The Gang of Three at Oxford Playhouse

If you have been keeping an eye on the Oxford Playhouse's autumn programme, you will have seen The Gang of Three land on the bill. It runs from Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 October, so it is a short visit, and it is worth knowing what you are signing up for before you try to get a ticket.

The play is a political comedy-drama written by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky and directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward. It takes you back to 1976, to the Labour Party leadership battle that followed Harold Wilson's resignation, and it puts the three main contenders centre stage: Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey and Tony Crosland. Alan Cox plays Crosland, Hywel Morgan takes Jenkins and Colin Tierney plays Healey, and the three of them spend the show arguing over the soul of British socialism. It is noted for being historically accurate about that contest and the eighteen years of Tory rule that followed it.

This is not a new production. It comes off a sell-out London run at the King's Head Theatre in May 2025 and is part of a wider national tour that runs from 1 October to 21 November. The reviews have been strong across the board: four stars from The Guardian, The Stage, The Daily Express, The Arts Desk, Fringe Review, London Theatre One, Hackney Gazette and London Box Office, and five stars from The Morning Star, Ham and High, Islington Gazette, Theatre and Tonic, The Spy in the Stalls, I Thank You Theatre and Adventures in Theatreland, with The Reviews Hub giving it four. The Spectator said Khan and Salinsky capture the characters beautifully, Andrew Marr called it beautifully written, tautly argued, thoughtful and thought provoking in the New Statesman, and Stephen Bush described it as a terrific play with a great cast and script in the Financial Times.

On the practical side, each show runs an hour and a half with no interval, and it is aimed at ages 14 and over. The performances are Tuesday 27, Wednesday 28, Friday 30 and Saturday 31 all at 19:30, with a 14:30 matinee on Thursday 29 and a 14:30 and 19:30 double on Saturday 31. Thursday's shows are captioned. The Wednesday evening performance includes a post-show talk with Sir Robert Chote, President of Trinity College, Oxford, Andrew Graham, Honorary Fellow and former Master of Balliol College, and writer Robert Khan, chaired by Kirsty Patrick Ward. Chote took over at Trinity in September 2025 and was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to fiscal policy and the economy; Graham was economic adviser to Harold Wilson from 1967 to 1969 and again from 1974 to 1976. The production is funded by Arts Council England, Oxford Council, the University of Oxford, St John's College and UK Theatre. Khan studied law at Cambridge and Southampton and was Arts Champion of Islington, while Salinsky is Artistic Director of The Spontaneity Shop and co-author of The Improv Handbook. One thing to be aware of: all performances are currently marked as sold out, so you may be hunting for a return rather than a first ticket.