There are lots of exciting things happening on Turl Street at the moment. Quite apart from the sudden appearance over the last two years of such establishments as the Missing Bean (now doing hot drinks in the EFL) and the Turl Street Kitchen (free wifi, yes please) transforming it into a kind of gastronomic ghetto, Lincoln, Jesus and Exeter have, once again, joined forces for the Turl Street Arts Festival. I’m still having difficulty ascertaining quite how long the festival has been going on for – the Jesus website informs me that it is, ‘as ever, taking place in fifth week,’ suggesting that it might just be written into the college statutes. No matter: what is important is that this year’s offering looks to be the best one in an age.

The Turl Street colleges are all old, small and honey-coloured. They are also rather insular institutions, without a big name commemoration ball or very cheap drinks one night of the week inciting people to break in (although, for the record, Lincoln bar is absolutely lovely). Joining together, then, is a very sensible idea, and allows them to showcase a vast catalogue of talents, skills and artsy things. There really is something for everyone here: Wednesday night shows them reaching out a hand to the art history Edgar Wind Society, for an evening talk at Lincoln by the Sculptor in Ordinary to the Queen in Scotland, while in Exeter chapel, Oxford Baroque are exploring some seventeenth and eighteenth century hits.

TSAF have tackled not only ‘things to watch and listen to’ but also a few which boast real life interaction. Two African Drumming Workshops are being held on Thursday afternoon at three and at four in the Oakschott Room at Lincoln, while Oxford Junto Society are also joining in, with an open discussion group on Art and its role in modern society being held in Lincoln’s chapel on Friday afternoon. Almost everything in the festival is free, providing a unique opportunity to hear some of Oxford’s best and brightest playing everything from Brahms to Joni Mitchell. There are, however, three ticketed events: a promising performance of West Side Story, the finale concert on Saturday night, and some new writing from Jesus College. The Turl Street Festival Orchestra joins forces with the Chorus to perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Mass in C Minor. This is lovely, dramatic music, played and performed by some of Oxford’s best.

Matthew Parvin’s The Players is a shambolic, and rather mad, take on a group of Elizabethan actors plagiarizing Hamlet, to very comic effect. This really is a must-see. Featuring actors from across the university, it is an amusing and well-written piece with the odd lucid – and occasionally very touching – observation on Life, Art and everything in between. Fitting for a festival that tackles all three so successfully.

Freshwoman is a new play written by Tom Skelton and Dylan Townley which, set in the 1920s, tells the story of Mathilde du Belle’s first term at Oxford University, having been somewhat willingly forced to attend in order that she find a rich husband who will be able to alleviate her family’s financial problems in the wake of the Wall Street Crash. After being disappointed by last week’s Messiah Man, this production showed the Oxford drama scene what doing comedy is all about.

For a start it is funny, often hysterically so, which is great. What it lacks in depth and character development it makes up for in genuinely original material. The story can get a little lost in amongst all the frivolity, and perhaps we could have lost the compulsion many within the cast feel to shout their lines all of the time in order to fuel the farce. But we’ll forgive them because otherwise it’s highly entertaining.  It is short, snappy and to the point, and it doesn’t labour its critique of Oxford life, displaying just the right amount without being preachy.

For a show that’s absolutely barking mad, it has been directed well, and there aren’t any clumsy scene changes. More than anything it proves that mad-cap humour can be well rehearsed and still be successful. The comical voice over is a nice touch, as is the audience participation, which doesn’t always work, but has the potential do so as the cast grow in confidence over the run. Undoubtedly the highlight of the show however is the ending, improvised from audience suggestion (this perhaps should come as no surprise considering that the cast contains a fair few Imps). Comedy anywhere can be hilarious on the night, but forgettable come the morning. But not Freshwoman; I will remember the final section for quite some time.

Freshwoman is thus a thoroughly accomplished performance and very much deserves the hoards of people who turned out to watch. Quite frankly I hope that it sells out for its entire run because it certainly cheered me up a treat.

 4 stars

I think we might have something really rather special here. I say might because with under a week to go the cast strikes me as a little bit underprepared. For their sake I hope there is still enough time because The Barefaced Night is shaping up to be a very intriguing production. 

Previews are underwhelming at the best of times, but I felt especially cheated here. The Barefaced Night tells the story of a princess who finds love with a man cursed to be a bear by day and human by night, but ehen the princess’ desire to see the bear drives him away, she begins an epic journey to win him back. This epic love story encapsulating what seems to be every style of dance from ballroom to ballet, hip hop to martial arts, and including spoken word, improvised music and live recording, is going to be something of spectacle, something that the low ceilinged Buttery at Wolfson College doesn’t really do justice.

Despite this, there was much that shined through. Importantly this a strong ensemble cast of dancers, committed, bursting with energy and also great fun. The wide range of choreography oozed creativity and was expertly handled. It is often, and surprisingly, very witty, but I wont give these wonderful moments away. Tanner Efinger as Valemon the bear is outstanding. By far as good (who knows, if not better) as any you performance you will see in a straight play at the Burton Taylor, he is intense, moving, versatile and most of all, incredibly charming. Praise must also go to the onstage band who play a whole host of original music, again of a wide range of different styles and on an equally wide range of instrument (some of which I don’t even recognise).

My only concern is that this is a dramatisation of a Scandinavian folktale. With so much jammed into one production, the finished product has the potential to feel a little confused on stage. The spoken word too for me feels a little bit pretentious–not the words themselves but in their delivery. Currently delivered in a calm, wispy, reflective solemnity, they need the passion and flare of dancing to be truly moving.

Nevertheless I cannot wait to see how it all ties together. If it works, and it most certainly has the potential to do so, The Barefaced Night will be among the best productions this term. Fingers crossed.

4 stars

Adele and I have something in common. I may not have Brit Awards coming out of my ears, I’ve never been a Vogue cover girl, and I definitely don’t have any albums that have gone platinum 14 times, but we do have one single thing that ties us together: we both backed Rebecca Ferguson all the way to the end in the The X Factor.

It’s easy to see what made Adele pick up the phone more than 80 times for the Liverpudlian songstress over nice but dull Matt Cardle in 2010’s final. Her performances on the show wowed judges and audience alike with their understated soul, and have more than a bit of the Adele style.It seems the admiration is mutual. ‘She’s someone that I think is just amazing,’ Ferguson says of the ‘Someone Like You’ singer. ‘I think she’s real. I like Adele because she’s a real person and she’s so honest, and we all connect to her because she’s so honest about what she’s going through and she doesn’t hide it.

‘Not only is she a performer but you feel like you know her. I think that’s why so many people have bought her album because she’s talked about things that we’ve all been through and not lied about it. She’s not tried to play the “I’m dead strong” and “I’m fine” thing that some songs have – she’s just raw and honest and I like that about Adele.’

That sort of openness is something Ferguson recognises in her own record. ‘I think I’ve been honest in my album,’ she tells me. ‘I think I’ve tried to be as honest as possible, I haven’t held back anything really.’It’s certainly clear that for all her dulcet tones and sweet manner, Ferguson knew what she wanted her new album Heaven to sound like and would not allow her own identity to be obscured by the vision her record company had for her.

When she first entered the studio, she found pre-written songs waiting for her and had to fight to persuade her bosses that she could write as well as sing.‘At first they weren’t sure, they didn’t know whether I could write. So I went into a lot of sessions and a lot of it was just feeling it out really and sometimes I’d turn up and the songs had already been mostly written, but then in the end, you know, I started getting properly involved in the writing and it was getting back to everyone that I could write and then everyone just pretty much let me write which was brilliant.’

The result is an album which Ferguson describes as ‘at least 90%’ about her own life. ‘The other 10% is probably friends around me, family members and just things that you see, you know, growing up and going through life. I was thinking about a few people when I wrote certain songs.’ Unlike other X Factor alumni, Ferguson has the distinction of a critically-lauded album. Heaven was described by reviewers as ‘mature’ and ‘fresh’, hardly adjectives that could rightly be applied to her fellow finalists, One Direction. But her response to such praise is typically humble: she will only concede that the critical reception her tracks have received was ‘quite good’.

Ferguson also distinguishes herself from her fellow former contestants by refusing to slate the show that gave her her big break. While Matt Cardle claimed that The X Factor ‘battered’ his musical integrity, Ferguson remains positive about the viability of the talent show format.‘I just think that all of those shows just give people an opportunity and it’s what you do with it really. It’s a great platform and it’s not easy, you know, it’s a hard thing to go through because there is a lot of pressure. But I think it just gives you such a platform and I feel really lucky.’

And although she tells me she would like to think she could have gone on to achieve similar success without the SyCo brand, she does not shy away from acknowledging the head start The X Factor gave her. ‘It helped me so much in every way – character-building, as a performer, in my confidence. I think that was the best route for me.’Looking at recent patterns of success, with runners up like Olly Murs and Cher Lloyd all achieving greater things than winners like Joe McElderry and Matt Cardle, it’s certainly possible to argue that Ferguson was in the best possible position coming second, allowing her time to develop her album rather than being launched straight into the race for Christmas number one. She admits that not winning the show might have been a blessing in disguise for her, but emphasises that the same is not true of all former competitors.

‘I think Leona’s an example of someone who won and I think that was the best thing for her, I think it was amazing. But I think for me it was best [not to win], it just gave me more time and I think I needed that, I definitely needed that after the show. So for me it was the best thing but I don’t think it’s the best thing for everyone.’The time out also gave Ferguson a chance to gain confidence in her own style and lose some of the anxiety that was initially her defining feature. Nonetheless, she admits that she will ‘always’ be a nervous performer.‘I feel very vulnerable and exposed when I’m performing and that’s just the type of person I am,’ she explains. ‘I’ve learnt to deal with it and accept it. And I’ve learnt to accept that it’s not a hindrance and sometimes it’s an advantage and that’s just the way I am.’

That’s not the only thing that’s changed. Life has done an about-turn for the former legal secretary in the past 18 months and her gratitude for the new start is palpable. ‘I feel really blessed,’ she gushes. ‘I can’t believe where I was just over a year ago and where I am now. I think I’ve been really, really lucky.’Looking forward, it’s clear Ferguson has high hopes for future successes.  She talks of conquering America, albeit claiming she’s ‘quite relaxed about it. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but I would love to. I think that’s everyone’s dream who sings really – you want to do well at home but you also want to do well in other places – and I’d love it to travel to other places and for them to enjoy it.’

And it doesn’t stop at music. She tells me she would ‘love to get involved in fashion’ and reveals a lesser known predilection for writing. ‘I write books as well, I write children’s books, so I’d like to get into that. But at the minute I’m just focusing on music.’Of course, music’s not the only love in her life. The fact that Ferguson was a mum twice before she hit 20 makes her success all the more admirable. And for all her aspirations, one thing is for sure: she’ll always put family first.

By the end of our conversation it seems perfectly logical that the first thing she said to me was about her mum (apparently we share the same surname).  She speaks about the importance she attaches to seeing her kids as much as she possibly can and confides that she talks to her mum almost every day. Although her base is now London, she’s ‘always up and down’ to her hometown Liverpool to see her family. Whether writing books, singing or designing her own fashion range, you get the feeling she’ll always be, as she puts it, ‘a proper home girl’.

Supermarket

Supermarket’s been running for four years now and is constantly changing hands, so we’re effectively the Sugababes of clubnights. Technically speaking that would put us in the Amelle/Heidi/Jade stage, only minus the history of brutal catfights.

Our whole outlook is governed by an overwhelming desire to re-live the days when Destiny’s Child were a foursome and Now 50 was the best thing you’d ever heard; it’s all about not taking yourself too seriously, downing far too many Woo Woos and forcing your way onto the pole when Salt n’ Pepa tell you to ‘push it’. It’s hard to capture the essence of what we do in a single paragraph – try to imagine the love-child of Snoop Dogg and Madonna, or perhaps a three-way brawl between Lil’ Kim, Artful Dodger and Gwen Stefani. Either way, you’ll find yourself singing along to something you memorised a decade ago, throwing shapes you didn’t know you could and yearning for the time when music videos were full of crappy CGI. Predicting where we’ll end up in the future is tricky, because who knows what the next team will do. Whatever they come up with, though, one thing’s for sure: it’ll still beat queueing for Bridge.

– D.U.

Check out the accompanying Spotify playlist.

PinDrop

PinDrop formed as a gig promotions collective in winter 2002. We started out as a monthly night at the Port Mahon. The first Sunday afternoon of every month we’d put on folk, indie, electronica and anything else we liked and felt deserved an audience undistracted by chit chat and mobile phone prattle. I can pinpoint the weekend when I had the idea – I was at the Port Mahon on a Saturday night to see Oxford-based Arabic jazz fusion ensemble Brickwork Lizards and it was ruined by people chatting and being lairy. The next morning I went to a chamber concert at the Holywell Music Rooms and, on leaving the concert, I had the idea for PinDrop.

Since running the night at the Port for two years we’ve developed and expanded on the original idea. Aside from more formal, sit down events we also put on heavier bands in more traditional pub venues as well as gigs somewhere between the two at Modern Art Oxford.

Over the years we have run events with Silver Mt Zion, CocoRosie, Patti Smith, Chad Valley, The Epstein, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, Hauschka, Stornoway and many more. We have also programmed concerts featuring performances of the works of Stockhausen, Ligeti, Pärt, Messiaen, Reich and Glass. Having worked with Brasenose and Christ Church colleges we are keen to continue to work with Oxford University colleges to programme eclectic, artistically engaging concerts all over town.

Our favourite new bands in Oxford are literate acoustic pop band The Yarns, dreamy droney ambient collective Grudle Bay and Morricone influenced Americana/folk band ToLiesel. We have loads of great gigs coming up in 2012, including a couple of spectacular shows at Modern Art Oxford featuring the legendary Oxfordian dub band Dubwiser and many more. Tune in to our PinDrop Music show on This Is Fake DIY internet radio, every Wednesday at 9pm.

– Sebastian Reynolds

Check out the accompanying Spotify playlist.

Eclectric

Eclectric isn’t scary: we just play music we like dancing to until we have to go home. Its history is long – we’re seven this term – and surprisingly complicated, but in its current incarnation it dates back to about 2008, when TJ Hertz (now better known to many as Objekt, but who was once an Engineering student at New College) started putting on the likes of Claro Intelecto, Appleblim and Shackleton.

Since then the reins have changed hands with the passing of time and finals, but the mission statement remains the same, and will do for the foreseeable future: to keep bringing Oxford the best and most challenging dance music being produced in the UK, with the odd foreign import chucked in for good measure.

Here’s a measure of our pedigree, for quality and eclecticism: in the past two years we’ve had the likes of Blawan, Kyle Hall, Pangaea, Girl Unit and Pearson Sound to name but a few; coming up in the next few weeks we have the wonkily euphoric Lone, and Objekt himself, returning from Berlin to do his tuff broken techno thing.

These names might not mean that much to you, but that shouldn’t put you off. My favourite part of running Eclectric is discovering things I haven’t heard before, and it happens dozens of times every night. If you think you’re even slightly interested in techno, or house, or dubstep, or grime, it’ll be worth your while checking Eclectric out, promise.

– Chris Edwards

Check out the accompanying Spotify playlist.

Broken Hearts Club

There’s nothing else in Oxford like Broken Hearts Club, which hits Baby Love once a month on Friday with a storm of red lights, synths, beats and (if the machine’s working) artificial smoke. The music’s old – eighties, seventies, an occasional dip into the nineties – but this isn’t nostalgia, because we’re too young for that.

This isn’t even about guilty pleasures, although I suppose that depends on your definition of ‘guilty’. Instead, this is an irreverent salute to a misunderstood era when pop and art were still compatible. You’ll hear New Order rubbing shoulders with INXS, The Smiths fraternizing with Jermaine Stewart, and The Cure having a slap-fight with Madonna, plus a shimmering array of androgynous glam thrills from Bowie, Prince, and Duran Duran.

Alright, so there are other places in Oxford you can hear some of the stuff we play – the Park End cheese floor springs to mind – but it’s usually stuck in an uncomfortable three-way with The Vengaboys and Steps. It’s a stark contrast to our unashamedly elitist music policy: we will only play a song if a) we actually think it’s good, and b) it’ll get your feet moving in ways you never thought possible. (So no requests for ‘Eye of the Tiger’, please).

The Oxford Mail call us ‘quite unlike any other night in this city’, and frankly they’re right. We’ll happily deliver dancing, drinking and a crowd who are into both, but we want every night to feel special. Broken Hearts has gone from strength to strength since our beginnings, and now you’ll find the Friday night crowd getting down with what this esteemed newspaper has delicately termed ‘Oxford’s hipster elite’ – and everyone shouting along together to ‘Don’t You Want Me’.

We’re not planning on stopping any time soon, so come down to BHC XVI on Friday of sixth week and show us what you’re made of. We want to have a good time and we’re willing to make you dance for it.

– James Manning, Sophie Salamon & Amy Blakemore

Check out the accompanying Spotify playlist.