Culture

Family Resemblance: Oxford’s Twin Cities

From prestigious university towns to ancient settlements, Oxford is twinned with seven cities around the world, spread across three continents.

Art Emma Heagney -

A noble mind o’erthrown: ‘Hamlet’ at the National Theatre

This month, Hamlet returns to the stage in a new production soon to be released on National Theatre Live, following its staging last autumn.

Culture Beatrix Arnold -

Lighthouse Productions on ‘Lemons’

The team outlined the vision for their debut production: a political, surrealist piece of contemporary theatre.

Culture Abigail Lakeland -

In defence of the live-action remake

Live-action remakes, when viewed with an open mind, can be seen as cultural negotiations, as attempts to revitalise and pass down old stories to new eyes and ears.

Culture Willow Jopp -

Latest

Review: The Great Gatsby – ‘Indulge the extravaganza’

Sophia Eiden’s production of Simon Levy’s script of The Great Gatsby is an undoubted triumph. I was, if only for a moment, transported back...

Barry Lyndon – Kubrick’s ultimate antifilm?

Barry Lyndon has always been dismissed within Kubrick’s filmography. While he is a filmmaker known for his versatility across genres, Barry Lyndon still sits...

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...