Thursday, February 27, 2025

Culture

Julie review – Free shots, toxic relationships, immersive theatre

My ticket to see Julie resembled an invite to a birthday party, promising a live DJ and that I would be greeted by ‘partygoers’ upon entry to the Pilch....

Who is Oxford’s Coffee Shop Artist? In conversation with Julia Whatley

Julia sees herself as the conduit through which an artistic vision is realised. Where does this vision come from? “Somewhere else.”

The Goat Review: ‘raw, absurdist, and honest’

Clarendon Productions brings The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Edward Albee) to the Michael...

The Busy Body Review: ‘Theatre of the Real’

The Busy Body (1709) is one of the many plays written by Susanna Centlivre....

Irmgard Keun’s normal superwomen

Lori Latour reviews the life and work of the 20th century German novelist Irmgard Keun.

“The world outside our window”: Musings on Marvel

It was recently announced that Penguin Classics would be publishing special editions of certain Marvel comic books. The comics will be part of a...

Ten years of the Dark Knight trilogy

It’s been 10 years since the trilogy that shaped my entire life came out.

The Smile’s “slightly crazed and uncertain landscape”

The Smile is not Radiohead; they have a new name, a new line-up, and appear to see themselves to be doing something artistically different

Sonnet for Foxe by Anna Cowan and Ruth Port

Dear Foxe I sing a song of love to you, Whose shell shines like the half compass of heaven, My beloved Foxe, take this to be...

Plenmeller House

Under the covers, inside the walls,The wind shuffles in from the West,Rabbits potter in the grass,And the pheasants lay down to rest. This is the...

A Drink by Edward McLaren

I rise from my screen and enter the horizontal darkness above its frame, itself over the river I do not see. Why is it...

Booksmart and the art of growing up

They find themselves together – still best friends, still ambitious and imperfect and stressed.

In conversation with Francesca Tacchi

Any book that begins with the sentence “Every day is a good day to kill Nazis” is bound to catch my interest. Luckily for...

Music beyond the M6

In a recent interview with the Sunday Times, musician Sam Fender discussed the importance of singing in a Geordie accent for his latest album...

Scenes with Girls: In conversation with Love Song Productions

"The dialogue is simultaneously so realistic and so weird and the characters and themes felt like they would really ring true to a student audience."

In Defence of James Corden

"So where did it go so wrong? Well, there is no disputing his most incredible talent of worming his way into just about every corner of popular culture."

Why we should care about Warhol

"The growing demand for modern art from an increasing number of collectors is a cause of both celebration and lament for the rest of us."

“Unafraid to poke fun at the elite” – Review: The Corn is Green

"Miss Moffat plucks Morgan Evans out of the mines, trains him to speak like a gentleman, and stuffs his head with Adam Smith and Voltaire. It’s like My Fair Lady, but gender-swapped and very, very Welsh."

Vessel: In conversation with Grace Olusola

TW: fatphobia, eating disorders, self-harm. Vessel, the new theatrical anthology from Dawn Productions, examines our relationship with the body and food through episodic fragments....

“Rage and heartbreak” – Review: Medea

"[Medea] is a truly frightening figure as she stalks the quad, coming right up to the audience and looking them in the eye as she delivers some of the most acerbic lines of the play."

Once Long Ago

In Once Long Ago, Jenny Robinson invites us to listen to the “dead tales of old gods long gone” struggling to find their place...

Work is hell: the brutal beauty of corporate aesthetics

Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that hell is other people, but he was wrong: hell is an office job. The stereotypical image summoned by nine-to-five drudgery...

Love Without Words: The Quiet Storytelling of Heartstopper

Rare for the teen drama genre, the show, much like its sketched source material, is taciturn like an actual shy teenager.

‘Irishness existing in England’: the brilliance of Skinty Fia

I first came across Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C. when my brother brought me their debut album on vinyl for Christmas, back in 2019....

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