Daily schedule
After registration on Sunday afternoon, we invite you to a welcome meeting in the Amersi Lecture Theatre in New Quad, where you will meet your tutors. Join us in Deer Park afterwards for our opening drinks reception, followed by dinner in Brasenose’s historic dining hall (informal dress).
Seminars take place on weekday mornings. Most afternoons are free, allowing you time to explore Oxford, enjoy a variety of optional social events (see details below), or to sit back and relax in one of the college's atmospheric quads.
Your course culminates on Friday evening with a closing drinks reception and gala farewell dinner at which Certificates of Attendance are awarded. For this special occasion smart dress is encouraged (no requirement to wear dinner suits or gowns).
Social programme
We warmly invite all Inspiring Oxford students to take part in our optional social programme, with all events provided at no additional cost. Events are likely to include:
- Croquet on the quad
- Chauffeured punting from Magdalen Bridge
- Expert-led walking tours of Oxford
- Optional visit to an Oxford Library or the Ashmolean Museum
- River Thames afternoon cruise
- Quiz night in the college bar
- Scottish country dance evening (where you do the dancing!)
Seminars and field trip
Monday
Our course opens with an introductory lecture on the life and works of Oscar Wilde, situating him within the artistic and social milieu of fin-de-siècle London. We then turn to Lady Windermere’s Fan, first produced in February 1892 by George Alexander at the St James’s Theatre. As a leading actor-manager, Alexander was renowned for staging daring society comedies, and we will consider why Lady Windermere’s Fan, subtitled A Play About a Good Woman, was regarded as so audacious and innovative in its day.
Tuesday
Our attention then moves to A Woman of No Importance, first staged by Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in April 1893. Like Lady Windermere’s Fan, this play interrogates social attitudes toward the so-called 'fallen woman' but it also raises sharper questions about gender, morality, and hypocrisy. Following a close reading of the text, we will examine contemporary accounts of the play’s first performance to gain insight into the reception of Wilde’s work in late-Victorian society.
Wednesday
Wednesday’s session focuses on An Ideal Husband, Wilde’s drama of political corruption, blackmail, and moral compromise, set against the backdrop of Westminster. The play premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in January 1895, with Lewis Waller in the role of Sir Robert Chiltern. After discussing the play’s themes and dramatic structure, we will consider the significance of the actor-manager system and the theatrical networks that helped to shape Wilde’s stage career.
Thursday
Thursday will feature a day trip to London for a guided tour of the West End. Participants will visit key Victorian theatres associated with Wilde’s work, such as the Haymarket, the Criterion, and the St James’s. Where possible, the visit will include attendance at a contemporary production, offering an opportunity to reflect on continuities between nineteenth-century and modern theatre.
Friday
Our course concludes with a discussion of Wilde’s final and most celebrated play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Premiered by George Alexander at the St James’s Theatre in February 1895, the production was curtailed shortly afterward due to the scandal surrounding Wilde’s private life. We will explore the play’s enduring themes of pretence, deception, and identity, and consider why The Importance of Being Earnest remains one of the most frequently performed and best-loved comedies in the English language.
