Wednesday 4th March 2026

Culture

The Hollywood blockbuster and what it says about us

Why do ‘dad films’, once popular and even good, not seem to have the relevance they used to?

Confronting the future of art: ‘Responding to AI’ at Christ Church

‘Responding to AI’ an exhibition curated by Aniq Shamshi and Alice King, confronted the question of how artists perceive artificial intelligence directly.

Lighthouse Productions on ‘Things I Know To Be True’

Fresh from the success of their debut production, Lighthouse Productions are set to deliver their second show: Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know to Be True (2016).

A masterclass in devising: ‘Noether’

This original play tells the story of the mathematician Emmy Noether and her struggles with the misogyny of her male peers against the backdrop of the rising Nazi state.

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...

The lost art of the intermission, and why the film industry needs to bring it back 

Last month, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist was one of the most-discussed films at the Oscars, with its award-winning cinematography, score, and direction rightfully generating...

A review of The Crux: Djo turns music into a profession

In his new album, The Crux, Djo, aka Joe Keery, perfectly inhabits and evokes peak 70s McCartney. At the same time, he seamlessly drifts...

40 years after the miners’ strike, James Graham’s ‘This House’ still has a lot to offer

‘Humphrey: ‘If the right people don’t have power, do you know what happens? The wrong people get it. Politicians. Councillors. Ordinary voters.’Bernard: ‘But aren’t...

Persuading the public: The play as propaganda

The play as propaganda has a long history. From the regime-affirming productions of Hieron, tyrant King of Syracuse, to Lucy Prebble’s play The Effect,...

Something is rotten in the state of San Andreas: Grand Theft Hamlet in Hertford

‘Hamlet: “O’, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw…” ’ Don’t quite remember this scene from the bard’s masterpiece? You won’t forget it...

The Ghosts She Felt Acutely

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Letter from the Orient

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

A Short Sharp Shock to the Skull

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Rhonda May

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Any Blue Will Do

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Splat!

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when...

German Expressionist film: A beginner’s guide

With Robert Eggers’ remake of the classic vampire horror Nosferatu taking the world by storm, now is a great time to look back at...

Shakespeare and the ‘Dark Lady’

Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most well renowned English playwright. Thus, the chance that the bard might have been strongly influenced by a woman, as...

Cherubs Grow On Trees: Atmospheric student filmmaking

Making short films is hard. You have anything between two and 20 minutes to tell a compelling story. As an audience member, they can...

Lessons in censorship: A cautionary tale against Bodleian blacklists 

For some authors, the Bodleian Libraries have not always a safe haven for their work. Although marginalised texts are no longer demarcated with the phi symbol on their spines, with many having re-entered the undergraduate canon, Sophie Price discusses the valuable lessons we can learn from the Bodleian blacklist which remain pertinent today.

Should ‘Orbital’ have won The Booker Prize? 

Laurence Cooke reviews Samantha Harvey's 'Orbital', the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize.

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