Oxford Playhouse

Box office

01865 305305
Beaumont Street, Oxford. A map is here. A seating plan is here.

Decky Does a Bronco, 24th to 29th August at Florence Park
This award-winning show is a theatrical event unlike any other. Oxford Playhouse Play Out at Florence Park with this tale of childhood innocence and the perilous passage into adulthood.

Von Ribbentrop's Watch, 9th to 18th September
This is no ordinary Passover dinner. When Gerald Roth discovers a potentially devastating secret he must make a life-changing decision, but it turns out that he isn’t the only Roth with something to hide. Oxford Playhouse Productions premieres this latest work from Olivier Award nominees Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran here in Oxford, before taking the show on tour across the UK.

The Silver Tassie, 21st to 25th September
Set at the height of the Great War this sweeping play follows the lives of two young footballing heroes from the tenements of Dublin through the battlefields of France, and their return home.

Spend Spend Spend, 5th to 9th October
Stylish, classy and a major force in music theatre, Craig Revel Horwood’s and Sarah Travis’ highly acclaimed production won the 2009 TMA award for Best Musical. The 12 strong cast act, sing, dance and play all the music onstage, creating a truly extraordinary theatrical event not to be missed.

Murder in the Cathedral, 13th to 16th October at Christ Church Cathedral
Oxford Playhouse Play Out at Christ Church Cathedral where TS Eliot's verse drama tells the story of the assassination of Thomas à Becket at the hands of four knights.

The Big Fellah, 19th to 23rd October
A boisterous and witty story of loyalty, disillusionment and betrayal. Set among Irish Americans in New York, Richard Bean’s dark, glinting, funny play spans three turbulent decades.

The Royal Hunt of the Sun, 27th to 30th October
University of Oxford Student Company, Acorn Productions vividly brings to life the clash of two cultures, in a dazzling new production of Peter Shaffer’s epic play of adventure, daring and spectacle.

Punk Rock, 2nd to 6th November
As the end of term approaches, a group of sixth-formers prepare themselves for the end of their school lives. But as the world begins to open up before them, they are faced with the very real danger that it could swallow them whole.

Romeo and Juliet, 9th to 13th November
A love story for the 21st Century. Award-winning company Pilot Theatre makes its Playhouse debut with a new vibrant production of Shakespeare’s timeless tale of star crossed lovers.

A Streetcar Named Desire, 17th to 20th November
University of Oxford Student Company, Indigo Productions presents Tennessee Williams’ iconic play that earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.

Jesus Christ Superstar, 22nd to 27th November
Oxford Operatic Society now bring this much-loved musical to the Playhouse stage with all the unforgettable songs including Hosanna, Gethsemane, Everything’s Alright, I Don’t Know How To Love Him and the title song itself Superstar.

Cinderella, 3rd December to 16th January
Oxford Playhouse pantomime spectacular! One of the best-loved fairytales of all time will be brought to life, like you have never seen it before, in front of your very eyes!

Reviews of Jack and the Beanstalk

4th December 2009 to 17th January 2010.

From the Newbury Weekly News.

A giant spectacular

Jack and the Beanstalk, at the Oxford Playhouse until Sunday, January 17

Peter Duncan's fourth pantomime at the Oxford Playhouse, Jack and the Beanstalk, contains many surprising twists on the fairytale formula.

A seemingly bucolic village is beset with problems. There are economic woes, and in a move that Chancellor Darling would find difficult before an election. Squire Longshanks (Richard Stacey) is forced to put up the rents for a number of audience groups visiting the theatre as well as for his villagers. Locals are disappearing, crimes blamed on an unseen, loud-voiced giant. Despite these problems, the squire's pretty daughter Jill (Laura Pitt-Fulford) falls in love with the teaching assistant's son, Jack (Chris Carswefl). Jack's mother, Dame Trott (Alan French) is a single mother whose only asset is her big-eyed cow, Buttercup.

Matters go from bad to worse when Jill is abducted for the giant's dinner. When the good fairy (operatically-voiced Deborah Crowe) conjures up a magic beanstalk, Jack, his mother, and his dippy brother Willie (Matthew Eraser Holland) set off to rescue Jill. Ranged against them is the raffish Brummie rocker Fleshcreepy (Chris Larner), looking remarkably like Robert Smith of the Cure, and a brilliantly set-stealing one-eyed alien giant, designed by Jag Props. The musical numbers are well-choreographed by Alan Bradshaw while Duncan does not omit crowd-pleasing familiar gags and slapstick routines.

JON LEWIS

Previous productions

Sleeping Beauty, 5th December 2008 to 18th January 2009. See the review in the Archive.
Aladdin, 30th November 2007 to 13th January 2008. See the review in the Archive.
Dick Whittington, 1st December 2006 to 14th January 2007. See the review in the Archive.
Cinderella, December 2005. See the review in the Archive.
Guys and Dolls, by Oxford Operatic Society, 21st to 26th November 2005. See the review in the Archive.
Peter Pan, December 2004. See the review in the Archive.

For more details

see the Playhouse's web site at www.oxfordplayhouse.co.uk.