Mary Lee Costa examines how the times have changed in the state of musical theatre
With two recent productions of Tennessee Williams’ plays, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and lesser-known works such as the The Laramie Project making it onto the Oxford stage, it seems our interest in the work of American playwrights is growing. Judging by the widespread grief of the British public following Arthur Miller’s death, we still take a lively interest in writers from across the herring pond.
America’s most talked-about theatrical contribution has long been in the category of musical theatre. Both the Broadway and West End programmes suggest that the popularity of the musical remains unabated, and there is no shortage of big names eager to tackle them. Having recently returned from his round-the-world motorcycle tour, Ewan McGregor will assume the role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls this May. Last year, Oxford itself saw a revival of this acclaimed musical. However, many of the hit songs from Guys and Dolls, such as Luck Be A Lady, no longer enjoy such a high status. They are rarely still thought of as free-standing pieces of music.
The American musical theatre of the 1920s and 1930s was strewn with music by some of the twentieth century’s greatest composers, such as Cole Porter, the Gershwin Brothers and Jerome Kern. At the time, it provided the popular music of its day, and many of the songs from this period have remained beloved favourites after the shows they were written for have been long forgotten. Hits such as Someone to Watch Over Me, Tea for Two and New York, New York still reach a wide audience today, while the musicals they featured in, such as On the Town, are almost entirely forgotten. Only a lucky few musicals of this era survive in performance.
The songs from this pre-war period were usually considered far more important than the actual dialogue. This is aptly demonstrated by the fact that many of those that proved popular were used in a host of different plays. Such was their appeal that they were eventually recycled into fresh plots for Hollywood stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
In recent years, Broadway has featured less comic and more dramatic new musicals, such as The Scarlet Pimpernel alongside those with operatic scores, such as The Life. However, modern Broadway’s innate conservativism means that such innovations remain the exception, rather than the norm. For the most part songs tend to be remembered only as part of the musical itself, without being strong enough to stand alone.
Few modern Broadway musicals have achieved long-lasting fame of the classic American plays. By the very nature of their performance, with the necessary presence of music and often dance, musicals do not have the same ability to survive as straight plays. The majority of Broadway musicals that are wellknown remain so because they have been adapted to film, as in the cases of The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. It remains to be seen whether the wave of star-studded West End musicals will be enough to reverse this disappointing trend.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Charles Kennedy says he is an idealist, but does his foreign policy tally with this? There is no doubt that opposition to Iraq gave the Liberal Democrats credibility and support, particularly among students, yet that strength of purpose is now missing. Surely Iraq gave Kennedy a unique mandate to attack the Prime Minister on trust, and the ability to expose his failings as a leader out of touch with his nation? Yet today there is a deafening silence. The Liberal Democrats’ greatest weapon is impotent, Iraq has been reduced to background noise. Where did it all go wrong, or are we waiting for something that was unlikely to happen?
More than any other group, the Liberal Democrat war stance enticed students to the third party. Kennedy quotes Gladstone while arguing that his political creed is based upon “having faith in people and what they can achieve”, yet it is hardly images of the Grand Old Man which come to mind when one considers the Liberal Democrat electorate, particularly the support among the youngest statistical bracket of the population, 18-24 year olds. However, Liberal Democrat support among this demographic may well prove to be an irrelevance in the coming General Election. On 12 April Sarah Teather was already bemoaning recent opinion polls which showed that 42% of young people had already decided not to vote, while MORI has predicted that the turnout among young people may be as low 23%, compared to a 54% average.
If the 18-24 year olds voted in numbers close to that of the ‘grey vote’ so crucial to the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats would be in a stronger position to claim ‘second party’ status. While accepting that there is what he terms a “disillusionment with the formal political process” among young people, Kennedy cites growing incidences of political activism, particularly on single issues, as an example of continued interest in politics as a means of expression. “Political parties face a real challenge in making policies which are relevant to young people,” he argues. “Disillusionment is rooted in young people feeling that their views are not heard and not taken account of.”
The Liberal Democrats have been at great pains to attract young voters, and have launched a Manifesto for Young People containing popular policies such as opposition to top-up fees. There are a broad range of factors which influence Liberal Democrat popularity among the young: an impression of youth within the party hierarchy; a perceived separation from dirty front-line politics; a commitment to lowering the voting age to sixteen; a popular leader. Foreign policy is an area where the Liberal Democrats have recently found strong support among students. While many political commentators and statisticians believe opposition to the Iraq War may not prove to be a big vote-winner, the Liberal Democrat position reflected the view of a majority of young people.
“To say that young people are not interested in politics is to ignore the growing rise of political activism – mostly involving young people – that characterises modern society,” argues Kennedy, contesting the impression of political disillusionment among the young. This political activism has been particularly noticeable in ‘single issue’ disputes, such as top-up fees and Iraq. “People want politicians to believe in something,” he said. The Liberal Democrats are fortunate enough, or perhaps wise enough, to believe in something which enthuses ‘the young’ to political activism, but their Iraq policy looks increasingly like a tactical decision.
Central to opposition to the war in Iraq has been a rejection of US foreign policy principles. Clinton has been replaced by Bush and Rumsfeld, two men unlikely to enthuse the left-leaning youth of modern Britain. “The threats identified by the United States cannot be ignored,” he argues. “Although the approach of the United States and Europeans may differ, the goals of extending democracy, freedom and human rights, and extending stability and security beyond our borders, are goals that we share.” This is rather standard fare, but surely we have to make a choice? Not so, according to Kennedy. “It is my view that it is not a question of choice, but one of balance. Working together the United States and Europe can achieve much more than they can in isolation. It is in the interest of Britain to build a Europe that is constructively Atlanticist.” This, it seems to me, could have come from any leader of the three main political parties. Like Michael Howard and Tony Blair, he would not appreciate the label, but has Charles Kennedy too been drawn into the politics of fear?
Perhaps we can find a real foreign policy difference when examining Europe, yet when asked about the accession of Turkey to the EU, he found himself quoting the Labour Foreign Secretary: “The admission of Turkey will be a strategic decision of historic importance. The Foreign Secretary himself spoke of Turkey forming a bridge between Islam and the West.” Once more, the reactionary would be disappointed. Similarly, when talking about French attitudes to European governance he merely states, “The French political establishment has to realise that enlargement of the Union means that their traditional approach to European negotiation can no longer be sustained.”
However, should we really be surprised by Kennedy’s distinctly cautious approach? There is nothing wrong with his views: they are those of a man who wishes to be taken seriously as Prime Minister, and furthermore they chime in with broad, Liberal principles. His statement that “the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey is the surest way to maintain the momentum already evident in that country towards reform” is very much consistent with Liberal Democrat views on the war in Iraq.
Therefore, one is left with the rather odd realisation that perhaps opposition to Iraq was a flash in the pan for the Liberal Democrat party. Of course for many it was a matter of conscience and an admirable decision, but it seems also to have been an understandable tactical decision. Therefore those who look to the Liberal Democrats for similar guidance in the future might be disappointed, and those who saw this decision as indicative of the general principles of the party have been led up the garden path. Such a hypothesis might well be met with outrage by Liberal Democrats, but it needn’t be seen as a criticism. After all, politics is a game. Perhaps the relative reluctance of Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, his foreign affairs spokesman, to stand up in Parliament or outside and really make a stand, observed by Matthew Parris inThe Times on 16 April is not, as he argues, a crisis of “leadership and direction”, but merely a reluctance to expose themselves in the future.
Parris intelligently asks what Gladstone would have made of such reluctance, and we can be sure that he would not have acted as Kennedy has done. Gladstone, a man of principle to the point of obstruction, took Turkish atrocities in the Balkans so much to heart that he campaigned constantly against Disraeli on the issue. Of course, things have changed since Gladstone’s long, impassioned tirades against evil in the world, but in light of such a comparison it might seem odd for Kennedy to have cited Gladstone at the beginning of our interview. If he wants to emulate the Grand Old Man, and convince young voters of his strong intentions and beliefs, now would be a good time to expose Blair on Iraq. The Liberal Democrat opposition to war uniquely allows him this honour.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

The Museums of Oxford University are to be given a government grant of £7.874 million as part of the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council’s (MLA) “Renaissance in the Regions” scheme.
The University Museum Group, made up of The Ashmolean, The University Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Museum of the History of Scienceand the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens, is part of the South Eastern Hub of the MLA that will receive the funding.
The University’s museums are keen to spend the additional government funding on its educational programmes in order to widen their range of visitors. Last year the museums saw 80,000 children visit with school groups.
Estelle Morris, Minister for Arts, said, “Audiences have risen, and the number of school children visiting museums is up by 30 per cent, many of them from schools in England’s most deprived wards, thanks to such funding. The MLA have also provided support for the Pitt Rivers’ two-year ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project set for completion in 2006.”
Dr Stephen Johnston, Assistant Keeper of the Museum of the History of Science, said, “We are obviously delighted that the money is there,” but added that it was too early to say how the grant will be spent. “Government funding of regional museums is something we are very supportive of,” said Johnson. “The Ashmolean is a welcome receiver of such funding, last year receiving £15m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the largest single amount granted in 2004.”
A spokesperson for the University said that the museums had been “chosen as flagships museums to lead the way, as well as providing leadership in museum modernisation and sharing the best practice for the museums and galleries community in that region.”
Professor Nicholas Mayhew, Deputy Director of the Ashmolean Museum said, “Although most of Oxford’s museum funding comes through other channels, the ‘Renaissance in the Regions’ scheme should bring almost three times as much central government support to museums in the South East in 2007-8 compared with 2005-6.”
“The extra government cash should enable Oxford University’s museums to continue with their popular education programmes and do more and more for the widest possible range of visitors,” Mayhew added.
MLA Chair Mark Wood said, “England has some of the finest regional museums in the world, and with additional funding they have shown they can further increase their appeal to a broad sector of the population.”ARCHIVE: oth week TT 2005

An 86 year old woman is carrying out a 72 hour hunger strike in Oxford City Centre in protest against the construction of the University’s controversial £18m biomedical research laboratory on South Parks Road.
Joan Court, from Cambridge, is staging her protest on Cornmarket Street until Saturday afternoon. Court said her main aim is “to make a moral and spiritual stand against something that I find wicked.”
An injunction currently prohibits animal rights protests from entering within 100 yards of any building owned by the University or its colleges. However, police have since visited and approved the location of Court’s protest.
Court said that although she was against violent demonstration, she is “not opposed to the destruction of property” as a means to free animals used in vivisection.
“It is immensely important that students know what is happening,” she said, “and that if they feel it is wrong, they can have a voice.”
Joan Court has worked for both the World Health Organisation and Quaker group in India at the time of the civil disobedience movement led by Mahatma Gandhi before the independence of India from the British Empire. Court says that he is a great personal inspiration to her own methods of protest.
A debate chaired by Tony Benn, the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party, was also held at Oxford Town Hall on Thursday 21 April. The debate, entitled “Animal Experiments: Science or Fiction?” was attended by Dr Jarrod Bailey, Science director of Europeans for Medical Progress.
The organisation, formerly known as ETMA, includes medical professionals and scientists who support investigation into mainstream medical research, particularly the effectiveness of animal testing in preserving human life.
The university stated that it would be investing in research into alternative methods of drug testing, although it was not willing to disclose to what extent this would be.
The contractors – Montpellier Group, and RMC – for the construction of the lab pulled out of the project last summer following continued protests.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Sorry seems to be the hardest word. Just ask Ken Livingstone. Or most men, for that matter. It’s also extraordinarily effective, which really is the most powerful argument for getting one’s tongue around those two little syllables. Or rather, it is extraordinarily effective at temporarily halting the bitterest of rows, usually because the recipient of the apology is so shocked that it’s been offered, and aware of how churlish they’ll look if they carry on screeching after it. Of course, unless the utterer is an incredibly slick actor and welltrained at keeping a hyperactive conscience at bay, he has to mean it. And so the problems start. Sorry does actually involve accepting some measure of responsibility, and a commitment to making good the original cock-up. And rest assured, if you’ve just said it to shut her up and head right onto the make-up sex, it’s going to come back to bite you. Hard.
Blair’s learnt this lesson well in the last eight years. Bouncing eagerly from the Shadowlands, our bright young hero offered a swift apology to the Irish for the British failure to adequately respond to the Potato Famine here, and a quick hand for the Queen in drafting a letter of regret to the Pope over past religious difficulties there. The visibly older, and maybe wiser, Prime Minister has started to crack down on apology inflation, and got very sharp at wriggling out of the ones that might involve discomfort for him. He’s learnt well from Bush, who two years ago, and, desperately courting the black vote, managed to tell Africans that slavery was a Bad Thing without adding, you know, oops.
Last week, the Brazilian Premier raised the stakes, travelling to Senegal to say, “I had no responsibility for what happened in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries but I ask your forgiveness for what we did to black people.” It’s a classic “It wasn’t me” apology. But then, what exactly could he take responsibility for? Of course it wasn’t him, any more than it was Blair who told the Irish to be less picky eaters. Why should anyone take responsibility for the crimes of their ancestors, or their victims feel entitled to an apology?
Because we’ve inherited the world that their actions created. The historical legacy of slavery continues, in Africa and in the countries to which they were brought, where scores of communities are trapped in a three-hundred year old cycle of poverty and discrimination. The test isn’t “how long ago was it?”, it’s “are they still pissed off?” Odds are, if they’re asking for the apology, they remember their victimhood and consider it to be pretty relevant to their contemporary lives – especially when companies and whole countries, for that matter, are still directly profiting from their history.
Which is why “sorry” alone isn’t good enough – in fact, it’s positively dangerous to issue unless you intend to follow it through. Do it properly, and do it often by all means. Just be prepared to put your money where your mouth is. Sometimes it’ll take a bunch of flowers. Sometimes it’ll take $1 billion of reparations. You’re being hit where it hurts, that’s the point. So here’s the deal. Do it properly, do it often, and back it up. Just don’t do it in advance. She usually sees through that one.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

Oxford University scientists have used infra-red technology to open up a hoard of ancient papyri which could potentially reveal hundreds of lost Greek poems, tragedies and plays and bring about a ‘second Renaissance’.
The collection, known as the ‘Oxyrhynchus Collection’ is the largest collection of classical manuscripts in the world. It contains over 800 boxes with more than 400,000 papyrus fragments. It is now stored in Oxford’s own Sackler library where specialists are applying the new, cutting edge imagery technology to reveal lost works by classical authors including Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and Lucian. The works of Sophocles, the giant of the golden age of Greek civilisation, are particularly sought after. The potential to decipher more of his works is eagerly anticipated by classicists around the world.
The Oxyrhynchus Collection was excavated in the late 19th Century by members of the Egypt Exploration Society. When they were uncovered in a rubbish tip in the city, the papyri were worthless to the naked eye. They were worm-eaten and corroded. The condition in which they were found meant that since the collection was transported to Britain more than a hundred years ago (often in biscuit tins) the process of decipherment has been painfully slow.
Professor Parsons of Christ Church, who has been wrestling with the Oxyrhynchus Collection for more than forty years explains, “for a long time we have been photographing the fragments by infra-red or ultra-violet light to bring up traces of ink.” Now scientists at Oxford, in collaboration with specialists from Bringham Young University in Utah, have begun applying multi-spectral imaging techniques developed from satellite technology to illegible sections of the papyri. “Multi-spectral imaging is going to produce the best results yet, since it combines digital imaging (so that the images can be enhanced by a computer) with the whole spectrum of light wave-lengths.”
As the director of the Oxyrhynchus project, Dr Dirk Obbink toldCherwell that the development is “a significant discovery in that it will broaden the already substantial base of lost Greek and Latin Literature and writing in general that we have represented in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection in the Sackler, and in papyrus collections around the world.”
When it has all been read (mainly in Greek, but also in Latin, Hebrew and other languages) up to five million new words will be added to the current body of classical works. Texts deciphered over the past week will be published next month by the Egypt Exploration Society, which owns the collection after financing its discovery over a century ago.
In the past, substantial difficulties have been encountered in reading and interpreting damaged papyrus on many important projects. The Philodemus project at Herculaneum yielded several hundred rolls of text charred by the volcanic flow of Vesuvius, compressed by the weight of rubble and mud and congealed by water. Now multi-spectral techniques also promise to help retrieve this extensive library of Epicurean philosophy from the first century B.C. Classicists even believe that they are likely to be able to find and decipher lost Christian gospels, which were written at approximately the same time as the New Testament.ARCHIVE: 0th week 2005

An Oxford Union tribunal carried out at the end of last term found President-Elect Chris Farmer not guilty on seven claims of electoral malpractice. The complaints were brought forward by Vlad Bermant, the opposing candidate for President in the Hilary Term 2005 elections.
The tribunal did not find any conclusive proof to uphold Bermant’s accusations that Farmer had made deliberately misleading statements in his presidential manifesto.
Its findings also dismissed Bermant’s allegations of innocent interference, brought againstCherwell and the Oxford Gossip website.
The tribunal also concluded that Union ex-Librarian Matthew Richardson was not guilty of deliberate publication of confidential correspondence between Bermant and potential guest speakers.
The members of the tribunal did find many aspects of the evidence put before them “disturbing”, drawing attention to the nature of current manifestos and of the Oxford Gossip website.
It stated, “We are concerned with what seems to be the current practice of stating in the manifesto famous people that it is intended will come to the society in the future” and went on to recommend changes in the Rules, calling the present system “so vague and ambiguous as to people’s actual real experience as to be worthless.”
With regard to the Oxford Gossip website, the tribunal concluded that “if there were a close election, there is a very real danger that behaviour on Oxford Gossip could interfere sufficiently in such an election to constitute innocent interference.” The report went on to recommend that the President and the Returning Officer should try to enter into discussions with the website.
The tribunal unanimously agreed that Bermant’s intentions were “not frivolous” and that none of the allegations were brought out of malice. Bermant himself did not agree to comment.
Current Union President Richard Tydeman said, “It is obviously extremely frustrating that the Union continues to be tarnished by these kinds of proceedings, and I will be taking the Tribunal’s recommendations into account when proposing some of my own amendments to the electoral rules later on this term.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

St John’s first year Engineer Azim Ansari continues to remain in the country, despite the expiration of his official deadline for voluntary return to Afghanistan. The Home Office gave the refugee and his brother Wali until 19 March 2005 to leave England or face deportation, following the failure of their own appeal against the government’s decision not to grant them leave to remain in the country.
The Ansaris have been prevented from being sent back by the intervention of local Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris. Harris has promised the brothers to put a motion through Parliament in support of their case. The Home Office is unlikely to deport the refugee while his MP’s appeals on his behalf are still being considered.
Emma Jones, a key figure in the ‘Keep Azim in Oxford’ Campaign, said, “Only the direct intervention of Des Browne or Charles Clarke will grant Azim and Wali a further period of exceptional leave to remain.”
Should Harris’ attempt to gather Parliamentary support fail, Azim’s only viable option would be to apply for a student or marriage visa either from New Delhi or Dubai. His marriage to Becky Didlick in November does not grant him the right to remain in the country. St John’s College has already offered to pay the £15,000 international student fees for which Azim would be liable.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

A second inquest has been opened into the death of Leo Blockley, a member of Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club who drowned in the Spanish River Ebro during a training session in 2000. The inquest was applied for by John Pollard, the same coroner who recorded a verdict of “accidental death” following the initial inquest.
The decision was announced by Lord Justice Maurice Key on 2 March this year.
Consent from all parties was gained after new ‘credible evidence’ concerning safety issues was discovered. Blockley was a graduate in Mathematics from Cambridge, and had been studying for a masters in Applied Statistics at Lincoln College, Oxford.
Blockley, 21 from Ashton-under- Lyne in Manchester, disappeared after his boat capsized during a training session on the River Ebro at Amposta near Barcelona on 29 December 2000. He had been rowing in a group of two coxed eights when both boats were flooded after being hit by sudden gusts of wind of 50mph. The 17 other squad members were rescued from the water.
Following Blockley’s death, his parents founded the Leo Blockley Memorial Campaign, which campaigns for safer rowing boats with the ability to withstand swamping or sinking. Stephen and Jane Blockley have paid particular attention to the buoyancy of boats used by rowers, putting pressure on rowing authorities to set higher standards.
Following the announcement of the second inquest Jane Blockley said to the Daily Telegraph, “We are relieved,” and Stephen Blockley added, “We want the truth to be told and we would like lessons to be learned.” In a joint statement the couple stated on the Memorial Campaign website, “This process has taken over a year to reach this far, and this has been a particularly difficult time for us. We do not relish the idea of going through another inquest, and no doubt neither does anyone else involved. However, as Leo’s family, we must bear witness for him, and ensure he receives the justice he is entitled to. We also firmly believe that the sport of rowing will benefit from the coroner’s examination of the many safety issues involved.”ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005

On Monday afternoon a 22-year old woman was involved in an accident with a Stagecoach bus on High Street, bringing the City Centre to a standstill.
The accident occurred at 12.55pm involving a pedestrian and a bus operating on Route 1 between Blackbird Leys and the City Centre. The woman became trapped under the bus and was eventually freed by fire crews. She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital with pelvic injuries and her condition is thought to be stable and non-life threatening.
The bus company was not able to comment as the situation was being investigated by the police. Adam Rideout, a spokesperson for Stagecoach, did confirm that the company was conducting an internal investigation of the incident.
The route is popular with students. The bus services which run along the Cowley Road into the centre of Oxford are run by Stagecoach and the Oxford Bus Company.
Cowley Road has the highest reported accident rate of any street in Oxfordshire and a crash occurs statistically once every two weeks. More cyclists use the road than any other in the South East of England – more than 3,000 between 7am and 7pm every day.
Oxfordshire County Council have responded by implementing road safety improvements to the Cowley Road which begun on 4 April 2005 and are expected to continue until November.
The improvements, include a 20mph speed limit accompanied by signs which flash if drivers exceed this speed, three paved areas, sixteen road crossings, 40 new trees, one hundred new cycle parking spaces, 13 new benches and designated parking and loading bays. The changes are expected to cost in excess of £2m.
The scheme is the result of a large scale consultative exercise with the community and road users. The exercise was carried out by East Oxford Action and more than 2,000 people contributed ideas. The final scheme was displayed last June and the County Council claims that “the overwhelming majority of respondents supported it.” Celia Jones, from the Environment and Economy and Transport Planning Department said that the following the works, Cowley Road would be “smoother, safer and more attractive for many years.”
Sid Phelps, a Green Party Oxford Town Councillor, described the works as a “model road safety experiment” and attributed the impetus for the project and the drive for funding it to his fellow Green Councillor Craig Simmons.ARCHIVE: 0th week TT 2005