Friday 26th June 2026

Culture

‘Scenes With Girls’ and complicated female friendships

'Scenes with Girls' deserves to be seen as one of Labyrinth Productions’ (Rosie Morgan-Males and Emily Cullinan) most impressive accolades.

‘The Moro Affair’: Astonishingly original, but not quite a story

The acting in 'The Moro Affair' was superb across the board, with Harriet Wilson’s Pope as a standout, and Rosie Sutton’s direction was flawless.

‘Music can be everything’: Aurora Orchestra’s Jane Mitchell on the narratives around classical music

The Aurora Orchestra, who are playing at Oxford’s Schwarzman Centre on the 19th June, are best known for performing their orchestral repertoire from memory.

The ‘Obsession’ Obsession

'Obsession' is a taste of what the next generation of filmmakers looks like.

Review: A Woman of No Importance – ‘the best Wilde production I’ve ever seen’

With a terrific cast, a splendid setting, and a deft handling of the script, Magdalen Players' take on A Woman of No Importance proves to be a fourth week delight

Ted Bundy Reinvented

Joe Bertlinger’s Ted Bundy biopic, released to Sky Cinema on Friday, seemed to be just one more of the latest string of films blatantly...

Review: Four Men in Their Respective Cells – ‘a whistle-stop psychological drama’

Though hitting the right notes thematically, Four Men in Their Respective Cells lacks polish and a conclusive ending

Bart van Es and the ripple effect of trauma

Bart van Es' new memoir reminds its readers that the aftermath of trauma is as much about inherited damage as it is about triumph and liberation.

Preview: Your Little Play – ‘your life is defined by the choices you make’

A piece of new writing about sexual misconduct and power feels particularly timely as it heads to the Pilch in 4th week.

Preview: My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags – ‘shapes the lived experience of war and migration’

A poetic performance about migration, war and family, with an all-BAME cast and crew, heads to the North Wall in fifth week

REVIEW: The Ruling Class – ‘actualises an eccentric and absurdist sense of humour’

Stage Wrong Productions' The Ruling Class delivers an outrageous and satirical examination of English upper-class society

Behind Closed Drawbridges

Why are we so fascinated by stories of royalty?

Bush’s Family Tree

An exploration of the musical influences across Kate Bush's discography

Is the band ‘shame’ just shameful?

A discussion on how Shame have inherited the punk ethos

The New Bridget Jones?

Reviewing ‘Queenie’ by Candice Carty-Williams (Trapeze, 2019).

An Old War in a New Light

Reviewing ‘Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy’ by Max Hastings (Harper, 2018).

Inheriting ‘The Big Score’

Examining the appeal of the classic heist film

Preview: A Woman of No Importance – ‘promises an informed, thorough and hilarious production’

Magdalen Players reimagine Oscar Wilde's melodramatic comedy in fourth week

Dream Worlds

Marc Chagall's ethereal landscapes

“Vagina.” There, I said it.

Vulvar art and gendered fantasy

C. S. Lewis’ fantasy worlds: holding the mirror up to nature

Fantasy reveals as much about our society as it does about our desire for escape.

Post-Post-Punk: Got the Spirit, Lose the Feeling

What it comes down to is the fact that post-punk lacks the plasticity of genres like rock or hip-hop, which freely pool together music that would otherwise be separated by decades. It is, by its very name, less a style than a moment in time

The Ruling Class – ‘a new beast, though one they are competently battling’

Stage Wrong Productions tackle the challenging black comedy on at the BT in third week.

Daydreamers: Fantasy in the Face of Stasis

There’s a scene in one of my favourite films, High Fidelity (2000), in which John Cusack’s Rob plays out a number of angry reactions in his head...

Follow us