The Sloane Robinson Building is a building in the Newman Quad at

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, one of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

colleges. The building is in brick, reflecting the adjacent Victorian

Grade 1 listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

buildings by

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was bo ...

. The building was designed by Rick Mather Architects during 1996–2002. Theatreplan designed O'Reilly Theatre within the building, in collaboration with Rick Mather Architects, at a cost of £1.2 million. The building also includes various meeting rooms. The building is thermally connected to the ground through water circulating via the pilings in the foundations, thus reducing the building's cooling and heating needs. The six-storey building includes extensive structural glass work, with an entrance canopy that uses cantilever glass beams supported on bearings in the external wall. The overall building project won the following awards: ;2003 * Brick Awards Building of the Year * Brick Awards Best Public Building * Oxford Preservation Trust Environmental Award ;2004 *

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

Award ;2005 *

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme is a British awards scheme to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. It was established in 1959, and is the longest-standing built environment awards scheme in Europe. The ...

– Commendation The building is named after the hedge fund Sloane Robinson, established by Hugh Sloane and George Robinson, both alumni of the

. Robinson was a student at Keble College itself.

O'Reilly Theatre

The O'Reilly Theatre is a flexible

studio theatre A black box theater is a performance space, typically a square or rectangular room, with black walls and a black, flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interact ...

located within the Sloane Robinson Building at

. The theatre was completed in 2002. The seating capacity of the space ranges from 128 to 250, depending on the setup chosen. The standard configuration is end-on, but alternatives include traverse and in-the-round. The theatre is named after Sir

Tony O'Reilly Sir Anthony John Francis O'Reilly (7 May 1936 – 18 May 2024) was an Irish businessman and international rugby union player. He was known for his try scoring in rugby, his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from ...

, the billionaire Irish businessman and former international rugby union player, who contributed most of the funds.

Performances

The Theatre is managed by the Martin Esslin Society, who are responsible for choosing the productions staged in the theatre each term. Talks are also given by well-known actors. ;2018 * ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' (January 17 – January 20) * '' The 39 Steps'' (January 31 – February 3) * ''Oxford Alternotives'' (March 7) ;2020 * ''

The Entertainer ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' (February 6 – February 10) ;Other Further performances have also taken place. Performances are often reviewed in the ''

Oxford Mail ''Oxford Mail'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Oxford, England, owned by Newsquest. It is published six days a week. It is a sister paper to the weekly tabloid ''The Oxford Times''. History The ''Oxford Mail'' was founded in 1928 by MP Fra ...

'' newspaper.

External links

Sloane Robinson Building floor plans

O'Reilly Theatre website

O'Reilly Theatre
– Keble College
O'Reilly Theatre events

References

2002 establishments in England Buildings and structures completed in 2002 Theatres completed in 2002 Keble College, Oxford Tony O'Reilly family Studio theatres in Oxford University and college theatres in Oxford Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford {{UK-theat-struct-stub