time; we were in a new (and incredible) city, being rapidly exposed to new theatre - new kinds of theatre , and performing for the first time at the biggest arts festival in the world. I tell my castmate,  "You should absolutely put it on." Though I claim no credit, this week I finally get to see Samuels' grief-centred two-hander onstage.  I finish the long, cold walk to the familiar Burton Taylor Studio, dearly missing the days of being able to dash across the road from my Trinity room and see that week's play on a whim. It's dark, since Pharaoh Productions (a play on Writer/Director Samuels' Egyptian heritage) has been given the somewhat unfortunate late slot, which leaves one production sharing a cramped dressing room with another, often struggling to draw in b...

Review:  The Last Five Years at the Michael Pilch Studio So, after two years spent largely doing fifteen OUDS shows (and massively enjoying it), I've had to hang up my Student Theatre gloves, and have decided to keep myself entertained by attempting some somewhat informal weekly reviews. The first show of the year is Manor Road Productions' production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years - my first ever go at a review and it's musical theatre (about which I know nothing) - take the following with a heap of salt! After a summer spent performing in various pub theatres and fringe festivals of varying glamour (or lack thereof), partially in the vain (and miserably doomed) hopes of being "scouted," whatever that means, it's comforting to step back into the familiar, intimate Pilch Studio. I'm back in the cradle of OUDS, where we are all afforded the luxury of feeling like a big fish in a small pond, and I've come to see a musical - it blows me...

About This Blog So, after two years spent sacrificing my degree to the relentless pull of OUDS, I have had to throw in the towel. Left with little time for being onstage myself, but also a persevering love for Fringe/Student Theatre (and yes, OUDS itself, despite its flaws), there was only one sensible option: People need to hear my totally unqualified opinions . A Few Things to Get Out of the Way: 1. Nothing in the reviews is intended to be mean-spirited, cruel or disheartening. Since it would ultimately invalidate any praise I give to a production if I wrote entirely positively about everything, I will endeavour to give criticism that is honest and specific, without too much sugar-coating . Of course, Student Theatre is really for fun, and that's what everyone taking part in OUDS should be aiming for, but I will have to be honest about what I did/didn't like, lest we fall into the temptation of simply summarising plots/praising everything indiscriminately.  2. All opinions a...