What's in the Cinema this Week? (Feb 16-22)

There is only one movie opening in Oxford this week, surprisingly. At the Phoenix is Science of Sleep starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gael Garcia Bernal, Miou Miou, and Alain Chabat. Gael García Bernal stars as shy, inhibited Stéphane, who possesses a lively imagination and an eccentric dream world that always threaten to engulf his real life. Torn between his dreams and reality, Stéphane begins to realise that both worlds are spiralling out of control. The film contains strong language and sex references. (15)

Looking for good films to take the children to? There are a bunch of kid-friendly films in the cinema at the moment:

Arthur and the Invisibles (U)
Starring the voices of Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Robert De Niro, Madonna. Luc Besson directs this animated fantasy adventure in which ten-year-old Arthur looks for hidden treasure. Features the voices of Robert De Niro, Madonna and Harvey Keitel. Now showing at Odeon George Street & The Vue Cinema

The Reef (aka Shark Bait) (U)
Starring the voices of Freddie Prinze Jr, Rob Schneider, Evan Rachel Wood. Cute underwater animation about a young fish called Pi. He embarks on an adventure to save the girl he loves and his coral home from a big, bullying shark. Now showing at Odeon George Street

Charlotte's Web (U)
Starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts (voice), Oprah Winfrey (voice). With a cast of cute farm animals, and starring the voice of Julia Roberts, the film tells the story of one pig's plan to stay alive with the help of the spider that lives in his sty. Now showing at Odeon George Street & The Vue Cinema

Curious George (U)
Starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Frank Welker, Drew Barrymore.
Ted, works as a guide at the Bloomsberry museum, sent on a 'business' trip of sorts by the museum's owner, to find a Zagawa shrine, he encounters a playfully mischievous and curious monkey...actually a chimp who he nicknames 'George' after the George Washinghton statue. His trip being less than a success, he returns stateside, only to find George wanting to return Ted's hat, has stowed away on-board Ted's boat. Back in the states Ted finds himself lumbered with George, who can't help but make Ted's life even more hectic than it already is. Showing on Saturday at the Phoenix

Nanny McPhee (U)
Starring Emma Thompson, Colin Firth. Emma Thompson stars as a governess who uses magic to rein in the behavior of seven ne'er-do-well children in her charge.
Showing this weekend at the Ultimate Picture Palace

Happy Feet (U)
Starring Hugh Jackman (voice), Nicole Kidman (voice), Robin Williams (voice). Antarctica is brought to life in this story about Emperor penguins finding their soul mates through their own individual song. However, one young penguin has to rely on his ability to dance. Showing Friday - Monday at the Vue Cinema

Flushed Away (U)
Starring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Kate Winslet. Featuring the voices of Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman, this animated film follows a rat from a penthouse apartment struggling with his new life in the dangerous sewers of London. Now showing at the Vue Cinema

The Wild (U)
Starring the voices of Kiefer Sutherland, James Belushi, Eddie Izzard, Janeane Garofalo, William Shatner. An adolescent lion is accidentally shipped from the New York Zoo to Africa. Now running free, his zoo pals must put aside their differences to help bring him back. Showing Friday - Monday at the Vue Cinema

Get showtimes for all the cinemas in Oxford

What's in the Theatre this Week? (Feb 16-22)

The Oxford Playhouse:
King of Hearts - When a handsome young heir to the throne falls for a very unsuitable girl, he finds himself at war with the Prime Minister and the identity of Britain at stake. Out of Joint returns to the Playhouse with this new play by satirist Alistair Beaton.

Hayfever - Stephanie Beacham and Christopher Timothy star in Sir Peter Hall's critically acclaimed production of this classic English comedy.

Old Fire Station:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Summer, 1952 - Tennessee Williams' classic tale of sexuality, greed, lost love and, above all, mendacity. Seductive Maggie is determined to win back her alcoholic husband, Brick, and inherit the bulk of the family fortune when his father dies. An unforgettable cast of characters crowd surround her, all attempting to foil her plans, but, 'There's nothing more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof.'

Hamlet - In the claustrophobic, goldfish-bowl intensity of the OFS, the notion of insanity and mental instability in Hamlet will pervade. A clinical, institutional and stylised atmosphere in an all-white off-perspective box-set creates a space in which the prodigious Hamlet plays out his tragedy, with elaborate spider-web style lattices enveloping the stage. Focussing on Hamlet's youth and vulnerability - and his position as a student - as he faces such deep emotional and philosophical pressure is perfect for a modern and avant- garde student production.

Burton Taylor Theatre:
Play on Words - by Tom Crawshaw - OUDS New Writing Festival. A hilarious tragi-farce, as two actors struggle to remember through re-enactment.

Lost Property - by Nick Bowling - OUDS New Writing Festival. A socially inept teenager; a misanthropic games teacher; a corrupting influence; so much lost property

IFU Theatrical Information Section - by Ben Arnold - OUDS New Writing Festival. A dystopian black comedy from an award-winning writer

Vigils - by Robert Morgan - OUDS New Writing Festival. Seven soldiers act out their sexual tensions after the first battle of the Crimea.

Groping for Words - Sue Townsend's scathing comedy on the high levels of illiteracy in a so-called 'developed' country dramatises class conflicts and the importance of equality in education, in her wry style.

Gloss - by Tom Costello. What lies beneath the airbrushed sheen of a weekly Lad's Mag?

New Theatre:
The Bootleg Beatles

Swan Lake

Coppelia

Pegasus Theatre:
Mission Re-Position - The acclaimed Mission Black Dance National Showcase is back on the road in Oxford with a stunning line-up of talented Black choreographers to inspire and excite those who love dance and those who have yet to try it! "talent, energy and love...oozes from the stage" bbc.co.uk Ages 8+

Headington Theatre:
Feelgood Theatre Productions: Not About Heroes - This critically acclaimed production traces the evolution of an unlikely friendship of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, arguably two of the greatest war poets of all time. Sassoon, a decorated war hero and a gentleman by birth was interned at Craiglockhart War Hospital when he protested against the continuation of war. There, he met Owen, an awkward character of comparatively lowly origins recovering from shell shock and dogged by accusations of cowardice. Following their time at Craiglockhart, the two men returned to the front, Sassoon surviving the war despite a bullet wound to the head and Owen dying in the trenches just seven days before armistice.

College Theatre:
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Lincoln College
By the writers of Guys and Dolls, this lesser-known, but equally vibrant musical is set in 40s America. J Pierpont Finch, a young window cleaner with high aspirations buys a book which gives him a step by step guide to how to reach the top of the business ladder. Entering into the World Wide Wicket Corporation he follows his handy guide all the way to the position of vice president in charge of advertising.

Utopia Limited by Gilbert and Sullivan - O'Reilly Theatre, Keble College
A rare performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's superbly orchestrated tropical spectacular. Fully staged with a live orchestra and lavish costumes, here is a chance to see a classic of English musical theatre performed by the vibrant young cast of the Oxford University Gilbert & Sullivan Society.

Kiddy-Fiddler on the Roof - The Moser Theatre at Wadham College
Kiddy Fiddler on the Roof is a musical satire on tabloid hysteria and the media's reaction to the threat of paedophilia. Townsville Comprehensive is an ailing school like any other - until the day school teacher Arnold Finkler is falsely accused by one of his students. Rumour quickly spreads and the town's parents go wild. Encouraged by Jean McDonald, local agony aunt and Townsville's undisputed moral matriarch, the parents rally together, ready to do whatever it takes to clean up the neighbourhood. Spurred on by an inflammatory column in the local newspaper, the parents march on the innocent Arnold...

But will the truth prevail...?

Moral outrage, betrayal, sex and secrets meet love, truth and friendship for the ultimate showdown - all through the medium of song!

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:

16th Feb Shami Chakrabarti: Asylum and Incarceration

22nd Feb Jack Mapanje: Creative Incarceration, Strategies for Survival

For all theatre information, times and dates, click here

This Week's Classical Music (Feb 16-22)

Friday:

• Oxford String Ensemble - Wesley Memorial Church
  
• The Helen Roy Opera Academy's Handel's Serse (sung in English) - Jesus College Chapel
  
• Music at Oxford's Goldner String Quartet - Holywell Music Room
  
• Carducci Quartet + Matthew Schellhorn (Piano) - Jacqueline du Pre Music Bldg.
  

Saturday:

• Eglesfield Music Society's Björn Kleiman (violin) & Johan Hugosson (piano) - Queen's College (FREE)
  
• Oxford Reunion Wind Orchestra - Wesley Memorial Church
  
• Hertford College Orchestra - Hertford College
  
• Diane Nalini - Jacqueline du Pre Music Bldg.
  
• Christ Church Festival Orchestra - Christ Church
  
• Schola Cantorum of Oxford - Oxford Blues Concert - University Church of St Mary the Virgin
  

Sunday:

• Coffee Concert with Libor Novacek (Piano) - Holywell Music Room
  
• Levellers' Night with Dick Gaughan, Luke Daniels, and Sea Green Singers - Celtic music and song - Holywell Music Room
  
• Chilingirian Quartet - Haydn & Mozart - Quartet Partners - Jacqueline du Pre Music Bldg.
  

Monday:

• Peter Hill - Messiaen - Lecture and Recital - Christ Church
  

Tuesday:

• Christopher Davies - Tenor Horn - University Church of St Mary the Virgin
  
• Kirsty Smith with Martin Ford - Soprano vocal recital - Holywell Music Room
  
• Oxford University Gilbert and Sullivan Society - Utopia Limited - Keble College's O'Reilly Theatre
  
• Christ Church Festival - Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos - Christ Church
  

Wednesday:

• Organ Recital with Ruaraidh Sutherland (St Mary's, Warwick) - Queen's College (FREE)
  
• Oxford University Gilbert and Sullivan Society - Utopia Limited - Keble College's O'Reilly Theatre
  
• Christ Church Festival - Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos - Christ Church
  

Thursday:

• Oxford University Gilbert and Sullivan Society - Utopia Limited - Keble College's O'Reilly Theatre
  
• Orchestra of Oxford with Conductor James Longstaffe - Wagner Siegfried Idyll, Rachmaninov Symphony no.2 - University Church of St Mary the Virgin
  
• Entr'Ancte (saxophone and string quartet) - British music old and new from Dunstable and Purcell to Michael Nyman and Charlie Barber - Jacqueline du Pre Music Building
  
• Christ Church Festival - Agon Piano Trio - Christ Church
  
• David and Goliath - New Chamber Opera - New College Ante-Chapel
  

Get information for all classical music events in Oxford

This Week's Jazz & Blues (Feb 16-22)

Friday, Fulvio Sigurto (trumpet) with Tim Lapthorne (piano) and Tim Dawes (bass) are performing at The Old Parsonage; Sunday has the Nina Ferro Trio at Quod Brasserie in the morning, and then again in the evening at Gee's; The Backroom at the Bullingdon Arms is featuring The Lee Ryder Band from the UK on their famous Monday Blues night, and the Tom Grey Quintet on Tuesday; also on Tuesday is Neil Mason's Masonic Groove at Bar Milano; Wednesday has Andrea Mann (pictured) with Nigel Price at The Big Bang; and finally, Thursday has Phil Peskett on Piano at the SPIN jazz club at the Wheatsheaf.

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