Culture

Review: Closer – ‘Where Marber fails’

Labyrinth Production’s staging of Patrick Marber’s 1997 play, Closer, was an ambitious move for a student-run production company. Ambitious as it was, the cast themselves put on a strong...

Review: JACK – ‘Gas-lit showstoppers, intrigue, and murder’

Jack The Ripper is arguably the most famous killer of the Victorian era. There...

September 5: Journalism drama doesn’t question the facts enough

Set during the 1972 Munich Olympics, Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 tracks the ABC Sports...

Periodisation and the problem of now

Periodisation is the act of dividing literature into eras like Romanticism, Modernism, or Postmodernism...

Experiencing museums and galleries in a COVID-19 age

"Even if there were a sense of restriction, it would feel a little tone-deaf to mourn the old, ‘normal’ gallery visit." Josie Moir ponders our experience of galleries and museums in a COVID-19 Age

In defence of minimalism

People like being right about things - they like being in control.

Musicals in movies: The interplay between reality and fantasy

Musical movies, juxtaposed with and exposed by realism, make me feel more. They make everything hurt more when you watch them fall apart, but they make the highs even higher.

Learning From Blackface Comedy

conformism to a prejudiced society shapes our perception of humour more than we may realise

Tuning in: Podcasts in lockdown

It’s no wonder then that in times of hardship and isolation, such as these, podcasts are more popular than ever.

Eight LGBTQ+ Musical Theatre Songs to Listen to this Pride

As we face the prospect of another six months spent watching Star Wars and ‘sport’ (?) with heterosexual relatives, now more than ever we...

Review: Bridge Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Set in the mystical woodlands surrounding Athens, with its cocktail of magic, love triangles, and donkey-human hybrids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has always...

On my white window ledge

'Now I see them yield to the light, papery and, with old age, translucent.'

Ode to an empty Oxford

"The quads no longer echo with passing, light-hearted exchanges or 3am stumbling returns from Hassan's."

Review: Repeat Attenders

In Repeat Attenders (2020), a legion of loyalists to musical theatre take their turn in the spotlight. The documentary introduces us to repeat attenders of theatre...

Review: The Radio Show at the End of the World

"An exceptionally entertaining listen"

Review: Florence Given’s debut book Women Don’t Owe You Pretty

Florence Given sells feminism as what it is: freeing and utterly delicious. She affirms and articulates precisely the points it feels so hard to put your finger on sometimes.

Fact and Fiction: Where Should the Boundary Lie?

Novels, TV shows, films. They are a form of art. And in art there is no wrong answer. Yet this becomes more complex for historical...

Classic Letdowns: Proust

Disclaimer – I have not read the full 3000 pages of this story, nor do I intend to. The reasons for this will become...

Comfort Films: Catching Fire

The end of Hilary term was chaotic – just a few days ago I’d been worrying about essays and pre-ing with friends, fully immersed...

The Sick Worm

Thy earthy tendrils long to prick The burgeoning bud.

KitKat

Lying down like an upset wine bottle, smeared across the floor

cry, tears

cry the way you cry when you reach the shore again

Fresh old stuff that hurts in the right places

New period drama forces us to rethink what we want from history.

Comfort Films: A Good Year

A charming British Rom-Com set in the idyllic Provence countryside, what more could you want? Sign me up, sign yourself up, sign everyone up....