Step into a world of twinkling lights, ticking clocks, and toys that might just come to life… Follow young Marie as she’s swept from her family’s festive parlour into an enchanting adventure, where she must journey through a magical land of sweets, face the fearsome Mouse King, and join forces with a brave Nutcracker in the battle of a lifetime.

This Christmas, Creation Theatre brings a brand-new theatrical take on The Nutcracker — adapted from the original E.T.A. Hoffmann tale and filled with wonder, mischief, and festive adventure. Expect dancing (not always by ballerinas), magical transformations, and a generous helping of nutty humour — all wrapped up in a glorious score by Patrick Stockbridge, with live music and toe-tapping tunes.

The Nutcracker

The North Wall Arts Centre Oxford

A crime has been committed and Dr Watson needs your help. You’ll need to follow a trail of clues around Summertown to crack the mystery, meeting a cast of Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless characters along the way. 

A missing Professor, an old book and a sensational headline. It isn’t much evidence for Sherlock Holmes to crack the case, but with your help, justice will be served.

An interactive production, based on the Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by award-winning site-specific theatre company, Creation.

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Sherlock in Summertown

This year marks Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary – she was born in 1775 and went on to become one of the most loved novelists writing in English literature.

Austen’s Lady Susan takes the form of 41 letters, written by the novel’s fabulous characters, over a period of weeks. Lady Susan herself is one of Austen’s most memorable characters – scheming, flirtatious, self-serving and yet, decidedly charming. Newly widowed, she’s intent on finding herself a wealthy new husband and marrying off her sixteen year old daughter as advantageously as possible. As rumours of her reputation spread, can she convince everyone that it is all slander and she’s just misunderstood?

Jane Austen's Lady Susan

Settle beneath the soft canvas of our open-air tent and let mischief, magic, and moonlight transport you. In true English summer fête style, expect bunting, blossoms, and just a hint of fairy dust as Shakespeare’s most playful comedy comes to life on the picturesque lawn of the Wolfson College cricket ground.

Wander into a world where lovers get lost, fairies meddle, and nothing is quite as it seems. Bring a picnic, grab a Pimm’s, and prepare for a beautiful evening of laughter, wonder, and theatrical magic.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Wolfson College

Step into the pages of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, in this intimate, immersive adaptation by Helen Tennison for the award-winning Creation Theatre.

Marking the 100th anniversary of Woolf’s iconic novel, and kicking off on the RSL’s annual Dalloway Day, this world premiere invites you to take tea with Clarissa Dalloway, walk the streets by her side, hear her innermost thoughts and explore the richly layered world of post-war London, through a moving, multi-sensory performance. Meet unforgettable characters and eavesdrop on their hidden thoughts via an earpiece as you move through this site-specific experience. The performance culminates in an invitation to attend Mrs Dalloway’s unforgettable party.

Expect timeless, urgent storytelling and a rare chance to inhabit Woolf’s exquisite exploration of memory, longing, and the fragility of life.

Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway

Fusion Arts

Two young women plot to escape their controlling guardians. But will the nosy Marplot – the “busy body” – ruin the plan? A clever and hilarious exploration of how women might find freedom of choice in an age of the marriage contract, Susanna Centlivre’s comedy (first performed in 1709) was hugely popular on the 18th-century stage – not least, for its brilliant cast of characters. In a script-in-hand performance, Oxford’s Creation Theatre, the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, and the R/18 Collective partner with the Oxford’s Cultural Programme to revive this rip-roaring play for the 21st century.

The Busy Body

St Hugh's College

Orange Tree Theatre

This Christmas we’ll be transforming The North Wall into an atmospheric winter wonderland full of magic, mystery, and misadventure. Join Hansel, Grettel, and a host of bewitching characters and feathered friends as they serve up a musical menu of catchy songs, mystical spells, and just a touch of winter magic.

Journey with us deep into the heart of the woodland, where the Witches of Winter rise from the frozen earth to prepare for the awakening of their leader, a mysterious witch known as the Priestess of Winter. Only the birds circling in the cold air high above can save them from the most powerful witch in the land.

Hansel & Grettel

Creation Theatre present the world premiere of this digital adaptation of Sophocles’ timeless classic Antigone. In the aftermath of a bloody civil war, Creon is trying to restore order. But his niece Antigone won’t accept his orders to leave her brother unburied. She’ll fight for what she believes is right. Whatever the cost.

Antigone

Our evening will culminate with a performance of Barney Norris’ award winning ‘A Stranger Comes to Town’, performed by the writer with music from Royce Cronin. This exquisite storytelling show explores the things we throw away and the ways that they may come to define us.

Barney Norris’ novels include Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain and Undercurrent.  His plays include Visitors, Eventide, Nightfall and Second Best. His work has received the International Theatre Institute’s Award for Excellence, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, a South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Award, an Evening Standard Progress 1000 Award, a Betty Trask Award, the Northern Ireland One Book Award, a Hawthornden Literary Foundation award, and been translated into nine languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford.

Even Stranger with Barney Norris

Summertown United Reformed Church

Come and join us for a performance of a selection of the poems and monologues, hot off the press.

This summer Glyn Maxwell embarked on the project of writing 101 poems for the 101 species most at risk of extinction.

Extinction Monologues by Glyn Maxwell

The Bedford

The Slow & Steady

Join us for an unforgettable evening as Lucy Pitman-Wallace, the award-winning director of  productions for the RSC, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Nottingham Playhouse, and Salisbury Playhouse, brings a fresh twist to Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, As You Like It.

Transport yourself back to the 1970s, the era of peace, love, and endless summer nights, in an enchanting outdoor setting, a perfect backdrop for this tale of love and laughter.

Bring your friends, pack a picnic, and get ready to be transported to a world where romance and revelry reign supreme. As You Like It will be performed on the beautiful lawn in front of Wycliffe Hall.

As You Like It

University of Oxford

Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 classic is brought to life with theatrical magic on the beautiful South Lawn of Wycliffe Hall.

Jim has three visitors and life is never the same again. This journey of discovery and betrayal is re-imagined in an inventive theatrical adaptation by Gari Jones, whose ‘Christmas Carol’ for Creation delighted audiences last Christmas at the North Wall.

Whilst retaining the narrative of Stevenson’s classic, with depth, integrity, a dash of thriller and a large amount of silliness, Gari Jones’ adaptation zips along like a wacky race brimming with pirate speak, off-the-wall characters and a whole heap of sea shanties. Treasure Island will be performed on the beautiful lawn in front of Wycliffe Hall, as well as on tour in Oxfordshire and beyond.  Suitable for all ages.

Treasure Island

We’re delighted to welcome you to George Orwell’s classic political fable in an adaptation bristling with satire. The animals have thrown off their human oppressors, but a new political elite are rising, and want to make Animal Farm ‘great again’. But at what cost? Join us for a riotous retelling of this timeless novel featuring Creation’s rep company.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Greenwich Theatre

Join Creation for a very special evening of poems and carols!

Many of our favourite actors, creatives and collaborators will be gathering to read a selection of Christmas poems, and lead us all in the singing of some carols. A chance to gather and get into the Christmas spirit (with plenty of mulled wine and mince pies, and a Christmas tombola)…

Last year’s event sold out, so please do book ahead.

Creation Theatre

Nov 29, 2025 - Jan 3, 2026

The Nutcracker

Dec 8, 2025

Poems & Carols

Nov 29, 2025 - Jan 3, 2026

The Nutcracker

26 - 28 Sep, 2025

Sherlock in Summertown

Creation Theatre