Daily Info's recommended events for the week ahead, Thursday 19th February - Wednesday 25th February
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Inside this week's EP: ghosts and modernist authors causing frights, moonrises and sunsets, and a twin-city celebration...
It’s a dark and brooding week in theatres across Oxford, starting with a two-week run of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which kicks off tomorrow. Usually the Playhouse plays host to visitors, but this is a true homegrown show, directed by Mike Tweddle and starring Katy Stephens and Matthew Pidgeon as the warring couple. It's the small hours, the alcohol is flowing, the gloves are off, the lies are about to be exposed. (For a brand new play on a similar theme, in the BT late slot next week you can catch Amelie Roscoe’s Perudo . It’s the small hours, the alcohol is flowing, the dice are out. Bluffing and deception may be vital for the game they’re playing. but it’s not good for their friendships.)
Over in the New Theatre, it’s the small hours, the dinner guests are disagreeing, but this time about ghosts. Jenny and Sam have moved into a new house and it’s great except for the strange noises at 2:22 every night. Danny Robins’ play is fresh from terrifying West End audiences, and chills are guaranteed even if ghost sightings are not…
In the North Wall, it’s the wee small hours (sensing a theme here?), the alcohol and wild boar are plentiful, and the hosts of the feast seem to be going mad: one thinks she can’t get the blood off her hands, the other sees daggers and his dead friend before him. Yes, it’s Macbeth, in Flabbergast Theatre’s terrifying adaptation with puppetry, clowning and lots of blood.
If you’ve made it this far, you’ll be wanting some light relief. Thank goodness then for House of Improv, who will stage a never-before-seen but also never-to-be-seen-again World Premiere every night in next week’s BT early slot. Help shape the plot with your wildest suggestions, laugh till it makes some sort of sense, and go every night secure in the knowledge it’ll be different every time.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Oxford Playhouse, Fri 20th Feb - Sat 7th March, 7pm (matinees 1.15pm most Thu & Sats, no Sunday performances). Tickets £15 - £52.
Perudo: Burton Taylor Studio, Tue 24th - Sat 28th Feb, 9.30pm. Tickets: £8 (concessions £6).
2:22 A Ghost Story: New Theatre, Mon 23rd - Sat 28th Feb, 7.30pm + 2.30pm matinee Wed & Sat. Tickets from £15.
Macbeth: North Wall Arts Centre, Wed 25th - Thu 26th Feb, 7.30pm. Tickets: £16 - £20.
World Premiere: An Improvised Comedy : Burton Taylor Studio, Tue 24th - Sat 28th Feb, 7.30pm. Tickets: £8 (concessions £6).
Are you thirsting to hear music from earlier centuries? Then look no further, as Keble College is hosting their annual early music festival in Keble College Chapel (one of the largest and most ornate chapels in Oxford), and the O'Reilly Theatre. The Festival will be hosting a wide range of performers, from Oxford students to award winning ensembles, and feature a wealth of period instruments. For those interested in playing as well as listening, they will be hosting a Baroque string workshop and a day-long workshop for voices and instruments.
Continuing in the classical vein, baritone player Felix Gygli, multi-award winning member of the prestigious International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House, and well-known pianist Sholto Kynoch will showcase a programme of Shakespeare settings by Korngold, Quilter and Rautavaara, alongside Jonathan Dove's Three Tennyson Songs and Schumann's Liederkreis op.24. The event is organised by Oxford International Song Festival , which will also be hosting their Spring Song series next month, with a programme of English song by the great tenor Mark Padmore and outstanding pianist Libby Burgess among the shows to look forward to. You can find the full programme of events on the Song Festival’s website.
And a very special anniversary takes place in Oxford Town Hall this week as Oxford celebrates 80 years of being twinned with the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. Saturday will see a gala concert bringing together representatives and musicians from both cities, with appearances from the Orchestra of St. Johns and a repertoire of operatic and orchestral favourites from Puccini and Verdi to Tchaikovsky and Elgar. Gefeliciteerd to all involved!
Keble Early Music Festival: Keble College Chapel/O’Reilly Theatre, Tues 24th - Sat 28th Feb, various times. Tickets £0 - £40, event dependent.
Song at Wolfson: Songs by Schumann, Korngold and Dove: Wolfson College, Thurs 26th Feb, 6pm. Tickets £17 (U35s £10).
Gala Concert: Celebrating 80 Years of Twinning Between Oxford and Leiden: Oxford Town Hall, Sat 21st Feb, 7pm (doors 6.30pm). Tickets £10-20
Our cinematic offerings this week range from the harrowing to the uplifting, beginning with the pressure-cooker comedy-drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Charting exhausted therapist Linda’s increasingly desperate attempts to manage both her erratic clients and her young daughter’s feeding disorder, the film’s hectic aura of guilt, stress and ramping tension has already earned its star Rose Byrne a Best Actress Oscar nod and has been described (positively, we think) as “Uncut Gems for mums”.
A quieter, but no less impactful odyssey awaits us in The President’s Cake , the directorial debut from Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi. In 1990s Iraq, young Lamia is tasked by her school with baking a cake to celebrate the birthday of Saddam Hussein. Her quest to find the scarce ingredients takes her on a labyrinthine journey through the streets of the city, where her encounters with its colourful residents paint a vivid picture of life during wartime.
Speaking of Labyrinth, kids and grown ups alike get ready to do the Magic Dance as the Ultimate Picture Palace screens the Jim Henson classic for Kino Kids this Sunday. Follow a young girl’s quest to save her brother from the whimsical denizens of the labyrinth, led by David Bowie as Goblin King Jareth with the biggest hair and tightest trousers you’ve ever seen. If you miss the kids' showing on Sunday (or just want to keep it a grown-up affair), there's another showing on Monday night.
And the UPP offers up another rare treat with She Taught Me Serendipity , one of four new Japanese films screened as part of its season with the Japan Foundation Touring Programme. You may expect misfit college student Konishi’s infatuation with quirky Sakurada to be a classic manic pixie dream girl narrative, but director Akiko Ohku imbues both halves of this romance with astonishing depth and interiority.
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: Phoenix Picturehouse
The President's Cake: Curzon Oxford, Phoenix Picturehouse
Labyrinth: Ultimate Picture Palace
She Taught Me Serendipity: Ultimate Picture Palace
Tuesday 17th was THE day: Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Pancake Day, the predicted start of Ramadan, Lunar New Year and Random Acts of Kindness Day. And maybe some of you organised souls got everything done in one go, eating horse-shaped pancakes in red and gold outfits, preparing for fasting and giving everything away… For everyone else, there are events ongoing, and it’s not too late to observe these high days and holidays.
Usher in the year of the Fire Horse with a big celebration at Oxford Town Hall or a week of crafts and activities at Stowe House. At Stowe there’s a Zodiac trail, craft events, and a Pocket Hug workshop, free with admission all week. These are aimed at children, for whom entry is free of charge. In Oxford city on Sunday 22nd, Oxfordshire Chinese Community & Advice Centre (OCCAC) stage their New Year Celebration in the Town Hall, an annual merriment which has been running since 1992! Everyone is invited to join in with activities like papercutting, calligraphy, dressing up in traditional costumes and eating festive food, or to watch lion and dragon dances, acrobatics, and performances of spoken word or traditional instruments Guzheng, Pipa and Jinghu.
Ramadan Mubarak to all from us at DI. If you’d like up to date local info on times the Central Oxford Mosque on Manzil Way is a great source. Check out COMS Ramadan 2026 page for a wealth of useful information, and they also provide daily Iftaar (including Grand Iftaar on Sunday 15th March). Students can see special arrangements for daily prayers, fasting and iftar on the Oxford University Islamic Society Ramadan page. This site also gives a nice intro to what Ramadan is all about if you would like more background. And for food for thought, we recommend The Ultimate Journey, an exhibition of works by a group of artists depicting the three holy sites of Islam: the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
To all who are fasting for Ramadan or making sacrifices for Lent, we salute you. Of course we’ll be back with Eid and Easter events closer to the time!
Chinese New Year Trail & Family Crafts: Stowe House (Buckingham, MK18 5EH), daily until Sun 22nd Feb, 10.30am - 4.30pm. Entry included with admission price.
Chinese New Year Celebration: Oxford Town Hall, Sun 22nd Feb, 12.30 - 4pm. Entry: £10-£18.
The Ultimate Journey: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (Marston Rd), daily until Thu 30th April, 2-3pm.
Common Ground needs your voice! With plans put forth to redevelop Wellington Square, the independent cafe and performance space risks being displaced from its current home.
Consultation is currently open for residents to share their thoughts with the city council on the impact of the refurbishments; go to the council’s website to view the planning application in full and leave a comment requesting the following:
Image credits: Oxford Playhouse (Andrew Walmsley), Keble College, Oxford Chinese Community and Advice Centre, Common Ground Oxford. And special thanks to our work experience guest editors this week, Alvin Cho and Jensen Chua!
