What's in the Cinema this Week? (Jan 25-Feb 1)

Opening in Oxford this week is Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Dijmon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly. Set during Sierra Leone's civil war of the 1990s, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a South African ex-mercenary who makes an unlikely union with a Mende fisherman in a quest to find a rare diamond. The film contains strong violence and language. (15)

Also opening this week is Venus starring Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Griffiths, Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, and Jodie Whittaker. Acting institutions Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips collaborate with acclaimed director Roger Michell on an engaging 'coming of very old age' story in which the pair star as Maurice and Ian, two unsuccessful English actors who eke out a living doing bit-parts in TV and film. When Ian's (Phillips) grand-niece Jessie (Whittaker) comes to stay, Maurice (O'Toole) shows her the sights and sounds of London while trying to teach the youngster a thing or two about life. All does not go according to plan however, and Maurice ends up learning some hard lessons about himself. Sharply scripted by Hanif Kureishi, this is a funny and perceptive take on responsibility and growing old disgracefully. The film contains Contains very strong language. (15)

Opening at the Phoenix this week is Blue Blood, which follows five Oxford University students who leave behind their books and pencils to prepare themselves for a bloody fistfight. In a tradition that dates back more than 100 years, Oxford University closes its doors once a year to settle its bitter rivalry with Cambridge University once and for all. A story as much about sports and personal determination as it is a social commentary, BLUE BLOOD reveals a side of the Oxford student that is virtually unknown. (15)

Opening this week at the Vue Cinema is Salaam-e-Ishq, starring Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Govinda, Sohail Khan, Perizaad Zorabain, and Karan Johar. This Bollywood drama focuses on six couples of different characters. Coming from different countries but unknown to each other's existence, their paths cross in the name of love. This is their story. (PG)

Get showtimes for all the cinemas in Oxford

What's in the Theatres this Week? (Jan 25-Feb 1)

The Oxford Playhouse:

Our Country's Good -
Australia, 1789. A young lieutenant prepares to stage a play, facing the opposition of his colleagues, a cast of headstrong prisoners and a leading lady who is about to be hanged.

Blonde Bombshells of 1943 - The Blonde Bombshells, the most glamorous all-girl swing band in the North, loses members every time it plays a GI camp. With an important BBC job in the offing, they need new members fast! A warm witty musical play filled with live swing band performances.

Old Fire Station:
Tales From Hollywood - A fast-paced, controversial and charmingly funny story of European expatriates writing American films in the 1940's. As they fall in and out of love and adjust to American life, they explore their roles as artists and come to terms, from afar, with the political disorder of their home countries. A mix of politics, film history, and raw comic genius, this play has something for everyone.

The Hothouse - On Christmas Eve at a government psychiatric hospital, one patient is discovered dead and another has just given birth. Before long, the man in charge starts unravelling, and a conspiring staff leaves unattended the tensions simmering beneath them. Rarely performed, this riotous blend of farce and terror is roundly considered to be Pinter's most comic play.

Burton Taylor Theatre:
Diary of a Madman - by Joe Spence adapted from Gogol - Poprishchin's love-induced hallucinations steadily drive him mad. Gogol's famous and amusing short story brought to life in a fresh new adaption for the stage. A fast-paced adaption of Gogol's comic masterpiece. The tale of a hapless clerk who falls for his boss's daughter. His unrequited love drives him to hallucination and insanity.

The Enormous Space - devised by the company, based on writing by J G Ballard
A man decides never to leave his house again. As time slips away, the man wonders why he hadn't ever noticed how much space there was within his four walls....

Baby With the Bathwater - by Christopher Durang - An absurdist, hilarious and familar look at how hard it is to be a parent and how scary it is to be a child.

We Got Chickens! - Corpus Comedy Collective - Oxford's newest and best sketch comedy team combine the best of their first two shows with some brand new material for an evening of mirth, hilarity and jokes about AIDS.

New Theatre:
Peter Pan On Ice: The Russian Ice Stars - The finest company of professional skaters in the world with a line-up that includes Loulia Barsoukova, the 2000 Olympic gold medallist. Expect a magical show with exciting choreography and world class skating.

Theatre at Headington:
Forgetting Myself - Forgetting Myself tells the story of Lindy, a teenage girl who defies her mother and sneaks out late at night. Her mother goes out to find her, and is involved in a car accident. The action of the play unfolds as Lindy waits in hospital for her mother to recover. There, she encounters a mysterious stranger who takes her back in time to experience her mother’s teenage life, revealing that she and her mother are not so different after all. The stranger reveals how our perception of time, living and dying are but small elements in the grand scheme of existence.

Hamlet: Cut to the Bone - In this breathtaking performance, David Keller captures the essence of Hamlet. His one man production cuts to the heart of every character with the help of little more than a toy box and a stuffed shirt. That Keller is no ordinary Hamlet is apparent from his first appearance on stage, peeling off his mother's stockings. This vivid performance is guaranteed to hold audiences enthralled from opening scene to shocking climax. Stripped of the politics and side-shows, yet faithful to Shakespeare's vision, the plays raw passions are laid bare.

College Theatre:
Muse Monologues - Eight lives. Four voices. One city. The Oxford Muse [and the ETC] takes you into the heads of eight people living in Oxford through a series of monologues.

Have you seen where a blind woman finds beauty? Have you met a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of violence? Find out why a sixty year old didn't know who she was or how a suicidal teen is still alive, how a college porter writes his poetry or why a PPEist lives on the streets of Oxford. Muse Monologues takes you to places in Oxford you won't have been, brings you voices you won’t have heard, shows you people you won't have seen.

The Oxford Revue: Cagoule Weather - Do you ever wish you were in a Lunn Poly advert? Do you ever resent the continual low pressure? Is all this doom and gloom really starting to bobble your jumper? After last year's sell out success, the Oxford Revue return to the Moser Theatre with a bout of inclement sketches designed especially for this intemperate weather we're having. So come, wring your socks out, and get comfy.

Oxford Amnesty Lectures 07 - Incarceration and Human Rights - Sheldonian Theatre:
Oxford Amnesty Lectures invites internationally respected figures to debate the future of human rights. Lectures are open to the paying public and texts published as a book. OAL has to date donated over £100,000 to Amnesty International

Speaking this week: 31st Jan - Anne Owers: Prisons Inspection and the Protection of Human Rights

Abingdon Touring Theatre:
Aesop's Fables
Their third tour is a specially commissioned adaptation of Aesop's Fables. This tour has been written to be suitable for the entire family and will combine Aesop's stories with tales from his own life. This is the FINAL WEEK.

Showing this week at - Radnor Hall in Salisbury, Kingsclere Village Club, and Harwell Village Hall.

For all theatre information, times and dates, click here

This Week's Classical Music (Jan 25-Feb 1)

The Holywell Music Room will host this week's Coffee Concert, featuring the Salomon String Quartet. Also at the Holywell this week is Oxford Classic Jazz Band performing Swingin' Against the Bomb.

The Jacqueline du Pre Music Building is hosting the next installment of their Concert Series, featuring Stephen Marchionda on the guitar, as well as a free lunchtime recital from Catherine Groom (Recorder), Katherine Cooper (Mezzo), Thomas Foster (Harpsichord) and Corrina Connor (Cello)

There are two free recital performances at Queen's College, this week - the Eglesfield Music Society will be performing Beethoven and Chopin (featuring Oliver Coates on Cello and Berenika Zakrzewski on Piano), and Mark Swinton from the Bath Abbey will be performing an Organ Recital.

Other notable performances coming up this week include Oxford Philomusica's Rococo Variations (Guy Johnston and John Lubbock) at the Sheldonian Theatre, Summertown Choral Society performing Beethoven Mass in C at St Barnabus Church in Jericho, and the Oxford University Music Society performing a show called Mozart, Champagne and Chocolate at the Oxford Union.

Get information for all classical music events in Oxford

This Week's Jazz and Blues (Jan 25-Feb1)

Sunday has Natalie Williams with Tim Dawes (double bass) and Tim Lapthorne (piano) at Gee's and Peter Parker at QI; The Backroom at the Bullingdon Arms is featuring Split the Riff from the UK on their famous Monday Blues night, and Tom Grey will play there with his quintet on Tuesday; also on Tuesday are The Kate Garrett Band at Bar Milano; Wednesday has the Frank Harrison Trio (pictured) playing at The Big Bang and the Adam Waldmann Quintet at the Jericho Tavern; Thursday has The Jonathan Bratoeff Quintet at the SPIN jazz club at the Wheatsheaf; and Friday has Tim Lapthorne (piano), Tim Dawes (bass) and Simon Lea (drums) at The Old Parsonage.

Get information for all jazz and blues music events in Oxford

For music other than classical, jazz, and blues, check out our extensive gig guide

Smoking Ban Begins July 1!

As of July 1, 2007, there will be a ban on smoking in all all enclosed public places in England, including pubs and bars. The details regarding outdoor areas are still being ironed out. England will become the last part of the UK to enforce a blanket ban. Wales is due to go smoke-free on April 2 and Northern Ireland on April 30. Scotland introduced a ban earlier this year and the Republic of Ireland outlawed smoking in 2004.

To read more, visit The Publican website.