Monday 25th May 2026

Culture

Barker & Co. Booksellers: Oxford’s newest independent bookshop

A new secondhand bookstore opened in Oxford city centre last week. Located in the Golden Cross shopping centre, just off Cornmarket Street, the bookstore stocks hundreds of secondhand books, ranging from accessibly priced paperbacks to rare and expensive antiquarian first-editions.

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in review

The Harris Manchester Players immersed Oxford’s inhabitants in the delightful world of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest this May.

Inarticulacy in part and in whole: ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ in review

When I heard that Jim Jarmusch had released a new anthology film, I fondly remembered watching Night on Earth (1991) some years ago.

On Geese and the Cult of the Fake Fan

Great statistics could be drawn up about how often men in Oxford will want to talk to me about Geese. 

Following the money: the meaning of “selling out”

‘I love selling out’ declared Charli XCX when speaking to NPR about Crash, released in March, a project which sees her lean into mainstream pop, ironically playing the part of an industry ‘sell-out’.

How (not) to look at buildings

When was the last time something was so beautiful it shocked you?

How to survive May Day

With the start of a new term, I’d be amazed if you hadn’t yet heard the words ‘May Day’ mentioned or even been asked...

“A generosity of spirit in her landscapes”: the artwork of Jean Jones

English painter Jean Jones was once predicted by Iris Murdoch to become ‘as famous as Van Gogh’.

Defying Gravity: In conversation with Stephen Schwartz

“I tend to be attracted to stories about outsiders,” Schwartz tells me at the beginning of our call, “about people who feel themselves not part of the culture or not part of the mainstream if you will, and are trying to figure out how to fit in, and what the cost is of doing so.”

Summer 2022 Trend Predictions

Shoes - As someone who struggles to walk in anything with a smaller surface area than a block heel, I am pleased to report...

The Afterlife of a Ballgown

"More than anything else you might buy, a ballgown represents an odd intersection of disposability."

In conversation with Elaine Hsieh Chou

Sonya Ribner interviews author Elaine Hsieh Chou.

‘Beckett on speed’: In conversation with Nocturne Productions

"[...] they descend into paranoia, and carnage unfolds in a network of marvellously-layered backstabbing."

The Godfather and the Thrill of Cinema

A film that rests so prominently in the public’s psyche can be difficult to watch subjectively. The Godfather is nonetheless a masterpiece in its own right.

Father John Misty’s “new world of old characters”

"In Chloë and the Next 20th Century, Tillman succeeds spectacularly at creating a new world out of old characters."

Upcoming cultural events in Oxford

Season Two of Bridgerton has given me a newfound desire to grab life by the mallet, so this term I have decided to sign up for Croquet Cuppers.

Whistler at the Musée d’Orsay: An American in Paris

Whistler orchestrates a symphony of colors, symbols, and gestures that takes art beyond the canvas.

Review – Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention

a review of the book 'Stolen Focus' by Johann Hari

“To this I put my name”- Review: Casterbridge

If Thomas Hardy had blessed his female characters with more than an “ephemeral precious essence of youth,” perhaps he would have produced something along the lines of Dorothy McDowell’s Casterbridge, an adaptation of Hardy’s 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Review: Intimacies, after Vallotton

"Against the backdrop of Majek’s enigmatic blue-toned figures, Spencer, with the help of a multi-roling, all-Black voice cast playing a broad spectrum of characters, reveals tantalising glimpses of these figures’ lives."

Bringing Oxford theatre to London via a garden shed: an interview with the cast and crew of Casterbridge

"It’s a bit of a mad play, and a lot of quite mad things happen, because that’s what happens when you translate Victorian characters into the modern era."

‘Uninhibitedly comical’ – Review: The Improv Squeeze

"The performers [...] delivered a cohesive, entertaining and – dare I say it – heart-warming musical which was received with barrels of laughter."

‘Heartbreaking and beautiful’ – Review: Brain Freeze

"From the play’s beginning, this immensely talented cast of Oxford students captured my imagination, and I was swept up by the story they had to tell."

In Conversation with Katie Melua

Where do we come from? I mean, where does it all come from, all this? – the books that we read or skim; the...

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