Down by the River;

The Oxford Girl Theatre Project takes you to a tranquil place, with the soft trickle of a creek and the mellow sounds of the cello and turns this peace into a story of murder. Lit with candles and a lingering smell of incense, The Oxford Girl is set down by the creek in Woolcock Park and is the perfect staging for such a powerful production.

The show starts with a recital of the story entitled ‘The Cruel Miller’, a murder story from the 1600’s that has many variations. The recital sets the scene for an emotive performance of a new interpretation, using a type of physical theatre to tell their story. The Oxford Girl Project attempts to highlight the notion that it’s hard to tell a true story, as facts are slowly altered with each telling, a Chinese Whispers over time. The four performers climb, claw and weave their way through the bank of the creek as the present their own intensely focused interpretation of the story.

The Oxford Girl was a powerful production that held the audience’s attention from start to end with no fail. The production utilized music in form of a live cellist playing deep, eerie music that not only created the perfect mood before the show, but also carried it throughout. The use of the creek for staging was the best decision made by the project members. The interaction of performers and set added so much to the performance itself, creating an extra element to the production that makes it such a success. The performers themselves were very talented, with an extreme focus that did not break the entire show they delivered a polished an impressive performance by the actors left audiences with their ‘wow-faces’ on.

At a few moments in the performance one character would begin to break into song. He was a very good singing, and hit the notes flawlessly however; I felt these musical moments were not necessary in the performance. Though it didn’t detract from the overall performance, I felt that they stuck out, and did not flow with the overall performance and essentially left me asking “why are you singing?” Just something performers should consider for future performances.

This show is a highlight of the Anywhere Theatre Festival, and had some very intense and poignant moments throughout. With some changes made, and more scenes included, this show has a lot of potential to go far. I see a future in this project, and these performers; a very good one.