Oxford Playhouse today announces its varied and exciting autumn season of events for its Main Stage and Burton Taylor Studio, as well as a creative programme of Take Part opportunities for all ages and abilities.

The full upcoming programme includes a brand-new ground-breaking play from associate partner Headlong, productions from visiting award-winning theatre companies and the return of Offbeat Festival and the annual Oxford Playhouse Pantomime.

One of the highlights of the autumn season is the smash-hit Heathers the Musical which makes its way to Oxford direct from the West End. Following its celebrated seasons at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and @sohoplace, with record-breaking runs at London’s The Other Palace, The Playhouse is delighted to welcome this WhatsOnStage ‘Best New Musical’ winner. Based on one of the greatest cult teen films of all time, which featured Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in starring roles, Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy’s high-octane, black comedy, rock musical has been delighting audiences all over the country and is now back with a bang! The 2024 class of Westerberg includes Jenna Innes (Les Misérables) as Veronica Sawyer and Keelan McAuley (Clueless, Grease) as Jason “J.D” Dean. Starring as the titular ‘Heathers’ are Esme Bowdler (ITV’s I Have a Dream finalist) as the formidable Heather Chandler, Sedona Sky (professional debut) as Heather Duke and Daisy Twells (Heathers) as Heather McNamara.

Following the announcement of its associate partnership with pioneering theatre company Headlong earlier this year, Oxford Playhouse is delighted to host them for their landmark production of A Raisin in the Sun as they relocate back to Oxford where the company was formed 50 years ago. Directed by the stellar Tinuke Craig (Jitney, The Color Purple) and written by Lorraine Hansberry, the first Black woman to bring a play to Broadway, this classic family drama full of humour and heart remains relevant and powerful in a world still divided by inequality.

The Playhouse team are already gearing up for this year’s pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, with Toby Hulse both writing and directing the Oxford Playhouse production. In this festive experience for all the family, audiences will meet Aurora, the teenage princess who pricks her finger and time travels across 1000 years. The spellbinding production includes all the loveable (and downright boo-able) panto heroes and villains in a toe-tapping extravaganza with a generous deeley boppered sprinkling of 80s nostalgia.

The festive fun continues around the corner at the Burton Taylor Studio, as it’s transformed into Santa’s Workshop for another year, with the Oxford Playhouse production Hurry Up Father Christmas! From the creative team that brought last year’s show Dear Father Christmas comes this interactive show for children aged 3 to 6, written by Creation Theatre’s Helen Eastman and directed by Samuel Rayner. All performances are Relaxed, meaning it’s the perfect environment to introduce your little ones to the magic of theatre.

Other family highlights this season include the return of Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, adapted for the stage by David Wood, and a visit from Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company with their retelling of Pinocchio, combining the story’s classic elements with outstanding puppetry and original music.

Later in the year, David Wood returns with Floella Benjamin’s award-winning and iconic story Coming to England, bursting into life on stage with music, storytelling, and humour. It follows Floella’s story as she emigrates to England as a child, where she is subjected to the racism and intolerance in 1960s London. The musical sees how a young Floella overcame adversity to become Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham.

As a co-producer of the original Olivier award-winning production, Oxford Playhouse is delighted to see the homecoming of Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) early next year. The irreverent and joyful show returns to the Playhouse stage after a triumphant run in the West End. The retelling of Jane Austen’s iconic love story features a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.

Once again, this season Oxford Playhouse works with University of Oxford student producers to co-produce a new show on the Main Stage. Clarendon Productions brings Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses to life, adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton. In this production, mentored by The Playhouse team, the student company merge cinematography with live performance to capture a modern perspective on the bad behaviour of high society. A tale of seduction and treachery among aristocrats in pre-revolutionary France, this classic drama – adapted into the Oscar-winning film Dangerous Liaisons and then retold in the 90s cult film Cruel Intentions – explores decadent sexuality, manipulation and a ruthless battle for power.

Direct from a run at the Edinburgh International Festival, the unique 1927 present their latest show Please right back. The award-winning theatre company returns to Oxford after their celebrated run of Golem in 2017. Blending animation, original music and bold storytelling, the play blurs reality and fantasy worlds together as two children deal with the disappearance of their father, with letters as his only means of communication to tell them what has happened.

Pioneers of theatre for young adults, Pilot Theatre brings an electrifying adaptation of Manjeet Mann’s multi-award-winning novel Run, Rebel to the stage. After the success of their adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses at Oxford Playhouse last year, Pilot Theatre now bring a landmark piece directed by Tessa Walker. The vivid production follows protagonist Amber, a talented runner, as she tries to escape her family's rules and expectations, as well as her own fears.

Following the success of the recent critically acclaimed BBC television series, Sir Ian Rankin’s much-loved detective Rebus makes his Oxford stage debut in a brand-new production of Rebus: A Game Called Malice by Ian Rankin and Simon Reade. Loveday Ingram directs Gray O’Brien in the titular role of John Rebus, Abigail Thaw as Stephanie Jeffries, and Billy Hartman as Jack Fleming in this thrilling murder mystery created exclusively for the stage.

Offbeat is back, this time in a newly autumnal slot. Brought to the city by Oxford Playhouse, the Old Fire Station and New Theatre Oxford, this Festival of Local Voices is the perfect place to see something new and exciting by Oxfordshire-based artists, a blind date of sorts with a show you could fall in love with. And – lucky you – it’s right on your doorstep. With shows at all partnering venues, as well as outdoors, and a whole host of workshops to join on Gloucester Green, there are lots of ways to get involved and join the fun! The full festival programme can be found at www.offbeatoxford.co.uk

This season, The Playhouse also partners with IF: Oxford Science and Ideas Festival for fun and inspiring talks and performances, linking the deepest questions in technology and innovation with arts and culture. As part of the month-long festival which visits an array of venues around Oxford, The Playhouse will host four events over two days…

The first day features Braintastic: Am I Normal? which investigates the differences in people and population through genetics, evolution and brain plasticity, and The Immune Mind: The Curious New Science of Mind, Body and Microbe, hosting Oxford’s Academic Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry Dr Monty Lyman to discuss assumptions made around mental health and the human body.

On the second day, The Society of Radiological Protection will look at The Science of Superheroes, delving into the intricacies of radioactivity and the links it has to superheroes. Comedian and cartoonist Mike Capozzola also returns with May the Farce be with You, a multimedia show that lovingly mocks and celebrates everything related to Star Wars.

The Annual Charles Simonyi Lecture returns to The Playhouse with Professor Marcus du Sautoy and Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Director of the Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. The lecture will look at Consciousness in Humans and in Other Things in which Anil will shed light on these questions through the idea of the brain as an embodied ‘prediction machine’ and explore the implications of this view for technology, especially AI, and for society, in terms of perceptual diversity.

Marcus du Sautoy, the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, brings his ground-breaking new play The Axiom of Choice.

As always, The Playhouse hosts a brand-new line up of comedy and one-night acts on its Main Stage, packed full of well-known acts from radio and screen, as well as Fringe favourites and inventive tribute performances.

As seen and heard on The Mash Report and Taskmaster, Nish Kumar brings his brand-new politically charged stand-up show, Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe to the stage; Rachel Parris returns with her new show, Poise; Maisie Adam is due a performance review five years into the job, so she’s going on tour with a brand-new show, Appraisal; Scotland’s queen of comedy Fern Brady (Taskmaster, Live at The Apollo, Roast Battle) makes her debut on the Main Stage with her brand-new show. I Gave You Milk to Drink and Alfie Moore sets to thrill Oxford audiences with his new show A Face For Radio.

Audiences can also look forward to the fast-paced gem Buffy Revamped. In just seventy minutes, comedian Brendan Murphy brings the entire 144 episodes of the hit 90s TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to the stage. Told from the perspective of Spike, this hilarious pop-culture parody goes on the road following its award-winning Edinburgh Fringe premiere and sold-out national tours.

Paying glorious homage to the music of one of the most influential voices in British music, Sarah-Louise Young (Fascinating Aïda, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical) brings her critically acclaimed show An Evening Without Kate Bush to The Playhouse.

Moving into 2025, Artistic Patron of Oxford Playhouse Stewart Lee returns for another year; this time, with his brand-new show Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf. Lee shares his stage with a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of North America who hates humanity.

With her unlikely pivot from daytime TV’s queen of mental arithmetic to outspoken political activist, Carol Vorderman takes to the Oxford stage in Live & Outspoken! Marking the publication of her new book: NOW WHAT? On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain, Carol shares her characteristic outspokenness and irrepressible sense of humour live with audiences.

Improvisation meets musical comedy this autumn in the Olivier Award-winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Created on the spot through audience suggestions, each show is packed with drama, dazzling dance routines and catchy melodies. The Showstoppers have been impressing audiences with their polished improvisation across the globe, including a critically acclaimed West Run and fifteen years at Edinburgh Fringe.

After last year’s sell-out success of A Joyous Jamaican Journey, Rush Theatre Company returns to Oxford with their outstanding production of The King Reggae: The Man – The Music. Featuring over twenty of Bob Marley’s iconic hits (including One Love, No Woman No Cry and Is This Love), performed live on stage by The King of Reggae Band, the company tell the remarkable story of the man who brought Reggae music to the world.

From the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall, prepare for a special evening of jigs and percussive clog dancing as Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening take to the Main Stage. More music includes a visit from choirmaster and presenter, Gareth Malone who brings an intimate musical odyssey to the Oxford stage in Sing-Along-A-Gareth – My Life Through Song.

Round the corner from the Main Stage, the Burton Taylor Studio provides a stellar programme of new writing and fringe work.

The packed season includes an incredibly moving depiction of dementia in Remember Me by Lekha Desai Morrison, and ghost stories from E.F. Benson in Night Terrors, directed by Gareth Armstrong and performed by Gerard Logan. The remarkable life of Harriet Quimby, the first woman to conquer the skies solo and soar across the English Channel, is told in What’s Next by Middle-Weight Theatre, as well as a funny, poignant and playful show The Duke which achieved Shôn Dale Jones a Fringe First Award. The studio also welcomes Live Wire Theatre for their production of Our Little Hour, which follows the story of pioneering hero Walter Tull.

Oxford Playhouse is also delighted to partner with Tiny Ideas Festival, as Little Bean Theatre brings their family show Boh Boh Finds Home to the studio. Audiences can expect an English-Cantonese bilingual interactive performance that brings a fun-filled intergalactic sensory adventure to life.

In the new year, the BT Studio welcomes back its regular poet, Luke Wright, with his latest show JOY!, and a double bill of new plays by Tall Story Theatre in Lessons from History.

Oxford Playhouse also relaunches its Take Part programme for autumn, with opportunities for all to get involved.

Monday morning musical sessions for ages 5 and under will return in Hey Diddle Diddle, a perfect introduction to music, dance and performance. KEEN Drama Workshops will also be hosted at the St Clement’s Centre, Oxford, offering inclusive drop-in drama sessions for disabled and non-disabled participants.

The Playhouse will also offer platforms for all ages to create theatre and perform, learning new skills and developing them with professional facilitators. Playhouse Youth Theatre returns this Autumn for ages 12 to 16, as well as Playhouse Young Company for ages 17 to 25, and Playhouse Adult Company for ages 26+.

For those later in life, Social Thursdays provide a welcoming, supportive space for people to come together and have a go at creative activities. The curated programme covers various art forms, including talks, dance, singing, play-reading and much more.

Browse our full What's On Guide here...