Beaumont Street will be abuzz this festive season with 90s Britpop hits as Oxford Playhouse opens its sparkling pantomime, Dick Whittington, tonight!

Featuring all your favourite pantomime heroes and villains, here's a sneak peak of the show ahead of the curtain going up!

This Playhouse pantomime sees Dick Whittington and her magical cat, Fairy Bowbells, travel from Gloucester Green Market to London Town to rid the capital of the terrible Liam Rattagher and his plague of rats.

In this brand-new take on the classic tale, Oxford Playhouse captures the zeitgeist of the ever-cool 1990s. Get ready to be transported to Oxenford’s Top Pop, where you’ll meet rival pop bands Boy Bland and 4EVA, and hear a playlist of vibrant Britpop bangers from the iconic era of Oasis, the Spice Girls, The Pet Shop Boys and Steps.

Following the venue’s recent success at the 2025 Pantomime Awards – where Sleeping Beauty received the Special Recognition Award for Innovation – writer and director Toby Hulse returns for his fourth Playhouse pantomime.

“Whilst you will see all the traditional elements that you would expect in a pantomime, the shows that I have done with Oxford Playhouse strive to do things differently, in new and fresh ways. However, the single biggest factor that makes Playhouse pantos so special is the audience. The Oxford audience is energetic, enthusiastic, a little bit rowdy, and definitely there in the theatre to have a good time. Without the audience, a Playhouse pantomime would not be what it is.”