 Creation Theatre perform Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale in an extraordinary mirrored Spiegeltent tent in the grounds of the BMW plant in Oxford, from Thursday 5 February to Saturday 3 April. Read about Creation Theatre here. A New York jury decides the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father in Twelve Angry Men at Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford from Tuesday 10 and Saturday 14 February. Alan Ayckbourn's Just Between Ourselves is at Oxfordshire's dining theatre The Mill At Sonning, from until Saturday 21 February. The price includes a full meal in the restaurant, on an island in The Thames.
Two Cockney hitmen wait tensely in a basement for their next assignment in The Dumb Waiter (plus Victoria Station and other pieces) at
Oxford Playhouse from Thursday 12 to Saturday 28 February. A merciless satire on contemporary office life is presented by Ridiculusmus in Ideas Men, a tale of a quest for a new idea that races into surreal comedy. It's at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, on Friday 13 February. Dogs Barking lurks in the darkest corners of the human sould at Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford from Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 February. A new stage adaptation of The Death Of Socrates is on in the late evenings from Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 February at Burton Taylor Theatre.
Goodnight Tony Martin picks up on the story of the Norfolk farmer (and former Witney schoolboy) who notoriously shot dead a teenage burglar. It's at The Old Fire Station in Oxford from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 February. Cock of the Walk, an adaption of Feydeau's farce, Le Dindon, sees respectable husbands chasing other men's wives and mistresses chasing errant lovers at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, on Saturday 21 February. Lives and loves are open to all in a Midlands sandwich shop in Next Please, at Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 February. Divorce rips a married couple to shreds when Under My Skin fills the late slot at Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 February. In The Vagina Monologues, a changing cast of performers recount different women's stories and experiences involving their genitalia. It's at Oxford Playhouse from Tuesday 24 to Monday 1 March. Read a review of a previous tour here. "Adult puppeteers" Faulty Optic bring their darkly haunting figures to Pegasus Theatre in Soiled, a tale of love, loyalty and deception involving a boxing ballerina, a soil-spitting psychic and a sparrow with Tourette's Syndrome. It's on
Friday 27 February. Sexual and professional tensions are at work among a TV crew in a haunted house in The Face Of Fear, at The Mill At Sonning from Tuesday 24 February to Saturday 3 April. There are murders, but don't let that put you off your food: the price includes a full meal in the restaurant, on an island in The Thames.
Some of Oxford's professional dancers perform in an exciting mixture of solos, duets and group pieces in In the Mix 2004at Pegasus Theatre on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 February. See also Style & Grace under Amateur. Guys And Dolls is at The Old Fire Station Theatre in Oxford from 17 to 21 February. Box office: 0870 606 3500. Young Oxfordshire actors perform Godspell at the Theatre, Chipping Norton, on Sunday 22 February. Scottish Opera's production of the classic opera,La Bohème, has its English premiere on Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 March at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, before touring rural venues in the county. Look ahead in our festival guide for information about Garsington Opera (June) and other festivals that feature opera as part of their programme.
Bill Bryson's Down Under doesn't actually star the writer in person; instead, actor Steve Steen tours an adaptation of his comic travelogue. It's at the New Theatre in Oxford on Wednesday 18 February. Two "genital origami" experts do impressions of animals, landmarks and more in the unique Puppetry of the Penis at the New Theatre in Oxford on Thursday 19 February. It's not for the prudish. Expect a subversive take on Bush, Blair and all that stuff when the "five-star" comedian (as the Guardian called him comes to Oxford for Mark Thomas - A Minor Celebrity Discusses War Crimes. He's at Oxford's Pegasus Theatre on Wednesday 25 February. Don't roll up, don't roll up... because there's no circus coming up in February 2004 at the main Oxfordshire theatres. Sixteen women sacrifice themselves in pursuit of success in Top Girls, at The Old Fire Station in Oxford from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 14 February. Graduating students from Oxford School of Drama perform the Oscar Wilde classic, Lady Windermere's Fan, at Pegasus Theatre from Tuesday 10 - Saturday 14 February. The Chuckle Brothers in The Chamber of Horrors is a slapstick parody of Harry Potter at Oxford's New Theatre on Sunday 15th February. Tall Stories had international success with The Gruffalo and Snow White (the New York Times loved it); now the company returns to The Mill at Banbury with a new production, Mum And The Monster, on Tuesday 17 February. Hi-5 Alive is a bright, lively and funny mix of stories, investigation, imagination and adventure at the New Theatre in Oxford from Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 February. What happens when stories get fed up with being picked up and told? In The Story That Went To Sea, an old tale decide to say something really wicked. Moby Duck's show include Iandian and African dance, Celtic and African music, mime, masks and puppets. Its at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, on Wednesday 18 February. Style & Grace features street funk, ballet and theCutteslowe and Parasol posse's hand-signing choir. It's at Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 21 February. Some of the best young performers from across the county are directed by professionals in the musical Godspell at The Theatre, Chipping Norton, on Sunday 22 February. A Midsummer Night's Dream is performed in Elizabethan-style setting at the Unicorn Theatre, part of the Abbey buildings in Abingdon, from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 February. Pupils from Chipping Norton School perform Joan Littlewood's powerfully moving musical drama, Oh What A Lovely War, about the tragedy of the Great War. It's at The Theatre in Chipping Norton from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 February. A special performance celebrates the final year of a project set up to cultivate after-school dance, drama and art activities in Cowley at Pegasus Theatre in Oxford. After Hours - Changes and Reflections is on Thursday 26 February. The innovative 1157 performance group at The Mill in Banbury presents Seen And Not Seen, a new work that utilises physical performance and video manipulation, on Wednesday 25 February. Wolvercote Village Hall is the venue for St Peter's Players' production of Take Away The Lady from Wednesday 31 March to Saturday 3 April. A man convicted of murdering his mother returns home from prison and his family begins asking what really happened years earlier. | 
