 With a mixture of the innocent wit of Twain’s ‘Diary Of Adam And Eve’, of ‘Family Guy’ Baby Stewie’s brainstorming to overthrow the world, and of ‘Tom and Jerry’-like funny, cruel violence, the two troubled toddlers eventually come round. .... to read more.... Add Comment  Quiz Night at the Britannia, 30 August 2012!! THE MITRE, High Street, Oxford Due to an error by the current venue, we have had to move Quiz Night at the Britannia to a new venue for the last night!! Tomorrow nights performance of Quiz Night at the Britannia will now be at The Mitre, High Street, Oxford. Come see the last night performance of Quiz Night at the Britannia. It's been a great entertaining summer run, enjoyed by all, and its the last chance you'll get... £10 tickets when you say the Facebook code...coming soon!  .....and have been for days...well, nearly a week now...and no blog!!! Terrible of us, but we've been working incredibly hard to get Pinch in Love off the ground...and performed to perfection! What can we say; its been a very wet week...either through flyering in the down-pouring rains or through sheer blood sweat and tears in rehearsals there has been an air of moistness in The Deck Camp. It hasn't dampened our spirits though...we're at the greatest arts and culture festival in the world....how could it!? Most of our days have been split into a mixture of business. We've been rehearsing for 6 hours daily, flyering for around four and catching shows where possible. We've done a bit of comedy, crap and good. We've done The Boy With Tape on his Face (and now I have done I feel that it doesn't matter if I see nothing else this year) @tapefaceboy for those who want to follow.  I have seen a great performance of new writing (Dating George Orwell) from an old friend, @cockneykel, who is in one of the free fringe venues, Laughing Horse at the White Horse, and she was quite brilliant. I left her gig feeling very proud, which is odd, as I have had no influence over her performance, but still feeling proud indeed! There have also been a couple of stand-up shows that we've seen...the better of the two being Hunt and Anderson a female comedy duo who even anaged to get our Techie Paul up in a very funny King Henry VIII sketch...he was supposed to be the french on but sounds a bit more like Borat...take a look at the Video clip... We have now settled in with one preview and the first night performance done. Both performances left the audience delighted, and giggling all the way through which has made us all super charged with energy and today we will be hitting Edinburgh Town with all we can....and today is the first day we'll be sending Pinch out to kill his teddy. If you find the teddy and rescue him before Pinch kills him you will be in for a lovely scrummy free ticket to the show! Fun fun fun! We highly recommend that you keep an eye out for the Teddy and for Pinch...who knows you may get the Teddy Hero Award at the end of the festival! It's the last day for two for one tickets...we're going at there and grabbing the audiences today...its such a great piece of theatre, we reckon you should take a chance on at £3.50. BARGAIN! BARGAIN! BARGAIN! Amy playing Baby and I will be going to see Mrs Marchbank at the Vault this morning - we get free reciprocal tickets if they're available, and then we'll be up on the mile flyering like crazy! All the other cast will be joining us. It is a bright blue sky this evening which we are hoping is not a big fat weather con...as we'll be sending them out in costume today...keeping our fingers crossed they don't get wet for the show. Sunny Days!
 “It’s a quiz — a quiz in a play with a quiz.” The Oxford don Dr Stuart Lee is describing his new play. “It is also about the loss of pubs. It is set in a pub. In fact we are staging it in a pub on George Street.” If anyone is well placed to usher Oxford audiences into a new concept in theatre it is Dr Lee — for in many ways he is something of a new concept in higher education himself. When we first met four years ago, it was to talk about the world’s largest Great War archive, which had just been created at Oxford University. Pinch in Love is touring to Edinburgh Fringe, following last years success at Camden Fringe! We got 4 star reviews and we're really excited to be taking the show on a 3 week run to Edinburgh. The Deck Theatre Company is delighted to announce our cast for Edfringe 2012. Let me introduce you to:
Here are a selection of recent reviews, these are from dailyinfo and come unedited. - Kirbs.  Stuart Lee's play offers a very different night out. If you have an old-fashioned mind set of 'going to the theatre to be entertained', you will enjoy it as a thought-provoking look at the demise of much of our pub culture. If, however, you like the pub quiz and a great night out with friends, the evening will really take off and you'll become fully involved. The upstairs bar of the Copa has been used to its best potential by the talented Tania Higgins. She has directed a competent set of actors, too. Principally, Steve Hay gives another thoughtful and multi-layered performance as the wise-cracking regular, Tommy. Sarah Wilkins, as the troubled Brenda, hostess of the 'Brittania' provides him with a brilliant foil. Their duologues are rich in humour. So, too are Lucy Hoult and Adie Gargan, who play middle class toffs with huge energy, fun and enough integrity to avoid caricature. It is a very entertaining evening which many more may enjoy each Thursday at the Copa at eight. You may even win the quiz prize. Not many theatre experiences offer that! - Gwilly.  Do you know who won the Derby in 1992 or which politician made the memorable quote about lies, damn lies and statistics? If you did and a smug smile crossed your lips or you were driven to look it up because you thought you should know then this play is for you. Set in the fictitious Britannia pub (and mind don’t go to the actual one in Headington by mistake) Quiz Night at the Britannia explores the British love of a pub quiz, happy even in the face of complete ignorance and weekly ignominy. To increase the enjoyment the audience take part, as actual teams competing in a real quiz. This is a site specific piece, in the function room of the Copa pub. Brenda the barmaid is ever cheerful in the face of crude bar fixture Tommy (played very engagingly by Steve Hay), and his equally clueless sidekick Joe. Just down the road is the Crosby enquiry into the Government’s road building scheme (shades of the Leveson frequently haunt this topical script), which brings into the scruffy bar two spin-doctors Ruth and Stephen, slumming it to plot the demise of a hapless minister. They too get sucked into playing the quiz along in between watching news clips of the enquiry, getting endless updates on their mobiles, and listening to a recording of their prey frolicking with a prostitute. With references to phone hacking, budget cuts, and the influence of America on everyday politics this is a play which mourns the loss of the small pleasures in life to the interests of big institutions. The script works best when exploring the very human concerns of the locals, and is laugh out loud funny. It needs some finessing when it attempts to make broader political points. The performances are spot on and special mention must also go to Sarah Wilkins as the warm-hearted Brenda, Lucy Hoult as the spiky Ruth and Ruth Curtis, the quiz mistress who has to juggle scripted lines alongside audience interaction and does so with great charm. Greene King Brewery, who manages the Copa, needs to get its finger out. The pub trade needs all the help it can get and publicising these once weekly performances in the bar, and perhaps outside for passing trade would boost their beer sales. Ironic that a play all about the demise of that great British institution – the local – should find itself in a public house that is fighting shy of promoting it. You can catch this quiz night every Thursday at 8pm throughout the summer. It’s a good night out. - Joanna Matthews  This was fun. A thought provoking play combined with a pub quiz, involving the audience. The plot revolves around the pub regulars who turn up every week for the quiz night, each with their own story and problems. A small confession. I noticed that it was at Copa in George Street only at the last minute. I very nearly went to the eponymous pub in Headington. I wonder whether there'll be a fresh set of quiz questions at each performance? - Ath  A really fun and different type of theatre - a play about a pub quiz night where the audience is part of the play and also gets to do a quiz. And it works! Gathering pace as the evening went on, it is Steve Hay's performance as the rough layabout that really moves the audience at the end. If you want a great night out that's a bit different - go for this.- Cath
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