Oxfringe 2010

Welcome to our coverage of the Oxford Fringe 2010 which is now at an end for this year. Well done to Sarah, Heather and their team for breaking the record in Oxford for number of shows and for creating a warm spirit and buzzy feel to the Oxfringe. FringeReview plans to be back next year.

We reviwed a select number of shows as well as previewing audio and text interviewing. (well worth a listen and a read).

This was our first year covering this exciting and growing festival. Our gallery of photos is worth a view.

NEW! Unmissable Audiocast interview with Oxfringe organisers, Sarah Jones and Heather Dunmore here.

REVIEWS. You can read reviews as they appear here. (A few more to go up yet).

NEW! Read Oxfringe Co-organiser Sarah Jone's' special FringeReview blog here.

FringeReview only publishes reviews of shows which reach three stars or higher. We are a Good Food Guide to Fringe theatre! A three star show or above means we recommend you see it. Read our reviews policy here. You'll love our performer and resources resources here.

We also blogged from Oxford as well as keeping our ear to the ground for news. Read Paul Levy's latest blog article which reviews this year's Oxfringe and looks ahead to Brighton Fringe.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS - OUR TOP FIVE

These were our top five theatre shows as we started our Oxfringe coverage...

1. Lady in Bed is a woman's "real life quest for love and sexual adventure and has received high acclaim beore its arrival at Oxfringe.

2. Zemblanity played to quite a few full houses in Edinburgh 2009 and their physical, oddball and knockabout clowning makes a welcome addition to the Oxford programme in 2010. "A lot of fun, skilled chaos - FringeReview 2009

3. Blue, at OFS Studio, 7-10 April 2010, 7.30 pm -  Blue is a play about depression or more specifically it is about a doctor who experiences chronic depression.  From the Fringe's own Heather Dunmore.

4. Tatchell is John Bonfiglio's new play about Oxford's Peter Tatchell, brought by the always impressive MokitaGrit.

5. We're intrigued by Oxford Playhouse Young Company's "To and Fro." "You are invited to a party at The Rookery in Old Headington, where you will enjoy an intimate and enticing journey into the bustling and secret world of the characters and images inspired by T S Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. As a party guest you will move around the house encountering the evening’s events."

INTERVIEWS

Read our interviews with performers and companies in their own words here. And listen to our audio interviews here. Just added - an audio chat with Kate Saffin on Now is the Winter, Alarum's adaptation of Richard the Third.

PLUS our unmissable audio interviews here.

POST CARD FROM JAMES WEISZ (Melons a Trois)

"Oxfringe welcomes Melons with open arms. On the streets Passersby participate in live moviemaking. Melons are in the Sweet Ents Venue, Copa Bar, George Street. Having a Blast!"

POST CARD FROM NICK BRICE

Bite-Size's director, Nick Brice and his troupe have just arrived in Oxford and Nick sends us this e- postcard...

27th March: "Flyering in the rain, sometimes cale owners react as if we were the enemy of the world. Hey, it's a Fringe Festival! Let's all make it happen! It's good for business!"

26th March: "Just seen the gardens at St John's college. Make you want to grab a Latin book, jump into a flower bed and get studying!"

25th March: "Beautiful city, even more glorious when the sun kisses the spires and the towers. As diverse an array of folks as pebbles on a beach."

24th March: "Oxfringe began today with a powerful production of Antigone at the Playhouse from Oxford's own theatre guild.  We have an enviable programme of shows from Edinburgh, Brighton, Buxton and beyond, as well as a fine display of home-grown shows. Oxfringe has not just grown very quickly over the last three years, it has attracted a sparkling array of talent and is poised to create quite a stir. Don't miss your chance to experience it! Tonight the award-winning Bite-size Soiree kick off with 2 brilliant collections of ten-minute plays at OFS Studio at 6pm and New Road Baptist Churh in Bonn Square at 8pm!"

22nd March: "Bite-size arrive in Oxford today at the beginning of one of the country's biggest arts fests. The Big Bite-size Soiree goes live at the 170 seat OFS Studio at 6pm Weds night. News of Bite-size plays TV debut in the pipeline!"

We interviewed Nick in Edinburgh last year. (Listen here). We'll keep you posted!

WORKSHOP AND TALK HIGHLIGHTS

There were a few interesting looking workshops and talks at this year's Oxfringe that are of particular relevance to theatre practioners. Amy Standish and Sara Cole are back at Oxfringe exploring how Mask can transform a performance. Their second offering looks "behind the mask" and appears to focus more on personal development, exploring "techniques that actors use to portray other people, and enhance your awareness of how you appear to others." 

On 7th April, New Writing South offered advice and writing plays and prose. NSW have been supporting writers in the south effectively for many years, so was a very useful session. 

On the talk front, there was a fascinating looking talk by Jane Bingham. Jane exhorted us to "forget all the hackneyed images of the Cotswolds. This audio-visual presentation showed the region in an entirely new light – as a landscape of the imagination for poets, novelists, musicians, craftsmen and artists."

More than just a talk, what we had here were readings and images presented by Jane Bingham, author of The Cotswolds: A Cultural History (Signal Books, 2009)

According to Jane: "Some writers and artists were Cotswold born and bred. Some fell in love with the region and settled there for life. Some were inspired to create paintings, novels and poems. And a few couldn’t wait to get away."

The talk featured:William Morris, Rossetti and Janey at Kelmscott Manor, Stanley Spencer at Leonard Stanley, Laurie Lee in Slad, Ivor Gurney on Crickley Hill, Barbara Pym in Finstock, T. S. Eliot at Burnt Norton, John Buchan in Wychwood Forest, Henry James in Broadway, and many more....

Add if you were into Victorian intrigue and scandal, how about this:

"When Effie Ruskin sought escape from her desperately unhappy life with art critic John Ruskin, she shattered the Victorian illusion of the perfect marriage. That she could then dare to hope for respectability and even happiness as the wife of artist John Everett Millais fuelled a scandal that was to reverberate around Victorian society for years to come."  

RUSKIN’S WIFE A Victorian Scandal was a talk by Merryn Williams  this Monday 29th March at 12.45 at the Old Lags Club, Malmaison Hotel, 3, Oxford Castle, New Road, Oxford OX1 1AY

 See you at Oxfringe 2011!