Tuesday 20th January 2026

Culture

‘Songs, skits, and a third thing beginning with S’: Jack McMinn in conversation

If there’s one thing I believe Oxford’s theatre scene is missing, it’s a button-down-shirt-wearing ex-zoology student with a penchant for writing songs about Pret A Manger.

The Oxford art calendar: Hilary 2026

Oxford’s frosty Hilary term is best spent looking at new exhibitions. This art calendar will guide you through some of the upcoming highlights.

‘Beautifully we may rot’: ‘Madame La Mort’ in review

In a small, black-painted room on the top floor of a pub in Islington, known as The Hope Theatre, Madame La Mort was staged for the public for the first time.

Damaging detachment: Reflections on the Booker Prize 

This Christmas vac, I made up my mind to get out of my reading slump using the Booker Prize shortlist, revealing toxic masculinity as a key theme.

Chuck Berry – “One of the greats”

Will Cowie pays tribute to the late Chuck Berry

“When a film depends on siamese stories in the way this one does, it is often hard to keep the whole thing alive”

John Maier finds Tom Ford's re-released second film 'Nocturnal Animals' stylish but confused

“Injections of humour amidst the Beckettian existential angst”

Emily Lawford is impressed by Leveaux’s revival of Tom Stoppard's meta-theatrical tragicomedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

The Shins – Heartworms review

Akshay Bilolikar finds a confident and valedictory wisdom in the Shins' fifth effort

Review: ‘T2 Trainspotting’

Louise Howland finds an addictive energy in sequel to cult classic Trainspotting

Online discoveries through the Oxford Book Club

Ellie Duncan chats to the editors of the Oxford Book Club's new website

Circa Waves – Different Creatures review

Matt Roller deems the sophomore effort from Circa Waves to be refreshing, but inane

Spotlight: DFO

Will Cowie on those three magic letters

Tiny words: on the art of small talk

Ellie Duncan ruminates on the place of everyday interaction in literary writing

Faces, forgotten and faded

Jonathan Egid visits Christ Church Picture Gallery’s disappointingly small Forgotten Faces exhibition

“Love and humanity scattered amid the horror”

Emily Lawford enjoys a genuinely frightening production of Macbeth

Home is where the art is: Rod Jordan

Sophie Jordan ventures past her grandfather’s notecards only to come back to them

‘Deeper than the Abyss’: Resisting the Holocaust

Sam Sussman reviews Peter Hayes' new book, 'Why? Explaining the Holocaust'

A word from the stalls

Miriam Nemmaoui speaks to a tipsy audience member at Suzy Cripps’ 'The Optimists'

Representing sex in young adult fiction

Cherwell Books focuses on the importance of consent and honesty

Imagination and immediacy in travel writing

Ellie Duncan interviews Neil McQuillian, Senior Editor at Rough Guides

“Even while expecting an hour of postmodernist drama, I couldn’t have been more unprepared”

Katie Sayer recovers from the gripping and disturbing 'Marat/Sade' at the Keble O'Reilly

Spotlight: Emily the Snake

Emily the Snake are a funky outfit full of potential, says Will Cowie

A disturbing worldview undercut by patchy acting

Olivia Cormack finds that it's not just the costumes in Contractions that need ironing out

SLAM: Poetry that isn’t afraid to make an impact

William Hosie investigates how the art of slam challenges our assumptions about poetry

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