Daily Info's recommended events for the week ahead, Thursday 12th March - Wednesday 18th March
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This week's EP hits the MOTHERlode! From posies for Mum to plants changing the world, things are looking decidedly Springy...
Sunday is Mothers' Day. It may have its origins in the church calendar, but we all know that these days it’s about small snotlings bringing mum breakfast in bed and leaving the kitchen in such a state there’s much more for mum to do than if she’d made her own breakfast in the first place.
But we aren’t really such cynical curmudgeons! And we hope you get to feel celebratory, whether you’re giving, receiving, observing, or all three at once. How you mark this festival is of course between you and your loved ones, but we have put together some suggestions in our Grand Mothers' Day blog for the yet undecided.
Highlights include 80s Flashback Bottomless Brunch at the Slug and Lettuce, or they're also offering a bubbly Afternoon Tea if your mother figure favours drinking later in the day. If you’d prefer an outdoor day, we recommend the Oxford Conservation Volunteers day of hazel coppicing in the delightfully named Pissen Woods (near Nettlebed) where there might be a carpet of bluebells laid on.
Our blog also covers sporting activities, exhibitions, musical offerings, embroidery workshops, where to buy flowers, and how to sign your maternal person up for an ice bath. Last but not least, Mothers' Day also sees the reopening of Chinnor and Princes Risborough steam railway for its summer season. Whatever you get up to, have a lovely Sunday. Toot toot!
Nature Conservation Volunteers Day: Pissen Wood, Sun 15th Mar, 9:20am - 5pm. Free.
Oxford Human Rights Festival returns for its 24th edition this Friday, with a week’s worth of talks, hands-on workshops, exhibitions and film screenings exploring fights for liberation across cultures and histories. There’s so much going on we couldn’t fit it all into one section (you’d have to check the full programme for that), but here’s just a taste of what the week has in store, beginning with Mandala Theatre’s Incarcerating Eve. Pushing back against 2000 years of patriarchal control, this performance piece draws on pre-colonial understandings of the harmony between masculine and feminine as a framework for a just and equitable world.
The Oxford Ramallah Friendship Association hosts Voice, Rhythm and Resistance, a screening of films from Gaza alongside spoken-word poetry performances from the Gaza Hands Up Project and a lesson in the traditional Palestinian dance of Dabke from the Oxford Dabke Society. Come to break bread (with plenty of za’atar).
And witness a powerful account of resistance and revolution with a screening of I Am Cuba. Tracking the transition from the Batista regime to the 1959 Cuban Revolution and its legacy, the 1964 anthology film uses cutting edge cinematic techniques to capture revolutionary sentiment from the perspective of ordinary Cuban citizens. The screening will also feature a discussion between Dr Francesco Sticchi and Dr Neil Harris on the film’s historical context and the aftermath of the revolution under Castro.
Incarcerating Eve: Clerici G.03 SKW Hall (flat), Clerici Building, Oxford Brookes University, Mon 16th Mar, 4.45pm - 6.30pm. Free (spots must be reserved).
Voice, Rhythm and Resistance: JHB B08 (Basement), John Henry Brookes Building, Oxford Brookes University, Sun 15th Mar, 1pm - 4pm. Free (spots must be reserved).
I Am Cuba: JHB Main Lecture Theatre, John Henry Brookes Building, Oxford Brookes University, Wed Mar 18th, 6pm - 9:30pm. Free (spots must be reserved)
How long does a wardrobe malfunction take? In the case of Janet Jackson at the 2004 Superbowl half-time show, Nine Sixteenths of a second, but the impact of it derailed Jackson’s career, while Justin Timberlake emerged unscathed. Paula Varjack’s fast fun multimedia show looks at representation, pop culture, who drives the media, and what is still happening…
Younger theatre-goers might prefer a big blue heeler, as Bluey’s family spend a weekend just chilling. At least, Dad tries to relax on his beanbag, but Bluey and Bingo have other ideas! With human actors moving big puppets, Bluey’s Big Play is a new story from original writer Joe Brumm and composer Joff Bush.
Talking about death is hard, and Liz Rothschild brings mercurial tales and miraculous truths to her storytelling show. As a celebrant she has insight and pithy opinions about funerals, and moving and provocative tales about death. Outside the Box is the result of decades of life, and is proving so popular it’s completely sold out every night but the last (Mon 23rd). Each night features a Q&A with another similarly well-informed guest.
Or, like us, you can put off confronting your mortality and dance, or watch others dance, with the welcome return of the Richard Chappell company. Bloom is a trilogy of pieces marking 20 years of the Dancin’ Oxford Spring Festival and reflecting today’s world. Challacombe Chronicled celebrates Dartmoor, incorporating folk music and poetry. Splice brings a touch of the underground club scene, and The Skeleton is White looks at relationships and draws on South Asian classical styles.
Nine Sixteenths: The Old Fire Station, Thurs 19th March, 7.30pm. Tickets: £10 (pay less), £15 (standard), £20 (pay more).
Bluey's Big Play: New Theatre, Oxford, Thu 12th - Fri 13th, 10am; Sat 14th - Sun 15th March, 10am, 1pm & 4pm. Tickets: £18.70 - £48.95.
Outside the Box - A Live Show About Death: Burton Taylor Studio, Mon 23rd March, 7.30pm. Tickets: £14/£12. Nightly Q&A with nurses, health directors and grief educators.
Richard Chappell Dance - Bloom: Fri 13th March, 7.30pm. Tickets from £15* (£2.75 fee may apply).
Richard Chappell isn’t the only one blooming this week, as the Ashmolean says hello to its latest main gallery exhibition. In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World charts the reciprocal relationship between humans and different flora over centuries, using a variety of media to explore their changing economic and cultural context from their indigenous roots (get it?) to global trade and commerce.
Continuing in that vein, Arboretum at the Sarah Wiseman Gallery brings together seven artists taking inspiration from the enduring artistic and spiritual allure of trees. Landscape paintings from Daniel Ablitt evoking the fleeting nature of remembered spaces, while Luella Martin’s solar etchings play with our changing perceptions of the same space over time. Bee Bartlett’s richly textured multimedia techniques lends an earthy tactility to her work. Rory Carnegie’s photographic work brings weathering, erosion and the power of the elements to the fore, as Trevor Price’s relief prints carve the Cornish landscape into abstraction; Mark Munroe-Preston combines real and imagined settings in his layered treescapes, and Clare Halifax recontextualises urban landscapes through the pockets of greenery they contain.
And how about an exhibition of some of the University’s ‘budding’ creative talent? Alright, that one was a stretch, but the Ruskin School of Arts’ second year exhibition Interim is still very much worth a gander. The works on display are inspired by mid-degree liminal space, uncertainty and the embrace of the unknown. Running until Sunday, with a private viewing taking place tonight and a drawing sale and live performance showcase on Friday, Fusion Arts is the place to be to support fine artists in the making.
In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World: Ashmolean Museum, Thurs 19th Mar - Sun 16th Aug, 10am - 5pm. Tickets £16.20 - £18 (concessions available).
Arboretum: Sarah Wiseman Gallery, until Sat 28th Mar (closed Sundays and Mondays), 10am - 5:30pm. Free.
Interim: Fusion Arts, Thurs 12th - Sun 15th Mar, timings vary. Free.
Are you aged 14-25 and a lover of dance? Oxford dance collective Body Politic are currently accepting submissions for their brand new volunteer programme, Training Ground, aiming to train volunteers to share the power of dance to build confidence and community. Training will be provided to help successful candidates perfect their Hip Hop skills, develop projects with local initiatives and boost their CV for future roles in creative, artistic and educational fields.
For more information and to apply, head to Body Politic’s website . First round interviews will be held on Monday 30th March, but if you miss this cycle, don’t worry; a second round will be taking place in May! The team particularly welcome applications from people from the global majority.
Image credits: Mandala Theatre, Paula Varjack and Complicite, Ashmolean Museum, Haley Hawn Photography
