Oxford PLAYHOUSE

★★★★☆ This is the story of escaped criminal, Mitch Ruscitti, and his attempt to steal a priceless diamond from a bank in Minneapolis, the town where ‘everyone’s a crook’. He enlists the help of hapless p...

★★★★★ Dick Whittington is a gift to a pantomime writer when the main character's name has certain connotations and every mention gets a laugh. But Steve Marmion, the writer and director, also cleverly includes ...

★★★★☆ This is a joyous, bawdy romp which tackles some pretty unsavoury subjects. Blood is not always thicker than water and here, theatre often makes up for family dysfunction. Rice has put together a great e...

★★★★☆ Mathew Kelly is superb as Auden, suitably seedy, world weary and outrageous, with a penchant for rent boys. David Yelland's Britten is beautifully clipped and uptight, only relaxing when accompanying youn...

★★★☆☆ In many ways, this is a good play. The dialogue is sharp. The actors are given nowhere to hide – both are on stage and facing the audience for the length of the performance; there are few props and the...

★★★★★ The stars are Helene Hanff, played by Stefanie Powers and Frank Doel, played by Clive Francis. Hanff is a brusque, kind New Yorker – ‘a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books’ – who pref...

★★★★☆ We are introduced to the play by Peter Quince, the leader of the Mechanicals, who gives us a rundown of the play, pointing out any similarities to our contemporary lives (‘it’s set in Ancient Greece â...

★★★★★ Pericles, by William Shakespeare (and George Wilkins) is a play about a man on a journey. He finds love and new kingdoms, loses them and finally is reunited with them again. A lot of the action takes pl...

★★★★☆ This is a classic comedy written by John Godber back in 1984, which won awards, was made into a film and is still frequently performed today. Fingersmiths is a physical theatre company which performs 20th...

★★★★★ Enter a world of visual feasts, surreal absurdity and hilarious clowning. For this is the world of Acrobuffos, husband and wife team, Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, who create and perform their shows a...

★★★★★ This year The Playhouse has totally pulled it off with Jack in the Beanstalk. Hats off to Steve Marmion, the writer and director.This is truly a pantomime for our time, but a feel good piece of escapism ...

★★★★☆ There’s something about going to see one of Shakespeare’s comedies that is just so satisfying. You always know exactly what you’re going to get . . . All in all, this is a perfect play for a bit of...