Culture

Seasonal reads: On childhood hobbies, growing up, and guilt

Reconnecting with reading is something many people tend to do on a summer holiday, and statistics suggest it is one of the only times the majority of  adults read...

Between beer gardens and picnics: Climate Culture Care at the Ashmolean

When I returned to Oxford this term, just as England teased us with the sixth heat-wave of the year, I found myself at a loose end. With the deadline for two vacation essays still far in the distance, the sun lit up the sign for Soma Surovi Jannat’s Ashmolean Now exhibition, Climate Culture Care.

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Review: As You Like It – ‘What’s not to like?’

At last, the sun is coming out to play, and the Mansfield Players’ staging of As You Like It has given this summer’s outdoor...

From cloisters to concrete: Oxford’s architectural evolution

As a proud member of one of Oxford’s younger colleges – one that didn’t make it into the set of Saltburn – the magnetic...

Adolescence: Can TV spark radical change in young men?

Adolescence is just another example of art acting as a conversation piece. The recent series has inspired much conversation after it has highlighted how...

Hand over Heart

"So bite the heel that walked you home in the rain"

Oxide Radio is a breath of fresh, musical air

"This free station is worth a listen"

Exhibition 004: Oxford artistry across all mediums

When I first walked into Exhibition 004, my gaze was immediately met with Magda Adamczyk’s Nightmare. A demon, swirling with hellish strokes of red,...

Review: And Then There Were None – ‘Entertaining, suspenseful and very much worth your attention’

Hafeja Khanam’s take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery And Then There Were None for this year’s OUDS BAME showcase was entertaining, suspenseful and...

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...

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 the kinds of physical and emotional intensity that the Oxford...

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) for incredibly dapper audience members before the play begins. The...

Why reading for pleasure still matters at Oxford

The idea of students reading for pleasure during term time has sparked much debate. Simply put though, Oxford’s intensive schedule makes it near-impossible. The...

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...

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