Oxford Playhouse, 16-19 Feb 2011

A message from one of the show's organisers:

If you'd like to find out more about the process of bringing 'A Dream Play' to the stage, you might be interested in our pre-show talk February 18th at 6.45pm in the Top Room of Oxford Playhouse. Award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean will be talking to our student script adaptor Emma Reay about playwriting today and adapting for page and stage - it should be a really illuminating look at the show.
 
Tickets are £2 and the proceeds go to the Playhouse. Capacity is limited to 65 so it's best to book ahead by calling the Playhouse box office (01865 305305).

Chloe Courtney 17 Feb 2011

In 1902, Strindberg wrote to his German translator: “Understand The Dream Play? ... Everything absurd becomes probable. People flit past and a few traits are sketched in, the sketches merge ... Time and space do not exist; a minute is like many years; no seasons; the snow covers the countryside in summer, the lime tree turns yellow, and then green again...” Does the evening by Blindspot Productions (@BlindSpotDrama) at the Oxford Playhouse feel like that? It is certainly a fully-fledged piece of theatre and has an aesthetically pleasing website (http://adreamplay.com). It sports the cream of University as well as external acting talent (in particular I liked Ellie Hardy, Jean-Patrick Vieu, Lewis Godfrey and Glesni Euros), a gargantuan crew, fantastic music (David Allen), and an all-round stunning mise-en-scene (Natalie Parsons, Jasmine Aslan, Anouska Lester). To cut to the chase, this Playhouse soirée is a monolith (though light, expert and ethereal as a floating feather) and for once it really *is* as good as the Oxonian thesp-hype and hackish student press says it is. What's more, A Dream Play has an “education and outreach officer” (Chloe Courtney) who, it seems, can arrange for school kids free tailor-made workshops with the cast. This is really good; I hope that in the current climate of vicious coalition cuts some less advantaged Oxfordshire schools get Dream Play benefits. The human condition in its entirety, dreamed by a compassionate goddess staring at the Planet Earth night-light dangling above her bed, is a poignant and often terrible, tear-jerking subject in this production. It's absolutely beautiful. A Dream Play has been gestating in Griff Rees’s mind for a very long time, that much I know. He, Ollo Clark, Sarah Perry and Catrin Campbell-Moore deserve to tour this production wherever they desire, for they clearly found a unity of vision at some point last year, and their enchantment is well wrought. I found the ending so moving I wanted to close my eyes for minutes on end.

Sophielle 16 Feb 2011

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