Reviews by Judith Davies
Aladdin And The Magic Lamp
Judith Davies
Creative Creation has done it – again. Creation Theatre never goes for the simple approach; its pantomimes are never mainstream. They don’t follow the tired old formula: “Oh yes ...
12 years ago
Aladdin And The Magic Lamp
Museum From The Future
Judith Davies
The Old Fire Station is back in business after an extensive overhaul – it looks fantastic – and it is currently hosting a pop-up museum: Museum from the Future, an exhibition that is the ...
13 years ago
Museum From The Future
Love's Labour's Lost
Judith Davies
A Shakespearean comedy, performed on a warm evening in the beautiful Cathedral Gardens at Christ Church College sounds idyllic… if only Mother Nature hadn’t chosen yesterday to put an ...
13 years ago
Love's Labour's Lost
The Story of the Four Minute Mile
Judith Davies
Everyone queuing outside the Iffley Road running track last night had a number pinned to their chest: 40, 41 or 42. I was baffled. Fortunately, I had the grouch in tow and being something of an ...
13 years ago
The Story of the Four Minute Mile
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2012
Judith Davies
I have to admit that if Jeremy Paxman presented the lottery show, I’d watch it. I love his impatient and abrasive style; that he gets away with being so rude to people, and yet ...
13 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2012
The Crowstarver
Judith Davies
Crowstarver, currently showing at the Oxford Playhouse, is adapted from the Dick King-Smith novel of the same name. Set in a rural community at the beginning of the Second World War, it is a more ...
13 years ago
The Crowstarver
Around The World In 80 Poems
Judith Davies
I’ve never seen Live Canon perform before, but I had heard of them. They are a group of actors who learn poems and then recite them from memory. Some of the poems were declaimed in a more ...
13 years ago
Around The World In 80 Poems
Teechers
Judith Davies
Teechers, by John Godber, was first aired in 1987 but is still as relevant today. It tells the story of Salty, Hobby and Gail, three fifth formers about to leave school having achieved very little. ...
13 years ago
Teechers
N.O.N.C.E.
Judith Davies
A year spent working with sex offenders and murderers would not be for everyone; I’m sure I couldn’t do it. Having to engage with – possibly even begin to like – someone who has committed the ...
13 years ago
N.O.N.C.E.
Family Business
Judith Davies
Family Business, a new play by Julian Mitchell, opened at the Oxford Playhouse last night. It starts, as so many family dramas tend to do, with the elderly parent awaiting the arrival of grown-up ...
13 years ago
Family Business
Great Expectations
Judith Davies
In Charles Dickens’ classic tale of rags to riches, Pip, a poor village boy, helps an escaped convict (Magwitch). Sometime later the boy acquires a mysterious benefactor, by virtue of whom he is ...
14 years ago
Great Expectations
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2011
Judith Davies
Fresh made pasta is the primo,On the menu of great fayre;Cappuccino, lots of vino,Both these beverages there,Joyful all ye sweethearts dine,Eat fine food and sup fine wine;Insalata’s always good, ...
14 years ago
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2011
Alice In Wonderland
Judith Davies
How lovely to see the Pegasus open again – and what a great facelift it has had! New life has been injected into the place and it was the perfect setting for this new production of Alice in ...
14 years ago
Alice In Wonderland
Spamalot
Judith Davies
Spamalot is a new musical “lovingly ripped off” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, according to the posters. Strictly speaking it isn’t actually that new, having first been seen by American ...
14 years ago
Spamalot
House of Ghosts
Judith Davies
Having read every one of Colin Dexter’s Morse books and having seen all thirty of the TV dramatisations, I have never yet managed to solve the mystery before the great man himself. More often than ...
14 years ago
House of Ghosts
George's Marvellous Medicine
Judith Davies
George’s Marvellous Medicine, now showing at the Playhouse, is yet another triumph for David Wood. Wood has adapted many of Roald Dahl’s books, all with great success – but I was not sure that ...
14 years ago
George's Marvellous Medicine
The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet
Judith Davies
As always, the multi-talented wordsmith John Hegley exceeded all my expectations when he performed at the Playhouse last Friday evening. There is never any big build up before he appears on stage, ...
15 years ago
The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet
Jus' Like That!
Judith Davies
To explain the appeal of Tommy Cooper to the uninitiated would be a difficult task. A tall, lumbering man, with slightly rubber facial features (his smile was not unlike that of the plasticine ...
15 years ago
Jus' Like That!
Jousting Tournament at Blenheim Palace
Judith Davies
Despite Met Office warnings to the contrary, today’s weather was dry and sunny, if just a little chilly at times – so sitting on the South Lawn at Blenheim Palace and watching the jousting was a ...
15 years ago
Jousting Tournament at Blenheim Palace
The Utterly Inventive World of Roald Dahl
Judith Davies
David Wood, OBE, is a versatile man. A former actor, author and magician, he is now best known for his excellent theatre adaptations of many of Roald Dahl’s children’s books. He appeared at the ...
15 years ago
The Utterly Inventive World of Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach
Judith Davies
The Roald Dahl classic about a boy, a peach and a bunch of critters in search of adventure does not immediately sound like an easy story to adapt for the theatre. The giant peach spends a good deal ...
15 years ago
James and the Giant Peach
The Cheeky Guide to Love
Judith Davies
It is difficult to decide what I really thought about The Cheeky Guide to Love, which opened at the Old Fire Station last night. I feel strangely ambivalent about it; some parts of it were quite ...
15 years ago
The Cheeky Guide to Love
Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
Judith Davies
Dumped for a GingaDave’s left me; I’m distraught,At least, I think I ought, To feel that way,But hey,I don’t.It happened in a whirl –He met another girl,They found romance,“By chance”,He ...
15 years ago
Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
Judith Davies
Many years ago I read a book called An Evil Cradling, written by Brian Keenan, the Irish writer who was held hostage in the Lebanon for four and a half years. His cell mate, for much of that time, ...
15 years ago
Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
Paul Chowdhry
Judith Davies
I had wanted to see Paul Chowdhry for a long time. A friend of mine told me about him a while ago – she said that if I got the chance to see him at a small venue, I should take it, because “he ...
15 years ago
Paul Chowdhry
The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe
Judith Davies
What can I say? This show is an absolute delight; the most unexpected of Christmas treats, better than any pantomime. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the book I remember most fondly from my ...
15 years ago
The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe
The History Boys
Judith Davies
Last night, The Oxford Triptych Theatre premiered its production of The History Boys to a packed audience at the OFS Studio. It is an amateur production but don’t let that put you off; it’s a ...
15 years ago
The History Boys
Scooby Doo! And The Pirate Ghost - Live on Stage!
Judith Davies
I have been to enough pantomimes to know that children and adults are not always amused by the same thing, so usually I’m happy to sit back and think that if the kids seem to be enjoying it, then ...
15 years ago
Scooby Doo! And The Pirate Ghost - Live on Stage!
Twelfth Night
Judith Davies
The thing about Shakespeare, I think, is that no matter how many times you read it, whether by choice or under sufferance in English literature classes, you never really get it until you see it ...
15 years ago
Twelfth Night
In the Box
Judith Davies
No one seems to be ambivalent about cricket; it is a great divider, people either love it, or hate it. Let’s not bother with the latter; they know not what they do. For those of us who love it, ...
15 years ago
In the Box
Sign of the Times
Judith Davies
Frank (Stephen Tompkinson) is “Head of Installation” at Forshaw’s, a company that produces outdoor signs, and Alan (Tom Shaw), a youth employment scheme trainee, is his assistant. Together they ...
16 years ago
Sign of the Times
Star Trek [12A]
Judith Davies
Great fun, loved the characterization, special effects and the way it fits in with the other Star Trek films and TV programmes. Highly recommended.
16 years ago
Star Trek [12A]
Horrid Henry - Live and Horrid!
Judith Davies
I did not have high expectations of Horrid Henry Live and Horrid! - a couple of years ago I borrowed one of the books from the library and read it to my son. He didn’t enjoy it and neither did I ...
16 years ago
Horrid Henry - Live and Horrid!
Oxfringe 2009
Judith Davies
One of the biggest treats of Oxfringe 2009 has to John Hegley’s Beyond our Kennel show at the Jacqueline Du Pre Building last Saturday evening. I am not sure how to describe Hegley – a poet, ...
16 years ago
Oxfringe 2009
Jesus Christ Super Star
Judith Davies
I had forgotten how many years had passed since Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice first produced Jesus Christ Superstar on the London stage. Apparently it is 37 years ago – and I remember it as ...
16 years ago
Jesus Christ Super Star
Future Me
Judith Davies
Had I known that Future Me was a play about paedophilia before I offered to review it, then the chances are I wouldn’t have done – and it would have been my loss as it is a gripping piece of ...
16 years ago
Future Me
Bloomin' Chic Mothers' Day Poetry Competition
Judith Davies
I WishI always thought that you’d be there – to catch me, should I fall, I never contemplated you not being there at all, I wish now that I’d told you that you meant the world to me, I’d ...
16 years ago
Bloomin' Chic Mothers' Day Poetry Competition
Private Peaceful
Judith Davies
Private Peaceful is the heart-wrenching story of Tommo, a young soldier due to be shot at dawn during the First World War. We join him in his cell, as he looks back over his all too short life – ...
16 years ago
Private Peaceful
Knuckle by David Hare
Judith Davies
The Moser Theatre in Wadham College is a very comfortable venue that seats around 100 – that’s if you can find it. It’s quite a hike from the porter’s lodge and not at all well signposted, so ...
16 years ago
Knuckle by David Hare
Anti-Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
Judith Davies
But NowYou used to send me flowers, but now, it would appear, That you no longer bother with such affectations – dear. You used to buy me chocolates, gift wrapped in golden foil,But now I don’t ...
16 years ago
Anti-Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
Judith Davies
Decisions, DecisionsI have never felt as nervous as the way I feel tonight,I’ve got a very special date and have to get things right.She’s absolutely beautiful, I so want to impress,Should I wear ...
16 years ago
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
Hansel & Gretel
Judith Davies
If you want an alternative to the traditional pantomime in the run up to Christmas, then Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company’s new production of Hansel & Gretel could be exactly what you are ...
16 years ago
Hansel & Gretel
Treasure Island (The Panto)
Judith Davies
I’ve been to St Peter’s Players’ productions before and they are usually top-drawer amateur productions. I don’t want to be unkind to the Players - really I don’t - as they are all ...
16 years ago
Treasure Island (The Panto)
A Special Boy
Judith Davies
Ten years of living in Oxford and I had never been inside the Burton Taylor Studio until last night. I wondered whether there was a big theatre in there, bursting to get out. There isn't, it is tiny, ...
16 years ago
A Special Boy
Voxabilis: Choir Concert Debut
Judith Davies
On Friday evening Voxabilis, the new kids on the choral block, were performing their debut concert at Merton College Chapel. The name, in dog-Latin, means “voice-able”. The deliberate misspelling ...
16 years ago
Voxabilis: Choir Concert Debut
Dil Dunia (DEAD DUNIA - now Trichy Dosa)
Judith Davies
Call me a heretic, but I have never rated the Aziz; I prefer the fare on offer at Qumins and Dil Dunia. Both restaurants are modern rather than traditional; both serve food that tastes light, fresh ...
16 years ago
Dil Dunia (DEAD DUNIA - now Trichy Dosa)
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2008
Judith Davies
Remember, remember, the fifth of NovemberGunpowder, treason and plotHad Guy Fawkes succeededThe tip-off not heededHe would have blown-upThe whole lot!Deep in Westminster’s cellarsGuy and some other ...
16 years ago
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2008
