Culture

Review: 113 – ‘An elusive, intangible, and shifting reality’

When I entered the Burton Taylor Studio to the sound of a mildly haunting cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, the whispered-yet-screechy vocals verging on the absurdly comic, I...

A ‘Closer’ look at intimacy in Labyrinth’s new production

Labyrinth Production’s upcoming production of Patrick Marber’s Closer is a novel step up in...

Review: Cyrano de Bergerac – ‘A clever adaptation of a timeless play’

I’m ashamed to admit I almost mistake Cuigy (Kate Burke) and Brissaille (Nancy Gittus)...

Why reading for pleasure still matters at Oxford

The idea of students reading for pleasure during term time has sparked much debate....

The Pasts Contained in Preloved Books at the Oxford Premier Book Fair

Although post-collections celebrations usually involve nights out, followed by long, long lie-ins, I spent Saturday morning taking the bus to the Oxford Brookes Headington...

Review of ‘Intermezzo’: Chess, law, and the philosophy of language in yet another Rooney masterpiece

I thought it perplexing that critics felt Intermezzo similar to other works by writer Sally Rooney. Certainly, it shares some familiar ingredients: it’s set...

Review: Oxford Opera Society enters the bullring for Bizet’s ‘Carmen’

If you recall Pixar’s UP, a comedy where an old man balloons with his dog to South America, a funny moment appears in Carl’s...

Copies

"I want them, long after I leave, to remain together."

love letter

"a stamp can’t be used again, only kept or discarded."

Review: Medieval Mystery Play Cycle – ‘Comedy, choirs and inflatable hammers’

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Medieval mystery play cycle. What I was not anticipating was Lucifer recast as a finance bro...

The Longest Goodbye

Oxford became a home I hadn’t known I was missing – a place that understood me without asking. 

Ancient Echoes, Modern Forms: Cheung Yee and contemporaries exhibition at the Ashmolean Review

Cienna Jennings explores the Ashmolean’s Reforming Abstraction exhibition, where abstract expressionism meets East Asian folklore and spirituality in the work of Cheung Yee and his contemporaries.

Review: Allegro Pastel by Leif Randt

Tanja Arnheim and Jerome Aimler are Millennials in a long-distance relationship. Tanja is a Berlin-based novelist and Jerome a Frankfurt-based web designer. They text...

Please, no more biopics!

A few weeks ago, Sam Mendes announced his casting for the Beatles biopics he aims to release in 2028. As I recall from conversations...

Writers on Writing: Reflections on the 2025 Oxford Literary Festival

The Oxford Literary Festival is one of those events I hear about every year, mark out on my calendar, and never end up going...

Your essential guide to the music of May Day

May Day: It’s unique, convivial and quintessentially Oxford. Only once a year does the city come together like it, and when that happens, it’s...

Going Dreamy: The Singular Will of David Lynch

In a behind-the-scenes clip from David Lynch’s final project, Twin Peaks: The Return, a crew member tells him that they only have two days...

Joanna Miller’s ‘The Eights’: Unapologetically, indulgently Oxford

Do not worry: despite the title, this is not a rowing novel. Instead, the term ‘The Eights’ in Miller’s novel refers to the four...

Missing the plot of ‘Wuthering Heights’: Is the book always better?

Sophie Price discusses Emerald Fennell's upcoming film adaptation of Withering Heights, examining how much film adaptations can get away with changing.

A review of Day 2 of the Oxford University Short Film Festival

The Oxford University Short Film Festival took place at the end of last term in Keble O’Reilly Theatre. Each day featured a variety of...

A Trinity trail of Oxford’s best reads and retreats

Trinity Term has come upon us faster than the lovely magnolia has blossomed, which means the weather has warmed up, the sun is out,...

If walls could speak: Lessons from Cowley’s street art

Just a five-minute stroll from the imposing spires of Magdalen College lies Cowley Road, the heart of Oxford’s urban culture. Oxford, renowned for its...

Staging the radio play: The audio-visual world of ‘Under Milk Wood’

“Love the words!”That was the crisp command from Dylan Thomas, the 20th-century Welsh poet, to the cast of his radio play Under Milk Wood,...

‘The Little Clay Cart’ brings Sanskrit back to life

As students left Oxford on the last weekend of Hilary, I visited St John’s College’s auditorium to witness the final hurrah of term: the...