Get involved in Oxford’s Drama Cuppers competition for freshers –
open to everyone this November.

The Oxford drama scene is diverse and exciting, with theatre opportunities ranging from a half hour performance in the Freshers-only college Cuppers competition (which hinges on about a week’s worth of rehearsals and a £50 budget) to a week’s run at the Oxford Playhouse, Oxford’s main professional venue, which houses 600 and showcases two student plays a term.

What’s going on

Hopefully you’ll be able to find all the information you might need on the site: we have a comprehensive calendar of theatrical events, a city map showing all the theatrical venues in the city, and a tag cloud of theatre societies on our homepage. If you feel there’s anything we’re missing though, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

What’s good to go and see

To find out what’s good to go and see each week, read our two student reviews from the first night performance of student, amateur and professional productions in Oxford (published online 18 hours after the start of the performance). Otherwise, the Cherwell publishes some online reviews of plays, while the OxStu prints paper previews of the play on the Sunday a week preceding its first performance. The Daily Info also provides some reviews of plays in Oxford.

How to get involved: reviewing

Any student (with an ac.uk email address) who is interested in theatre can review for us. Simply request to review the play of your choice online (go to the specific event’s page or to your ‘my reviews’ page to sign up). Tickets are allocated on a first come first served basis; if all the spaces are filled, you can be put on a waiting list so that you are the first one to be contacted if spaces become available.

How to get involved: acting, producing, directing, technical

Check out different societies’ portfolios using the links on our homepage, or search people’s portfolios to see who you might like to work with. Oxford University Drama Society (OUDS) is an umbrella theatre organisation that helps you to put on productions, while the University Drama Officer helps to coordinate societies, funding bodies, venues and theatrical workshops and events.

Exciting events to watch out for:

Oxford University’s Cuppers’ Drama Competition, Michaelmas Term

• Open to all freshers vaguely interested in drama
• Put on a half hour play with other freshers in your college
• Budget £50
• Get reviewed by OTR reviewers
• Win best production, actor, supporting actor, direction, etc

oxfordtheatrereview.com’s radio drama competition, Hillary Term:

• 10-15 minute script entries in by January 2012
• The winning entry will be produced and will go through to an inter-university competition

onlinetheatrereview.com’s Inter-Uni radio drama competition, Hillary Term

New Writing Festival (NWF), Hillary Term:

Inter-Uni Competition, Hillary term:

• This new writing competition between Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford Universities was launched in 2011