Review search

227 results found.

Hans Josephson
This show documents how feelings emerge from the flesh. Hans Josephson captures the enormity of the human experience in solid works with a profound gravity. Layers of plaster are placed onto the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 April, 2013

For Shower Singers
Amalia Pica’s show at Modern Art Oxford invites the visitor to play. Standing close to a white microphone made of soap that dangles from the ceiling makes the body feel dangerously close ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 February, 2013

Documenting Cadere: 1972-1978
There is a voice of a probing interviewer asking the artist what his exhibition is about played via an audio recording in the gallery room. This show investigates the politics of space ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 February, 2013

Chicoland
Any establishment offering a delicious and filling main meal served with a hot drink for less than a fiver is surely welcome on any High Street. Chicoland offers all day cooked breakfasts, ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 September, 2012

Jenny Saville
There is no beginning or end to the Jenny Saville show just a continuum of feelings held inside the viewer inspired by the subjects in the portraits. Faces look indirectly out of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 July, 2012

Mad About The Boy
This story of belonging starts with Boy (Bayo Gbadamosi), dancing. As he yearns for something better from life, his path towards fulfillment is constantly thwarted by his urban surroundings. The final moment of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 June, 2012

Scallywags
It is a grey day when I run into Nathan Chapman, Artistic Director of SOOP Theatre as I get lost in the rain through Brighton’s Lanes.  In the mayhem of Brighton’s ‘Fringe ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 June, 2012

Shezad Dawood: Piercing Brightness
Three young men in hooded tops ride bicycles and circle a man and a woman.  The chased couple wear floating white gowns and walk in an equally dreamy procession.  At every turn ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 June, 2012

Lost in Time
There is a bleak emptiness to the downstairs studio at Modern Art Oxford even though it is full of carefully arranged objects.  Perhaps the grid-like meticulous layout of items on the wall ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 June, 2012

Minsk 2011
The cast are seated on plastic chairs miming train journeys, police interrogation and nightclub politics.  Minsk, 2011, named after the capital city of Belarus, is being played out in 90 minutes of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 June, 2012

Oxfordshire Artweeks 2012
’Be Interesting‘ is written in chalk on a college wall and captured in a large photograph here at O3 gallery. It‘s a tall order in the May heat wave. A low berth ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 May, 2012

Blood Wedding
It’s in the wee small hours I get caught up in the evocative guitar music of the Lorca production about to open at the Oxford Playhouse, and quiz the Guild on their ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 March, 2012

Tamarin Norwood - Keeping Time
I get slightly lost on the way to the ladies at Modern Art Oxford and stumble into a wonderful open studio housing work in progress by Tamarin Norwood. The doors of this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 February, 2012

Graham Sutherland - 'An Unfinished World'
In the best sense Unfinished World feels like a collaboration and breathes vital new life into the role of curator. Turner Prize nominee George Shaw has selected dozens of paintings and drawings ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 February, 2012

Fireworks Poetry Competition 2011
Cat DownThumping heart in the loopumping my fist on my chest to be awakefor the morning after the flying roman candles.There is a dead cat lying on the lawnand three more houses ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 October, 2011

Ripper Teeth in Action- James Capper
James Capper’s collection of drawings at Modern Art Oxford are perfect for the busy but intrepid art lover. Site specific work can move mountains and indeed James Capper has designed Ripper Teeth ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 September, 2011

Manifold Greatness- Oxford and the Making of the King James Bible
The Bible is something I often see in the top drawer of a hotel bedroom donated by a charity but aside from an obvious object of faith I did not realise the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 September, 2011

Britain From The Air
The vastness of the conversations these massive photographs spark up is awe inspiring. Each landscape or scene depicts a part of the British horizon and tells a story about our modern lives. ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 September, 2011

People Apart: Cape Town Survey 1952
This is a vitally important exhibition but one that is hard to review as it deserves a thorough understanding of the subject matter. 27 black and white photographs are on display, showing natural, unforced ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 September, 2011

Eccentricity
Eccentric Oxford scientists are nailed to the mast of the current Museum of History of Science exhibition and a colourful sail this haul makes. Items that would not normally make the cut ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 September, 2011

Teacher Of Dance
The lights are on in the foyer, as the plain white light bulbs are switched on behind Venetian blinds but nobody is at home, for the domestic blinds are mounted flush against ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 September, 2011

Humble Boy
I caught up with the director of Humble Boy, Simon Tavener, on his way to rehearsal to find out how this season's production of the Oxford Guild at the Oxford Playhouse is ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 March, 2011

Wildlife Photographer - 2010
Walking past the large glass window of Science Oxford makes me feel like the keeper of a zoo, with vivid photographs of wildlife from around the globe on display. The images have ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 March, 2011

Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2011
In the dressing room of the Swansea Grand we find…Miss Cora Goffin glued to a fanWell, you got to have a gimmick.‘No you got to have a pair of shiny tights that ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 January, 2011

Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping The Image of a Literary Family
To do this intellectual exhibition full justice would require a decade of study, but there is much on show to inspire the casual passer by like myself. The Bodleian exhibits works of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 January, 2011

Thomas Houseago: What Went Down
This month an army of monster-sized figurines have entered our city in a bold manner, briefly causing the front window of Modern Art Oxford to be removed and the local roads to ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 December, 2010

Bath Time
The Burton Taylor studio has been turned into an upstairs bathroom where we can all play games such as singing, ‘Row, row, row your boat’ with all of the actions, thanks to ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 December, 2010

Cinderella
Our new friend Fairy Godmother sings ‘Do you believe in magic?’, instructs us to put everyday objects around a pumpkin and declares ‘Let’s go!’ For, heralded by the wave of her wand, ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 December, 2010

Murder In The Cathedral by TS Eliot
Sitting late into the night, in the centre of Christ Church Cathedral a small group of local parishioners and Oxford alumni share an impassioned reaction to what is surely a triumph. Old ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 15 October, 2010

The Red Shoes
It’s a long time since I read ‘The Red Shoes’ and I wasn’t sure how it ended and having seen the show I’m still not sure. The many twists in the story ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 October, 2010

Murder In The Cathedral by TS Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral is causing a stir with tickets in short supply after selling out in a matter of weeks at the Box Office. The large cast is comprised partly of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 8 October, 2010

Edinburgh Fringe 2010
The Author by Tim Crouch, Traverse Theatre, August 29th:**coming to the North Wall, Oxford: Friday 24th - Saturday 25th September, 8.00pm** This is a review of The Author, a play that took place ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 September, 2010

Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Shakespeare for Breakfast, C theatre, August 2010 Milling around the invigorating C venue with a strong coffee and the promise of a croissant is a great way to start the day, especially when ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 16 September, 2010

Summer Show by Rona
Rona succeeds in capturing in big bold clear images domestic bliss turning mildly sour. The cracks are never self evident yet the texture of the paintings is too even for the painted ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 August, 2010

Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Olivier Choiniere’s surreal story outlines how devotion to a megastar can break the bubble of every day life with devastating consequences. The set is a collage of trashy magazines depicting the mind ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 August, 2010

Howard Hodgkin: Time and Place
The fact that painter Howard Hodgkin uses a limited palette of colours for his work accentuates his passion for true colour. In ‘Red, Red, Red’, a stunning orangey hue makes twisting open ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 August, 2010

Ghost Forest
Walking home one late Summer’s night, it is a delight to stumble upon these tree stumps from Brazil and further afield. The roots carve into each other and infinitely bend into twisted ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 July, 2010

Tiny Volcanoes - Paines Plough
The explosive kinks firing in Britain’s multicultural mix are explored in this fast-paced hour of logically-sequenced sketches. Topical news stories, such as schools becoming Academies that are bankrolled by big businesses, are ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 July, 2010

Uwe Ackermann: By the Water's Edge
The range of architectural structures in each of Ackermann’s photographs varies, but the presence of water stays constant, flowing through each piece, offering a meditative quality. My favourite is the ‘Head of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 July, 2010

The Great British Country Fete
In this highly original show Russell Kane’s dialogue and Michael Bruce’s songs freshly juxtapose to offer a witty deconstruction of country life. The songs create the feel of a community that is ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 July, 2010

Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
Hero shot down in flames by a seizure.In a breathlooking at me as if to wonderwhat I came here for.Body crumplingin front of my eyeslike a crisp packet under the sunwith no ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 January, 2010

Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
Stranded at the Strand Fruity jealousy green ripe and tart sharp as razors on the tongue is the saliva I swallow as she kisses him. My costly beanie hat skids over my staring too hard eyes taking in ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 January, 2010

Common Task by Pawel Althamer
This is an enjoyably surreal experience delivered on two different levels and heightened by the joy of donning a gold jumpsuit lifted off the pegs near the gallery entrance. One couple leaving ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 December, 2009

Topography by Mirsolaw Balka
The excruciating extremes of Polish weather on a stripped landscape have perhaps informed Balka’s expression of ‘Topography’. The first floor of Modern Art Oxford houses grinding bleak empty white noises of exquisite ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 December, 2009

Printmaker's Co-operative at the O3 Gallery
Taking home a print offers the thrill of savouring the many layers to the work and mentally deconstructing the artistic process that constitutes re-branding this ancient discipline as a contemporary craft. Contrasts resonate ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 December, 2009

Small Obsessions
The individual talents of the dozen artists displayed at the ‘Notfamousyet’ gallery in St Clements are brought into sharp focus by the miniaturist approach of the curator. Small pieces only have been ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 8 December, 2009

Deep Cut
Writer Philip Ralph took 2 years to create this verbatim piece of deeply relevant political theatre. His work documents the struggle of Private Cheryl James’ parents to get their questions answered by ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 July, 2009

Dreams of Violence
Writer Stella Feehily offers us wisdom and wit, in sparkling dialogue, spoken by some cracking uptown urban characters in a comedy that dramatises both the recession and family dysfunction. Disintegration resulting from ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 July, 2009

Horrible Histories: Frightful First World War & Woeful Second World War
Horrible Histories ‘World War 2’ presents an epic representation of operation ‘Moonlight Sonata’ that burnt Coventry city to the ground as an act of revenge to Britain’s war tactics. The bogglevision glasses ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 July, 2009

Othello
The legendary story telling powers of Creation Theatre Company are such that 3 hours of Othello (including an interval) passes by in a flicker. Set around World War 2, this seductive yet ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 April, 2009

Horrid Henry - Live and Horrid!
Horrid Henry wants his own identity separate from that of his kid brother Perfect Peter, so he dreams up his own show. Cue a dazzling rock star routine with stadium lights. The ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 19 April, 2009

Chuckle Trek
‘Chuckle Vision’ fills the proscenium arch as mind boggling big box illusions cast a spell over keen Chuckle Brothers’ fans who are boldly told to ‘Get out of it!’. This two hour ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 April, 2009

Honk! The Musical
This Easter brings the revival of the popular Acting About production of Honk! Back by popular demand after last year's success, the local company are returning to the Old Fire Station to ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 April, 2009

The Solid Silver 60s Show
With each of the groups achieving a standing ovation after their performance it is obvious just what a loyal following The Solid Silver 60’s show has, in its 24th year. The line ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 March, 2009

Singin’ In The Rain
The moment the dance troupe cascades onto the stage in red sequinned leotards, tap dancing with hats, canes and smiles that ‘glorious feeling’ comes flooding into the theatre. This legendary musical contains ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 24 March, 2009

Oxfordshire Gang Show 2009
The annual tradition of the Oxfordshire Gang Show arrives making the New Theatre the embodiment of a true community venue. Local Units of Scouts, Beavers, Brownies, Guides and Rangers are all warmly ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 March, 2009

Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
midnight felicitationsthick dense soft falling snowfilling in fox tracks drowningbare roots in silence;over the earth is a matt of whitebaring two naked lovers in crystals ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 February, 2009

Anti-Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2009
over ice cream for two slowly melting:He sees me as a crosswordhe can’t finish.I am his fork in the road.He will change memould me as claywarm to the touchnow solidity has leftour ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 February, 2009

The Convict's Opera
Out of Joint reinvents musical theatre in this interpretation of The Beggar’s Opera by using a mixture of genres to tell the tale of 18th century convicts being transported to Australia who ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 January, 2009

Neighbourhood Watch
Very entertaining... yes bit too much volume at times, but it is a small auditorium, would be fine at a larger venue.Very impressive performances particularly by the actor who played the policeman ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 November, 2008

Sweeney Todd
Oxford Brookes Drama Society delivers a performance as sharp as one of Mr Todd’s silver razors during this two and a half hour blood-curdling spectacle in the Old Fire Station black box ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 November, 2008

Tri-Umph!
There is nothing like new writing to refresh the mind and offer actors the thrill of creating a role from scratch. In these three short plays by members of The Oxford Writers ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 16 September, 2008

The Factory
Precarious are a dance collective who present distinct scenes of physical theatre with images projected onto their bodies, as they show a cautionary tale about how the extremes of consumerism can swallow ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 15 September, 2008

Enjoy
The winds of change, in the form of grey-suited council officials, enter into Connie and Wilfred’s back-to-back terraced house, which has been earmarked for demolition. One council official who duly notes the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 11 September, 2008

Topless Mum
The extremes to which modern day Army warfare pushes recruits is examined in ‘Topless Mum’ to an understandably more profound depth than the story of media manipulation that is told in parallel. ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 August, 2008

Early Music by Candlelight Summer Festival 2008
A candlelit harpsichord recital by Kah-Ming Ng of predominantly French Baroque music is interspersed by colourful stories told by the musician about the lives of the composers featured. The 6 musical pieces ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 July, 2008

Elvis - the Legend Continues
Tonight, Lee ‘Memphis’ King is Elvis Presley who, backed by an eight piece orchestra, delivers roaring classics such as ‘Viva Las Vegas’ along with some lesser known songs like ‘Just Pretend’ to ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 June, 2008

Saints And Sinners
Tom Peters plays the archetypal actor looking for the conscience in the souls of Shakespeare’s characters in the intimate rehearsal space that has evolved between the chancel and the font in this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 June, 2008

Saints And Sinners
From what is heard echoing out of this central Oxford church, it seems there will be much variety in the pieces of Shakespeare presented in the one man show playing here this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 June, 2008

Encounters: Victor Alimpiev
Two natural phenomena such as summer storms and fingers tapping on table tops are combined in ‘Summer Lightnings’, one of two short film pieces by Moscow based Artist Alimpiev showing at Modern ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 June, 2008

Gary Hume: Door Paintings
Open doors, swinging doors and melamine institutional doors all mark the early work of painter Gary Hume as variations on a theme colourfully demonstrating the inventive imagination of the artist. Doors are ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 24 June, 2008

Simply Ballroom
Two hours of foxtrot fun and samba sparkle light up the New Theatre as soap opera stars Sam Kane (Emmerdale) and Sophie Lawrence (Eastenders) introduce set pieces performed by a young dance ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 19 June, 2008

Cinderella
The young and innovative ‘Vite Feet Dance Troupe’ are getting ready to tell the tale of Cinderella using a kaleidoscope of dance styles ranging from hip hop to jazz. This modern interpretation ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 18 June, 2008

The English Game by Richard Bean
Headlong Theatre continues to find inventive ways to tell new stories, such as this tale told from the edge of a cricket match, ‘the English game’. An effortlessly elegant theme of the play ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 June, 2008

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
This show is two hours of unashamedly populist entertainment in a reworked format of the Joseph musical in which some of the TV stars from the Any Dream Will Do talent competition ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 June, 2008

A Midsummer Night's Dream
In the words of the mechanicals, ‘This green plot shall be our stage’. Oxford School of Drama could not have chosen a more appropriate venue for their students to perform A Midsummer ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 June, 2008

The Last Five Years
Amy Cooke-Hodgson chooses the perfect piece to bring out the full story-telling potential of the Old Fire Station; the black studio is given the air of a downtown Manhattan off-Broadway theatre by ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 June, 2008

Clod Ensemble: Red Ladies
Eight Red Ladies each wearing a red scarf, sunglasses, a black raincoat with red stilettos are spotted walking along Queen St (GMT 17.49 28-05-2008) as part of the External element of this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 May, 2008

Hello, Dolly!
In this grand dame of old theatres, originally a home to music hall in 1836, the performance of this portrayal of New York at the turn of the twentieth century has the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 May, 2008

Educating Agnes
Theatre Babel’s backdrop is an oil painting of a reclining, cherubic nude. Her classically-styled juvenile body is admired by the determined eyes of a sophisticated older man. This sets the tone for the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 May, 2008

To Be Straight With You
Two lesbians, quivering with fear on a sofa, follow a man standing inside a projected world atlas highlighting countries where homosexuality is a prison sentence. There appears to be a clear global ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 May, 2008

The Merchant Of Venice
Shoulder-pads are back with a vengeance! Set in the greedy Eighties, this version of Shakespeare’s controversial tale of racial tension pulls no punches in telling of the danger involved in borrowing money from ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 April, 2008

Mircea Cantor
A huge golden cage fills half of the upper gallery ahead of which is a flying carpet suspended from the ceiling. The emptiness of the white space enforces the illusion of scale; ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 April, 2008

Gift: The Ideas Exchange
OVADA bursts with fresh, dynamic, creative ideas in the multi-media show ‘Gift’ staged by ‘The Ideas Exchange’ collective of art practitioners. Louise Taylor tells a surreal urban story via tantalising fragments of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 April, 2008

Encounters: Katie Paterson
A grand piano is programmed to play an altered version of ‘Moonlight Sonata’ so the keys are moving as if an invisible musician is seated at the helm. For a split second ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 April, 2008

Clare Summerskill - In No Particular Order
‘In No Particular Order’ is an unusual title for such a well-structured stand-up comedy show, interspersed with sketches and funny songs such as the infectious ‘I’m in love’, tune with the ‘cheesy ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 April, 2008

Sinatra
‘Sinatra’ uses rare archive film of ol’ blue eyes projected onto contemporary screens such as white umbrellas and sheets of gauze around which a West End chorus of dancers perform period choreography. ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 April, 2008

Honk! The Musical
‘Oh Quack, it’s the big one!’ Acting About Productions explodes onto the stage with a musical comedy that enthralls a packed audience (ranging from toddlers to grandfathers) from overture to finale. Outsized ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 April, 2008

Tell Me A Picture
O3 gallery displays work from a group of artists who act as story-tellers through the genre of illustration. Some of the images come with text so the viewer can drift effortlessly into ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 April, 2008

Testing The Echo
Legendary theatre Director, Max Stafford-Clark, read from his book ‘Taking Stock’ at a recent talk at the Oxford Playhouse theatre. This fascinating publication outlines the stories behind key dramatic productions of the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 March, 2008

Citizen Milton
John Milton influences English culture from a number of perspectives, not least revolutionary, poet and visionary. This detailed exhibition of early editions of his work is divided clearly into sections that represent the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 March, 2008

Testing The Echo
Shots of interweaving story lines are fired fast and furiously around a group of students in Matthew Dunster’s sharp direction. They're in a class learning English for Speakers of Other Languages (rather than English as a ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 March, 2008

Honk! The Musical
Honk! The preview... After opening at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury (1993) and beating stiff competition to win the Olivier award for best musical (2000) this British musical comedy, based on the Hans ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 18 March, 2008

Lynette Kay
Through her large canvases, Lynnette Kay shares an experience with the viewer, such as the vivid multi-tonal layers of ‘Walking into the Red Sea’. Similarly ‘A Night in Tunisia’ is painted dark ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 March, 2008

Oxford Gang Show 2008
With snappy dance routines to songs from musicals like ‘Fame’ and ‘Dirty Dancing’, community groups such as Guides, Brownies and Scouts perform in this amateur Variety show. The number of folk in ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 March, 2008

Obsessions: Oxford Brookes
The fragile beauty of a clear shattered walking cane manufactured by Victoria Cox in ‘Exoskeleton or Fragile Mobility’ is one of the first things that you see in OBsessions, this year's showcase at ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 March, 2008

Encounters: Lina Saneh
Lina Saneh tells the story of her dream to her mother who lies in bed, the mother’s expressive face being filmed throughout. This head shot of the listener interacting with the out ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 March, 2008

Stomp!
Short shots of rhythmic performance are delivered as this warm-hearted troupe share their personalities and let the audience get to know their characters over a two-hour show. Having no interval means everyone ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 March, 2008

Lazytown Live!
90 minutes of high energy fun with just a 15 minute pit stop for ‘sports candy’ is a sure fire treat for the 1,600 fans filling the New Theatre, many wearing the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 March, 2008

Curious Home
A process of fine-tuning digital gadgets to make our cocooned home life even more curious produced six prototype mini machines that were given to volunteers to road test. After around two months the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 February, 2008

Shine By Wilbur Heynes
Fluid substances are photographed to look like solid crystalline structures in some of Wilbur Heynes’ digital prints on aluminium. The cosmic body of water, the lapping ocean, is snapped at coasts ranging ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 February, 2008

Phi*lat*e*ly
The meticulous process of aligning hundreds of stamps into a perfect grid-like formation has resulted in a kaleidoscope of montages on display at the University Church café. The patience in collecting suitably ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 February, 2008

Helen Ganly: Journey Into Light
In a gently blurred film Helen Ganly fills a Polish river with paper origami boats carrying glowing candlelight. Timed exquisitely to synchronise with the fading natural light the sight of the flames ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 January, 2008

The Oxford Open Exhibition
Morna Rhys, Rachel Williamson, Ben Pritchard, James Nairne, Jane Peart, Michele Field and Marc Allen are all amongst an impressive list of established Art practitioners on show alongside fledgling Artists in this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 January, 2008

Holbein, Durer and Beyond
‘Holbein, Durer and Beyond’ is a selection of sketches by German Artists dating from late 15th to 17th century taken from the holdings at Christ Church Picture Gallery. The quality of the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 January, 2008

Beauty and the Beast On Ice
The on-stage ice rink is lined with the huge spines of outsized story books such as ‘Mother Goose’ -  only tonight, it is time to tell the classic fairy tale of ‘Beauty ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 January, 2008

The Rivals
Whilst Sheridan sets his masterpiece in late 18th Century Bath, this Oxford University Student Company directed by Chanya Button has brought the action of this comedy into the roaring 20’s. Whilst post-war ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 January, 2008

Jimmy Carr - Repeat Offender
Jimmy Carr wears an understated dark suit, stands centre stage in this packed theatre and holds the crowd with his sharp, wry humour for two one hour sets, interspersed with an interval. ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 January, 2008

Grigorovich's Nutcracker
Just like a belated present hidden underneath the Christmas tree this fairy tale ballet delights all ages with a series of Tchaikovsky classics conducted by Mihai Amihalachioaie. The full-strength orchestra sounds shimmering ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 January, 2008

Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Cocoon-like houses painted on lanterns that swing in the gnarly branches of the surrounding set, the audience thaws out with rugs, mulled wine and a hospitable welcome from Front of House manager ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 January, 2008

Starlight Express
This rock-solid roller-skating musical has reinvented itself once again since opening at the Victoria Theatre in 1984, now projecting film in 3D onstage to recreate the atmosphere of two heats and one ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 January, 2008

Starlight Express
This rock solid roller-skating musical has reinvented itself once again since opening at the Victoria Theatre in 1984, now projecting 3D film to recreate two heats and one final race between the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 December, 2007

Aladdin
Producer Tish Francis presents another home grown pantomime hit, as life-enhancing as the Oriental culture the scenery depicts, after all, ‘Confucius say man who keep feet on ground… has trouble putting pants ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 December, 2007

Rachel Williamson's Paper Museum
Inspired by researching the F. B. Brady Collection of paper theatres held in Christ Church Library, Rachel Williamson presents neat compact cabinets full of tiny treasures and reproduced images from the archived ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 November, 2007

Floodscapes By John Goto
Commissioned to encourage a greater public involvement in environmental issues, these large-scale digital images of flooded landscapes by John Goto show some irony. The works demonstrate how the consequences of rising water ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 28 November, 2007

Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans + Awful Egyptians
Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans Using the context of two unlicensed British tour guides trying to tout for trade in modern day Rome, The Birmingham Stage Company tell the tale of the Roman ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 November, 2007

City Limits
Christine O’Sullivan paints grid-like rhythms to reflect the urban landscape of the big apple. In her willow charcoal drawings, shading marks out shapes that work a conflicting dynamic that resolves itself within ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 November, 2007

The Boyfriend
The Boy Friend is a vivacious homage to the era of boy meets girl musicals of the 1920’s, where a bevy of perfect young ladies search for that certain thing called 'the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 November, 2007

Encounters: Imran Qureshi
The sparse meditative backgrounds in Qureshi’s portraits are painted with few colours, it is the small details that inform the viewer of the bigger picture. In one landscape a multiplying family of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 November, 2007

Trisha Donnelly
This exhibition reverses the usual route taken around Modern Art Oxford, presenting an experience that represents one evening, as narrated by the companion leaflet. Walking up the stairs that visitors usually leave ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 November, 2007

Chinese Prints 1950 – 2006
This concise collection of modern Chinese prints, dating from 1950 to 2006, shows a diverse range of subject genres used by Artists during a relatively short period of time. The earliest works ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 19 November, 2007

The Duchess Of Malfi
Apricot Productions offer a highly polished production of Webster’s visually poetic language complete with generous slices of blood and guts action that makes your mouth water when seated near the stage. Chris Hutchinson’s ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 16 November, 2007

Faces of Oxfordshire: Hidden Faces
Hidden Faces is a colourful and compact mixed media Art show. This excellently compiled exhibition is found at OVADA on the corner of Gloucester Green Bus Station. It contains video work resulting ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 12 November, 2007

Oxjam Small World Party
Under the Norman Castle Mound the festivities of the noon time Oxjam happenings burst onto the castleyard platform. Sol Samba blaze with their fiery hot rhythms to a crowd keen to get ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 November, 2007

Chatroom/Citizenship
An overwhelming aspect of the evening is enjoying the enthusiasm with which this predominantly teenage audience receives two leading edge contemporary short plays; one each by Mark Ravenhill and Enda Walsh. It ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 November, 2007

Small Worlds
This clever exhibition bigs up little things in the fine details of Heather Barnett’s photographs taken from archived microscope slides. Gigantic ideas abound from a variety of interactive art installations. An audio ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 November, 2007

5 2 10 by Walker Dance Park Music
Stripped down to bare essentials as the title of the work suggests, this is 5 duets 2 solos and 10 instruments played live on stage, performed by four contemporary dancers of Walker ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 October, 2007

Under Milk Wood
Community theatre at its finest takes place in Bayards Hill School, as the audience is seated to the sound of an incoming tide bringing with it a day in the life of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 24 October, 2007

Marc Allen - Light Plays
O3 gallery continues to offer tourists, local residents and passers-by innovative work by practitioners who strive to develop techniques that remain unique to their work. In Marc Allen’s photographs, he uses the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 October, 2007

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Theatre companies are often defined by the amount of creativity they can inject into ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and this production by Dash Arts shows as much originality as the bench mark ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 18 October, 2007

Visiting Mr Green
One of the finest actors of our generation, Warren Mitchell revives his role as Mr Green, an abandoned old man who is visited by young executive Ross who is serving a community ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 October, 2007

Creation4Kids – Children’s Theatre Workshops
For just the day or a full working week, Creation Theatre offers children’s workshops, often themed to tie in with their seasonal performances. During the Arabian Nights Christmas show of 2006, the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 September, 2007

By Jeeves
Alan Ayckbourn’s libretto encompasses plot lines from the tales of ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ by P G Wodehouse and is set to 1920’s period music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber in this decidedly ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 September, 2007

Floating
Officially this is a story about being both both connected and disconnected from a place but in reality this is a welcome invitation to the audience to be daring and become more ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 12 September, 2007

Journeys
The square canvases of Claire Wiltsher’s work accentuate the dimensions of the dramatic global scenery she captures with oil paint and mixed media. Materials collected on her worldwide journeys are incorporated into ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 10 September, 2007

Forgotten Voices
Strangers meet over coffee in a lobby after giving interviews of their experiences of World War I. This 90 minute performance embraces the suffering inflicted on the survivors of man’s bloodiest conflict ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 September, 2007

The Oxford Passion Play
The Passion - the tale of Christ’s last days on earth - is performed on the site of Oxford Castle’s medieval chapel. All that remains now of St George’s Chapel is the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 August, 2007

Herge's Adventures Of Tintin
The journey of Tintin, his dog Snowy and loyal companion Captain Haddock is followed across the Himalayas as the young reporter sets off to prove his friend Chang has survived a terrible ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 15 August, 2007

Equestrian Art
Paintings by Neil Cawthorne and Barrie Linklater capture the dynamic speed of horses in motion whilst detailing the fine musculature of the equine species. Scaled up sculptures by Lorne McKean portray man’s ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 August, 2007

Encounters: Moshekwa Langa
Homeland is a simply-presented exhibition of 9 photographs surrounding a three-minute film piece contained in one room and is inspired by a visit the Artist has recently taken to the Northern Province of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 July, 2007

Bedroom Farce
Visually engaging from the moment the audience is seated, Michael Holt’s amazing set design of three bedrooms stacked like building blocks is perfect for a night of farce. The bedrooms are projected ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 July, 2007

The Gruffalo's Child
There may be some of us who are a little scared when we first see the big hairy Gruffalo on stage but within minutes we find he is a big softy at ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 July, 2007

The Taming Of The Shrew
Creation Theatre unleashes one of the most potent themes in Shakespeare’s writing, the power of the imagination, in Heather Davies’ 1950s interpretation of this comic battle of the sexes. A brief piece ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 July, 2007

Pam Ayres: Surgically Enhanced
Pam Ayres took to the stage in a shimmering coral scalloped-edge top, black trousers and heels and opened with the self-reflective poem ‘Mirror, Mirror’. The audience welcomed her as warmly as an ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 19 July, 2007

Stella Vine: Paintings
The controversial nature of the subjects tackled in this exhibition means you will probably have heard about it on the grapevine, but the large size of the canvases and the sweetness of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 18 July, 2007

Julie
There is no interval in this performance of 75 minutes, which offers the perfect format for telling a story, based on Strindberg’s ‘Miss Julie’, through contemporary opera. The story is one of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 July, 2007

Siobhan Davies Dance: Two Quartets
Siobhan Davies Dance performs Two Quartets, each with a fundamentally different approach to structure. The first group of dancers are barefoot wearing black and white tie-dyed loose-fitting linen and continue with fast-paced ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 July, 2007

Peter and Dan Snow
Former ‘Newsnight’ presenter Peter Snow and Military Historian son Dan Snow present eight battles of the twentieth century that shaped the modern world. Starting with the Battle of Amiens (1918) in World ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 10 July, 2007

Open Doors
2007: The Open Doors, such as the well chamber gate at the top of the mound, and Open Minds weekend is blessed with fine weather as Café Food serves traditional English roast ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 June, 2007

Life At Brandiers
Photographer Peter Lavery captures the natural life of his home, Brandiers Farm in Wiltshire, using a technique that delivers photographs that have the appearance of oil paintings. This technique is most pronounced ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 June, 2007

Mahabharata
A Princess born from fire accepts her mission on earth: to provoke an apocalyptic war in this epic dramatisation of the poem ‘Mahabarata’. The company uses Kathak classical Indian dance as the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 June, 2007

The Importance Of Being Earnest
This quintessential Oxford Summer play contains some of the funniest lines written in the English language, all successfully delivered in this well-cast production from an ensemble of established local actors. This insightful ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 June, 2007

Molora
Yael Farber cleverly adapts the Oresteia trilogy to tell the story behind the painful healing process experienced by the survivors of post-Apartheid South Africa, centring around the dynamics of the Truth and ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 June, 2007

Moonscope:
Moonscope is a stunning site-specific exhibition of work by local Watercolour artist Rebecca Hind and Astronomer and Portraitist John Russell. The Museum of the History of Science vestibule cabinets, full of planetaria, ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 June, 2007

Juan Martin
Virtuoso Flamenco guitarist Juan Martin raises the roof in a sold-out performance at the Oxford Playhouse with his Rumba compositions. Whilst the heart of Flamenco lies in the songs (or cantes), the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 5 June, 2007

Hamlet
Of the many themes on offer from this stylish monochrome production of Shakespeare’s best, the one that moves me most is mortality and the dilemma of how one's allotted time is spent. This climaxes ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 June, 2007

Six Characters Looking for An Author
University of Oxford Students perform Pirandello’s classic piece of theatre of the absurd with much creativity. The play asks profound questions about the nature of identity in the dialogue between the Director ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 May, 2007

John Hegley - Uncut Confetti
John Hegley has the ability to take every day events and describe them in deeply poignant and hilarious poems that offer entertainment for all ages when performed live.  On the ‘Uncut Confetti’ ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 7 May, 2007

Choral Pilgrimage 2007 - Allegri Miserere
Harry Christophers conducts 18 choral voices, no orchestra, at this sold-out programme of work by renowned Papal composers of the 16th century in the high-vaulted Gothic University Church of St Mary’s. The ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 May, 2007

The Wonderful World of Dissocia
The subject matter of this show is tacked after the interval when a clear plastic window separates the audience from Lisa in her bleak individual hospital room for one. A sterile white ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 May, 2007

Baskets Everywhere - Oxfordshire Before Plastic
Take a look at the functional, robust and ergonomic baskets used in the early and late twentieth century. Buff willow lunch baskets and baskets used for cherry picking and shopping are on ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 April, 2007

Richard Alston Dance Company
Four beautiful dances interspersed with two twenty minute intervals give a running time of one hour and fifty minutes, offering a comprehensive performance of work by this genius English choreographer. The live ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 April, 2007

Jericho Café
You order at the counter of the Jericho café. How I know this, is walking in for the first time I say out loud ‘let’s sit down and see what happens’. To ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 April, 2007

Karen Purple: Between here and there
Purple’s translucent abstract paintings offer the viewer many different layers to explore and get lost in, like a walk in an open field. The compositions have a style similar to the contemporary ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 April, 2007

Sprint
Stoically open early Sunday mornings this breezy eatery deserves to be buzzing come May morning. Serving bacon and egg rolls and buttery crispy croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast, the freshly ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 9 April, 2007

The Snow Queen
‘Moon. Fire. Thread.’ Is the dancing game that links the childhood friends Gerda and Kay until a shard of glass from a broken magic mirror freezes Kay’s heart. The Snow Queen who ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 April, 2007

The Flower Garden of Spring
Scenes of Court life during the rule of Indian Mughal Emperors are on display at the Bodleian Library. Pages of albums gilded with arabesque gold details and bright bold gouache on paper ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 April, 2007

Fourth Oxford Folk Festival
Glorious sunshine beams down on the many displays of Morris Dancing at Oxford Castle during the Fourth Oxford Folk Festival. Revellers perched on the courtyard steps are served toffee apples, flapjacks and ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 April, 2007

Justin Neal
Justin Neal’s photographs are intended to make us consider the link between the past and the present but in my case does this through hoots of laughter. A knight in bright shining ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 April, 2007

Multiple Masters
Reproducing paintings as prints enables a work of Art to reach a much wider population and in the days prior to photography is a common practice in allowing collectors to ‘collect’ pre-existing ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 28 March, 2007

Dürer To Friedrich Drawings
40 pieces of fine Romantic German Art are on show at the Eldon Gallery, the selection taken from the Ashmolean’s larger donated collection. Drawings by 16th Century Masters, showing the intensity of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 March, 2007

Callum Innes: From Memory
A retrospective of Callum Innes’ work from the past 15 years gives the viewer a chance to observe the subtle variations that flow through each of his series of work. Innes develops ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 15 March, 2007

Time and Place: English Country Clocks, 1600-1840
Densely packed with intricate clock faces, downstairs in the History of Science Museum the story of clock making in England is told. In many cases local materials are used and regional styles ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 March, 2007

Mark Thompson: Breaking Silence
Mark Thompson's art delivers a metaphoric blast of ice cold air straight to the lungs. The stark geometric images, captured on paper, evoke the drama of the big freeze experienced in Northern ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 March, 2007

Raphael Vella, Reading Cabinets
An arc of three cardinal red painted 'Reading Cabinets' are placed in the centre of an empty room. No clues offer direction to the viewer. Although the themes of some of Vella's ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 March, 2007

Playhouse Café / Bar
This fine piece of architecture, designed by Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe in 1938, houses the recently refurbished (in shades of chestnut and tan) theatre bar. After completing the Festival Theatre at 'the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 February, 2007

Olives Deli
If you have been easy-jetting your way around Europe recently and need a potted reminder of the aromas of Rome or the seasonings of St Etienne, then 'Olives' on the High Street ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 February, 2007

Oxford Castle: Unlocked!
Oxford Castle Unlocked is looking after our lifelong learning with thought provoking monthly events held at the newly opened bright and airy Key Learning Centre. Tickets for one of the 90 minute ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 6 February, 2007

Cambridge Jones
Glittering RADA graduates are photographed in black and white by relative newcomer to the genre of Portraiture, Cambridge Jones. The stirring nature of the Welsh landscape is reflected in the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 10 January, 2007

Café 1071
This newly opened café punches well above its size to serve traditional three course meals cooked from local produce in addition to robust light bites. Highlights on Alison's menu include cauliflower ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 January, 2007

Arrivals: Estonia
Kristina Norman's film documents how the response to settling in a non-native country varies dramatically from individual to individual. Focussing on a Russian Pribalt community now settled in Estonia - of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 January, 2007

Daniel Buren
Rather than present the viewer with distinct works of Art traditionally placed within a gallery space, Daniel Buren fills the walls of Modern Art Oxford with his signature 'stripe' motif. Buren ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 December, 2006

Designs For Life
Oxfordshire's Women's Institute groups use their vast range of handicraft skills to portray dangerous viruses in the 30 panels, designed by textile artist Anne Griffiths, on display at Science Oxford, on St ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 December, 2006

Dick Whittington - The Panto!
Little did Richard Whittington, a Gloucestershire born 'mercer' of 1350s, know that his success in life trading luxury silks, money-lending to Royalty and achieving three appointments as Mayor of London would inspire ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 12 December, 2006

Arabian Nights
When courageous King Shahrayar finds out his beautiful wife has been unfaithful, he seeks revenge on all the women he marries by executing them after their first night of marriage. To ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 November, 2006

West Side Story
Oxford Operatic Society takes us to downtown Manhattan where a benevolent social worker, the Gladhand, is holding a dance to try to heal the rift between two rival gangs, the Sharks and ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 November, 2006

Wolves in the Walls
Improbable and the National Theatre of Scotland present this short, perfectly crafted piece of complete theatre. Both companies pride themselves on producing theatre for the people and the superbly animated wolves ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 22 November, 2006

Revelations: Stan Wont Dance
A metal grid encasing domestic appliances provides 'Stan Won't Dance' with a performance area at stage level and above. From the top of the grid angels (or demons?) descend into a kitchen ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 15 November, 2006

Orestes
90 minutes of fast paced intense drama tells the story of Euripides' challenging text 'Orestes'. The tale begins with the apparently sealed fate of siblings Electra and Orestes, both guilty of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 November, 2006

Autumn Poetry Competition
How to get flowers this Autumn I lost my job but I got a plant Dave from accounts spotted four buds 'you'll be alright for flowers even though they cut your hours!' such was the extent of ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 November, 2006

The Threepenny Opera
Mackie's back in town, with this gritty Opera for beggars performed to an extremely high standard throughout by student group, Musicals of Oxford. Director Lotte Wakeham directs a 21 strong ensemble that ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 October, 2006

Alison Lilley Berrett
Vivid colours and the essence of nature inform the Artist's work subliminally in a style that may remind the viewer of Patrick Heron, in this selection of Berrett's abstract paintings. The ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 24 October, 2006

Oxford Castle: Unlocked!
Oxford's newest tourist attraction, opened by Her Majesty on the 5th May, draws local and international visitors alike and part of the joy of the tour is hearing other people's diverse reactions ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 October, 2006

Arrivals > Slovakia
450 bricks have been made in the Chilterns from local clay and straw and then assembled by the artist Ilona Nemeth to form a closed corridor in Modern Art Oxford's lower gallery, ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 October, 2006

Oriental Condor
One of Oxford's original Oriental fast food joints steams ahead, dishing up tasty snacks conveniently close to the railway station. Marinating meats (lemon chicken, honey-roasted pork) in the shop-front kitchen window ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 September, 2006

Waiting for Godot
This theatrical masterpiece directed by the master of theatre, Sir Peter Hall, shows us the human condition stripped bare, through the poetic cadences of playwright Samuel Beckett. The passing of time, ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 18 September, 2006

The Overwhelming
Set in Kigali, Rwanda 1994, playwright J T Rogers paints a picture of a country on the brink of genocide. After three years of war this small country, 'the Switzerland of Africa', ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 8 September, 2006

Robin Hood
A mammoth multi-level tree house re-creates the Major Oak where the legendary merry men hide in the trunk and dominate Sherwood Forest. Humorous modern day 'Crimestopper' posters about Headington Hill Park ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 September, 2006

ARRIVALS>CYPRUS: Christodoulos Panayiotou
Enter into Modern Art Oxford's lower gallery and be engulfed by the easy listening pop melody "Slow Dancin' " as crooned by John Travolta. Panayiotou's work divides his spectators into those ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 August, 2006

Macbeth
The Cypress, Oak and Copper Beech trees of Headington Hill Park provide the Birnham woods that are ready to come to Dunsinane and undo Shakespeare's popular tragic hero Macbeth. The native ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 August, 2006

Charley's Aunt
Inspired by student eccentricities and Varsity life, Brandon Thomas' three-act farce is set around the fictitious 'St Olde's' college. The atmosphere of quadrangles and cloisters is re-created delightfully on the Oxford ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 29 August, 2006

Kerry James Marshall
Fired by the geography of an early childhood in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1950's, Kerry James Marshall uses a wide range of art references to position the black figure centrally on the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 4 August, 2006

Love's Labours Lost
Merton College Fellows' Garden provides the elegant location for the Court of the King of Navarre; set in 1920's England. The pervasive atmosphere of Shakespeare's most poetic comedy is captured with ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 August, 2006

The Merchant of Venice
The anti-Semitic theme of Shakespeare's controversial work is intelligently interpreted by Creation Theatre, playing the old Elizabethan law of mercy against the emerging new law of selfish usury. In a fast moving ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 July, 2006

The Importance of Being Earnest
Widely considered to be one of the funniest plays written in the English language, Oxford Shakespeare Company squeezes every last drop of wit out of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in this ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 July, 2006

Photo Synthesis
Bright and beautiful photographs taken by local school children during their visits to Oxford University's Botanic Garden are being displayed at Science Oxford. The photographs are the result of a project, which ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 July, 2006

Summoned by Bells, John Betjeman and Oxford
To celebrate the centenary of Sir John Betjeman's birth, the Bodleian Library is exhibiting first manuscripts and artefacts, some taken from private collections, that document the influence of Oxford on the Poet ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 27 June, 2006

Out Of Beirut
The communities and architecture of the Lebanese capital provide inspiration for the work of 18 contemporary artists in an exhibition that tells the story of this historically divided city. Having experienced ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 26 June, 2006

Shakespeare's As You Like It
The walled garden of Christ Church Cathedral lends its pastoral calm to effect the magical Forest of Arden; a refuge for runaway Orlando and the banished Rosalind who is travelling incognito with ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 13 June, 2006

Flora McLachlan
Passing through the atmospheric graveyard of St Giles prepares the senses for Flora McLachlan's enchanting landscapes. The ornate, richly coloured stained glass windows of the church frame the deep purples and crimsons ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 25 May, 2006

Artweeks 2006
Artweeks: Edition 3 - Jane Peart, Heather Power & Morna Rhys Oxford Museum, St Aldates 13-28th May 2006 12-4.30pm weekends; 10am-4.30pm weekdays (check ahead with museum for weekday viewing as groups may be using ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 May, 2006

Artweeks: Edition 3
Artweeks: Edition 3 - Jane Peart, Heather Power & Morna Rhys Oxford Museum, St Aldates 13-28th May 2006 12-4.30pm weekends; 10am-4.30pm weekdays (check ahead with museum for weekday viewing as groups may be using ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 May, 2006

Oxford Brookes Fine Art Degree Show 2006
'How fat do you have to be to be bullet-proof?'20th - 25th May 2006Pick and mix your favourite selection of eye candy from this year's sensational degree show at Brookes. Contemporary work ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 21 May, 2006

Artweeks 2006
“Recapturing a Certain Youth” by Rona (www.ronapainting.com) Marmalade Café Gallery, 27 Park End Street 01865 244613 1st - 31st May The factory where Frank Cooper once made Oxford marmalade is now a bright airy ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 17 May, 2006

Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme is the latest addition to the eateries surrounding Oxford Castle, the city's newest heritage site. A taste of 1930's Americana is recreated in the café's Hot Original Glazed yeast-raised ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 May, 2006

The Vaults & Garden
Open everyday (9.30am-5pm) for home cooked specialities, the food at the Vaults and Garden Coffee House is so fresh it almost jumps off the plate. With a generous 20% discount given ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 10 March, 2006

The Heat is Rising
Final year students of the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art have taken over Modern Art Oxford’s café to exhibit a preview of their forthcoming degree show. With such a ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 8 February, 2006

Arrivals>Latvia
Different sized photographs scattered on a grey wall in this installation by Latvian artist, Alnis Stakle, create the narrative of a dream. Viewed from the centre of the lower gallery, the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 2 February, 2006

Win a Meal for Six at the Big Bang!
The Perfect Lover I've given half a lifetime, clinging to the same bar. It's hard to know how far to go but a wet knife makes the perfect slice. If you leave it next to you ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 February, 2006

Win a Meal for Six at the Big Bang!
5 a day Flying high on the 'get ready' express, to fit into my black cherry dress. Banana scrub dazzles, spits onto my sticky mango'd lips. No time to waste, he's booked ahead. A citrus slush kills all ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 1 February, 2006

The Oxford Story
Set around a piece of history itself, namely the thirteenth century Bastion tower, The Oxford Story squeezes 900 years of history into a highly enjoyable 45-minute visit. Devised by the creators ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 3 January, 2006

Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Recently named by the Guardian as Britain's most family friendly museum, Oxford University's Museum of Natural History has a warm welcome for everybody. Follow the Megalosaurus footprints, one of the four dinosaurs ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 14 November, 2005

Angela Bulloch: Sculpture
Angela Bulloch's functional sculptures play with the ways in which we interpret different types of information. Her work appears simplistic (sound chairs gained her a Turner Prize nomination in 1997) but the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 11 October, 2005

Cecily Brown: Paintings
The human figure, sex and the voyeuristic gaze are the subjects of Cecily Brown's large-scale canvases displayed at her first major retrospective. The detailed images are too broken down to be pornographic ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 30 June, 2005

Haircuts in Oxford
Essensuals hair salon has a young, fresh, pop vibe with only funky, choppy, up-to-the-minute hairdos being allowed to leave the building. The salon's mission is to customise high fashion to fit the ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 20 June, 2005

Oxford Open Top Bus Tour: Guide Friday
Touring around your native city may seem like a busman's holiday (ho ho!), but on a clear day, an open top double-decker bus is an invigorating place to be. Should April showers ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 31 March, 2005

Posh Fish, Headington
When a fire destroyed Headington's well-loved chippy (the Mediterranean) there was uncertainty as to whether the eatery would re-open. Last week saw the re-branding of the restaurant when Posh Fish opened for ...
Lita Doolan (DI Reviewer) - 23 May, 2002