Event type: Theatre

8:45pm

Paint Stripper is a bold new play by Rachel Louise Clarke, directed by Margaret Connell, celebrating the messy, hilarious, and deeply moving power of female friendship. Chantelle — a painter and decorator by day, stripper by night at Dreamer’s, caring for her ailing mother — meets Sarah, a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship. Together, they form an unlikely bond, navigating heartbreak, life’s hardships, and the challenges holding them back. Through laughter, tears, and unwavering support, they encourage each other to fight for freedom and self-worth. Paint Stripper is a raw, funny, and tender celebration of resilience and womanhood.

Creative Team

Rachel Louise Clark- Writer

Margaret Connell- Director

Jennifer Vaudrey- Producer

Cast

Samantha Walton- Sarah

Louise Garcia- Chantelle

Rachel Louise Clark is a working-class Liverpudlian writer and an alumna of the Royal Court Playwright Development Programme. While Rachel is best known for her quick-witted comedy, most recently seen in her production of The Anfield Apocalypse at Liverpool’s Royal Court, Paint Stripper marks a personal turning point. By blending her signature sharp dialogue with her own lived experience of domestic abuse, she has crafted a story rooted in raw authenticity. This is drama with a heartbeat of comedy: a play that refuses to be preachy while finding the light in the darkest of places.

7:30pm

Gaza Nights returns for our fifth cabaret, raising money for Amplify Gaza Stories and its Community Food Resilience projects.  As always we promise an esoteric mix of music, tap dance, politics, spoken word, sketches and surprises  – but the emphasis this time is very much on comedy. Because…

We are made up to be welcoming Jerusalem born stand-up Daphna Baram and socialist comedy magician Ian Saville, alongside the host of artists that make up the Gaza Nights Team.

Daphna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyfC7Z6XxeY

Ian:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mizLpTjY-Y

7:30pm

The acclaimed series of work in progress nights at Unity continues into 2026 by popular demand with monthly instalments of never before seen work.

Over the last few years Unity has established itself as the go to venue for fresh, and innovative new work with a sell out series of work in progress evenings and unmissable variety nights.

Line Up

LIF 2026 in association with Wing it Impro presents

Ancestors 

One house. One family. One story.

For 120 years, the Fletcher family has called 11 Oxford Road home. It’s a house filled with three generations of births, deaths, and marriages. But in 2026, this seemingly unremarkable family faces a life-changing decision: do they sell the house and move on, or is the pull of the past too strong to ignore? What happens when the memories of the past fight to keep you there.

Ancestors is a gripping, spontaneous theatrical experience that follows three generations as they tell their own story. Witness a tale of inheritance, identity, and the choices we make to either embrace or reject our past.

Conceived and directed: 
Mark Smith

Development collaborators:
​Mike Burton, Jen Hardy, Su Jackson, Paddy Kearns & Fergus Wynne

Shifting Skies – Making Waves Collective
 
Live music, dance and full stage projections of the ever changing sky

If being creative is human behaviour and helps us grow and connect, we should all be doing it in our daily lives.

Making Waves is a collective of musicians, dancers, visual artists and performers who take their inspiration from a part of the natural world and co-create. Everyone has artistic input and there is a constant dialogue as the piece develops.
Shifting Skies started as a short film from a project by musician and composer Rachael Diop and artist Jayne Seddon link:
https://rachaeldiopmusic.org/projects

 
Iona Lott is Young and Hot

Iona Lott is young and hot and fun, and she wants to stay that way forever! She only ever wants to have a good time with everybody she meets. However she has a problem. Iona just can’t seem to stop aging. Lines on her face, creeping grey hairs…. a hangover. She wonders if she’ll ever be happy again. Until, one day, Iona reads the first half of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray and, hit with a stroke of genius, she hatches a plan. She’s inviting esteemed artists (the audience) to compete to draw the perfect picture of her, one so good she’s willing to sell her soul. What could possibly go wrong?

7:30pm

Eve has been around since the dawn of humanity, the turn of the century, and since last week. Eve is every woman; she is indigenous; she is a pregnant teenage girl, a domestic abuse survivor. She is a witch, hysterical, insane. She is evil, and she caused mankind’s fall from grace. Powerful and provocative, Mandala’s new play exposes the lies societies have been fed by organised religion and politics, exploring who controls the narrative and what truth got buried along the way. Through our unique brand of theatricality, humour, innovative staging, compelling characters and powerful epic storytelling, we tell the story of Eve….Accused, suppressed, abused, silenced, but now rising, waking up to her full power as creator, nurturer, wisdom-keeper – restoring the balance between Masculine and Feminine energy, to ultimately suggest new vision and hope.

Mandala Theatre Company is an ethnically diverse-led company based in East Oxford. We are committed to using theatre as a force for social change and to working with young people and artists from the global majority and disadvantaged backgrounds. This play has been developed with young people, student groups and women’s groups in Oxford, Luton, Salford and Bristol, in line with Mandala’s trademark dedication to co-creation with those with lived experience, and telling the stories that so often go untold