It's almost Spring, and we're celebrating with a six section special! art, theatre, family, festivals and more!
The Play's the Thing
Our theatrical quartet sees a pair of classic texts adapted and two exciting new pieces. Magdalen College School bring an eerie new take on Mary Shelley’s classic horror, Frankenstein, with 40 young actors and creatives taking over the Pegasus Theatre.
Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s coming-of-age rock musical Spring Awakening, adapting the 19th-century German play, is Oxford Brookes Musical Theatre Society’s latest production, exploring adolescent anarchy and newfound freedoms.
Some new writing arrives in the form of My Chat With Harold Pinter at the Old Fire Station, featuring a writer struggling to finish their play and then (sort of) turning to Harold Pinter for help. Yep, the deceased titan of post-war British theatre. Colour us intrigued.
And finally, there’s a fast-paced comedy all about consumer culture from award-winning theatre company Thick Skin, asking the question ‘Have we reached Peak Stuff?’
Frankenstein: Pegasus Theatre, Fri 15th & Sat 16th Mar, 7.30pm, £10 (£5)
Spring Awakening: Oxford Brookes Student Union Hall, Thu 14th to Sat 16th Mar, 7.30pm, £10-12
My Chat With Harold Pinter: Old Fire Station, Fri 15th & Sat 16th Mar, 7.30pm, £12.50 to 16.50
Peak Stuff: North Wall, Tue 19th Mar, 8pm, £10 to 20
Family Fun
We’ve still got a while to go before the Easter holidays, but that doesn’t mean we’re short on ways to entertain the tots. The Story Museum will be hosting an access-friendly day on Saturday offering free access to all their iconic museum spaces, from The Whispering Wood to the Enchanted Library, with specially adjusted sound and lighting for little visitors in need of a quieter space.
For budding builders, the White House pub hosts Lego Club every Tuesday, with a huge variety of blocks, characters and more to let your imagination run wild. While there’s a task each week, whatever you create is up to you - and you can enjoy a slice of delicious pizza while you play!
Or create a work of art together at Blossoming Wards Free Art Workshop. Facilitated by Oxford-based artists working across a range of media, the project is an all-abilities class with tools and paper provided, where you’ll go through the fundamentals of line and shading before drawing from nature and composing a piece based on a subject of your choice. Children accompanied by adults are very welcome.
Finally, if a green thumb runs in your family, you can’t go wrong with one of Cutteslowe Greenhouse’s Community Work Parties. Learn new horticultural skills as you help prepare the orchard’s trees for the autumn harvest, led by an experienced facilitator - all levels welcome, just drop in!
Access-friendly Day: The Story Museum, Sat 16th Mar, 9:30am-4:30pm. Free.
Lego Club: White House by Tap Social, Tues 19th Mar, 3:30pm - 5:30pm. Free.
Blossoming Wards: Jericho Community Centre, Sat 16th Mar, 3pm - 5pm. Free.
Community Work Party: Cutteslowe Greenhouse, Sun 17th Mar, 10am - 12pm. Free.
Matters of the Art
There are three free, fascinating new art exhibitions to see this month, all playing out on gallery walls but vastly differing in themes.
Closing soonest is Mychael Barratt and Trevor Price’s joint exhibition at the Sarah Wiseman Gallery, simply titled New Collections . One section of Barratt’s work imagines renowned artists' pets, painted in pastiches of their styles. Another is a trio of woodcut portraits of a young van Gough exploring London.
Meanwhile, Price’s work begins with nature photography, which he then pixelates into a slight abstract and alters on a perspex sheet, creating something delicate and otherworldly.
Over at Parsons x Payne, Oxford-born artist Daniel MacCarthy’s new collection of paintings Keep on Trucking compares and contrasts the vast wilderness he saw while on the road with lorry parks, service stations, shipping containers and increasing globalisation as a whole.
Finally, from Saturday Modern Art Oxford will be playing host to Frieda Toranzo Jaeger’s collection A future in the light of darkness. Vivid, intricate embroidery meets multi-panel paintings in this set, which imagines a queer, eco-friendly future, and mixes it with imagery of commercial high-tech objects like spaceships and cars.
Mychael Barratt & Trevor Price | New Collections: Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Summertown. Until Fri 29th Mar. Tue - Sat, 10am -5.30pm. Free, no booking required.
Daniel MacCarthy | Keep on Trucking: Parsons x Payne, North Parade. Until Fri 19th Apr. Tue - Fri 10am- 6pm, Sat 10am - 4pm. Free, no booking required.
Frieda Toranzo Jaeger | A future in the light of darkness: Modern Art Oxford. Sat 16th Mar - Sun 26th May. 10am-5pm Mon - Sat, 12-5pm Sun. Free, no booking required.
Infinite Fest
Besides the ever-popular Oxford Literary Festival, which runs from this Saturday until the 24th of March, this week sees the 2024 edition of not one, but two other intriguing, educational and horizon-broadening Festivals, beginning with this year’s Oxford Human Rights Festival. In keeping with this year’s theme of ‘Break Barriers, Build Bridges’, the festival’s programme features a fashion swap for human rights within the fashion industry, a discussion of how to tackle food injustice in Oxford, a panel on building solidarity with the civilians of Palestine, and film screenings including Ken Loach’s The Old Oak and Mstyslav Chernov’s Oscar-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol.
And if you’re feeling experimental, ATOM Festival in Abingdon-on-Thames presents a week of activities for kids and adults alike to learn more about how science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) can change the world for the better. With a science Market Day including palaeontology demonstrations and a presentation on creating a mini supernova, and talks including the Peagram Lecture from Professor Cath Green (OBE) on the impact and legacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, it’s a week for inquiring minds of all ages.
Oxford Human Rights Festival: various venues across Oxford, Fri 15th Mar - Fri 22 Mar. All events are free.
ATOM Festival: various venues across Abingdon-on-Thames, Sat 16th - Sun 24th Mar. Ticket prices vary.
Movie Night
It's the weekend after the Oscars but cinema is never short of new releases. Ethan Coen's new film, Drive-Away Dolls is a star-heavy (Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon), laugh-filled caper, as two lesbian friends' road trip gets interrupted by criminal escapades.
Monster, also out this week, is the latest from Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters). Following three people after an incident at a school, this powerful drama won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.
And a pair of classics are back in cinemas this week. At the Ultimate Picture Palace, you can check out Lynne Ramsay’s second directorial work, Morvern Callar, which explores the aftermath of a Scottish woman’s partner’s death. Meanwhile, the Picturehouse has a gem from Cartoon Saloon, showing their Medieval Irish folk tale, The Secret of Kells.
Finally for the horror fans out there Late Night with the Devil is a doozy of a watch, as a TV show in the 70s finds itself in a spot-of-bother when the hosts dabble with the occult on Halloween Night.
Drive-Away Dolls: Phoenix Picturehouse, Odeon George Street, Vue, Curzon Oxford
Monster: Phoenix Picturehouse
Morvern Callar: Ultimate Picture Palace
The Secret of Kells: Phoenix Picturehouse
Late Night with the Devil : Phoenix Picturehouse
And Finally
Calling all artists! OVADA is now accepting proposals for their Artweeks exhibition, in honour of their 20th anniversary. Both individual and collaborative submissions are acceptable, all forms of media are welcome. They are particularly interested in larger pieces that make use of their spacious warehouse gallery. Find out more and submit your proposals here!
Image credits: Thick Skin, Ravi Palwe, Mychael Barratt, Ousa Chea, OVADA