WHAT’S ON GUIDE AUTUMN 2021
The BT is back! After being forced to close our doors on the first day of our BT Spring 2020 season, we are delighted to be opening them again with a jam-packed season of inspiring performance for all ages. Themes of journey and identity run through the season, opening with Victor Esses’ Where To Belong, followed by new work from Edith Alibec, Made In China, Teuchter Theatre, Paper Mug, Victoria Firth, Haste Theatre and Sign Dance Collective. We’ve also supported Oxfordshire based Mandala Theatre to open and tour their new play Though This Be Madness, co-created with young people across the county. Shows specially for families and primary schools include our co-production of Josephine, and Oxford favourites Roustabout Theatre (One Small Step), return with their latest show - This Island’s Mine. Babies (and their families) shouldn’t miss our multi-sensory experience Kaleidoscope. And, of course, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the BT Christmas production - Home In Time for Christmas promises to be full of festive spirit!
We look forward to seeing you soon - you’ll love our newly refurbished bar area! Laura Elliot, Programme Director, Oxford Playhouse and the Burton Taylor Studio
THEATRE Victor Esses and CASA (in partnership with Counterpoint Arts) presents
WHERE TO BELONG
What makes a home for you? Victor Esses is Jewish-Lebanese, Brazilian and gay. In 1975, Victor's mother fled Lebanon as a refugee of the Civil War. In 2017, Victor visits Lebanon for the first time. In 2018 he travels from London to São Paulo to show his partner the city of his childhood. A tender, moving autobiographical story an exploration of how to find your place in a rich and complex world of identities.
Mandala Theatre in association with Oxford Playhouse presents
THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS
Tue 7 Sep 7.30pm Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 14+
★★★★
“Something that will stay with you.” BritishTheatre.com
Wed 8 to Sat 11 Sep
A new play written by Avaes Mohammad, directed by Yasmin Sidhwa Plugged into headphones - a world of spoken word, music, podcasts and rap. Tachia, Cass and Mickey are outside the mainstream, labelled, boxed in. Can they escape this life and find a way out or will they get drawn into the dangers lurking, waiting to pounce on the vulnerable and isolated? Co-created with young people Though this be Madness uses dynamic physical theatre to present a moving and authentic exploration of what lies behind the headlines. Can we change the story?
Evenings Wed, Thu, Fri & Sat 7.30pm Matinee Sat 2.30pm Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 14+
A Made In China production
SUPER DUPER CLOSE UP
Mon 13 & Tue 14 Sep 7.30pm
Conceived, written and performed by Jess Latowicki
Tickets £10
Get set for a looping, live-filmed ride, through the anxieties of an unsettlingly ordinary woman’s existence.
Discounts £8
Age guideline 16+
Photo: John Hunter at RULER
A tragicomic and hypnotic explosion of film, movement and words, Super Duper Close Up asks what a girl is to do when everything is virtual, and virtually everything is for sale.
Post show talk Mon
★★★★ The Stage
WHY THE CHILD IS COOKING IN THE POLENTA by Edith Alibec
Wed 15 & Thu 16 Sep 7.30pm
A family of famous circus artists flee communist Romania for the promise of a better life in the West, knowing they can’t ever return home.
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 12+
The youngest daughter tells her candid, funny and bittersweet story of growing up on the road, without knowing what home is.
Teuchter Theatre presents
UMBRELLA MAN
Fri 17 & Sat 18 Sep 7.30pm Umbrella Man is a show about a young man from the north of Scotland who tries to prove the Earth is flat. A criticallyacclaimed story of friendship, loss and conspiracy, Umbrella Man will take you on a journey to the outer limits of common sense, and beyond.
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 14+
★★★★
“Strikingly memorable.” The Stage
The coolest, smallest place to see theatre, HOW TO BE AMAZINGLY HAPPY! by Victoria Firth
Victoria is on a quest. She wants happiness and she wants it now. Join her as she asks – what do you do with the rest of your life when you don’t have kids? It’s Tales of the Unexpected meets Miranda in a big hearted, big thinking show of storytelling and physical comedy.
IN BETWEEN SPACES Five characters perambulate in a world outside of time. Are they the first humans on Earth? Are they the last? Are they even human or just echoes of a digital mind? Real-life experiences become tangled within digital interactions, their paths mirror one another as they criss-cross between the screen and real-time. This show is fully accessible to deaf and hearing audiences.
KALEIDOSCOPE
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 14+
Fri 24 Sep 7.30pm
SignDance Collective presents
Filskit Theatre presents
Tue 21 & Wed 22 Sep 7.30pm
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 16+
Sat 25 Sep 10.30am, 11.30am, 1.30pm & 3pm
Blink. Blink again. What do you see? Day by day your world is filling up with colour, little one. Reds and blues, yellows and greens. Mirrors, lights, colours and sounds... the world is your Kaleidoscope. Inspired by research into how a baby’s sense of sight develops and how they begin to categorise colour, Kaleidoscope is brought to life for you and your baby. Paper Mug Theatre presents
I LOST MY VIRGINITY TO CHOPIN’S NOCTURNE IN B FLAT MINOR Ollie and Laura are coming home after a meal, and they’ve been arguing for quite a while. Maybe they’ve been arguing for hours. Maybe they’ve been arguing for years. Maybe they’ll be together forever. ‘Chopin’ explores identity, devotion and dependency between two people who hate to love each other.
Tickets Baby + parent/carer ticket £10 Additional adult ticket £5
Age guideline 6 to 18 months
Sun 26 Sep 7.30pm Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 14+
comedy and family shows in Oxford Haste Theatre presents
EX-BATTS AND BROILERS
Mon 27 & Tue 28 Sep 7.30pm
Two delightful chickens, Gail and Gemma, take you on an egg-citing and cutthroat journey through friendship and chickenhood. Watch them compete for your affections, and vote for your favourite to visit pastures new. A high energy moving story of female friendship and industrial meat farming, told through dark comedy, clown, physical storytelling and live music. Roustabout Theatre presents
THIS ISLAND’S MINE
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Age guideline 12+
Sat 2 & Sun 3 Oct 11am & 2pm
Ariel was always here. Caliban was born here. Stephano has just arrived. They all claim ‘This Island’s Mine’. But do any of them have that right? What happens if they can’t agree? Inspired by The Tempest, Roustabout present a playful and daring exploration of the place we choose to call home. From the creators of Luna & One Small Step.
Tickets £8 Discounts £6
Age guideline 7+
The Egg, Wales Millennium Centre and Oxford Playhouse’s co-production of Holm Theatre’s
JOSEPHINE
Josephine Baker. The little girl from Missouri who became a 20th Century icon. Dancer, actor, activist, campaigner, spy and mother to the multicultural Rainbow Tribe, Josephine broke the mould and high-kicked the pieces to the kerb. Almost 50 years after her death, Café Josephine, a down-at-heel New York diner dedicated to her memory, faces closure. Nobody remembers Josephine, who she was, what she did, what she stood for. Was it the menu? The décor? Or Jack and Marie, siblings and co-owners of the café, who have run her legacy into the ground? Either way, Josephine just can’t allow that.
Tue 5 to Sat 9 Oct Tue Wed & Thu 10.30am & 1.30pm Fri 1.30pm & 7pm Sat 11am & 2pm
Tickets £8 Discounts £6
Age guideline 8+ Post show talk Thu
An Oxford Playhouse, E. Warr & A. Lui Co-production
Thu 9 to Fri 31 Dec 2021 Kayla’s mum is away a lot, but Kayla doesn’t mind. She’s got Snowy, her teddy, and Grandpa - plus Mum always sends postcards. But when, on Christmas Eve, she discovers that Mum can’t make it home for Christmas, Kayla decides to go and find her. Join Kayla and Snowy as they journey around the world, finding adventure and making new friends with the animals they meet along the way! Will Kayla and Snowy find Mum? And how will they get home in time for Christmas?
Written & Created by Eleanor Warr and Alex Lui © Illustrations by Kati Lacey
Show times & tickets Please see website for full schedule and prices
Age guideline 3 to 8
Around the corner at OP A Northern Stage, The Young’uns & Harbourfront Centre Toronto Co-production
Tue 28 to Thu 30 Sep
THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY LONGSTAFF Featuring songs from the original album alongside new material and stunning animation, Teesside folk trio The Young’uns perform a new, theatrical version of The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff a musical celebration of northern working class activism. This is the true story of one man’s journey from poverty and unemployment in Stockton on Tees, through the Hunger Marches of the 1930s, the mass trespass movement and the Battle of Cable Street, to fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. David Pugh, Told by an Idiot and Theatre Royal Bath Productions present
Tickets from £10 Discounts available
Age guideline 12+
Tue 5 to Sat 9 Oct
CHARLIE AND STAN
In 1910, the then unknown Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel set sail from Liverpool to New York as part of Fred Karno’s famous music hall troupe. On the voyage, they shared a cabin, they shared comedy routines and they shared laughter...
Tickets from £10 Discounts available
Age guideline 10+
Inspired by real life events, Told by an Idiot’s acclaimed production of Charlie and Stan is the remarkable story of the greatest double act that nearly was.
Jacksons Lane & Lost in Translation presents
LUMINOSA A CIRCUS CABARET
Photography by Luke MacGregor
Open your eyes and let the light flood in... Luminosa is a brand-new circus cabaret for the 21st century! A sizzling, scintillating night of daring feats with fun and fantastic performance. Expect cutting-edge dance in the sky, jaw-dropping juggling, tipsy hoop swirling, live music, laughter and much more in this feel-good show from some of the country’s leading performers.
Wed 27 Oct Tickets from £10 Discounts available
Age guideline 12+
Coming Soon... Spring 2022 – watch this space!
Little Soldier Productions presents
NOTHING HAPPENS (TWICE) Directed by Ursula Martínez
Mercè and Patricia always knew that making theatre would be hard work, but when they had to dress up as flamingos in a shopping centre to make ends meet, they seriously considered giving up.
Tickets £10 Discounts £8
Will their shared dream of staging Waiting for Godot get them back on track?
YOUR VISIT Top reasons to visit the BT: 1. Most tickets are still £10 or under 2. Oxford’s most intimate theatre space 3. See the most exciting new and emerging artists 4. And the best touring fringe shows from Edinburgh, London and beyond
5. Regular family gems, plus a playroom for little people 6. A new (bigger!) well-stocked bar – beer, wine, soft drinks and ice cream that you can take into the show.
Box Office: 01865 305305 • www.oxfordplayhouse.com Tickets are available to purchase from our website or on the door of the studio up until the show start time, subject to ticket availability. Tickets can be also be purchased over the phone during OP Box Office opening times. Discounts are available on most shows for under 18s, full-time students, Universal Credit, NHS Staff, BECTU and Equity members and those with access requirements. These shows have been created here in the county, either by Oxford Playhouse or by local artists, amateur and professional.
Theatre and events especially for families. Come and play in the foyer area before and after the show.
ACCESS FACILITIES The studio is accessed via two flights of stairs. We have a stair climber for wheelchair users. If you require this facility, please book with the Box Office at least three days in advance and inform them while booking.