Trinity 5-2 University 
The race for promotion from JCR Division Two took another twist on Friday, as favourites Univ were comprehensively defeated in an extraordinary game by mid-table Trinity. The corresponding fixture last term had ended in a comfortable 4-1 win for the High Street club, but the story today was very different. 
Univ were missing several key players, not least mercurial left winger Nima Amini, but started strongly nonetheless. After ten minutes, Matt Miskimmin headed just wide as the promotion chasers dominated the early exchanges. It was Trinity, however, who took an unexpected lead. A long punt from the back was held up by the strong wind, bamboozling the Univ keeper Ed Hardy and allowing Charlie Hill to pass into the empty net. Incredibly, the home side soon doubled their advantage, with a low cross finding David Kaestle, who arrived late and slammed the ball past Hardy. Univ endeavoured to play their usual passing game, but a combination of the windy conditions and tenacity from the hosts meant they just couldn’t get going. Indeed, it was Trinity who scored a third goal just before half time, with Charlie Hill running through and scoring his second. 
The second half began with Univ looking a completely different team, as they chased a comeback of epic proportions. Within a couple of minutes of the restart they had reduced the arrears. A powerful cross from the left was bundled home at the far post by Will Stuart for his eighth goal of the season. Trinity suddenly looked nervous, and just a minute later Univ had pulled back a second. More positive wing play, this time from the right, was rewarded as an unmarked Matt Miskimmin arrived from the left of midfield to make it 3-2. The away side continued to dominate completely, but somehow failed to find a leveller. Miskimmin hit the bar and later volleyed just wide, while the dangerous James Gingell rattled the post with an excellent long-range drive.  
As Univ poured forward however, they naturally left gaps at the back, which Trinity were able to exploit late in the game. With less than ten minutes left, a defensive mix-up led to a fourth goal worthy of inclusion in the next Own Goals and Gaffes compilation. Incredibly, Univ centre-forward Will Stuart ran the length of the pitch from the resultant centre, only to be thwarted on the line by some desperate Trinity defending. By this point though, the game was over as a contest, and the home side scored a late fifth, Charlie Hill springing the offside trap and again finishing calmly to complete his hat-trick and a perfect day for the home side. 
Even the most diehard Trinity fan would have to accept that the 5-2 score line flattered them somewhat, but they still deserve credit for a performance which took full advantage of the windy conditions. As far as Univ were concerned, their inconsistent away form continued. As one pundit commented, a team with title ambitions should be looking to come to places like Trinity and win. Before this round of games it looked as though Univ and Merton/Mansfield might run away at the top of the table, but this result, along with the Merton’s shock 5-0 defeat at John’s, has thrown the promotion race wide open. It has also set the scene for a fascinating finale to the season.

Rating: 3/5 If you don’t think that death, fisting, gang necrophilia rape (which is difficult with a dead body) and your mother’s magic box are all hilarious, then you are a complete prude and won’t like Dead Mother Cabaret. I laughed until my spleen ruptured. The play is a fantastic concept and the writing and production team should be extremely proud of themselves. The script is snappy and gloriously directionless.Dead Mother Cabaret is, however, comparable to the USSR: a great idea which had a few problems when it burst forth from Lenin’s magic box. (I’ll stop stealing that metaphor now). The genius of the concept is somewhat let down in the realisation. The acting isn’t bad by any means, but it’s not as good as the play deserved.Some notable individuals really stand out. Chris Tudor, as Guy Johnson, comes close to the verbosity that this play really needed, and he’s helped along by the fantastic script. Dead Mother Cabaret is at its funniest in these moments, when a member of the cast manages to really go over the top. Tom Corcoran as the Narrator-Son puts on a perfect smoky American film noir hero style voice, though some shameless line forgetting without an attempt at picking up the pieces made me wonder for a moment whether I was back in primary school (you shouldn’t have a prompt, you just shouldn’t!). Real credit goes to Niall Gildea for his hilarious presentation of a Freudian-minded, Derrida driven writer, and Nishani Nijjar is strong in this scene as well. By far the best thing on stage was Philip Aspin as the grotesque Father, who surpassed even Chris Tudor in the bombastic presentation of his character. Aside from these flourishes, the acting tends to be rather plain. It’s not bad, but Cabaret demands over-the-top performance, which not all the cast was able to deliver.Complaining about a whole cast in a student production is a little over-critical, I’ll admit. The play has some fantastic touches. The guest stand-up comedian (on the Tuesday night James Laurence, who was wicked awesome with cream on top) is a brilliant innovation. Musically, Dead Mother Cabaret delivers as well. A live Jazz band is nigh on impossible to assemble in Oxford theatre, unless it’s playing at Satan’s Christmas party. Praise goes to the band, which perform astoundingly. The Oxford Belles are another great addition. However, they seem to have difficulty coping with accompaniment and could do with being louder. They sing beautifully, but that’s what you’d expect. Furthermore, they’re hampered by the same lack of over-enthusiasm as a large proportion of the cast. However, the play really does deserve credit for having the sheer audacity to try to do a musical in the all too frequently mute world of Oxford theatre.I’ve criticised some elements of Dead Mother Cabaret quite heavily, but I would honestly recommend it as one of the best things on this week. As a project, the play is audacious and is definitely what the Oxford stage needs. I’m tired of going to the theatre only to find I could have visited the Tate Modern (for free) to get a similar experience. Well done for putting fun back on the stage in a corset and suspender belt!by Dan Rawnsley

A warning, reader: I have a predilection for eavesdropping. As you sip your pint in the K.A.; as you sip your cocktail at the Grand; as you nibble your ludicrously overpriced salad in Quod, the chances are that I am (or that another of my ilk is) listening. Granted, most of what we hear is trivial, the froth and foam of existence, but sometimes, just sometimes, one of the grand scenes of life drifts through the thrumming air to our ears. For One Night Only appeals for the simple reason that it perfectly mimics the experience of prying.Each episode is improvised around a single occurrence in a single character’s life, and the resulting spontaneity adds real interest to what would otherwise be a fairly un-dramatic plot. On the night of the review, for example, Lucy Kellet, played by Rebecca Baron, fails her A-Level English exam. After a short initial period, where the cast acted just as people in plays do, rather than as people in life, they relaxed into their roles and totally captured the audience’s attention. All the performers seemed both to have absorbed the essence of their characters and poured themselves into their personae, so that they were less acting than living the drama. A special mention must go to Jamie Budd, played by John Gethin, who appeared simply to have strolled into the B.T. and played himself- there was never a moment where he was anything less or more than his character. Production was for the most part good, although scene changes were noisily reminiscent of a school play. All in all, however, this was as enjoyable a foray into contemporary theatre as could be desired.By Andrew Pearson 

Although Dangerous Liaisons may be best known to many from the 1980s Glenn Close adaptation or it’s more recent incarnation, Cruel Intentions, Quo Vadis’ production stands on its own two feet as a fine example of Oxford’s thespian talent. With its timeless story of intrigue, lust, and revenge, Dangerous Liaisons details the manipulations and seductions of the Marquise de Merteuil and her sparring partner, the caddish Vicomte de Valmont.  

Alexander Stewart’s Valmont alternates between a sinister whisper and an assertive roar, stalking his prey around the stage, while Emerald Fennell sparkles as the scheming Marquise, calmly controlling the ingenuous Cécile de Volanges. Although one does spend much of the play watching the actors in profile as they banter across the stage, this heightens the intimacy in the moments where they are physically close. The staging conveys the complicated dance of Parisian aristocratic society, notably emphasising Cecile’s youth and social inexperience. The exchanges between Cécile (Sophie Siem) and a tuneful Chévailer Danceny are a pleasure to watch. 

Based on an epistolatory novel, naturally the dialogue is heavily rhetorical and at times may seem artificial, but the cast rise to the challenge of pulling it off without descending into pantomime or farce. Jonathan Rhodes provides a delightful comic touch to his portrayal of Valmont’s manservant, Azolan. Reminiscent of an eighteenth century Reginald Jeeves, Azolan’s cynicism tempers Valmont’s more sinister moments.  

Promising stunning costumes, some of which were featured in the recent Kirsten Dunst film, Marie-Antoinette, and with excerpts of contemporary music by Glück, Dangerous Liaisons demonstrates attention to detail and commitment to authenticity. Sure to be even more impressive when installed in the Moser Theatre, this production should appeal to even the most dedicated admirers of Choderlos de Laclos’s literary masterpiece, or of previous adaptations of Hampton’s play. 

by Chantal Hadley

The driver of the refuse lorry that crushed an Oxford student cyclist broke down yesterday and cried at an inquest into the incident last April.

The deceased cyclist Tsz Fok, 22, was an outstanding third year engineer at Worcester College. He died of multiple injuries after being crushed under the wheels of the lorry at the junction of Broad Street and Parks Road on April 18, 2007.

He was cycling with Worcester law student Alicia Tew, to a dance class at her college. Ms Tew told the Oxford Mail that they were heading straight across the junction into Holywell Street. Mr Fok was level with the front of the lorry, on the inside, while the light ahead of them was red.

The lorry driver, Trevor Ashworth, 31, recalled the course of the fatal crash to the inquest at County Hall. He stopped his refuse lorry at traffic lights at the top of Broad Street. He had noticed “two, three, or four” cyclists on his passenger side.

As he turned left into Parks Road, he “felt a bump in the road, just like a pot hole.” “In the commotion I stopped and I saw what I had done.”

PC Steve Jenkins, a roads policing forensic investigator, acknowledged that Mr Fok had not been wearing any high-visibility clothing or a cycle helmet and said “the deceased’s actions played some part in his death.” However he believes Mr Ashworth should have been especially cautious ahead of the collision.

“He should have been aware of the dangers at this busy junction, taking extra care checking for pedestrians and cyclists as he commenced his left turn,” PC Jenkins added.

PC Jenkins also spoke of the possibility that Mr Ashworth’s phone records that morning showed several calls. But he said lack of evidence failed to prove that the driver had been using his phone during the accident.

Katherine Harris, a history of science student, who was between Mr Fok and Ms Tew said the deceased accelerated at the same time as the lorry driver when the lights switched to green.

“I was still and waiting just in horror. The next thing I knew the lorry completed his turn and Mr Fok was rolling in the street.”

Mr Ashworth will be tried at Wantage Magistrates’ Court next week, for driving without due care and attention.

A tourist was knocked down on George Street on Wednesday night. The victim, a visiting American, was struck by a dark Volvo as he crossed the road outside The Cock and Camel public house. The Volvo had been reversing around the corner to avoid the traffic cameras on George Street. A pool of blood was visible on the road and the tourist was taken to hospital but police at the scene described his injuries as minor. The driver of the vehicle was questioned but was later allowed to leave.

What do the Brits really think of the Germans? I've heard two contrasting opinions over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, Richard Morrison's column in today's Times, on whether the Brits' perceived anti-German feeling is finally calming, is well worth reading. Sixty years after the war ended, he says, we’re at last embracing the Germans by – among other things – opening German markets in town centres that “could have been downtown Düsseldorf”. Apparently it goes down well:

Even 20 years ago, the very words “German market” would have induced English wits to break into goosesteps, shouts of “vee hev vays of making you drink” and quips about getting to the swimming-pool first. But I saw nothing like that. Just punters eager to sample a different set of yuletide grazing customs.

The second opinion: a man named Noah Klieger, a Holocaust survivor, who I went to hear speak last night in an event to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Klieger was born in Strasbourg, ended up in Auschwitz, lived through its evacuation and escaped on a boat to Palestine by the skin of his teeth after being stranded in the sea off the coast off France. I asked him why we never hear stories like his on the British side of the Channel, and why the British think it was easy after the Holocaust for Jews to settle in Palestine – which, according to most presumptions, was a compensation present from Europe to the Jews. (His story shows this is false.) His answer? The British can’t properly empathise with the victims of the German past. They weren’t occupied by the Nazis, didn’t suffer in the war as much as others did, haven’t marginalised Holocaust deniers enough and couldn’t be bothered to sacrifice their relations with oil-rich states for the sake of one small people looking for refuge.In other words, the British don’t hate the Germans enough. Who do we believe? A British journalist who thinks the “virulent antiforeigner tone in some papers is more hysterical than anything the British press produced in the summer of 1914”, or an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived through Auschwitz, the death marches and the clandestine exodus to Palestine?

PS For those of you still interested in the state elections round here – and the star ratings you've given my posts suggest there aren't many of you – still no one can agree on who to form coalitions with, and the farce is going on and on without much of a solution in sight. Prepare yourselves for a re-election…
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The first of the exciting new Mystery Mime series! Guess what Dep Ed Dan is singing this week… Leave comments below!
 

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