Theatre A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE Oxford Playhouse Until Saturday, October 13 Tickets: £10.50-£15.50 01865 305305 or oxfordplay house.com Life has been breathed into this classic American tale of illegal immigration set in 1950s New York by the University of Oxford Student Company & Broken Lyre Productions The Brooklyn love story involves two Italian brothers who fall in love with the same girl with the usual Arthur Milleresque consequences. Think Romeo and Juliet crossed with West Side Story and don’t expect a happy ending.

Children PENGUIN Cornerstone, Didcot Sunday, October 14, for 3+, 11am and 2pm.

Tickets: 01235 515144 cornerstone-arts.org Children will love this show based on the award-winning book by Polly Dunbar with lively songs by Tom Gray of Gomez. Based around a small boys attempts to get his toy penguin to talk, using puppets and music to tell the tale, Penguin not only invokes laughter but addresses those well known toddler emotions of anger, danger and love.

Talk CHARLES SIMONYI LECTURE Oxford Playhouse Friday, October 12, 5pm Tickets: 01865 305305 or oxfordplayhouse.com Entitled Can Robots Be Creative? Luc Steels will attempt to enlighten you in layman’s terms about his work to develop artificial intelligence. The annual lecture, created to make scientific understanding more accessible to the public, will be an enlightening hour of cutting-edge science to get you thinking, if nothing else. But as Luc Steels is well versed in public speaking and spreading the word, this should be a riveting event.

Musical GAP YEAR Old Fire Station, Oxford Saturday, October 13, 7.30pm Tickets: 01865 263980 oldfirestation.info Ideal for anyone with teenage children, those of us embarking on a gap year, and world weary travellers alike, there is something here for everyone in this tongue-in-cheek musical comedy.

Based around the hapless Tom, an 18-year-old who avoids university by heading to Australia for a year, enjoy all the weird and wonderful situations he finds himself in, depicted through comedy and song. Strangely prophetic for anyone who’s actually embarked on the renowned Gap Year route with hints of Something About Mary.