Daily Info's recommended events for the week ahead, Thursday 9th July - Wednesday 15th July
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Laughs in the beer cellar, crafts in the cinema and music in the museum coming your way this week!
We start with two lovely festivals of place and culture happening this weekend. In Blackbird Leys Park it’s The Leys Festival, showing off the area’s people, music, food, dance, sports and stories. Anyone under 18 can take part in the Junior Bake-Off, there are sporting activities from bouncy castles to bowling, enter the dance battle, make a carnival mask, enjoy Reggae or folk songs, eat dishes from any of the cultures represented in the Leys for under £5. In short, celebrate the energy of BBL and Greater Leys, with all the family. Festival buses run to and from St Aldates every ten minutes, and entry is free. And for those in the south of the county, Didcot Festival of Cultures is also celebrating the diversity of traditions, flavours, music and stories of the people who’ve made Didcot home. Cornerstone Arts Centre plays host to a free family-friendly day of dance, art and drumming workshops, food stalls, and community. We’re particularly intrigued by Turkish marbling. If you’re not lucky enough to be local, you are still welcome, and there’s easy access to Didcot by bus or train.
Lego-lovers should head to Osney on Saturday for Brick Fest . All fans are welcome - families, collectors, adult builders, casual enthusiasts and serious brick-nerds. There are competitions for all ages, exhibitions of grand builds, activity sheets and hidden Lego figures to spot, rare and retired sets to complete your collection, or affordable pick’n’build cups of bits. Booking is strongly advised, as Brick Fest is always popular!
From bricks to books, and Oxford Festival of the Arts is hosting the Oxford Indie Bookfair this Sunday, where you can meet authors, attend readings, meet other indie-bibliophiles, listen to (or take part in) slams for poetry and book launches, and learning about how and why Picasso invented modern art. This is a welcoming space for authors, publishers, aspiring or established writers, in short all who love words! Entry is free, though we can’t promise you won’t be tempted to buy books…
The Leys Festival: Blackbird Leys Park OX4 6SB, Sat 11th July, 12 noon - 7pm. Free entry.
Didcot Festival of Cultures: Cornerstone Arts Centre, Sat 11th July, 10am - 3pm. Free entry.
Oxford Brick Festival: The King's Centre (Osney OX2 0ES), Sat 11th July, 10am - 4pm. Tickets: Family £20, Adult £8, Children £6.
Oxford Indie Book Fair: Magdalen College School Festival Hall, Sun 12th July, 11am - 4pm. Free entry.
As UK stand-up headliners continue to make their annual pre-Edinburgh pilgrimage to the Dreaming Spires, we look at some of the highlights to be found in town this week.
First, Kate Smurthwaite undertakes the mammoth task of writing a brand new show in only 24 hours based on suggestions from the audience. Email her your ideas 24 hours before her show on Monday to watch Smurthwaite craft order out of chaos; as an incisive political satirist, powerful poet and hilarious observational stand-up, we know she can multitask! She’ll be followed by Taskmaster alum and queen of delulu Sophie Duker in a late entry to the Comedy Festival roster - tickets to see Sophie solo are sold out but you can still grab a spot if you're seeing both shows!
Later in the week, Esther Manito and Matt Richardson pair up for a split set exploring what happens when life gets in the way of how you once saw yourself. Manito aspires to glamour and poise, but her chaotic family has other ideas. Richardson meanwhile, finds himself in a cosy life completely at odds with the persona that got him there. If you’re in the midst of an identity crisis, this is the double-bill for you.
And last but not least we’re back in the beer cellar and Alex Franklin has a question for you - what if we kissed? Just kidding…unless? Franklin gets romantic in her own special way with her audience in Kiss Me x as she explores love, yearning and…beavers. Look, if you’re not turned on by musical comedy, that’s YOUR problem, not hers. Get there early to catch Amy Matthews trying to access her rage and dealing with never being the main character in Definitions of Toast .
Kate Smurthwaite Writes a Brand New Show in 24 Hours: Tap Social Movement, Mon 13th Jul, 7.30pm (doors at 7pm).
Sophie Duker - Hot Beef Injection: Tap Social Movement, Mon 13th Jul, 9pm (doors at 8.30pm).
Esther Manito and Matt Richardson: Tap Social Movement, Tues 14th Jul, 7.30pm (doors at 7pm).
Amy Matthews - Definitions of Toast: Trinity College Beer Cellar, Thurs 16th Jul, 7.30pm (doors 7pm).
Alex Franklin - Kiss Me x: Trinity College Beer Cellar, Thurs 16th Jul, 9pm (doors 8.30pm).
All tickets £9 for one show/£16 for both shows that night.
Love thy neighbour, time travel tomfoolery, childhood trauma and close-knitting families - this week’s cinema choices cover theatrical drama, goofy comedy, autobiography and a special crafty collaboration.
The 2020 Spanish comedy The People Upstairs, based on Cesc Gay’s stage play Els veïns de dalt / Los vecinos de arriba proved so successful that remakes have been produced in Italy, Switzerland, France and South Korea. The latest director to take on this dinner-party satire is Olivia Wilde with The Invite, in which she also stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. Joe and Angela are a couple whose marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their stylish upstairs neighbours Pina and Hawk to dinner, the night spirals into unexpected places. The Guardian describes it as “A four-way sex comedy of embarrassment, as if JB Priestly had written a play about swinging.”
By contrast, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie began life as a web series sitcom, then a television adaptation and now a film written by and starring Canadians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarol who portray fictionalised versions of themselves. The film was produced in a guerrilla style, with many scenes filmed in public in Toronto without permits and the result is a goofball time travel comedy inspired by Back To The Future which channels the male immaturity of Bill and Ted and Wayne’s World.
Canada also provides the setting for Blue Heron , a sombre, semi-autobiographical tale from Sophy Romvari based on her Hungarian family’s life as immigrants to Vancouver Island in the 1990s. Eylul Guven stars as Sasha, a young girl whose older teen brother’s defiant, destructive behaviour puts a strain on the family unit as they try to deal with the consequences.
Finally, Greta Gerwig’s 2017 coming-of-age comedy drama Lady Bird returns with a twist…and a stitch and a knit. Local arts organisation Together We Make will be holding a craft-a-long screening where you can experience the film while crafting alongside fellow makers. Bring your knitting, crochet or sewing and enjoy seeing the beginnings of Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet's rise to stardom.
The Invite [15]: Curzon, Phoenix Picturehouse, Vue
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie [15]: Phoenix Picturehouse
Blue Heron [12A]: Phoenix Picturehouse, Ultimate Picture Palace
Craft-a-long screening: Lady Bird [15]: UPP, Thu 16th Jul, 6.15pm.
Desmond Morris, long-time Oxford resident until his move to Ireland, was a prodigious polymath. Former director of Oxford United and creator of their ox head emblem; the author of the infamous The Naked Ape, with his zoologist’s hat on; and a life-long - and prolific - Surrealist painter, in his later years dubbing himself the “last living surrealist” . Following his death earlier this year in April, ronapainting gallery in Walton St. will be exhibiting some of Morris’ work , opening with a private viewing tonight between 6 and 8pm. The paintings and ceramics for sale are listed on the gallery’s website under the ‘Artists’ section. Timely and significant, the exhibition will run until 22nd August.
A free exhibition opens at the Ashmolean Museum this weekend, displaying a selection of 20th-century Chinese art that probes the nature of the ‘nationhood’ built by Communist China in its first few decades. The exhibition’s title, Sisters, Brothers, Others, refers to the relationship between the Han and the fifty-six non-Han ethnicities that make up China’s population. Art and politics will both be present in Ashmolean’s Gallery 11 (here until March 2027) and this (loaded) question of Chinese identity is explored by way of a roster of artists representing a broad range of China’s ethnic backgrounds, and featuring artworks in a wide variety of media.
From art to music: also opening this Saturday is Museum of Oxford’s Sounds of the City exhibition, marking three decades since Oxford played host to BBC Radio 1’s Sound City in 1997. From 1992 until 2003, Radio 1 organised this festival in a different host city each year, featuring both internationally-known bands alongside local acts. The museum’s latest exhibition re-visits Oxford’s music scene of the ‘90s and charts some of the musical journeys it inspired. Alongside this, there is a programme of events planned, from performances to walking tours, all of which will be publicised on the MOX website . And it doesn’t end there. Youth workshops with local artists and musicians will be feeding back their work into the exhibition, so do visit again in the new year to see and hear the results of those projects. There is currently also a call-out for locals to contribute stories to their digital archive . Previously, residents were invited to share what songs made them think of our city and you can explore the curated, but still 89-track-long, playlist on Spotify here!
And back to art. Cally Trench and Tineke Bruijnzeels’ Day after day after day at The North Wall Arts Centre, part of the 2026 Oxford Festival of the Arts, juxtaposes (or, in the case of the exhibition’s title image, superimposes) the separate projects of the two artists: Trench’s Left Hand, Right Hand and Bruijnzeels’ One more line a day. As the title suggests, the works explore the passing of each day to the next, and the next, and the next…each artist expounding on the theme in their own voice and bringing their daily drawings together in this exhibition. Alongside the main exhibition, there is also a meet-the-artist, talk and tour planned over the next few weeks and further details can be found on the booking link below. Although the festival it is part of comes to a close this month, this show will be on display into August.
Celebrating Solo Surrealist Desmond Morris: ronapainting gallery, Walton St, 9th Jul - 22nd Aug, Thursdays-Saturdays, 11.00am-5.00pm (Private View Thu 9th Jul, 6-8pm). Free entry.
Sisters, Brothers, Others: Ashmolean Museum (Gallery 11), Sat 11th Jul 2026 - Sun 7th Mar 2027, open everyday 10.00am–5.00pm. Free entry.
Sounds of the City: Museum of Oxford, Town Hall, Sat 11th Jul 2026 - Sat 13th Mar 2027, open Mon-Sat 10.00am-5.00pm. Tickets: MOX general admission £4/£2.
Cally Trench and Tineke Bruijnzeels: Day after day after day : The North Wall, Summertown, Tue 30th Jun - Sat 8th Aug, Mon - Sat 10am - 4.00pm (closed Sun/BH). Free entry.
Having started its life being printed in a shed at the bottom of a garden, Daily Info are big supporters of any kind of independent publishing. For this week’s And Finally, we’re shouting out our friends over at the Cowley Rag, East Oxford’s premier zine for “bad art for the community”. For three years, the Rag has been printing local submissions of art, poetry, essays, photography and more, and it’s events like their “No Ragrets” Fundraiser that keep every single copy absolutely free.
The fundraiser will be hosted at the Nest on July 18th, in association with local music collective YWMP. There’ll be crafty stalls on hand alongside live musical guests Aftercare and Slunk and a lineup of DJs on the decks until late in the evening. Buying tickets helps fund printing costs and makes sure everyone gets access to this lovely archive of Oxford creativity; you can get yours here.
Image credits: Leys Festival, Charlotte Barnes, Desmond Morris (ronapainting gallery), Holly Chadwick
