Oxford Playhouse

The Oxford Playhouse is a live theatre on Beaumont Street in Oxford, facing the Ashmolean Museum. Designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor, it was completed in 1938 with stonework matching the early 19th-century Regency style of the street. The building stands on the site of an earlier theatre called The Red Barn, founded in 1923 by J. B. Fagan. Its main auditorium now seats 663 after a full refurbishment. The Playhouse is owned by St John’s College and run by a charitable trust with professional management. The Burton Taylor Studio nearby is a smaller venue managed by the Playhouse on behalf of the University of Oxford. The theatre has long been a stage for major actors including Rowan Atkinson, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Maggie Smith. It was also the base for the Prospect Theatre Company, founded in 1961 by Elizabeth Sweeting and Iain Mackintosh, which toured 75 productions to 125 theatres in 21 countries. The Greek director Minos Volanakis worked there, staging productions such as Jean Genet’s The Maids and The Balcony. The journalist Christopher Hitchens worked as a stagehand during his time at Balliol College. Susannah York gave her final stage performance there in 2010. Inside, the main auditorium presents a mix of professional and community productions. The Burton Taylor Studio hosts regular student shows alongside professional work in a 50-seat space. The theatre’s programme includes plays, musicals and new writing, with close ties to the Oxford University Dramatic Society. The building’s interior reflects the 1930s vision of Chancellor, while the exterior matches the Regency character of Beaumont Street. The Playhouse remains a centre for live performance in the city.