Oxford Playhouse 70th Anniversary Events

A Family Affair

Presented at Oxford Playhouse on Sunday 26 July 2009 with Timothy West, Prunella Scales and Samuel West In support of the Oxford Playhouse 70th Anniversary Campaign.

Programme:

  • The Importance of Being Ernest - Oscar Wilde
  • Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
  • It's Alright If I Do It - Terence Frisby
  • Hamlet - William Shakespeare
  • The Birthday Party - Harold Pinter
  • A Number - Caryl Churchill
  • When We Are Married - J.B. Priestley
  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - Edward Albee
  • Family Voices - Harold Pinter
  • You are old, Father William - Lewis Carroll
  • Cupid's Nightcap - Anon

In October 2008, Oxford Playhouse celebrated seven decades in its Beaumont Street home. Many of Britain's legendary actors, dancers and entertainers have delighted audiences over the years. The roll call includes John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Sybil Thorndike, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Alan Badel, Barbara Jefford, Felicity Kendal, Prunella Scales, Timothy West, Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack, Rowan Atkinson, Roy Kinnear (and Rory Kinnear) and many, many more.

The theatre has also been a hotbed of university talent, launching the careers of Tyrone Guthrie, Peter Brook, Kenneth Tynan, Dudley Moore, Mel Smith, Rowan Atkinson, Maria Aitken and others - not to mention Edward Heath, Joanna Trollope and Shirley Williams who also trod the boards as students.

Oxford Playhouse has a major place at the heart of British theatre history. Join us in an entertaining tribute to one of the oldest and most popular repertory theatres in the country.


Playhouse montage of shows and events

Want To Know More?


Oxford Playhouse: High and Low Drama in a University City

If you interested in Playhouse history, you might like to read Oxford Playhouse: High and Low Drama in a University City by Don Chapman, which gives a comprehensive account of the theatre's history. Don, former arts critic for the Oxford Mail and Oxford Times, has researched the Playhouse for more than a decade. His book was published in October 2008 by University of Hertfordshire Press to coincide with the Playhouse 70th Anniversary and is available, priced £19 from bookshops and the Playhouse foyer.

Press Links

  • Coverage from BBC Oxford including video/audio interviews.
  • 70th News from Oxford Mail
  • Feature by Giles Woodforde for Oxford Times pdf