“Bayeux mania” struck London last week. Throngs filed through the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry, the famed 220-foot tapestry from the 1070s that returned to England from France for the first time in centuries.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, a Bayeux Tapestry has returned to public view for the first time in decades.

The piece is one of the stars of “Workshop of the World,” which opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in July and runs another few weeks. With 270 textiles, ceramics, pieces of furniture, works in stained glass, as well as paintings and prints, the exhibition takes a deep dive into the Arts and Crafts movement and industrial design in Philadelphia. The material is thoroughly Philadelphia, starting with the Centennial Exposition and following the city’s art schools, including the various iterations of the University of the Arts, and explores the idealistic craft communities of Bryn Athyn, New Hope, Rose Valley and, in Delaware, Arden.

It’s also a show that probably packs in more beauty for beauty’s sake than any other at the museum in recent years while spanning an incredibly diverse aesthetic. It’s not often you see Golden Age book illustrator Maxfield Parrish, contemporary stained glass artist Judith Schaechter, and fabric swatches from the 19th century pulled together in one place, much less threaded into a story this convincingly.

The Bayeux Tapestry on view is gorgeously rendered and quite old, but not a millennium old. It is, rather, a full-scale reproduction from about 1873 both mechanically produced — with photography — and handmade.

“It was a project overseen by the South Kensington Museum in London,” said PMA curator of American decorative arts David Barquist. “They sent a photographer to France and made hundreds of glass plate negatives to print this out [on paper, mounted on cloth], and it was hand-colored because, of course, they didn’t have color photography at that point.”

Six copies were made, one of which was acquired by the Art Museum in 1888. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts owned another copy. It was bought by the Bayeux Museum from Watts’s estate in 2023.

You can see only a relatively short stretch of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s facsimile. It’s been unfurled to the scene of King Harold’s coronation and a visit from Halley’s comet, which was seen as a bad omen.

Still, to see it at all is a rare treat. The museum displayed the piece when the museum was housed in Memorial Hall, but when the PMA moved into its current building, in 1928, the Bayeux reproduction was put into storage and wasn’t seen again until now, said Barquist — nearly a century later.

“By the time we moved here, Fiske Kimball was the director. This is not Fiske Kimball’s cup of tea,” said Barquist. “He was about modernism and Duchamp and all that stuff.”

Duchamp, by the way promises, to take the spotlight once again, with a major show opening at the museum Oct. 10. Call it “Duchamp mania.”

Workshop of the World continues at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Oct. 11. philamuseum.org.

— Peter Dobrin

I’ve watched Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott build Philly Fashion Week for 21 years.

Each year I’m more impressed with the way they’ve made the biannual four-day style event not just a runway extravaganza, but a teaching opportunity. Fashion is an industry and Parker and Scott are dedicated to helping Philadelphia designers not just be fabulous but sell their fabulosity.

Tuesday night’s Immersive Fashion Show, the kick-off event to this fall’s Philly Fashion Week “From the Runway to the Streets: Philadelphia is Fashion” was another example of that. The show featured collections from five designers whose models did more than walk a runway; they walked up to the audience, allowing onlookers to see each pleat, tuck, seam and swish of a hemline close up.

“We wanted to give the audience a chance to see the clothes, admire them, take pics, talk to the models, interact with the designers,” said Parker. “It’s a different way for designers to see the clothes.”

Among my favorite were Jeanette Limas’ romantic, yet no-nonsense silhouettes. I think there is a red gown appropriate for every occasion, but those with billowing sleeves, cinched waists, and ruffled hemlines give feminine energy with a powerful twist. Melani Von Alexandria’s hot girl looks were tailored and sharp in black and white. Sculpted hair designs by Kia Sterling took the gowns up an avant garde notch.

Philly Fashion Week culminates Saturday, Sept. 19. The Business of Fashion Panel will be Saturday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. featuring a fireside chat with celebrity stylist KJ Moody — whose clients include Beyoncé — followed by the Runway II show, with more than dozen looks by national and local designers. The show will be outside between Market and Filbert Street on 9th. Tickets are available here

— Elizabeth Wellington

Remember when you got paired up with two other kids to present a history project in middle school? That is the premise of little ghost party’s 2026 Fringe production: three awkward middle schoolers having to put on a presentation about Greek playwrights. The three protagonists take turns hilariously recreating some of the best Greek tragedies, which unearths emotional moments for each.

Many Greek tragedies are considered violent, and the brutally makes it difficult to adapt in modern times. However, little ghost party smartly sets this middle school presentation in the wake of a neighboring school shooting. The students use that grief, along with raised alertness and fear, which makes the violence in some of these tragedies seem more contemporary.

Great performances from the three creators of the piece and some really nostalgic projection work makes for a wonderfully unique Philadelphia Fringe experience.

“Offstage Onstage: Everything You Didn’t See The Greeks Do” is running at the Asian Arts Initiative Black Box until Sept. 28.

— Frank Schierloh

I first saw Oasis at J.C. Dobbs on South Street in 1994. And then again at the first ever show at the CoreStates Center — now, several name changes later, Xfinity Mobile Arena — in 1996.

Then in 2025, battling brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher finally made peace after more than 15 years of not speaking to each other. But when the biggest Brit-pop band in the world reunited, they didn’t come any closer to Philadelphia than MetLife Stadium East Rutherford, N.J. That time, I didn’t make the trip up the Jersey Turnpike to see them.

And now that I’ve seen the new film, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, I’ve come to see the error of my ways.

The documentary, which is directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, is an excellent concert film that captures the majestic roar of the Mancunian band’s guitar-army wall of sound.

But as it follows the Gallaghers as they fill stadiums in the U.K., U.S., and around the world, with 50,000 and more at every tour stop joining in on the sturdy, built-to-last songs written by Noel and sung with sneering swagger by Liam, it also achieves something improbable.

Don’t Look Back in Anger, which credits Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight as a writer, also tells a moving story about reconciliation.

That’s because it’s not just about the brothers, who were so completely estranged that their children had never met. It’s also about the fans to whom Oasis obviously means so much. And the kick is that so many of those ardent enthusiasts seen in the movie — particularly those in Asia and South America — are much, much younger than the band.

“Supersonic,” the first ever Oasis single, from 1994, opened with the line “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” The under 30s fans in the film who have taken that credo to heart and have waited most of their lives to finally see their favorite band live, include a Korean haenyo, a “Diving Woman,” like the swimmer in the Japanese Breakfast song of that name.

There’s also a young Brazilian woman who finds her identity through an Oasis fan group and names her German Shepherd after the band’s guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs. And a Manchester priest fashions a compelling sermon about forgiveness around the Oasis finally making peace. If the Gallagher brothers can put their acrimony aside and love one another, he reasons, perhaps there’s hope for us all.

Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger is playing at Philly area theaters and expected to stream on Hulu and Disney+ later this year. This week, the band announced Oasis ’27 tour dates. Once again, Philadelphia is not on the itinerary, with the band doing 11 hometown dates in Manchester next June and the only U.S. shows three each in Boston and Las Vegas in August. Anyone up for a road trip?

— Dan DeLuca

What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you? Tell the Trauma Queen and she’ll make a hilarious joke out of it. Philadelphia playwright/comedian Liv Shoup presented a reading of her work in progress, Trauma Queen, to a packed house at Plays and Players Skinner Studio as part of the Fringe Festival’s Lemonade Stand hub. And despite the dark subject matter, she had the audience snort-laughing almost the entire time.

Shoup’s titular queen brimmed with charisma in bright pink hair and compelling stage presence, regardless of the binder holding the script in front of her. She puts herself out there by trying stand-up at open mic nights, only to get kicked out for trying to tell rape jokes.

Her trauma, the sheepish stage manager tells her, isn’t funny, it just makes people uncomfortable (she excels in evoking both humor and discomfort in revealing, fascinating ways).

Then when she tries presenting in group therapy, she’s dinged for taking such a light tone about such serious topics. Doctor’s suggestion? Try stand-up. Instead of digging through her personal history, she turns it over to the audience (and the internet) to solicit their bad experiences so she can poke fun at them — and it leads to her surprise success.

The script was smart and biting, with Shoup delivering stream-of-consciousness rants with sharp barbs and excellent comedic timing. Her recovery journey provides pointed critiques of the perils of becoming an internet personality and the challenges of finding true friends who support and believe victims of sexual assault. It was refreshing, hysterical, and heartbreaking. I can’t wait to see where the play goes next.

The final performance of “Trauma Queen” will run at 1 p.m. on Sept. 27 at Plays and Players Skinner Studio, 1714 Delancey St., Philadelphia.

— Rosa Cartagena