Creation Theatre Company |
Box office
01865 766266
3rd Floor, Cherwell House, 1-5 London Place, Oxford, OX4 1BD.
Last production
Beauty and the Beast, 27th November
2009 to 16th
January 2010
Creation Theatre Company will once again be performing a new
Christmas show at the wonderful hundred year old Spiegeltent or
Mirror Tent at MINI Plant Oxford. This new version is full of
fantasy, music and comedy. The in-the-round production will have an
ensemble of six actors, who also play all the music live on stage
and create the sound effects, making a Christmas show with a
difference – forget cartoons and Disney, this is Beauty and
the Beast done in Creation Theatre Company’s wonderfully
unique and dynamic way. The action takes place on a circular stage
in the centre of the amazingly opulent, antique Mirror Tent, where
cabaret-style seating allows the audience to sit at small individual
candle-lit tables to watch the performance. The tent’s velvet
canopies, mirrored roof and ornate pillars and booths will make the
perfect setting, creating an enchanting ambience for this well-loved
tale and adding further to the spell-binding experience. Come and
experience a very special Christmas show, a real alternative to
panto, and great fun for everyone from 6 to 106!
Previous productions
A Midsummer Night's Dream, 4th July to 13th September 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
For more details
see Creation's web site at www.creationtheatre.co.uk.
Review of Beauty and the Beast
27th November 2009 to 16th January 2010.
From the Newbury Weekly News.
An enchanting dramaBeauty and the Beast, at the BMW Plant, Oxford, until January 16 Creation Theatre Company's Beauty and the Beast is a dark-edged Christmas show performed in the delightful Spiegeltent, located in the car park of the BMW Plant, Oxford. Husband-and-wife team of writer Daniel Bye and director Sarah Punshon have transformed the traditional fairy story into a heart-warming tale of loss and redemption. Bella (Laura Sanchez) is the youngest of four children. Her two older sisters are neither ugly, nor mean; indeed all three girls support their single parent father (Paul Mundell) who is mourning the recent loss at sea of Bella's brother Tom. The children's father, a shipwright, designed the fateful ship, and cannot face his fellow citizens, who also lost relatives on board. Consequently, he has taken his family far away from the sophistication of the port city to live in a bleakly enchanted forest. In this gloomy backwater, the land is dominated by the mysterious presence of the Beast. The plot speeds up when, in return for saving the father's life, one of his daughters has to live with the Beast. Bella volunteers, and in a cleverly devised scene, encounters Beast's servants who are all invisible to her, but visible to the audience. They move around the stage to the accompaniment of a glockenspiel, which creates an eerie melody. The Beast (John Dorney) is a boar-like creature with a magnificent head with large tasks and glowing eyes (designer, Rachael Canning). Only the true love of a girl who dances with him will restore him to his rightful position in life. Unfortunately, not only does Bella not dance, but she also displays egalitarian principles, and is hostile to his class heritage. The audience, which included many BMW Mini employees, enjoyed a scene played out in Bavaria, complete with a comic song in German. The play could gain with some judicious cuts here and there but overall, this is a charming, well-performed ensemble piece that will delight audiences over the forthcoming holidays. JON LEWIS |
Reviews in the Archive
Twelfth Night (July 2009)
Othello (April 2009)
Hans Christian Andersen's Magical Tales (December 2008)
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)