The Oxford Revue
Encyclopedia
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University
, England
. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term. Shows are traditionally held in local pubs, colleges and playhouses.
Former members include Michael Palin
, Terry Jones
, (who later became members of Monty Python
),
. They also travelled to Cambridge and Durham to perform in large-scale shows and debates at the Cambridge Union.
In August 2010, the Revue took their show, "The Oxford Revue is Going Places", to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, under the presidency of Ollie Mann and the direction of Rory O'Keeffe. The poster was designed by photographer Adam Levy. They performed at the Underbelly venue and sold well, receiving 4 stars from Broadway Baby.
During Michaelmas Term 2010, the Revue overhauled their website and have begun posting articles, videos and written comedy pieces. They performed two shows at the Wheatsheaf pub as well as the Trinity College charity night and the UNICEF Comedy night.
The current members of the Oxford Revue are:
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term. Shows are traditionally held in local pubs, colleges and playhouses.
History
- The founding of the Revue in around 1952/3 is shrouded in mystery. The most accurate account of it to date is probably that of Michael PalinMichael PalinMichael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, former Revue Director, who describes how his brother-in-law and 'another mad gentleman' started the Oxford Theatre Group, as a source of funding for Edinburgh shows, in the early 1950s. From this, he "helped found an offshoot group, the Oxford Revue Group, to take a revue up to the Edinburgh FringeEdinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
".
Former members include Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, (who later became members of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
),
- Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
- Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
(later of Beyond the FringeBeyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
) - Rowan AtkinsonRowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
- Ken LoachKen LoachKenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
- Angus DeaytonAngus DeaytonGordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
- Rebecca FrontRebecca FrontRebecca Front is a BAFTA Award–winning English comedian and actress best known for her performances in The Thick of It in the late 2000s, and series of critically acclaimed satirical comedies in the early 1990s: On The Hour, The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You...with Alan Partridge...
- Armando IannucciArmando IannucciArmando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
- Richard CurtisRichard CurtisRichard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Girl in the Café, as well as the hit...
- Philip PopePhilip PopePhilip R. J. Pope is a British composer and actor. He was educated at Downside School and New College, Oxford.-Performer:He appeared in the Oxford Revue in Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1978 and 1979, both with Angus Deayton...
- Al MurrayAl MurrayAlastair James Hay "Al" Murray , is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy...
- Laura SolonLaura SolonLaura Solon is an English comedian, actor, writer, and winner of the 2005 Perrier Comedy Award, only the second woman to win as a solo performer .-Background:...
- Katy BrandKaty BrandKaty Brand is an English actress, comedian and writer known for her ITV2 series Katy Brand's Big Ass Show and for Comedy Lab Slap on Channel 4....
- Katherine ParkinsonKatherine ParkinsonLaura Katherine Parkinson is an English actress and comedian who is known for playing the part of Jen Barber in the Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd...
- Peter HarnessPeter HarnessPeter Harness is an English playwright, screenwriter and actor. He grew up in Hornsea, East Yorkshire and attended Oriel College, Oxford where he studied English and graduated with a first. He is a former president of the Oxford Revue. He was one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow, 2007...
- Laura CorcoranFrisky and MannishFrisky & Mannish is a musical comedy cabaret double act based in London, England.Formed in March 2008 by writers and performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, the duo is best known for a style of pop culture parody that consists of the musical and dramatic rearrangement of well-known pop...
- Matthew JonesFrisky and MannishFrisky & Mannish is a musical comedy cabaret double act based in London, England.Formed in March 2008 by writers and performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, the duo is best known for a style of pop culture parody that consists of the musical and dramatic rearrangement of well-known pop...
- Sally Philips
- Ben Moor
- Emma KennedyEmma KennedyEmma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
- Danny O'BrienDanny O'BrienDanny O'Brien is an English technology journalist and civil liberties activist. He wrote weekly columns for the Sunday Times and the Irish Times; and before that for The Guardian, and acted as a consultant in helping The Guardian formulate its online strategy. He worked for the UK edition of...
- David SchneiderDavid Schneider (actor)David Schneider is an English actor and comedian.Schneider studied modern languages at the University of Oxford, and studied for a DPhil in Yiddish Drama. During his time at university, Schneider performed a predominantly physical comedy act that contrasted with the trend towards stand-up comedy...
- Geoffrey PerkinsGeoffrey PerkinsGeoffrey Howard Perkins was a comedy producer, writer and performer, and an important figure in British comedy broadcasting. This was recognised in December 2008 when he was awarded with an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award...
- Imogen StubbsImogen StubbsImogen Stubbs, Lady Nunn is an English actress and playwright.-Early life:Imogen Stubbs was born in Northumberland, lived briefly in Portsmouth, where her father was a naval officer, and then moved with her parents to London, where they lived on an elderly river barge on the Thames...
- Patrick MarberPatrick MarberPatrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
- Stewart LeeStewart LeeStewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
- Richard HerringRichard HerringRichard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
.
Current activities
During the academic year 2009-10, the Oxford Revue performed regular 'Write Off's at the Wheatsheaf pub, airing new sketches in front of an intimate audience. In February 2010, the Revue ran for a week at the Burton-Taylor Studio, Oxford, in their Brighton-themed show "The Oxford Revue Goes To Blighty". The show was rated 5 stars by The Oxford Theatre Review. The following term, the Oxford Revue invited the Durham Revue and the Cambridge Footlights for the trio's annual show, "The Oxford Revue and Friends" at the Oxford Playhouse. The show sold out all 600 seats and was well received. Aside from the shows at the Wheatsheaf, Burton-Taylor Studio and Oxford Playhouse, the Revue regularly performed at various college charity nights and balls, including the ball at the Oxford UnionOxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
. They also travelled to Cambridge and Durham to perform in large-scale shows and debates at the Cambridge Union.
In August 2010, the Revue took their show, "The Oxford Revue is Going Places", to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, under the presidency of Ollie Mann and the direction of Rory O'Keeffe. The poster was designed by photographer Adam Levy. They performed at the Underbelly venue and sold well, receiving 4 stars from Broadway Baby.
During Michaelmas Term 2010, the Revue overhauled their website and have begun posting articles, videos and written comedy pieces. They performed two shows at the Wheatsheaf pub as well as the Trinity College charity night and the UNICEF Comedy night.
The current members of the Oxford Revue are:
- Nick Davies (co-President)
- Imogen West-Knights (co-President)
- Sophie Klimt (Director)
- Adam Lebovits (Producer)
- Vyvyan Almond (Writer/Performer)
- Cameron Cook (Writer/Performer)
- Peter De Riemer (Writer)
- Max Fletcher (Writer/Performer)
- Harry Long (Writer/Performer)
- Will Truefitt (Writer/Performer)
- Izzy Wilson (Writer/Performer)
See also
- Cambridge Footlights
- Experimental Theatre ClubExperimental Theatre ClubThe Experimental Theatre Club is a student dramatic society at University of Oxford, England. It was founded in 1936 by Nevill Coghill as an alternative company to the Oxford University Dramatic Society , and produces several productions a year.Many famous actors and directors have been involved...
(ETC) - Oxford University Dramatic SocietyOxford University Dramatic SocietyThe Oxford University Dramatic Society is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England...
(OUDS)