Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 May

The Onassis Programme and Oxford Playhouse present

Pots and Plays

Download audio plays here.

For one weekend, the Ashmolean Museum comes alive with dance, opera, theatre and digital drama.

The Onassis Programme and Oxford Playhouse have commissioned a host of poets, playwrights, composers and choreographers to create new works in response to the Greek pots and antiquities exhibited in the museum’s permanent collection and latest special exhibition: Heracles to Alexander the Great; Treasures from the Royal Capital of Macedon.

Opera

Thamyras, Cast gallery

Words Glyn Maxwell

Music Russell Hepplewhite

Inspired by a Greek Vase in gallery 16 related to Thamyras and his mother Agriope; thought to be depicting a lost Sophocles’ play. Duration 10 minutes.

Time for Earthenware, Atrium

Words Colin Teevan

Music Alex Silverman

Inspired by the sea of funeral lekthoi on display in Gallery 16. Duration 10 minutes.

Musical Director John O’ Brien

Harp Helen Sharp

Soprano Elinor Jane Moran

Soprano Katrina Waters

Mezzo Soprano Catrin Johnsson

Tenor Randy Nichol

Bass Baritone Timothy Connor

Dance

Dance I : Hymenaios (Fragments)

Choreographed and Performed by Marie Louise Crawley

Spoken text Angelica Penn

Inspired by a vase in gallery 16 depicting a woman preparing for her wedding. Duration 7 minutes.

Audio drama

Pick up an MP3 player from just inside the Randolph Gallery (21) to listen to 6 audio plays. At the start of each recording it suggests a location in the museum in which to listen to the play.

Or