Wednesday 13th August 2025

Culture

Beyond the binary: Leigh Bowery’s radical individuality

Tate Modern's "Leigh Bowery!" refuses easy categorisation—much like its subject A fashion student from Sunshine, Melbourne, rocks up to London in 1980, writes 'wear makeup everyday' on his New Year's...

St Anne’s goes All-Steinway: A purposeful and bold commitment to music

In a move that lives up to its motto of ‘Consulto et Audacter’ (purposefully...

Just like the movies: An American’s notes on her Oxford year

Oxford occupies a mystical, almost fantastical place within the American psyche – so much...

Reading Oxford books in Oxford

For those who have not even set foot in Oxford, the city still lives...

Cinema’s hidden gems: Daisies (1966)

Whilst mainstream cinema more often favours the safe and the familiar, some of the most remarkable films ever made are those that dismantle the...

Review: Troilus and Cressida – ‘A missed opportunity to appeal to the brain rot generation’

Having heard on the grapevine (and even receiving word from the producer himself) about Troilus and Cressida falling victim to a last-minute casting upheaval,...

CRUSH preview: ‘A chaotic scramble through the teenage years’

I sat down with Hannah Eggleton, Director & Writer of CRUSH, to talk power, performance, and the making of her debut full-length play, premiering...

Telling stories about telling stories: Previewing ‘The Antipodes’

In a windowless room in an abstract part of Oriel, I sat in on a rehearsal for Annie Baker’s The Antipodes (2018), on at...

A Pelican Crossing Somewhere on Green Dragon Lane

"The passage of time is a bloodthirsty hound."

Doctor Zhivago: The banned book the CIA smuggled across the Iron Curtain

“May it make its way around the world. You are hereby invited to watch me face the firing squad.”  These were the words of Boris...

Sally Rooney, a Flaubert for today?

Like millions of other people in recent years, I have fallen victim to the ongoing Sally Rooney craze. The Irish author, whose novels have...

Twenty-seven years on from The Satanic Verses: Can works of fiction be political?

On the 16th May, the man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie following a literary event in 2022 was sentenced to 25 years in prison....

Roots and rhythm: The living legacy of Dot’s Funk Odyssey

"Talent, friendship, and absurd levels of joy"

Metal becomes mainstream: Sleep Token breaks through

Metal is a genre that is certainly out of fashion. Gone are the days of long, flowy Metallica-esque hairstyles, studded gloves, and all too...

Gregory Crewdson: How to remain relevant in the world of fine art photography

For anyone embarking on their photography journey now, the world of image creation can seem very daunting. The market is oversaturated with photographers, all...

Film photography: How I went from believer to sceptic

I’m far from the first person to point out the recent revival of analogue technologies. Ever since the late 2010’s, both vinyl records and...

The afterlife of stories: The art and ambiguity of literary retellings

Love, betrayal, justice, jealousy: these are timeless themes, woven into the human experience for millennia. It’s no surprise, then, that they have shaped our...

What books do professors of different subjects read?

In discussion of ‘the great man theory’, Professor Dominic Scott discussed his recent reading – War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – during his...

Anselm Kiefer: Early Works Review

I still remember the first time I saw Anselm Kiefer’s work. I was in the Pompidou Centre, Paris, and I’d been stumbling around the...

Review: Suddenly Last Summer – ‘Cannibalism, love, and lobotomies’

This week at the Burton Taylor Studio, a new rendition of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer is a feast for the eyes and the...

Recorded theatre: The oxymoron of the prerecorded-live production

"Are we witnessing the downfall of the priority of ‘LIVE’ theatre?"

Review: The Boys by Leo Robson – ‘Sparkling, enjoyable, sad’

There is a passage in James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity (1943) in which an insurance agent, warming up to defraud his company and murder...

Playing with history: How does theatre shape our past?

"There is nothing more fascinating than a good historical drama; something about a true story that packs that extra punch."

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