Reviews by Susie Cogan
Blenheim Palace
Susie Cogan
Blenheim Palace's new adventure playground 'The Lost
Garden' is tucked away in the Walled Garden area, just beyond the garden
maze and the butterfly house. It's been thoughtfully and lavishly ...
2 years ago
Blenheim Palace
Cinderella
Susie Cogan
It was a real treat to take our two children, aged 6 and 9, to see Cinderella at the Oxford Playhouse. Pantos are always worth supporting, providing traditional seasonal surrealism with plenty of ...
2 years ago
Cinderella
Gnora the Gnome’s Daytime Disco (Under 10s)
Susie Cogan
It’s quite literally a breath of fresh air: sitting on the front lawn of the beautiful Cogges manor house, watching live theatre for the first time in months. Warm sun, light breeze, and, brought ...
4 years ago
Gnora the Gnome’s Daytime Disco (Under 10s)
La Bohème mini-matinee presented by Oxford Opera
Susie Cogan
Local company Oxford Opera has won acclaim and awards since its 2018 beginnings, with the aim of making professional opera accessible to the community, and especially to young people, at its heart. ...
5 years ago
La Bohème mini-matinee presented by Oxford Opera
Young Rembrandt
Susie Cogan
It’s easy to assume that extraordinary artistic ability is by nature prodigious, but that’s often some way from the truth. Some talents announce themselves as soon as the artist can hold a brush ...
5 years ago
Young Rembrandt
Beauty And The Beast
Susie Cogan
It’s panto season, and there’s good old-fashioned family fun to be had at the Oxford Playhouse with this year’s production, Beauty and the Beast. Good panto can take many forms, from the ...
5 years ago
Beauty And The Beast
Last Supper in Pompeii
Susie Cogan
The evening before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius devastated the prosperous city of Pompeii lying just to the south of its fertile foothills, the local inhabitants came together to eat; as families; ...
5 years ago
Last Supper in Pompeii
Garsington Opera season 2019
Susie Cogan
The Turn of the Screw, Thurs 4th July 2019 This is a strange story, written in faded ink. Benjamin Britten’s adaptation of Henry James’ 1898 ghost story is a chamber opera in two acts, with a ...
5 years ago
Garsington Opera season 2019
Akram Zaatari: The Script
Susie Cogan
There’s much food for thought in Modern Art Oxford’s new exhibition from Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari. Offering insights into modes of self-presentation through film and photographs, the ...
6 years ago
Akram Zaatari: The Script
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Susie Cogan
This year’s festive offering from the Oxford Playhouse gets the season off to grand start. Dick Whittington and his Cat, written and directed by Steve Marmion, is unapologetically preposterous, ...
6 years ago
Dick Whittington and His Cat
The Porterhouse Grill & Rooms
Susie Cogan
Leaving Botley Road to venture into the quiet gloom of Mill Street in search of the perfect steak is a bit of a leap of faith. The Porterhouse Grill doesn’t announce itself with a brightly lit ...
6 years ago
The Porterhouse Grill & Rooms
House of Fun Activity Camp
Susie Cogan
This was my daughter's first taste of a children's activity camp, so neither she nor I knew quite what to expect. At pick-up time I found her chatting to a new friend, occupied and cheerful, after a ...
6 years ago
House of Fun Activity Camp
Macbeth
Susie Cogan
Rather unexpectedly, this season the RSC has provided a treat for fans of classic cinematic horror, in an energetic, unapologetic homage to the genre, and in particular to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 ...
6 years ago
Macbeth
The Winslow Boy
Susie Cogan
When thirteen-year-old naval cadet Ronnie Winslow is expelled from Osborne College for the theft of a five-shilling postal order, his disgrace sparks a public and political uproar which will change ...
7 years ago
The Winslow Boy
Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant
Susie Cogan
Warm, welcoming, and modern in a reassuringly old-fashioned way, the Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant is clean-lined and shiny, made unexpectedly cosy with dimmed lighting; imposing in terms of location ...
7 years ago
Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant
Cushion Concert - Violin
Susie Cogan
Oxford is a city with a rich cultural life, and it's no surprise that there's good provision for getting children interested in the arts at an early age. The Cushion Concerts take place monthly in St ...
7 years ago
Cushion Concert - Violin
Dinosaur World
Susie Cogan
Dinosaur World at the New Theatre takes puppetry to a new level, offering an exciting and eye-opening trip to a far away island populated by a set of marvellous creatures who, it turns out, survived ...
7 years ago
Dinosaur World
The Gruffalo
Susie Cogan
Production company Tall Stories are experts in translating children's classics from page to stage, and this is one of several shows based on the work of dream team Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. ...
7 years ago
The Gruffalo
The Jolly Postboys
Susie Cogan
Walking into the Jolly Postboys on a Friday evening is a bit like stumbling onto a film scene set in an improbably delightful bar. Light jazz is playing across a hum of atmospheric chatter, the ...
7 years ago
The Jolly Postboys
Arbequina
Susie Cogan
My friend is so excited about this little tapas restaurant on Cowley Road that she recently visited twice in one day (can you stalk a restaurant?), so I'm pretty keen to try it. Uncertain about our ...
7 years ago
Arbequina
Death of A Salesman
Susie Cogan
What’s really important in life, and what’s the best way to achieve it? Northampton Royal & Derngate Theatres pose these uncomfortable questions in their haunting production of Arthur Miller’s ...
7 years ago
Death of A Salesman
Magdalen Arms
Susie Cogan
I'm a huge fan of the Magdalen Arms, both for its relaxed, scrubbed-wooden ambiance and for its hearty-but-interesting line in food. Housed in a spacious old pub, spruced up to feel more ...
7 years ago
Magdalen Arms
Le Nozze di Figaro
Susie Cogan
Prepare to be charmed. Lost in the bucolic grandeur of the Wormsley estate you'll find yourself entertained, feasted (culturally and, if you've remembered your picnic, literally), diverted by finery, ...
8 years ago
Le Nozze di Figaro
Raphael: The Drawings
Susie Cogan
Some exhibitions have no need of fanfares, bunting, flashing light displays and interactive gizmos - absolute simplicity is all that's needed. This exquisite offering from the Ashmolean brings ...
8 years ago
Raphael: The Drawings
Julius Caesar
Susie Cogan
Four letters are emblazoned above a colonnade, which overlooks a statue of a lion sinking its teeth into the flank of a horse. 'SPQR': Senatus Populusque Romanus - The Senate and the People of Rome. ...
8 years ago
Julius Caesar
George Street Social
Susie Cogan
Bright but cosy, lively but low-key, George Street Social is an intimate venue with good food and a nice atmosphere. Downstairs is a coffee bar, while upstairs is divided into a library section with ...
8 years ago
George Street Social
Royal Shakespeare Company, Summer 2015
Susie Cogan
A gripping exploration of the tension between public and private roles; the breakdown of trust; domestic and military violence; and the playing out of racism in a multicultural society: director ...
10 years ago
Royal Shakespeare Company, Summer 2015
As You Like It: 2015 Season
Susie Cogan
Warring brothers, gender politics, amorous intentions, cross-dressing and mistaken identity inevitably overflow from the ducal court into the suggestively lawless wilds of the Forest of Arden. ...
10 years ago
As You Like It: 2015 Season
William Tell
Susie Cogan
Rossini's William Tell, first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1829, is an ambitious work: big, bold, long, lavish, embracing in its themes both the gravity of the struggle for freedom and ...
10 years ago
William Tell
Henry V
Susie Cogan
So, can the small provincial cockpit of the Oxford Playhouse hold the vasty fields of France? Well yes, with a little help from you and me. Shakespeare’s Henry V is a play all about ...
13 years ago
Henry V
Madama Butterfly
Susie Cogan
Award-winning producer Ellen Kent returns to the touring circuit, after a brief period of retirement, with this polished and affecting version of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; this time ...
13 years ago
Madama Butterfly
‘Tis Pity She's a Whore
Susie Cogan
It was never going to end well. From the opening scene of John Ford’s seventeenth century tragedy, when love-struck Giovanni reveals to his tutor that the object of his youthful passion is his ...
13 years ago
‘Tis Pity She's a Whore
Dr Marigold & Mr Chops
Susie Cogan
Simon Callow presents an accomplished old-fashioned entertainment in this one-man performance of two short plays by Charles Dickens. Based on the hugely popular public readings which Dickens ...
13 years ago
Dr Marigold & Mr Chops
Everest Nepalese Restaurant and Bar
Susie Cogan
I’d forgotten how much I like Everest. I’ve been a couple of times previously, but always with a slightly rowdy work group where conversation and wine tend to overshadow even the nicest food. A ...
13 years ago
Everest Nepalese Restaurant and Bar
Garsington Opera Season 2011
Susie Cogan
This season, Garsington Opera, newly re-homed in the beautiful Wormsley Estate, hosts the UK première of Vivaldi’s opera La Verità in Cimento (Truth put to the Test), first performed in Venice in ...
14 years ago
Garsington Opera Season 2011
Doctor Faustus
Susie Cogan
What’s a Renaissance man to do when he’s exhausted his reading list? Naturally, having reached the highest possible peak of human attainment, it’s always tempting to turn to a handy volume on ...
14 years ago
Doctor Faustus
WNO Autumn Season 2010
Susie Cogan
Handsome prince Tamino, lost in a magical land, is rescued from a hideous monster, then charged by the Queen of the Night to bring back her beautiful abducted daughter Pamina and win her hand in ...
14 years ago
WNO Autumn Season 2010
Duke of Monmouth
Susie Cogan
It rather takes you aback at first: a familiar red-brick suburban pub with a sign outside offering ‘Swiss Cuisine’ is nothing if not unexpected, and definitely makes an intriguing addition to ...
14 years ago
Duke of Monmouth
Verde Pizzeria & Trattoria
Susie Cogan
Cowley Road’s newest Italian has the clean, cavernous feel of a good, cheap and cheerful family restaurant, and this seems to be the market it’s aiming at. The menu, scattered with organic dishes ...
14 years ago
Verde Pizzeria & Trattoria
Visiting Oxford - Things to See and Do
Susie Cogan
Sitting here in the office with the sun shining outside, contemplating an ideal day in Oxford, my mind is so full of fun possibilities that it's hard to imagine cramming them into sixteen or so ...
14 years ago
Visiting Oxford - Things to See and Do
Four Lions [15]
Susie Cogan
So, what to expect from Chris Morris’ new venture? An uncomfortable mix of lowbrow farce and intelligent social observation; clever one-liners and carefully nurtured comedic themes, old-fashioned ...
15 years ago
Four Lions [15]
RSC Productions in Stratford and London 2010
Susie Cogan
Everybody loves a good old fashioned love story. Instant infatuation, clandestine encounters, illicit passion and violent self-immolation will always get the audience cheering, even when the story is ...
15 years ago
RSC Productions in Stratford and London 2010
The Perch Inn
Susie Cogan
There are loads of good things about the Perch. It’s a beautiful setting: a lovely building in fantastic gardens, and, reached in the chill dusk after a walk along the canal and across Port Meadow, ...
15 years ago
The Perch Inn
The Mole Inn
Susie Cogan
In the past, the Mole has attracted one or two rather disgruntled reviews on these pages, but to be honest I find it rather hard to work out why. This well appointed and smartly run village gastropub ...
15 years ago
The Mole Inn
Cricketer's Arms Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
A lively night with a crackling atmosphere, the Cricketer’s quiz is run by a number of wise-cracking characters whose irreverent and individual approach gives the proceedings an element of theatre ...
16 years ago
Cricketer's Arms Quiz Night
Turf Tavern Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
This is hardcore quizzing. Taking place in the rear-garden of the pub, there’s room for umpteen teams and it still gets full - I’ve been there in freezing mid-winter and the showing wasn’t bad ...
16 years ago
Turf Tavern Quiz Night
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Susie Cogan
Let’s face it: with The Winter’s Tale, it’s really all about the bear. Did they pull it off? Did the gobbling up of the luckless Antigonus receive suitably tongue-in cheek treatment? The bear ...
16 years ago
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Brasserie Blanc
Susie Cogan
Previous reviews of this restaurant have been so mixed that I was quite looking forward to finding out why. Did they have particularly unreliable suppliers? A chef with a split personality? One visit ...
16 years ago
Brasserie Blanc
Andromaque
Susie Cogan
From innovative Barbican-based theatre company Cheek By Jowl, in association with Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, comes this French language production of Racine’s Andromaque, part of Paris Calling, ...
16 years ago
Andromaque
RJ@21 - CLOSED Summer 2011
Susie Cogan
This little corner of the Cowley Road was once home to Joe’s, a long-running Oxford breakfast institution which one can’t help thinking might have been squeezed out by slicker competition from ...
16 years ago
RJ@21 - CLOSED Summer 2011
Door 74
Susie Cogan
Door 74 is an engaging little venue, intimate and unfussy, but with a good selection of interesting, high quality dishes. To a certain extent it has the feel of a tiny Parisian bistro, with its high ...
16 years ago
Door 74
Branca
Susie Cogan
It all started off so well. Branca is a restaurant with a nice atmosphere: much more spacious than expected, pleasantly bustling but not noisy, full of well turned-out people with even suntans who ...
17 years ago
Branca
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Susie Cogan
Romantic comedy, updated folk story, or a deeply moralistic cautionary tale, The Merchant of Venice is a play which operates on many levels, and for this reason as much as for its anti-semitic ...
17 years ago
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Fisherss
Susie Cogan
I have mixed feelings about Fishers. On the one hand it provides an unpretentious atmosphere in which to eat quality seafood which is fresh, inventive and sensitively cooked; on the other, it’s not ...
17 years ago
Fisherss
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2008
Susie Cogan
The lecture begins with a technical hitch: the microphone, we are told (though sitting at the back I can barely hear the explanation) has mysteriously been switched off, and switching it on again ...
17 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2008
Spies by Michael Frayn
Susie Cogan
A new adaptation of Michael Frayn’s 2002 novel of the same name, Spies is a story of British suburbia; a quiet, leafy cul-de-sac with its own social codes and petty intrigues seen through the eyes ...
17 years ago
Spies by Michael Frayn
The High Table Brasserie and Bar
Susie Cogan
That slightly ropey but affectionately remembered late-night choice, Merton’s Bar, has recently been replaced by The Eastgate Hotel’s new restaurant, The High Table. The management have effected ...
17 years ago
The High Table Brasserie and Bar
A Trip To Scarborough
Susie Cogan
Alan Ayckbourn’s affection for the northern seaside town of Scarborough makes the decision to reprise Richard Brindsley Sheridan’s 18th century romp A Trip to Scarborough an intriguingly logical ...
17 years ago
A Trip To Scarborough
The Oxford Retreat
Susie Cogan
The Oxford Retreat is doing quite a lot right. At first glance, the set-up seems slightly curious: the bar, which is often lively, is a bit close to the romantically lit dining section, where ...
17 years ago
The Oxford Retreat
Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Susie Cogan
Classic fairytales, presented in the enchanting atmosphere of the antique Mirror Tent by a theatre company that specialises in the mystic and magical: what could be a cosier, more charming way to ...
17 years ago
Tales from the Brothers Grimm
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Susie Cogan
Much more than a retelling of a famous English military triumph, Henry V is a play of contradictions, where comedy mingles provocatively with tragedy, where the flipside of loyalty to one’s country ...
17 years ago
RSC Productions in Stratford and London, from 2009 and earlier
Strada
Susie Cogan
It’s been suggested that a place where one restaurant has failed to thrive often retains a whiff of failure that taints the next business to take over the premises. It was reassuring, then, to see ...
17 years ago
Strada
The Taming Of The Shrew
Susie Cogan
The return of all male troupe Propeller to Oxford is a cause for celebration. Their modern, energetic interpretation of The Taming of the Shrew doesn’t disappoint, encompassing physical high jinks, ...
18 years ago
The Taming Of The Shrew
Xian
Susie Cogan
I’d heard great things about Xian: that the food was excellent and the service beyond compare, so I was pleased to finally get around to making the long trek to Summertown. The restaurant promises ...
18 years ago
Xian
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Susie Cogan
Jeremy Paxman. RoyaltyWhat exactly is royalty and how does it work? Can it be a suitable component of modern government and if not, what should replace it? In spite of being overheard saying to a ...
18 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Susie Cogan
Jung Chang. Mao: The Unknown StoryJung Chang became famous in the early 90s for writing Wild Swans, the extraordinary story of three generations of Chinese women; her mother, her grandmother and ...
18 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Susie Cogan
Robert Lacey. Great Tales: The Battle of the Boyne to DNARobert Lacey makes a good first impression: sort of politely exuberant and very much at ease with his audience. This being the first lecture ...
18 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Susie Cogan
Pauline Kiernan. Filthy ShakespeareIn contrast to Robert Lacey’s lecture earlier in the day, the subject matter of Pauline Kiernan’s book – the smutty subtext running through Shakespeare’s ...
18 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2007
Dancin' Oxford Festival 2007
Susie Cogan
Made in Oxford is a collection of four short pieces showcasing local Oxford talent. The first piece, in telling spaces; even the breath is set to rather haunting, minimalist music. Nine dancers seem ...
18 years ago
Dancin' Oxford Festival 2007
King of Hearts
Susie Cogan
The latest offering from Alistair Beaton, former Spitting Image gagsmith and one-time speech writer to Gordon Brown, King of Hearts is a sly snapshot of a constitutional monarchy struggling to find ...
18 years ago
King of Hearts
The Old Bank
Susie Cogan
With the city’s never-ending stream of tourists, visiting business folks and fond parents, and its easy location within striking distance of London, one can’t help thinking that to a certain ...
18 years ago
The Old Bank
The Merchant of Venice
Susie Cogan
In a fast paced and intriguing new production, Shakespeare’s tale of love, revenge and cash flow problems is brought bang up to date with game shows, drug dealing, police chases and very big ...
18 years ago
The Merchant of Venice
The Eagle and Child
Susie Cogan
A nice cosy never-ending skittle alley of a pub which has never quite got over its association with the tiresome Inklings, the Eagle and Child has a frankly superior quiz (Tuesdays, 8.30pm, free) ...
19 years ago
The Eagle and Child
Cricketers Arms, Iffley Road OFFLINE
Susie Cogan
Quiz review: A lively night with a crackling atmosphere, the Cricketer’s quiz (Mondays, 9ish) is run by a number of wise-cracking characters whose irreverent and individual approach gives the ...
19 years ago
Cricketers Arms, Iffley Road OFFLINE
The Turf Tavern
Susie Cogan
Quiz Review: This is hardcore quizzing. Taking place (Tuesdays, 8.30pm, £1 entry) in the rear-garden of the pub, there’s room for umpteen teams and it still gets full - I’ve been there in ...
19 years ago
The Turf Tavern
The Bear Inn (Alfred St)
Susie Cogan
Quiz review: Mondays, 8.30pm, free.
This one gets pretty cramped, and while I applaud the introduction of a non-smoking section in spite of my filthy habit, I’m not sure this place can support two ...
19 years ago
The Bear Inn (Alfred St)
The Berkshire
Susie Cogan
Quiz review: Tuesdays, 8pm, £1 entry.
I love this quiz. Laid back, local and unpretentious, it strikes just the right balance in terms of difficulty: some questions fairly low-brow (ok, I wasn’t ...
19 years ago
The Berkshire
Eagle and Child Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
A nice cosy never-ending skittle alley of a pub which has never quite got over its association with the tiresome Inklings, the Eagle and Child has a frankly superior quiz with a few nice touches to ...
19 years ago
Eagle and Child Quiz Night
The Bear Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
This one gets pretty cramped, and while I applaud the introduction of a non-smoking section in spite of my filthy habit, I’m not sure this place can support two separate areas – the current ...
19 years ago
The Bear Quiz Night
Berkshire House Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
I love this quiz. Laid back, local and unpretentious, it strikes just the right balance in terms of difficulty: some questions fairly low-brow (ok, I wasn’t proud to know who won The Apprentice) ...
19 years ago
Berkshire House Quiz Night
Chester Arms Quiz Night
Susie Cogan
Rather disappointing quiz, run by a nice professional quiz chap who also does one at the Annora bar in Iffley, and possibly some others I haven’t been to. I don’t know – this ought to work, but ...
19 years ago
Chester Arms Quiz Night
Pub Quizzes
Susie Cogan
The British are a nation of sporting folk, and often carry their love of healthy, neighbourly competition from its original field; the track, the pitch or the river, into that hallowed seat of ...
19 years ago
Pub Quizzes
Amnesty Lectures 2006
Susie Cogan
The subject of this year’s Oxford Amnesty Lectures is ‘War on Terror’; not a matter for surprise in the current political climate, but nonetheless a brave and, frankly, useful choice. We’re ...
19 years ago
Amnesty Lectures 2006
The Barber of Seville
Susie Cogan
One of three operas on offer at the New Theatre this week, Rossini's Barber of Seville by the Welsh National Opera is beautifully performed, amusing, unpretentious and absorbing, and makes for a ...
19 years ago
The Barber of Seville
Freud
Susie Cogan
Something of a local institution, this popular venue on the edge of Jericho manages to fulfil a variety of functions for the residents of North Oxford. A café/bar with a late licence, serving food ...
19 years ago
Freud
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Susie Cogan
I've always had the suspicion that theatre, like eating, is something best undertaken indoors. Setting the scene with a makeshift stage or a tartan picnic rug may seem like a good idea when you're ...
19 years ago
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Amnesty Lectures 2006
Susie Cogan
Since finishing university, my lecture-going has, to put it kindly, somewhat fallen off, so it wasn't without misgivings that I waited in the Sheldonian for the second of this season's Oxford Amnesty ...
20 years ago
Amnesty Lectures 2006
