Creation Theatre Company |
Box office
01865 766266 or at
www.creationtheatre.co.uk.
3rd Floor, Cherwell House, 1-5 London Place, Oxford, OX4 1BD.
Last
A Christmas Carol, 2nd December 2023 to 6th January 2024
This Christmas we’ll be back at The North Wall with our usual brand of joyful, anarchic, heartwarming festive theatre. Creation’s Rep Company will present a new spin on our 2017 production of
A Christmas Carol, complete with suitably grim Victorians, a Fezziwig party you’ll never forget and, at its heart, the most christmassy tale of redemption around. We can’t wait!
Where
A Christmas Carol: The North Wall (www.thenorthwall.org), South Parade, Oxford OX2 7NN.
For more details
see Creation's web site at www.creationtheatre.co.uk.
Reviews of Much Ado About Nothing
12th July to 19th August 2023
Review from the Newbury Weekly News.
Sweet things are made of this
Creation Theatre Company’s welcome return to outdoor summer Shakespeare brings Helen Tennison’s vibrant production of Much Ado About Nothing to the South Oxford Adventure Playground, in a co-production with St Albans’ OVO theatre company.
Performed around, and on, a large wooden climbing area, the setting enables the magical castle-like environment to suggest the military buildings in the drama.
Four of Creation’s repertory company perform in the show, led by Anna Tolputt’s elfin Benedick. It’s not a gender-swap; the crop-haired Tolputt is meant to be male. A natural comedian, she’s excellent in bringing out the comedy in the role, not least when hiding in a bright yellow dustbin during the scene when her friends pretending not to hear her friends discuss how much Beatrice loves him.
Tolputt is well matched, playing opposite to Emily Woodward’s cutesy Beatrice. Woodward gamely ignores her soaked clothes during the first half’s constant downpour.
Woodward creates a sweet, trusting heroine who goes into her relationship with Benedick with her eyes wide open once she is secure in knowing Benedick loves her. Their constant denials of affection clearly signal that they are destined for each other.
However, Beatrice’s cousin Hero (Brianna Douglas) faces a rockier future in her proposed marriage to Benedick’s army friend Claudio (Herb Cuanalo) after she is cruelly treated by her lover on her wedding day.
Claudio believes the plot of the evil Don John (Nicholas Ormond), who discredits his enemy Claudio by framing Hero for sleeping around before the marriage.
While the central plotlines are intensely serious, there’s a joyful playfulness in this eighties-set show with the cast dancing or singing to a succession of pop hits, more Chris de Burgh than Aerosmith and ACDC, as Benedick quips at one point.
Claudio and Hero’s two wedding ceremonies are deliriously officiated by an Elvis impersonator (Lewis Chandler) as if Las Vegas has been transported into Messina. The policeman Dogberry and his deputy Verges, with Chandler and Douglas camping it up with comedy moustaches, prancing around to the theme tune of The Bill, enliven the interval with their antics, their lines spoken through a loudhailer.
Thoroughly recommended.
JON LEWIS
There are reviews from Oxinabox ("a magical evening... a wonderfully refreshing, unique, inspired, hilarious and riveting production that can’t be missed"); Muddy Stilettos ("an exciting, alternative take on a Shakespeare classic... a crowd-pleaser as well as a smart introduction to the Bard for teens – funny, visual, and not taking itself too seriously").
Previous productions
The Alchemist, 11th to 21st October 2023
Much Ado About Nothing, 12th July to 19th August 2023
The Tale of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast, 4th December to 7th January 2023
Pinocchio, 15th December 2021 to 3rd January 2022
Romeo and Juliet, 12th to 23rd May 2021
Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People, 28th January to 14th February 2021
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 19th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021
Bleak House, 1st February to 7th March 2020
The Snow Queen, 30th November 2019 to 5th January 2020
Pictures of Dorian Gray, 9th to 27th July 2019 at Blackwell’s Bookshop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BQ
Peter Pan, 1st December 2018 to 5th January 2019 at the North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford. See the review in the archive.. See the review in the archive.
The Pit and the Pendulum, 17th October to 2nd November 2018 at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. See the review in the archive.
Brave New World, 1st July to 11th August 2018
Swallows and Amazons, 9th July to 11th August 2018. See the review in the archive.
Dracula, 3rd March to 14th April 2018. See the review in the archive.
A Christmas Carol, 2nd December 2017 to 6th January 2018. See the review in the archive.
The Wind in the Willows, 2nd to 30th December 2017
Alice, 15th July to 19th August 2017. See the review in the archive.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 5th July to 5th August 2017
1984, 5th February to 5th March 2017
Snow White and Other Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 3rd December 2016 to 7th January 2017. See the review in the archive.
Hamlet, 13th July to 13th August 2016. See the review in the archive.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 23rd June to 30th July 2016. See the review in the archive.
King Lear, 12th February to 24th March 2016. See the review in the archive.
Treasure Island, 4th December 2015 to 9th January 2016. There are reviews from the Oxford Times ("tremendous fun with a wicked edge, this scurvy morality tale will leave you reeling – and grinning long after the sea shanties have faded away" 5/5), Daily Info ("another memorable Christmas show... a well put together piece with lots of energy and enthusiasm").
Alice, 18th August to 13th September 2015. See the review in the archive.
As You Like It, 28th July to 12th September 2015. See the review in the archive.
The Wind in the Willows, 5th December 2014 to 10th January 2015. See the review in the archive.
Macbeth, 1st August to 13th September 2014. See the review in the archive.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 6th December 2013 to 4th January 2014. See the review in the archive.
Henry V, 17th August to 14th September 2013. See the review in the archive.
Jekyll & Hyde, 8th June to 6th July 2013. See the review in the archive.
Aladdin and the Magical Lamp, 6th December 2012 to 5th January 2013. See the review in the archive.
The Merchant of Venice, 7th July to 1st September 2012
Richard II, 7th May 2012
The Odyssey, 29th March to 28th April 2012
Hamlet, 5th to 24th March 2012
A Christmas Carol, 8th December 2011 to 7th January 2012. There are reviews in the
Oxford Times
("backing up all this ensemble acting is some very strong staging... fine show")
and Daily Info ("a flawless performance... one of the most enjoyable shows of this year; don’t miss out on a night full of merriment and Christmas cheer! ").
Antony and Cleopatra, 8th July to 3rd September 2011. See the review in the archive.
King James Bible, 14th May to 11th June 2011 at St Barnabas Church
Dr Faustus, 4th February to 2nd April 2011 at Blackwell's Bookshop
Rapunzel, 26th November 2010 to 15th January 2011. See the review in the archive.
Romeo and Juliet, 19th July to 31st August 2010, at Said Business School Amphitheatre, Oxford
Beauty and the Beast, 27th November 2009 to 16th January 2010. See the review in the archive.
Twelfth Night (July 2009)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 4th July to 13th September 2008
Othello (April 2009)
Hans Christian Andersen's Magical Tales (December 2008)
Animal Farm, 21st July to 30th August 2008
The Taming of the Shrew, 16th July to 25th August 2007
Hamlet, 1st June to 28th July 2007
Macbeth, 2nd June to 9th September 2006 at Headington Hill Park
Saints and Sinners (June 2008)
Much Ado About Nothing (June 2008)
Measure for Measure (March 2008)
Tales from the Brothers Grimm (November 2007)
The Oxford Passion (August 2007)
Arabian Nights (November 2006)
Robin Hood (July 2006)
The Merchant of Venice (June 2006)
King Lear (February 2006)
The Snow Queen (November 2005)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (July 2005)
The Comedy of Errors (January 2005)
A Christmas Carol (November 2004)
Romeo and Juliet (July 2004)
Much Ado About Nothing (June 2004)
The Winter's Tale (February 2004)
The Tempest (July 2003)
Twelfth Night (June 2003)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (June 2002)
Romeo and Juliet, and As You Like It (July 2001)