Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Culture

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 pull of the old Oxford...

Adolescence: Can TV spark radical change in young men?

Adolescence is just another example of art acting as a conversation piece. The recent...

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"

Lessons in Censorship: A Cautionary Tale against Bodleian Blacklists 

For some authors, the Bodleian Libraries have not always a safe haven for their work. Although marginalised texts are no longer demarcated with the phi symbol on their spines, with many having re-entered the undergraduate canon, Sophie Price discusses the valuable lessons we can learn from the Bodleian blacklist which remain pertinent today.

Should ‘Orbital’ have won The Booker Prize? 

Laurence Cooke reviews Samantha Harvey's 'Orbital', the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize.

Fontaines DC and the (re) rise of indie Sleaze

I recently took to my finsta to post a story claiming that the Fontaines DC’s Radio One Live Lounge cover of Lana Del Ray’s...

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’...

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 Pilch studio, painfully, humorously, and soulfully. Seated in the round,...

The Busy Body Review: ‘Theatre of the Real’

The Busy Body (1709) is one of the many plays written by Susanna Centlivre. Centlivre is often referred to by critics and historians as...

Doubts on Banksy

What is so enticing – and infuriating – about this mystery man’s slapdash approach to political commentary?

Death of the Album, rise of the playlist

The album, once the definitive artistic statement in music, is being increasingly overshadowed by the rise of the playlist. Streaming platforms such as Spotify...

Dindymene: A Dream

And on the seventh day, we found HER temple, feasted on HER sight. Enthroned. Flanked by mammoths on both sides. There, there! Berry-ringed fingers on berry-strung vines:...

In the Beginning

I was alone with the earth and the sun before youcame along: there was no life, no song, not even words.My hope had been...

Mac Miller grapples with mortality on ‘Balloonerism’

When the 'D' rings out from the organ on the dream-like second track of Mac Miller's Balloonerism, it feels like the beginning of an...

The Secret History Characters as Oxford Tropes

Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is set in an exclusive college in Vermont but can be read as a satire of Oxford and its students. It invites us to question how little differentiates us from the elitist American universities.

Nosferatu: From Murnau to Eggers

Over one hundred years since its first screening, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) is not as terrifying as it once was,...

In conversation with ‘The Children’

‘If you’re curious as to how and why cows, nuclear reactors, tricycles, peperami, and old people doing yoga all fit into one play…come and...

The Ultimate Picture Palace: A Profile

The Ultimate Picture Palace has been at the forefront of Oxford’s cinema scene for over a century. First opening in 1911, under the enthusiastic...

Sanskrit drama returns to Oxford

Building on a strong recent tradition of plays performed in Sanskrit (with surtitles!) we are delighted to present this beautiful drama from ancient India,...

Maria – Pablo Larraín’s grab at ‘high art’

Countless documentaries have been made, and even more biographies published on the life of Maria Callas (1923-1977). She has become a mythical woman upon...

“Wait and Hope” – The Count of Monte Cristo: Review

The Count of Monte Cristo premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 to little fanfare. However, it turned out to be a stunning...

To Julian – Ella O’Shea

you’re enwombed within stone, this anchorhold,wool on your skin, the draught on your feetink on your nose, barley in your teeth.to look at a...

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