Reviews by Lee Woodward
The Dark Room
Lee Woodward
As the Old Fire Station’s house lights dim, a red progress bar is projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage. ‘Anxiety loading…’ reads the caption. Seconds later, our host for the ...
a year ago
The Dark Room
Last Christmas I Gave You My Tart: An Evening of Burlesque
Lee Woodward
Blending sensuality, camp comedy and genial camaraderie, the playfully seductive Miss Cherry Buns (creator, choreographer and performer, Lauren Dean) and her troupe of burlesque performers, Cream ...
5 years ago
Last Christmas I Gave You My Tart: An Evening of Burlesque
The Last Noël
Lee Woodward
The Last Noël begins as a joyfully eccentric patchwork of monologues, songs and banter about the ridiculousness of Christmas, but as celebrations are delayed and numerous snack foods are consumed, a ...
5 years ago
The Last Noël
George Egg - Movable Feast
Lee Woodward
In his one man show, Movable Feast, culinary MacGyver and part-time womble, George Egg, makes ingenious use of motor machinery, powertools, construction equipment and everyday items to cook genuinely ...
5 years ago
George Egg - Movable Feast
IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival
Lee Woodward
The Breakup Monologues, The Bullingdon, Weds 23rd october 2019 I entered the Bullingdon’s auditorium with a feeling of intrigue about what I was about to watch. Having never previously listened to ...
5 years ago
IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival
The Basement Tapes
Lee Woodward
Sure to top the list of New Zealand's most exciting exports since Flight of the Conchords, Zanetti Productions have unleashed their beautifully confounding play The Basement Tapes onto Britain's ...
5 years ago
The Basement Tapes
Frogman
Lee Woodward
Frogman from UK theatre company Curious Directive is a mixed media portrayal of a teenage girl’s mysterious disappearance from a small town near the Great Barrier Reef. Using live theatre, audio ...
6 years ago
Frogman
Marcus Brigstocke: Devil May Care
Lee Woodward
Support for the evening was provided by Rob Rouse, who used his genial, everyman persona to lull the audience into a false sense of security before his routine descended into a whirlwind of toilet ...
6 years ago
Marcus Brigstocke: Devil May Care
Brave New World
Lee Woodward
There was a sense of muted curiosity in the audience as we sat in the centre of the Westgate’s Leiden Square and put our headphones on. The actors arrived and encircled us without fanfare or ...
6 years ago
Brave New World
Winter Solstice
Lee Woodward
Albert and Bettina are liberals who make their substantial income from writing books with pompous titles and making art films that nobody watches. Albert’s best friend, Konrad (Gerald Kyd), is an ...
7 years ago
Winter Solstice
Fragments
Lee Woodward
To call Fragments a loose adaptation of Euripides’ play Cresphontes would be an oversimplification, but then there are very few simple statements that could be made about this play from exciting ...
7 years ago
Fragments
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
Lee Woodward
This lively and inventive adaptation of the legendary seventeenth century novel from Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha, opened with a demure young lady sat on the corner of a dimly lit ...
9 years ago
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
Noises Off
Lee Woodward
Despite having been written over three decades ago (and having spawned numerous lesser plays-within-plays in the process) Noises Off retains the same sense of anarchic novelty that made it so ...
10 years ago
Noises Off
Wild Beasts
Lee Woodward
Wild Beasts’ support for the evening, Fryars (aka Benjamin Garrett) opened with an intriguing first track entitled On Your Own. An odd choice maybe, but the mixture of rich, plodding bass, ...
11 years ago
Wild Beasts
Public Image Ltd, The Wonder Stuff
Lee Woodward
With funds derived from a recent TV commercial, Public Image Ltd is now touring for the first time in twenty years. And it speaks volumes about Public Image Ltd’s appeal that The Wonderstuff, ...
12 years ago
Public Image Ltd, The Wonder Stuff
Klaxons, Go On Do It Jump
Lee Woodward
Klaxons’ intriguingly titled support band for the night, Go On, Do It, Jump, kicked things off with a few inoffensive yet melodic indie rock tunes. And though the Oxford based ...
12 years ago
Klaxons, Go On Do It Jump
The Merchant Of Venice
Lee Woodward
Creation Theatre have taken on one of the bard's trickier plays in their latest of a long and highly regarded list of open air Shakespeare productions, and I’m happy to say they’ve ...
12 years ago
The Merchant Of Venice
Mephisto
Lee Woodward
Based upon Klaus Mann’s novel of the same name, Milja Fenger’s production Mephisto tells the story of Hendrick Hofgen, an up and coming actor whose quest for fame is gradually compromised ...
13 years ago
Mephisto
The Picture Of Dorian Gray
Lee Woodward
The lights dimmed on the stage as an eight strong chorus of elegantly costumed male and female actors took to the stage and surrounded an empty picture frame. A hush of intrigue encapsulated the ...
13 years ago
The Picture Of Dorian Gray
Call Of The Wild
Lee Woodward
Jack London’s Call Of The Wild was ground breaking, an acclaimed novel about the primitive nature of existence as seen through the eyes of a half Saint Bernard, half Scottish shepherd, named Buck. ...
14 years ago
Call Of The Wild
Bengal Tiger, Shanghai Dragon
Lee Woodward
As the Director and Composer of the often twenty strong Grand Union Orchestra, Tony Haynes is clearly no stranger to mixing musical styles from around the world: their influences drawn from many ...
14 years ago
Bengal Tiger, Shanghai Dragon
She Keeps Bees, The Epstein, King of Cats
Lee Woodward
The night kicked off at just gone eight when solo artist King of Cats burst his way through the fourth wall and silenced the Bully’s backroom with the first high pitched dirge of his set, assisted ...
14 years ago
She Keeps Bees, The Epstein, King of Cats
Cinderella
Lee Woodward
Your average Brit will know what to expect when attending a pantomime, but for the uninitiated, the traditional British Panto is a simple yet chaotic stage production consisting of magic, music, ...
14 years ago
Cinderella
Alabama 3 + David Ford
Lee Woodward
Support for Alabama 3 was provided by one man folk band, David Ford, whose effective use of a loop pedal for percussion, rhythm guitar, and vocal harmonies made for a surprisingly layered sound, ...
15 years ago
Alabama 3 + David Ford
Little Dark
Lee Woodward
WARNING: This show contains lycra!This evening of sketches from Oxford-based comedy troop Little Dark began well, neatly setting the tone before the audience was seated. Upon entering the auditorium ...
15 years ago
Little Dark
Wife After Death
Lee Woodward
Eric Chappell has written numerous stage plays and screenplays since the seventies but Rising Damp remains his greatest success as a writer—both critically and commercially. It was only natural ...
15 years ago
Wife After Death
All's Well That Ends Well
Lee Woodward
With no tragedy or magic on display, All’s Well That Ends Well is generally considered to be among Shakespeare’s less worthy plays, and yet when performed well, with energy and belief, it is an ...
15 years ago
All's Well That Ends Well
An Evening with Clive James
Lee Woodward
Without any warning, Clive James appeared on stage and began talking as we, the audience, remained illuminated by the house lights. Why? Because that’s the way Clive prefers things: not so much a ...
16 years ago
An Evening with Clive James
Dan Reed
Lee Woodward
As a small yet expectant audience spread themselves around the back room of the Bullingdon Arms, Dan Reed’s first support Act, Danny Chivers’ poetry performance received a mixed reception. ...
16 years ago
Dan Reed
Dan Reed
Lee Woodward
Oregon native singer-songwriter Dan Reed rose to prominence in the mid-eighties with funk/metal band, The Dan Reed Network. Between 1988 and 1991, The Dan Reed Network released three critically ...
16 years ago
Dan Reed
Arias on Ice
Lee Woodward
Following last year's sell out performance at Oxford Ice Rink, Arias On Ice has returned for four performances and even though the frequency and duration of performances has increased, the ...
16 years ago
Arias on Ice
Loose Grip + guests
Lee Woodward
Loose Grip’s first support band for the evening set a high benchmark with the sort of attitude-saturated pop sadly lacking from today’s charts. Driven by an accomplished bass player, a suitably ...
16 years ago
Loose Grip + guests
The Burial at Thebes
Lee Woodward
The Burial At Thebes, Seamus Heaney’s adaptation of Sophocles Greek Tragedy, Antigone, is beautifully written; its lyrical dialogue apparently born for musical accompaniment. Perhaps this is why in ...
16 years ago
The Burial at Thebes
Topless Mum
Lee Woodward
Today’s news is riddled with murky issues ripe for satirical attack. When one plucks up the courage to discuss such issues, one does so with the acceptance that there can be no definitive ...
16 years ago
Topless Mum
Crocodile Seeking Refuge
Lee Woodward
Crocodile Seeking Refuge is a multi stranded tale centred on an Asylum Lawyer and six of her clients whose contrasting stories delicately intertwine together effortlessly raising various issues ...
18 years ago
Crocodile Seeking Refuge
Mixed Messages
Lee Woodward
I was aware that this production would consist of three plays from new writers and I had made the assumption that new writing should somehow necessitate freshness and originality. I was right - but ...
18 years ago
Mixed Messages
The Country Wife
Lee Woodward
It's like a 17th century Carry On film with brains. The plot centres around Harry Horner, a lad about town whose endeavours include spreading a helpful rumour about himself that after a particularly ...
19 years ago
The Country Wife
