Wednesday 21st 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.

Cecil Day-Lewis: Auden’s overlooked classmate

Theo Davies-Lewis reveals the poet's fruitful and inspiring, though perhaps not academically successful, time in Oxford

A melting pot of nature enthusiasts

Natalia Bus discusses beginnings and endings with Stornoway

Readers’ Photo Competition: deadline approaching!

Final call! Send your best portrait shots to [email protected] by Wed 15 Feb for a chance to see your work in print!

Old&New: Turl Street’s tradition

Turl Street Arts Festival now becomes a platform for Oxford’s celestial art

The life and death of the millennial author

Daniel Curtis considers the implications of social media for literary legacies

Preview: Three Men in a Boot: A Rather Sketchy Show

If your finger isn’t on the pulse of the Oxford comedy scene, this comic extravaganza may be just the thing you need to pull...

In conversation with Loyle Carner

Ben Warren discusses the importance of family with the rapper

Spotlight: The Lemon Twigs

The Lemon Twigs are a band of sumptuous harmonies and odd thrills, says Natalia Bus

Home is where the art is: Kingsley Ng

Queenie Li considers the use of public transport in art

Old & New: Young art on old walls

Kate Asquith on the interplay of past and present at Somerville Arts

The Transports at Cecil Sharp House

Ben Ray is carried away by an epic tale of transportation told through folk music and stories

Brazilian vis-à-vis

From the beaches of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, the megalopolis of São Paulo to Maceio, these photos illustrate the diversity of environments and people that can be found in Brazil

Felicity Jones: Star of the Oxford drama scene

Theo Davies-Lewis recounts how acting at university fostered Jones' talents

Men directing women: Almódovar ‘Julieta’

Benjamin Davies discusses guilt, colours and female relationships in Pedro Almódovar’s latest work

Single of the week: James Blunt’s ‘Love Me Better’

Emma Leech slates the pop singer's painful new release

A word from the stalls

Miriam Nemmaoui accosts a teary-eyed audience member emerging from the Burton Taylor Studio, after the final showing of STOP

Dostoyevsky and the crime of orthodoxy

Daniel Villar reflects on how Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s religious beliefs influenced his literature as the anniversary of his death approaches on 9 February

Review: ‘Two Way Mirror’

Alice Robinson reflects on an admirable attempt to tackle a difficult pair of plays

Don’t miss your STOP

Hannah Arndt is full of enthusiasm for a preview of an original student musical

Review: ‘Collaborators’

Tilly Nevin rates this student production as amongst the best she has seen in Oxford

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