Friday 13th June 2025

Culture

Form, function, and art in the cultural weight of architecture

With roughly 55% of the world’s population living in cities, the urban world – the brainchild of architects – has become what most people recognise as home. Studies have...

The cantatas of Bach with New Chamber Opera

Recently, students from the University of Oxford have blessed the city with several performances...

Review: Crocodile Tears – ‘Techno-futuristic, but why?’

There is a lot to like about Natascha Norton’s Crocodile Tears. Female lead Elektra...

Review: ART – ‘Charm, jazz, and friendship at its wittiest’

ART is charming. Centred around long-time friends Yvan (Ronav Jain), Marcus (Rufus Shutter) and...

“Heartwarming, enjoyable, and refreshingly different”: A Review of Sisyphus House

'The charm of the production was in the idea that the titular house had been witness to all sorts of burgeoning relationships throughout its tenure, and this was sweetly conveyed through Nott and Bruton’s writing.'

“A successful exploration of the play’s tension and comedy”: A review of Macbeth.

Andrew Raynes’ production of Macbeth is a successful exploration of the play’s tension and comedy, and the cast and crew should be congratulated on bringing that out. The production succeeds in creating the world of Macbeth, and is blessed with some very talented actors which help bring it to life.

Kesha ‘Gag Order’: A review

'The album is all Kesha, a meticulously crafted and finely tuned testament to her prowess as a songwriter.'

Meeting the President’s Husband: An Interview with Peter Kessler

'Come to Magdalen Monday Movies. You will not regret it. And whatever happens, you're not getting your money back.'

Evil Dead Rise: Brutal, Bloody, Bonkers.

'Spirits are unleashed, souls are possessed, and jumpscares are aplenty.'

Why Oxford’s Fashion Gala was better than the Met’s  

'The line of reporters and photographers asking the same questions to uncomfortable-looking celebrities, who try to recollect why Lagerfeld was in fact their personal hero, makes for tortuous watching.'

Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying: Tracing the Atmospheres of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

'When the pandemic hit Ontario, William Faulkner was a cadet in the Canadian Royal Air Force. Writing home to his parents, he would bemoan the lengthiness of his base’s lockdown, and the protracted sense of time it engendered.'

Interview: ‘A Night of Queer Music’ at Holywell

Deborah Acheampong (Producer) in conversation with Adrienne Knight (Musical Director), Katie Kirkpatrick, and Eliza Hogermeer (both singers) on Vanguard Productions' upcoming show 'A Night of Queer Music', a dramatic music concert, at the Holywell Music Room, on the 30th and 31st of May.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3

'If you’ve been sitting at home with your cork board and red string, becoming the next Hercule Poirot trying to work out how on earth the MCU fits together nowadays, give this intergalactic film a try.'

Embracing the Echoes: The Significance and Allure of Literary Retellings

'The concept of reimagining an existing story is relatively new in the context of storytelling, emerging more prominently in recent years.'

Inside the Oxford fashion scene: the Fashion Gala designers

'I spoke to some of the Fashion Gala designers, who told me about their background in the world of fashion and design, their pieces for this year’s gala, and where they find their inspiration.'

The shift towards online thrift: a guide

'It is okay to deliberately buy fast-fashion second-hand since it is already in circulation and will not constitute to financially supporting unethical practices. Honestly, the longer it avoids landfill the better.'

Interview: ‘The Mandrake of Machiavelli’ at Exeter College

An interview with Kian Moghaddas (Director), Matilda Piovella (Assistant Director), and the cast of 'The Mandrake', the Exeter College Garden Play.

Between Love and Hate: The Strokes’ Guide to Staying Together

'US-based pop-rock band The Strokes have encountered just about all of rock’s common killers. And yet, 22 years on from their first album, they are still here – and reportedly working on a seventh.'

The White Stuff and its Discontents

'Increasingly, then, the heritage bequeathed to us in these museums is not just trapped in glass, but also in a host of moralising, ‘problematising’ and, ultimately, infantilising, narratives that are in their nature more political than educational.'

‘Ornamented choral what?’ – your favourite early sacred music like you’ve never heard it before

'What is ‘polyphony’? I hear you cry. Why is it ‘choral’ and what makes it ‘ornamented’?'

The Identity Crisis of Everything Everywhere All At Once

'In an alternate universe, you are not an Oxford student reading Cherwell. In another alternate universe, you are a pinata hanging from a tree. In yet another alternate universe, you have hot dogs for fingers.'

Female Rage: Too normal to be so rare

'A quick glance at the TikTok search results for ‘female rage’ tells a very interesting story - women, shouting and expressing their anger without shame, presented as though this is something shocking.'

‘Women, Scorned’: Exploring Feminine Rage in Art

'Feminine rage is all the rage. It’s everywhere.'

Review: A Poet and A Scholar.

'The audience of Kian Moghaddas’ A Poet and a Scholar was in hysterics pretty much the entire way through.'

Follow us