Culture

Between beer gardens and picnics: Climate Culture Care at the Ashmolean

When I returned to Oxford this term, just as England teased us with the sixth heat-wave of the year, I found myself at a loose end. With the deadline for two vacation essays still far in the distance, the sun lit up the sign for Soma Surovi Jannat’s Ashmolean Now exhibition, Climate Culture Care.

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Art as protest on university campuses

CW: rape. This week, Cornell University has made headlines as prosecutors reopened an investigation into...

Philosophy in the Bookshop – Nigel Warburton in Conversation with Naomi Wolf

Naomi Wolf talks of book blunder and her ties to Oxford.

An Artificial Low

Reviewing Ottessa Moshfegh's 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' (Jonathan Cape, 2018)

Menial Heroics

Reviewing Sayaka Murata's 'Convenience Store Woman' (Granta, 2019)

Review: The Tempest – ‘exploit the comic potential in Shakespeare’s verse’

RJ Productions present an enjoyable rendition of Shakespeare’s last solo-authored play, whose strongest points lie in its subtler elements

Review: Ordinary Days – ‘brings the score to life in quite an extraordinary way’

A rom-com premise gives way to a brilliant musical at the BT, with endearing and relatable performances

Review: My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags – ‘incredibly refreshing and ambitious’

An all-BAME cast and crew production, My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags powerfully explores civil war, intergenerational trauma and the diasporic experience

Review: The First Last – ‘an unmitigated triumph’

Student playwright Matt Kenyon's hilarious comedy about unplanned fatherhood is on at the BT Studio until Saturday

Preview: A View from the Bridge – a fresh take on the Miller classic

Practically Peter Productions bring the Arthur Miller classic set in 1950s Brooklyn to the Pilch in Sixth Week.

Should comedy have an expiration date?

In a politically correct society, we look at whether it is right to remove offensive jokes from comedies written before our time

Review: Amadeus – University College Players ‘have more than risen to the challenge’

With outstanding performances and excellent musical accompaniment, University College Players do justice to Peter Shaffer's Amadeus

Review: The Roaring Girl – ‘a ground-breaking proto-feminist piece of theatre’

With cross-dressing, feminist themes and a feisty soundtrack, The Roaring Girl proves a fifth week delight

Review: Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons – ‘complex but never cumbersome’

With a compelling performance and effective use of lighting and music, Dromadaire Productions encourages us to consider the importance of communication

Being under the spell of Harry Potter

An overview of the outrageous content of the Fangasm podcast

The exploitation of musicians’ emotional struggles

"The general reaction to musicians’ pains is a testament to the humanity of our age."

9 to 5 and Feminism

Dolly Parton's iconic film is a feminist powerhouse

Reclaiming the Moment

A review of Lavinia Greenlaw's 'The Built Moment' (Faber and Faber, 2019)

The Funny/Not Funny Exercise

A review of David Sedaris' 'Calypso' (Little, Brown, 2018)

Review: The Reunion(?) – ‘a subversive new take on the classic murder mystery’

The Oxford Revue's latest show builds up to a brilliant punchline

The Art of Money

How extravagance makes a statement

Review: Your Little Play – ‘a tragic storyline which by now seems all too familiar’

Nightjar Theatre's production tackles themes that are particularly pertinent to our time

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