Reviews by Gwilly
Quartet
Gwilly
Quartet by Ronald Harwood was chosen by Bernadette Tildesley to launch the improved theatre in Nelson Street. A bold choice! It revolves around four characters with a long history in performing opera ...
10 years ago
Quartet
Armageddon
Gwilly
Anything Deck Theatre does is worth crossing town for and Armageddon is no exception. Caroline Rehder's play seeks to show, through the perspective of a small child, the tumultuous effects ...
11 years ago
Armageddon
Hidden Spire
Gwilly
Hidden Spire produce another Christmas 'feel-good' show this year. The entire construction is a collaboration between two charities, The Old Fire Station (working with the arts) and Crisis ...
11 years ago
Hidden Spire
'ART Inside/outside' Almost Random Theatre
Gwilly
Almost Random Theatre, the local company managed by the energetic and prolific Chris Sivewright, is making The White House in Abingdon Road, a must-visit for theatre enthusiasts this week. A.R.T are ...
11 years ago
'ART Inside/outside' Almost Random Theatre
The Accrington Pals
Gwilly
This Play, written in 1980 by Peter Whelan, tells theatrically the tragic story of the 700-strong Accrington battalion - proud to be recruited by their mayor into Kitchener's army and ...
11 years ago
The Accrington Pals
Days Of Our Lives
Gwilly
Almost Random Theatre, a bright new star in Oxford's glittering galaxy of talent, is the creation of Chris Sivewright, ably assisted by the company's artistic director, Heather Dunmore. They ...
12 years ago
Days Of Our Lives
Quiz Night At The Britannia
Gwilly
Stuart Lee's play offers a very different night out. If you have an old-fashioned mind set of 'going to the theatre to be entertained', you will enjoy it as a thought-provoking look at ...
12 years ago
Quiz Night At The Britannia
Whatever Happened to Wallenberg?
Gwilly
The true answer to the title of this mixed-media play is: 'no-one knows'. Catherine Comfort's terse, hard-hitting script and Tania Higgins' inspired direction, however, ensure that ...
12 years ago
Whatever Happened to Wallenberg?
The Mole And The Worm
Gwilly
Oxfringe brought this sparklingly witty but deeply dark gem to Oxford as part of a British tour: Teatro Entre Escombros, written and co-directed by Lowri Jenkins. This surrealist play, as its title ...
12 years ago
The Mole And The Worm
Dev's Army
Gwilly
Oxfringe brought this one-act play as part of Elysion's British tour. Ironically it was written by an Oxford playwright, Stuart Lee, who is getting to be very well known in the city. After seeing ...
12 years ago
Dev's Army
Oxford Stanza Poetry Reading
Gwilly
Oxford Stanza read to a capacity audience at the delightful Art Jericho gallery.
John Elinger's latest collection is based on Old Testament verses. It is carefully structured, meticulously ...
12 years ago
Oxford Stanza Poetry Reading
Short Stories Aloud
Gwilly
It is a hot evening and we're right at the top of The Old Fire Station. Not the most comfortable setting to listen to 'Stories Aloud'. It is a measure of just how well these programmes ...
12 years ago
Short Stories Aloud
Spark Oxford
Gwilly
Almost murdered by a paedophile; followed home by a pervert; escaping from a submerged car; skiing down a Swiss mountain on a bedstead; having an airliner crash-land behind you on the motorway; a ...
13 years ago
Spark Oxford
Rhinoceros
Gwilly
Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros asks whether we are all predisposed to follow our peers unthinkingly, like the charging beasts of the title. The tale is told via an 'Everyman' character named ...
13 years ago
Rhinoceros
Dating By The Book
Gwilly
Though we have many good amateur dramatic societies, few introduce new work by local writers. Steeple Aston Players provided a welcome exception with Paul Ekert's hilarious farce, Dating by the ...
13 years ago
Dating By The Book
The Jericho Poets at Art Jericho, 18th November 2011
Gwilly
The Jericho Poets go from strength to strength. This reading, held within the delightful surroundings of the exquisite Art Jericho gallery, was the fourth I have attended. Three were extremely good. ...
13 years ago
The Jericho Poets at Art Jericho, 18th November 2011
Remember Tomorrow
Gwilly
"Did the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp make a difference?" asked the strapline for Gwilym Scourfield's Remember Tomorrow. The play was presented at The Thame Players Theatre on ...
13 years ago
Remember Tomorrow
Didcot Living Word Walks
Gwilly
The collaboration of Cornerstones Arts Centre and Scary Little Girls really does provide an adventurous entertainment with a surprise around every corner. There is an excellent briefing prior to the ...
13 years ago
Didcot Living Word Walks
The Turn Of The Screw
Gwilly
Henry James probably wrote the best known and most frightening ghost story in our language. It has been successfully adapted for theatre, opera and film. One might easily suppose that a new stage ...
13 years ago
The Turn Of The Screw
Uncoupled
Gwilly
Alan Bennett makes Talking Heads look so easy. All you need is an interesting character, a brilliant actor to play the part and an hour slips past effortlessly. Well, lots of good writers try and ...
13 years ago
Uncoupled
Laugh A Little, Cry A Little, Think A Little
Gwilly
The second poetry reading of the Oxford stanza gave an opportunity to meet five new poets from this multi-talented group. John Ellinger opened by admitting that the only firm links between the ...
13 years ago
Laugh A Little, Cry A Little, Think A Little
Morgan & West
Gwilly
These two men have discovered the holy grail of entertainment. Their show is entirely original, though it borrows from favourite traditions - Sherlock Holmes, Houdini, mystical mind-reading acts etc; ...
13 years ago
Morgan & West
Laugh A Little, Cry A Little, Think A Little
Gwilly
There's an old saying in broadcasting that "Radio has the best pictures". Putting six local poets into an exquisite little art gallery brings that linguistic metaphor into life. The Oxford Stanza of ...
13 years ago
Laugh A Little, Cry A Little, Think A Little
Laundry Boy
Gwilly
An anxious mother approaches us as we enter the theatre. She has a photograph of her missing son. "Have you seen him? My Martin?" she implores in a way that makes one desperately sad to answer no. We ...
14 years ago
Laundry Boy
Jekyll & Hyde
Gwilly
We are hunted as we enter the auditorium by an ominous overhead helicopter, tracing shafts of bright light in spirals across a stage marked with geometrically-regular patterns. Threatening, ...
14 years ago
Jekyll & Hyde
Gallery Poetry: Winter Words
Gwilly
Oxford must be one of the few places in the world where one will brush by a poet on the bus. Most of us are grateful when they remain unidentified. Dire, turgid recitals are commonplace. So it is an ...
14 years ago
Gallery Poetry: Winter Words
Restoration - New Play Writing Competition
Gwilly
Sian Owen's worthy winner of this year's Oxford Playhouse's New Writers' Competition is 'Restoration'. It is a sensitively-written, articulate journey into the various levels of consciousness of ...
14 years ago
Restoration - New Play Writing Competition
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
After watching Rosalind Adler's "Jubilate" two weeks ago, I was curious to discover whether she could score twice with another entirely new show. I was so sure she would, I offered the people next to ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
Grimms Fairy tales bored and depressed me as a child. I preferred even Disney to the tragic, silly stories, peopled with unreal characters and fantasy situations. The Go Catch Theatre presentation, ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
It is exhilarating to recognise that we live in times when, despite all the superficiality of electronic communication, the speed of teleported news and the burgeoning of phone-ins, the THEATRE has ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
Despite all her published accolades, prior to the Fringe Festival, I had never heard of playwright and performer Rosalind Adler. In future, I will need to be broke or dying to miss the chance to see ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
If you're amongst those who have lost faith in the living - language, that is - the poetry-fest at the Vaults and Garden cafe last evening would have restored your hope. Presented were nine talented ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
The Big Bite-Size Soiree: OFS Studio 24-27th March
'Bite-sized' might sound like you're not getting much, but these performers really deliver a feast of exciting, dynamic modern theatre. It is ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
Oxfringe 2010
Gwilly
'Never Tell Them' by Stuart Lee, New Road Baptist Church at 9.30pm until Saturday
Stuart Lee's award-winning drama returns to Oxford with an all-star cast. The taut, atmospheric play, set in 1918, ...
15 years ago
Oxfringe 2010
