A Room With Review

Review: The Players at the Burton Taylor Studio When Splinters Productions announced their launch in April, they made it clear that they intended to do things differently. A group seemingly mainly made up of last year's Freshers (now 2nd Years), they've diverged from what an OUDS production company does . Instead, they've spent 7 months holding free social events, publishing a magazine, and working on a single production with an ethos of 'shared decision making and group input' . This community-building approach seems to have made Splinters  quite popular with the years below, although I don't know how deliberately they are offering an alternative to usual OUDS projects (where actors and techies are often working with multiple groups at once). I must say I have a couple of slight concerns: OUDS is often charged with being "clique-y," and this is sometimes a not-entirely-unjustified suggestion - is Splinters  doing something inclusive and helpful, or i...

Review: Hedda Gabler at the Michael Pilch Studio It’s seventh week, and there are no less than seven OUDS shows happening. Only last year, I remember performing on certain weeks when we would be practically the only production going on. As much as I’m encouraged by the number of groups creating their own theatre, there are some drawbacks to this massive expansion, as everyone has to compete for both actors (I know some directors have recently struggled for a good selection of auditionees) and audiences. But amongst this week's dizzying amount of exciting theatre, I know I cannot miss Tiptoe Productions ' (the company of Gilon Fox and Ollie Gillam ) production of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler . Ibsen's much-adapted drama follows Hedda ( Georgina Cooper ), a manipulative socialite recently married to the bumbling George Tesman ( Sam Gosmore) . Bored of her life and her husband, she interferes in the affairs of her former lover and recovering alcoholic Eilert Lövborg ( R...

Review: Launa at the Burton Taylor Studio This term's OUDS shows must have a theme, as Rowan Brown's Launa  is the 4th play I will have seen that is centred (at least partially) on grief. I'm excited tonight, because  Tidal Theatre 's inaugural production promises inventive physical theatre and puppetry, although I have not forgotten the concerns I've expressed in past weeks' reviews about the challenge of covering topics like grief effectively.  Brown's new play centres on Edna ( Sanaa Pasha ), a grieving mother whose life begins to fall apart when she is haunted by the memory of her daughter, Launa ( Coco Scanlon ), who appears in uncanny adult form, although in reality she died young. Edna's relationships with her husband ( Callum Beardmore ) and her sister ( Kitty Brown)  splinter, as she struggles desperately to hold onto what she has lost. Rather than balancing grief with humour ( Your Funeral , In Praise of Love ), Launa helps its plot along with...

Production Diary: Nineteen Music Video for Mount St. Helen Mount St. Helen is the Indie music project of Aris Sabetei, an upcoming artist and multi-instrumentalist who had already played at Latitude with band Iris & Steel before finishing his degree. Over a month ago, I was contacted by the production team for the music video of his new single, Nineteen , asking me to get involved. I agreed, and before I knew it I had reached my current state of affairs: sat in my flat on the morning of the shoot, nervous. I haven’t done any kind of acting since performing in Camden over a month ago (probably the longest break I've had for a while), and I haven't done a music video for nearly two years. I am in danger of settling too far into my new passive role as reviewer, and I worry that I will be a little rusty. More concerning, as anyone who happens to have seen me perform will easily be able to tell, I am very much not built for screen. If I am in any way qualified to identify my...

Review: The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at the Michael Pilch Studio When Milo Marsh first started talking to me about directing an OUDS show, it was Spring of 2024, and the topic was  Macbeth . It just so happened that, very soon after, it was announced that Wadham’s very active Drama society would be putting on Macbeth that October. This dashed Marsh’s plan, but it presented an opportunity for us to perform together in a play we both loved (we ended up having a great time giving Ross and Macduff in Wadham’s incredible antechapel). His next idea was King Lear , which hadn’t been produced in Oxford for a decade. Once again, somebody else gets there first. This time, we must split up, as he is wanted to play Katurian in what turns out to be an incredible production of The Pillowman . So, in March 2025, I do Lear , and Marsh does Pillowman (and does an excellent job, I might add). His third directing vision is for Rhinoceros , a French play I’ve never heard of, but the same exact...

Review: To What End at the Burton Taylor Studio So, we are halfway through the term, and I am on my way to my sixth show. A pleasant surprise of the term so far has been specific invitations to review various productions; although the sheer amount of theatre being put on every week in Oxford does lead to the inevitable frustration of not being able to catch everything one wants to see. Still, I am keen not to miss B Squared Productions’   To What End , a new play written and directed by "the Billys," those being Billy Skiggs and Billy Hearld (a part of our small team for The Lover last February). This is a piece of comic meta-theatre centred on a neurotic writer, Bernard ( Tomasz Hearfield ), and a grandiose, past-his-prime director, Albie ( Peregrine Neger ), who have lost the final page of their play, set to debut imminently, and must decide how it ends. During a lover's spat mid-rehearsal, the "real-life" couple in the play's leading roles, Husband ( L...

Review: A View From The Bridge at the Oxford Playhouse Having spent much of the summer attempting to read/watch all of Arthur Miller's scripts (I've only managed 14, but then he wrote as many as Shakespeare), there was no way I could miss Labyrinth Productions' rendition of A View From The Bridge , particularly since its cast boasts some of my favourite actors. So, for the first time as an audience member, I am sat in anticipation in the stalls of the Oxford Playhouse. Two and a half hours later, despite some moments of confusion and dissatisfaction along the way, I have witnessed a spirited retelling of Miller's tragedy.  Rosie Morgan-Males ' production succeeds in  bringing an iconic script to life with energy and passion .  Miller's domestic tragedy traces the demise of Eddie Carbone ( Nate Wintraub in an exceptional performance), who wrestles with his attraction to Catherine ( Catherine Claire ), the niece of his wife, Bea ( Rose Hemon Martin ). The arriva...