The one thing I will miss about my lockdown year at Oxford is the online lectures. To be honest, I hope my faculty keeps them up, even though they have definitely been a mixed blessing. The fact they were online and recorded meant I felt no pressure to go to them when they were being streamed live, but instead was able to watch them in my own time. Most of them were pre-recorded, which also gave me the opportunity to watch many of them in advance. But did I actually go to many of them? No. I completely lacked the motivation to do that. This is where the negatives come in – as there was no prescribed time and place to go and watch lectures, I became very relaxed in watching them very early on. I watched one in my first week, and then none until my collections, and then again none until just before my Prelims. I did better than most people I knew when it came to this. This small example is a perfect analogy for how this year has been very mixed.
This plethora of ups and downs began even before we got to Oxford, as is well known by any Freshers who did not take a gap year. March 2020 saw our A-levels cancelled, meaning we did not have to revise and sit exams. That, I cannot lie, was a blessing, but also bought with it a whole host of worries about how our grades were going to be determined, the algorithm and all the drama which accompanied it. I struggled with the unknowing and the worry – I actually started to get grey patches in my hair. As you can imagine, going grey at 18 through stress is not the best experience, but luckily in the end for me at least it all turned out okay.
Despite the undeniable impact on our academic experience, the main thing that I think most Freshers will agree on as the biggest effect of Covid is the sense of loss of opportunity: The opportunity to have a chance to fully explore and come to know Oxford throughout the year, the opportunity to find friends and people both within and outside of college. A handful of people in older years have said to me they made most of their closest friends in their second year, and I really hope this is true. Do not get me wrong, I have made friends and socialising has happened – much to College’s dismay – but it has been difficult.
The past year, to me at least, has felt like being in a permanent state of FOMO. The fear of missing out has been a constant spectre standing behind me. The thing that has hit me the hardest is the constant concern over what could have been better if it had been a normal year: would I have made different and better friends? Would I have found a group? Second, third and fourth years had all already met people and formed their groups, making socialising within restrictions much easier. We had to start blind, with a few of us knowing people from interviews and such but having had very little interaction beyond that. This doubt over whether things would have been better in other circumstances is not an anxiety that can be easily remedied.
So, this is where I have found my first year toughest. Term starting in October also had an impact, seeing my mates who went to different universities around the country enjoying themselves when pubs were not curfewed at ten in the evening. Then, by the time the Oxford term had started, rules had gotten stricter, meaning the normal ways of making friends in Fresher’s week dwindled by the second. Again, that feeling of FOMO and missed opportunity kicked in again. Despite not being in Oxford for Hilary term, I cannot claim to have had a bad year – in fact I had quite a good year. I have made friends, I have met lots of people, especially over Trinity, and only had two weeks of isolation in Michaelmas. Despite all this, despite the fact I have not failed in integrating with people and forming friends and socialising, I still feel that sense of regret and sorrow at things not having been what they could have been. There is very little I can do about it now and it is no good to linger on the past in a remorseful manner. It is best to move on, but I do not quite know when that spectre of FOMO will leave my shadow – I can only guess going back in October with hopefully a normal year might help, but that remains to be seen.
A Cherwell investigationhas found that the University received 3,675 mitigating circumstances applications for the 2020/2021 academic year. However, the University refused to provide information on the outcomes of these applications.
Under Part 13 of the University’s Examination Regulations, candidates whose performance was significantly affected by “acute illness or some other urgent cause” may submit a notice to examiners. For the academic year 2020/2021, students could also submit a notice if they believed their academic performance had been “seriously affected by Covid-19”.
The number of applications received this year is a significant increase on the previous years’ numbers with 2,282 applications received in 2019/20 and 1,297 in 2018/19.
Elizabeth Bircham, a PPE finalist, was involved in a traffic accident in her second year which resulted in her missing out on months of teaching. She submitted a mitigating circumstances notice for four papers none of which were taken into account. She said she was “troubled” by the outcome of her application as there was “clear evidence of significant medical trauma” supported by a strong statement from her college.
She told Cherwell that while going through treatment, she considered rusticating but was advised by her tutors that applying for mitigating circumstances would compensate for the fewer hours teaching she received: “It is very clear from the outcomes of students’ applications that applying for mitigating circumstances is absolutely not an alternative to rustication and should not be presented as such.”
Another PPE student who submitted notices, became estranged from their family in Hilary Term. “There were real and serious difficulties with issues at home, so I had to become estranged for safety, mental health and other reasons,” they told Cherwell.
Supported by letters from their Counsellor and tutor explaining the “dire impact” of the situation on their studies, the first year student submitted notices for all papers as well as a separate statement for a disturbance relating to family issues during their Philosophy exam.
The student was told that the seriousness of the impact on their academic performance was tier 2, “moderate”, and that there was “insufficient evidence to adjust marks”. While the student appreciated that their grade could not be adjusted as their overall mark was close to a distinction, they told Cherwell they would have liked the University to “realise and address” the impact on their studies.
The mitigating circumstances of a recent graduate from the Department of Experimental Psychology who submitted notices due to “psychological and logistical difficulties”, were also not taken into account. They told Cherwell that living with an abusive parent during the summer of last year and facing several housing difficulties put them at a “severe disadvantage” for sitting exams postponed until MT20 as well as their final exams in Trinity of this year.
Cutting contact with their family and needing to find part time work to support themselves had a “detrimental impact” on their ability to concentrate on their academic studies. “I was already struggling in Hilary, but when I reached out to my main tutor for that term, he only told me that I would ‘have to do the reading at some point’ and gave me no aid or words of support, which discouraged me from seeking any further help from my tutors in general”, they said.
Since receiving their results, the student has tried to appeal the university’s decision and is considering filing a formal complaint. They explained that they are not concerned with the numerical mark but “the dismissive treatment of someone who was very clearly not in a position to take exams”.
“I am also frustrated at the lack of transparency on the process of considering mitigating circumstances notices, and have been disappointed at the lack of communication from my department”, they added.
A current finalist in the same department who sat exams at the end of their second year told Cherwell that “it feels so heartbreaking” for their circumstances not to be taken into account having been affected by depression and a learning disability in the months leading up to their exams.
Despite submitting a doctor’s note confirming how debilitating their depression and its side effects were alongside their statement, no action was taken. Weeks later, the Department retracted this, stating that while no action would be taken, the statement would be passed onto next year’s examiners.
Another final year student said the University’s failure to offer an adjustment was “a dismissal and invalidation of [their] experiences”.
They told Cherwell: “I had agonised over submitting the mitigating circumstances form, hating how I had to write down in excruciating detail a blow-by-blow account of my mental illness’ slow takeover of my life. I wrote down how I had become unable to sleep, had endless headaches, no motivation or energy, constant exhaustion, nausea and stress-induced heart palpitations while constantly battling very dark thoughts that I could find no escape from.
“Mid-way through my exam period, I relapsed into self-harm, and became suicidal. These were some of my lowest moments, and I forced myself to relive them by writing them down, pushing aside my discomfort in order to bare all to my examiners, only for them to turn around and reject them.”
Anvee Bhutani, Oxford SU President, told Cherwell: “I am very disappointed to see that so many students have had no adjustment made to their classifications this year, despite having submitted very thorough mitigating circumstances notices. I am continuing to fight for fair outcomes for students and hope for the mitigating circumstances policy to be substantially reworked in the coming year.”
A spokesperson for the Oxford SU Sabbatical Team said: “Oxford SU recognises that the last few years have been extraordinarily difficult for students. We believe that a fair mitigating circumstances procedure is essential to ensuring the right degree outcomes for students who have been significantly impacted by any circumstance outside of their control, this year and in years to come.
“We also acknowledge that submitting a mitigating circumstance notice can be an upsetting and vulnerable process. We would like to remind students that our advice service can support them in writing and collecting evidence for their statements ([email protected]) as well as in appealing the outcome of their submissions. Support can also be found through the University’s counselling service ([email protected]).
“Working to make the mitigating circumstances procedure fairer is a priority for our Sabbatical Officers, and students who have ideas about how the process could be improved should get in touch with our VP for Access and Academic Affairs ([email protected]) or VP for Graduates ([email protected]) as best reflects their situation.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Experimental Psychology told Cherwell: “We can assure our students that all mitigating circumstances submissions were considered very carefully by the Exam Board and adjustments made where possible.”
They added: “We are incredibly proud of our EP and PPL students’ achievements in the face of unprecedented challenges over the last 18 months. We are extremely grateful for our students’ constructive engagement with the changes we had to make in the way we teach and examine throughout the pandemic. We welcome discussions with both current and former students about how we can better support and communicate about these efforts and next steps.”
The University did not provide comment in relation to other departments.
Oxford nightline is open 8pm-8am, every night during term-time, for anyone struggling to cope and provide a safe place to talk where calls are completely confidential. You can call them on 01865 270 270, or chat at oxfordnightline.org. You can also contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, by calling 116 123 or emailing [email protected].
After a chequered history involving a rejected BT Studio bid, a radio performance and a global pandemic, writer-director Alison Hall’s debut play V-Card failed to disappoint at its first in-person performances last week. Performed at the Bread and Roses Theatre in Clapham, with a virtual Edinburgh Fringe run happening simultaneously, the university-set dating satire provides a perfect balance of authenticity, heart and nuanced observations on student sexuality.
V-Card tells the story of a nineteen-year-old, Hazel (Ellie Fullwood), who has yet to lose her virginity, and her motley crew of housemates’ misguided attempts to “get her laid” before her twentieth birthday. The inherent comedy of this premise is lent extra warmth by a well-observed yet unself-conscious attention to the details of student life, specifically student dating — the dialogue is loaded with laughably inept men and their meagre understanding of women, memories of gap year hook-ups and library sexcapades, and the ennui of dating apps (“she thinks smoking weed is a personality trait…he has an England flag in his bio”, complains Hazel.).
I simultaneously laughed and cringed at the recollection of a pre-Covid gig, complete with awkward dancing and half-shouted attempts at flirting, over a realistically intrusive soundtrack; credit must also be given to Iris Bowdler’s costume design, which represents the entire student fashion spectrum, from quirky prints and ‘ironic’ Hawaiian shirts to bodycon dress-trainer combos and questionable salmon trousers worn to a club.
Amongst all this nostalgic recollection of the student experience, however, Hall has some meaningful ideas about sexual consent. Hazel’s male suitors are familiar student archetypes, including Glyn Owen’s sleazy posh boy Freaky Freddie and James Newbery’s sensitive, glasses-wearing intellectual Alex. However, with these archetypes established, Hall proceeds to turn them on their head with regard to sexual consent and harassment — self-proclaimed sadist Freddie is respectful of Hazel’s refusal of sex, while in the same situation Alex gives an entitled diatribe (subtly yet menacingly performed by Newbery) which culminates in a misogynistic slur, demonstrating that there is no one ‘type’ of male abuser.
Moreover, the play’s entire plot bears witness to the necessity of owning one’s own sexual boundaries and respecting those of others in a society obsessed with the construct of virginity. It shows how quickly a well-meaning plan to wingman a housemate can escalate to the disturbing and friendship-ending scene of violation near the show’s end. Perhaps Hazel’s only example of a healthy attitude towards sex and virginity is provided by Robin (Grace de Souza), her first potential love interest and constant friend throughout the play, who provides a level-headed sounding board to Hazel’s issues throughout the play. In another writer’s hands, a character like this could come across as a preachy manic pixie dream girl, existing only to offer the protagonist guidance and the hope of romance; however, the warmth in Hall’s writing and de Souza’s acting instead makes Robin into the friend one wishes they had, and her consistently non-judgmental attitude compels us to root for the romance towards the end of the play.
One of the play’s most boundary-pushing and deftly-handled aspects is the inclusion of God (Lorcan Cudlip-Cook), or the manifestation of him, within the lapsed Catholic Hazel’s dreams, occasionally alongside a wisecracking Jesus or delightfully camp Satan. Again, Hall avoids the trap of making God a stereotype opposed to any premarital or queer sex, and the writing steers clear of most theological clichés (problem of evil-based jokes aside), but instead depicts God as a complex manifestation of all Hazel’s insecurities and doubts surrounding her virginity, and his conversations with Hazel provide some of the play’s most introspective moments. With this in mind, it is somewhat disappointing that God’s presence in the play ended with Hazel’s simple rejection of him, rather than a more complex meditation on her relationship with religion, but the theological dimension nevertheless provides an extra layer of complexity to the student hijinks.
V-Card is a play which expresses its considerably rich ideas on complex topics without ever compromising on the humour or warmth of its central relationships, and one is grateful that it eventually made it to the stage.
The radio play of V-Card is streaming as part of the Edinburgh Fringe until 30th August. Tickets are available here.
Having spent almost a year and a half in a global pandemic, I was feeling a little bereft of the ‘full’ Oxford experience and looking for a chance to see more of the University while not disrupting revision for my finals. You see where this is going.
I had rules: these had to be libraries which were open to undergraduates, without needing a special reason to study there (or, if they needed a reason, I would have to meet their requirements). This is why I wasn’t able to visit, for instance, the Weston Library.
In the process of writing this article, I felt a real sense of this university’s scale. It was a kind of travel: many of these libraries were hidden in plain sight, in buildings I’d never really given a second glance towards before. To get to the libraries themselves, I found myself traipsing through parts of the University I had no idea existed, belonging to every imaginable department, faculty, and sub-faculty.
You don’t need to go to every library on this list. But if you’re lucky enough to carry a Bod Card, you should make a point to visit at least a few. These are special places, each with its own history and personality. Make the most of them.
The Old Bodleian – Upper and Lower Reading Rooms
I remember coming here in my first year and feeling completely terrified. The Bod’s main reading rooms seem to be largely the domain of graduates and visiting scholars — the latter group, I’m told, are a hardened breed who fight tooth and nail for their Reader Cards. All of Oxford’s libraries (that I’m aware of) operate a policy of silence, but nowhere is it quite as piercing as here. Row upon row of identical desks lend this place a deeply impersonal feeling, and for such an old building, many of the rooms are weirdly sterile. Still, the views are unparalleled.
Old Bodleian Library (author’s photo)
The College Library (Lincoln)
I’m told there are 44 College libraries across the University, which vary considerably in size, friendliness and academic scope. Some graduate colleges admit non-members more freely — nevertheless I was unsuccessful in my attempts to visit a few.
That said, I do think my own College’s library is one of Oxford’s best. In truth, it was one of the main reasons I applied to Lincoln. Built in the 18th century and formerly a church, the upper floor is a pleasant, airy place to either work or spend an afternoon staring at the English Baroque ceiling. The basement is a sad, dark place and I can’t think for the life of me why I spent so much of my first year down there.
Lincoln College Library (author’s photo)
Duke Humfrey’s Library
Quintessentially Oxford. That is to say, old, fussy, reasonably difficult to get into, and widely known for its idiosyncratic way of doing things (no pens and no bags, please). As an actual library, it is more show than substance: the collections it houses (which are — I kid you not — the Conservative Party archive, the University Archives and local history collections) are of little actual use to most people who use the space. The students view the place as more of a day out. Who can blame them? I’ll be the first to plaster this place all over my Instagram.
Education Library
The Education Library (not to be confused with the Continuing Education Library) is a hub for teaching and pedagogy-related texts. I’ve the impression that students from a surprisingly broad variety of disciplines find use for it (I took advantage of its modest collection of books on genocide memory, for instance). But if that’s not you, there’s a good chance it will be a little too out-of-the-way to be useful.
Like most of these smaller libraries, its real strength is its people: the librarians here were among the most friendly and helpful of anywhere in the University.
English Faculty Library
This is the Law Library’s smaller and perhaps more charming little sibling. It is located in the same building and the aesthetics are broadly the same: effortless 60s cool with an open, central atrium overlooked by a second floor. The ‘vibe’ is considerably warmer, though.
During Covid times, the EFL was one of very few libraries to allocate seats to readers — in part, I suspect, because many tables lack power outlets.
English Faculty Library (author’s photo)
Gladstone Link
It’s often the punchline, but I’m not sure that the ‘Glink’ fully deserves the reputation it has gained in the decade or so that it’s been open as a study space.
The stone staircase down from the Radcliffe Camera promises much but soon brings you to a subterranean lair with very low ceilings. (Enter from the Bodleian side and you’ll find yourself in what feels like a jet-bridge, minus the HSBC branding — or, as though you’re boarding a January flight to Tromsø, minus any promise of natural light. Sit underneath an air conditioning vent and it might feel like it, too.) If there is a redeeming quality, it would be that there is a certain charm to being sandwiched between floor-to-ceiling books on history. Do be aware that the ‘floor’ in the upper Glink is more of a metal grate: I can only imagine the number of lost wireless earbuds. Also, I can never seem to find a power outlet.
Gladstone Link (author’s photo)
Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies Library
This is one of a number of specialised centres located around St Anthony’s College. I’m reasonably sure that it was among the first to be built at the University. The library is not a big space (at present there is room for only a handful of readers), but it is bright, welcoming, and apparently designed with Japanese architectural principles in mind. Through 2021, the construction happening next door took a little away from the tranquillity which it is usually able to boast.
While you’re at the centre, here’s a real oddity: a wall plaque unveiled by the now-disgraced Nissan car executive Carlos Ghosn in 2006, who remains a fugitive in Lebanon, having fled Japan after being arrested on charges of false accounting.
KB Chen China Centre Library
A real gem. Most students I’ve talked to don’t know that the Dickson Poon China Centre Building even exists: I’d say that discovering these obscure quarters was one of my favourite things about this challenge, but there’s nothing low-profile about this place (it also features graduate accommodation, a tearoom, a sizeable lecture theatre and teaching space, and a ‘state-of-the-art language laboratory’).
The library takes up the bottom floor, and looks out over the central courtyard: besides being home to 60,000 volumes and much of the Bodleian’s Chinese book collection, it is one of my favourite reading rooms in the entire University. It’s an ultra-modern, pleasingly designed and spacious library with both big tables and small reading nooks.
Dickson Poon Building, home of the KB Chen China Centre Library (author’s photo)
Latin American Centre Library
This library was the smallest I’d been to — it’s the former front room of a house near St Anthony’s. There’s not too much to report here: a fairly small collection of books relevant to Latin American studies. It’s reasonably cozy, with only room for a handful of students even without social distancing restrictions.
Latin American Centre Library (author’s photo)
The Law Library
This is, for many of us non-lawyers, a hidden gem. The enormous main ‘hall’ of the library is bright and airy: come for the extensive collection of European and North American legal texts, and stay for the Aalto-inspired clean lines. It exudes effortless 60s style. Plus, if there’s one Oxford library to recreate on your Minecraft server, it’s this.
The library is, unusually, sponsored in part by the law firm Hogan Lovells, who were recently named and shamed for paying private investigators for intrusive surveillance in a New York Times investigation into the hand of post-Soviet governments in the English legal system. Less interestingly, it also suffers from a severe lack of power outlets (especially on the ‘open-plan’ desks).
Leopold Muller Memorial Library (for Hebrew and Jewish Studies)
The Leopold Muller is located in the basement of the Clarendon Institute, which also houses the Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and the Centre for Linguistics and Philology. Though I knew the library’s brief, I don’t think I was quite prepared for the sheer size of the Hebrew book collection. It turns out that Hebrew has been taught at the University since the 16th century (the first Jewish fellow to be appointed by a College would arrive some time later, in 1882).
The librarian here was certainly a character: very helpful, and the only member of staff to catch on to my ploy of visiting all of Oxford’s libraries (or perhaps the only to ask how my adventures were going). The space, I can imagine, can become a little dreary in winter on account of it catching very little natural light.
The Music Faculty Library
If you’ve not been to the Music Faculty’s own little universe south of Christ Church, it is an experience I would wholeheartedly recommend. On the way into the library, at about ten in the morning, the door was held open for me by a figure dressed as though they were on the way to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, in full tails. It set the tone appropriately: this is an eccentric sort of place. The library itself is beautiful, but more strikingly it is charming in a Ghibli sort of way. Desks are hidden in corners, and posters plaster the walls.
Music students I’ve spoken to tell me they have a strong affinity with the Music Faculty’s librarians and the other characters sighted here. In no other library is there quite the same sense of community as in this one.
Nizami Ganjavi Library (Oriental Studies)
Nezāmi Ganjavi is widely considered among the greatest 12th century poets in Persian literature. His legacy, Wikipedia tells me, is appreciated widely across Afghanistan, Iran, and Kurdistan, but perhaps most loudly in Azerbaijan, where he is seen as something of a national hero.
Is this a library befitting such a literary giant? Not exactly. Hidden in the shadow of the Sackler Library, this isn’t likely to appear on any ‘must see’ lists — however, even in spite of its ‘town library vibes’ (as one student described it), it is not without its charms. It’s a quiet and invariably tranquil place to get work done.
The Oxford Union Library
This one’s dedicated to everyone who made the mistake of purchasing membership of the Oxford Union at the start of their Freshers’ Week. It still probably isn’t worth it.
I’d always meant to study here but, then again, it was the Union so it had… all that going against it. That said, I think it’s worth spending an afternoon if you have the card. The Old Library, which was initially a debating chamber, is really quite beautiful: smaller and far cozier than the chamber across the courtyard but similar in shape. It is a comfortable and slightly sleepy place to work, decorated pretty much exactly as you’d expect. The Pre-Raphaelite ceiling murals are a particular highlight, though they’re faded and not particularly visible in daylight.
The library staff seem particularly friendly here, and the library is also noted for its nonfiction collection. Reading for fun? I might try it one day.
The Oxford Union Library (author’s photo)
Oxfordshire County Library
I grew up in a part of the country that simply didn’t have the money to invest in library services. I assumed that the rest of the UK was like this, but, alas, no. The Oxford County Library is a wonderful, recently-rebuilt civic resource which is open to everyone. Though it boasts a sizable collection of books, and is an excellent place to get work done a little outside the ‘University bubble’, it is a public good that can’t be defined solely by its use as a library: it also helps people to access public services and organises events for young people across the city.
Philosophy and Theology Library
People (especially PPE students) like to dislike this one. I think their concerns are justified. Located in the otherwise STEM-oriented Observatory Quarter, this is a library over two floors — the upper being mostly a reading room — across one side of the Radcliffe Humanities Building. The space is too small to serve its purpose effectively: even in spite of social distancing restrictions, I was shocked by how busy the reading room was.
Radcliffe Camera (Upper and Lower)
The library that is Oxford. Any normal university would have the impressive but modest, modern and practical Social Sciences Library at its heart. But not us. Libraries are rarely so ostentatious or, frankly, naff. Nor are they usually so downright iconic. That we offer this hugely symbolic space to History and English speaks to the incorrect assumption that Oxford is stronger in the humanities; many students don’t realise that it spent most of its early years as a scientific and medical library.
The Upper Camera is a space best visited early on a clear winter’s morning: the sunlight streaming through the windows is quite a thing to see. But at any time, it is a beautiful place to work. The silence here isn’t quite as oppressive as in other study spaces — perhaps on account of the number of giddy undergraduates living out their Dark Academia dreams.
Radcliffe Camera (author’s photo)
Rewley House Continuing Education Library
A library I didn’t know existed, serving 15,000(!) enrolled students at the Department of Continuing Education. I imagine most students don’t realise ContEd has a history here that stretches back to the late 1800s. At the heart of the operation for the last hundred-or-so years is Rewley House, a building on Wellington Square that I’d not paid much attention to before. The library looks out over a courtyard, and is probably unusual in housing a small number of texts on an extremely wide range of subjects (plus an extensive reference collection).
The Classics Library (The ‘Sackler Library’)
I’d always resented that one of our libraries was named for the Sackler family, who grew extraordinarily wealthy by playing an important role in causing the opioid crisis (which, in turn, contributed to nearly 400,000 deaths from drug overdoses from 1999 to 2017 in the U.S.). It is one of many projects to which the Sacklers have lent their name — others can be found in the Guggenheim and the Met in New York, and the British Museum and the V&A in London.
But then I visited. If the Sacklers had to give their name to a library in this city, I’m almost relieved it’s this one — one of Oxford’s ugliest and least liked by readers. The architectural style can be best described as ‘McMansion’. The floors of the central rotunda are disorientating and lacking in natural light. Neoclassical columns, which again scream ‘GOP Congressman’s Florida mansion’ more than ‘world’s largest and possibly oldest Classics department’, are awkwardly shunted into the architecture as though the building is desperate to remind you what purpose it serves. Unless you need to access anything from the collections held here, it is probably a library best avoided.
Social Sciences Library
The Manor Road Building, which houses the SSL on its ground floor, feels in many ways like a 21st century response to the 60s Internationalist St Cross Building next door. Both are wonderful and underrated, but the Manor Road Building still (having been open now for nearly twenty years) feels like a model for future university spaces. It’s light, airy and clearly designed to invite collaboration. It is an ethos that continues into the library itself, which features many sorts of workspace, including open-plan desks, booths, and workrooms. It fosters an excellent working environment that is spacious, bright and clean. The resources available cut across far more disciplines than I could hope to name here.
My one criticism? It’s always a little too warm. Other than that, it comes highly recommended.
Taylor Institution Library (Taylorian)
The Taylorian specialises in modern languages. It was built as the east wing of a complex which includes the University Galleries (now the Ashmolean), and extended twice in the 20th century. Other parts of the Institution provide space for talks and lectures.
I’m not certain if this is usually the case, but I’ve not once been able to find a space in the library’s iconic neoclassical main reading room on the first floor (in our current times of social distancing, at least, you must be first in the queue to have any hope of studying there). Usually this has meant that I’ve been relegated to the library’s side-rooms (the sort which specialise, for instance, in Slavic languages), which are nonetheless smallish, pleasant spaces with high ceilings.
Taylor Institution (author’s photo)
Vere Harmsworth Library (for American Studies)
Among the best, the Vere Harmsworth comes last. This is an ultra-modern library that completely nails it. Continuing the long-established Oxford tradition of naming buildings after people who, to greater or lesser extents, are hardly role models (see the Sackler, Rhodes House and the Thatcher Business Education Centre at the Said Business School), this one is named for the man who created the Daily Mail in its modern form.
Frankly, it’s a name unbefitting. Across four levels, it’s a clean and light space that benefits from not feeling bewilderingly large. Seating is available in open-plan desks, individual desks and booths. My favourite time to be here is late at night, an hour or so before closing time, when the outside of the building is beautifully illuminated from the ground and the huge glass windows reflect the interior. Simply put, it’s a cool space.
In light of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, representatives of Oxfordshire MPs, councillors, Afghan leaders, Afghan newcomers, and community organisations met last Friday, 20th August, calling on the UK government to be proactive and clear in its humanitarian response towards Afghan asylum-seekers. The meeting, attended by more than fifty individuals and organisations, was facilitated by Oxford refugee charity Asylum Welcome.
Released as an outcome of the meeting was a Statement on the Crisis in Afghanistan and Oxfordshire’s Response, signed by local Councillors Mark Lygo, Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini, Imogen Thomas, Chris Jarvis, Lucy Pegg, and Sally Povolotsky as well as sixteen organisations that support refugees.
With the meeting taking place only five days after the Taliban occupied Kabul, the pain was fresh for local Afghan leaders, refugees, and representatives of refugee-oriented community groups, who urged international support for and solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.
Two Afghan clients of Asylum Welcome who had been refugees spoke out about the current volatility and violence in Afghanistan, both recalling how, just two days prior, Taliban fighters had clashed with protestors in Jalalabad, a city in Eastern Afghanistan, after the latter tried to replace newly erected Taliban flags with the Afghan flag.
“The crisis is bigger than what we see in the media. That’s the reality,” stressed Dr Aziz Barez, Executive Director of the Center for Afghanistan & Central Asia Strategic Studies (CACASS) in London and a former Afghan diplomat. The Taliban takeover, Dr Barez warned, will imperil human rights in the country, especially women’s and girls’ rights, and infringe upon “basic respect for human activity ” such as “girls going to school”.
“Now, our sisters, mothers, daughters, and aunts are under lockdown for the rest of our lives,” said Shaista Aziz, Labour City Councillor for Rose Hill and Iffley and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, sharing in the meeting what an Afghan woman from Oxford had said to her.
“All countries need to support us, especially the UK,” appealed one of Asylum Welcome’s Afghan clients, who arrived in the UK as a refugee in 2009 but whose wife and child remain in Afghanistan, “but most of them left Afghanistan when we needed support from them. The UK government needs to help people who are living in Afghanistan. We want peace. We don’t want anything else.”
Evacuation and Resettlement of Afghan Citizens
Councillors, refugees, local Afghan leaders, and representatives of local MPs attend a meeting with Asylum Welcome. Image: Asylum Welcome
The UK government announced shortly after the takeover that it is committing to resettling 20,000 at-risk Afghan refugees over a five-year period. The Afghanistan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme, which the Home Office calls “bespoke” and “one of the most generous” in the UK, will see 5,000 Afghan refugees resettled in the first year.
Councillor Aziz, writing on the Oxford City Council website about how the crisis is affecting Oxford’s communities from those with relatives in Afghanistan to veterans, called the number “a woefully inadequate number that does not reflect the duty of care the UK has to Afghan civilians, to protect lives, or the military role Britain has played in Afghanistan.”
Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran, whose representatives attended the meeting via Zoom, spoke in parliament last week and urged the government to set a more ambitious resettlement target of 20,000 Afghan refugees per year, or 30 refugees per constituency, saying “surely we can do better” after “twenty years of [military] involvement”.
By the end of 2020, before the Taliban takeover, there were 2.8 million Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers mostly living in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Iran. An estimated 3.5 million Afghans are also currently displaced within the country’s borders, and Dr Barez underlined in the meeting the coming crisis of internal displacement as well as international displacement.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said that the new resettlement scheme for Afghans is separate from and in addition to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which launched on 1st April 2021 and offers priority relocation to the UK to locally employed staff under serious threat to life. Meeting attendees cautioned, however, that the scheme must not diminish resettlement opportunities for vulnerable refugees of other nationalities. So far, the UK government has refused to clearly commit to a long-term refugee resettlement target.
Afghan constituents with affected family members are advised to continue getting in touch with their MPs, advised representatives of Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodd. Through their contacts, they said, MPs can ensure that the correct government officials receive and process people’s cases. They also encouraged Afghans seeking to reunite with their families in the UK to get in touch, even if they do not meet the official visa requirements.
The Statement on the Crisis of Afghanistan and Oxfordshire’s Response calls for the government to “freeze any planned repatriations, grant asylum to Afghan nationals with outstanding asylum claims and release Afghan nationals currently held in detention, given that deportations cannot be safely carried out”.
One concern raised by meeting attendees was about Afghan asylum-seekers who arrive on UK shores spontaneously, given that the UK government is currently trying to pass a Nationality and Borders Bill that will criminalise asylum-seekers who arrive by sea or through a “safe third country”.
“The government must rethink the Nationality and Borders Bill in light of the current crisis in Afghanistan”, the Statement asserts, expressing worry that Afghans who take irregular routes “will be treated as illegal and usually refused refugee status”.
The Statement further calls the Bill “unfit for purpose” and says that “asylum claims should be judged based on the claimant’s fear of persecution, not how they got here”.
The Home Office has reiterated its intent to criminalise the act of entering the UK through a third country, although those who arrive in the UK via “irregular migrant routes, such as small boats” can still apply for asylum before the Nationality and Borders Bill fully comes into effect. During the meeting, Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini, Labour City Councillor of Northfield Brook, also called for the creation of humanitarian corridors for Afghans to leave safely as well as more funding for local councils, while also stressing that “people travelling to immediate third countries do not automatically find safety there.”
Asylum Welcome has suggested 12 actions to support refugees, which includes signing a petition to increase the pace and number of the UK government’s Afghan resettlement scheme, writing to local MPs to discuss their response to the Afghan crisis, and considering renting out homes to refugee families through Sanctuary Hosting. Oxfordshire Afghan Aid (OAA), set up by Hendreds & Harwell County Councillor Sally Povolotsky in liaison with the Royal Air Force and Red Cross, has been updating regularly on Facebook about the specific in-kind donations that Afghan new arrivals need. At the time of publication, OAA is at capacity and no longer receiving drop-off donations. OAA has recommended that the public redirect their monetary and material donations towards Nowzad, which reunites soldiers with animals they rescued in Afghanistan; Asylum Welcome; British Red Cross; and the charity shop Changing Lives, located in Didcot and Wantage, which supported OAA in its earlier efforts.
In emails sent to students and staff earlier today, the University confirmed that in-person teaching will resume from 6 September, bringing the University’s restrictions in line with Step 4 of the UK Roadmap.
Face coverings will not be mandatory and social distancing will no longer be required. However, the University announced that face coverings will be required during larger group teaching, unless exemptions apply.
The University said its expectation is that “everyone who can will transition to returning to their offices and labs, so that by the beginning of Michaelmas term we will be fully prepared for the next academic year”. They added that the easing of restrictions will “facilitate a return to business as usual”.
The email also stated that University departments will confirm further details on guidance and other timescales in due course.
Regular symptom-free testing and vaccination will continue to be encouraged for the University’s staff and students. Vaccinations will not be made mandatory for staff or students. Members of the University will also be required to follow the latest government self-isolation rules.
Students and staff returning from red-listed countries and who are unable to travel to Oxford for the start of Michaelmas will qualify for exemption from residency requirements. The email stated that the University and colleges “will not routinely meet the quarantine costs for students returning from red list countries”. If students are arriving from an amber-listed country, they will have to quarantine for 10 days on arrival to the UK, unless they are fully vaccinated, and will have to arrive in Oxford in time to complete quarantine before courses start.
Tom Mitchell is an Olympic silver medalist in rugby sevens, a former Varsity Match winner in rugby union with Oxford, and the father of a 4 month-old child: “There’s nothing like having a child to get you back to the swing of having a normal life.”
Tom has recently come back from Tokyo, where Team GB’s Rugby Sevens squad came in 4th place, unable to stand on the podium like they did in Rio 2016. Writing on his Instagram, Tom reflected on his journey: “As someone who has been fortunate to have come home with a medal and without one, any youngsters should know that hard work and following your passion are worthwhile. Don’t get me wrong, achieving your goal feels great, and not achieving what you set out to get is painful for a while. But both outcomes contain emotions that only last for a while. The deep sense of fulfilment that comes from pursuing a passion and dedicating yourself to it lasts much longer.”
Tom captained the team both times. After an “amazing high” for Team GB, coming from behind to beat USA in the quarter final, it was a “mix of emotions” for Tom as he was ruled out of Team GB’s semi final against New Zealand and the bronze medal match against Argentina the following day due to injury. “I thought we had a good chance of bouncing back from that defeat to come back into the bronze medal match. It’s a little bit difficult to get a feel when you’re injured. Obviously, I’m still around the squad and doing what I can to try to help them prepare, but you are never quite sure where the team’s at going into the game. I thought we were in a good place but we just gave them some easy tries and unfortunately against any top team in sevens, you do that and you are very unlikely to come out on the right side of the result.”
Oxford was the “launchpad” for Tom’s rugby career. After completing an undergraduate course at the University of Bristol, Tom came to Oxford for a graduate course in Historical Studies.
“In all honesty, a lot of my memories are dominated by what was going on with the rugby club, and my experience with The Varsity Match,” he confessed. “The best thing about that journey was some of the relationships from that group. In terms of the lesson I took forward from that was how powerful it can be when you are all focussing on one goal and one aim. That was something that really marked my time at Oxford- people’s commitment to the project and to the goal.”
The men’s 2011 Varsity Match was particularly memorable for a number of reasons. Tom Mitchell scored a try, the Dark Blues won the match 28-10, and OURFC captain John Carter played on with an unsightly black eye, after he took a nasty punch to his eye from Cambridge forward Dave Allen. “He was a brilliant leader and a talismanic figure,” Tom said of his former captain. “I took a lot of lessons from him which I have carried forward into my own leadership of the England and GB teams. He was a great character.”
The nature of captaincy has changed since 2011. Having to endure the uncertainty of lockdowns and the cancellation of the Olympic Games in 2020, Tom had the task of trying to keep his team’s morale high as its captain. In a “pretty dark summer” in 2020 when Team GB Rugby Sevens lost its National Lottery funding and support, and subsequently lost all its sources of income, Tom had the challenge of “trying to make people alright with the unknown”. This involved “trying not to put too much pressure on myself” and “knowing that there were limitations out of my control”. Through the torrid times of the pandemic, Tom and his teammates trained together over Zoom and created an online Friday lunchtime coffee club. When restrictions eased, the players would find a park equidistant to all team members for running and other training sessions.
“It was a tough time for the squad. Actually, the resilience in the squad was something that I found really inspiring. It was a real credit to the guys involved that they dealt with it the way they did because it could’ve been very different and we wouldn’t have finished 4th at the Olympics. Most of the guys would not have made the team if they had not been able to process it so well; who knows what squad we would have ended up taking?”
Team GB Rugby Sevens got their National Lottery funding back in December 2020, taking them through to 2021 for the one-year-late Tokyo 2020 Games. Tom was “pleasantly surprised” when he arrived in Tokyo in mid July, as the Games “had the excitement” synonymous with normal Olympic Games. Although the result was not what he had in mind, it was “powerful” for Tom, as one of Team GB’s 376 athletes, to be “part of something much bigger” in a competition where “all of the sports come together to drive in the same direction”.
Tom has the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Sevens World Cup in South Africa to look forward to; it is not known as to whether Great Britain will be able to compete together or as separate nations at the World Cup. For now, Tom will be taking a break and “enjoy some of the freedoms that come with not training and not having the demands of competition”.
I concluded the interview by asking Tom whether he would be open to the prospect of taking up another postgraduate course at Oxford any time soon: “I’ll have to see if I still have the ability to still write essays!” Let’s hope Tom polishes his essay writing skills and one day brings Oxford yet more glory over Cambridge in The Varsity Matches.
Photo credits Sam Mellish, courtesy of Team GB via Tom Mitchell .
Jesus College was visited by Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, on Thursday August 19th.
The Minister said of his visit: “I’m very pleased to be here today to mark Wales’ longstanding and continued links with Jesus College and the University of Oxford more broadly.”
The Minister came to learn about the University’s, and particularly Jesus’, strong connections with Welsh educational institutions and the ways in which the University supports students applying to top universities in Wales and across the UK. After lunch at the College, the Minister gave a welcome address to the Seren-Jesus College Residential Summer School attendees.
Jesus College, colloquially known as the ‘Welsh College’, has maintained strong ties with Wales since its founding by Hugh Price in 1571. Today, these ties are nurtured through a number of access initiatives such as Oxford Cymru, an access partnership maintained by Jesus, St Catherines, and New Colleges. The partnership works with the Welsh government to offer opportunities to students in rural and coastal areas of Central and North Wales.
Jesus College works closely with the Welsh Government’s Seren programme, which supports the brightest year 8-13 students from Welsh state schools and FE colleges in reaching their full academic potential. Two Seren summer schools are hosted at Jesus each year, with over a thousand students having participated in the program since 2016.
The Minister’s visit coincided with one such Seren Summer School: the fifth annual Seren-Jesus College Residential Summer School. Miles met and spoke with the summer school participants. The residential course is designed to give students a taste of Oxford life and in turn encourage them to apply to study. Students in the program have the opportunity to attend tutorials, seminars, and lectures.
Miles also met with Dr Matthew Williams, Access Fellow of Jesus College. Dr Williams said: “About 70% of the 10,000 young people we work with annually through our wider outreach and access activities come from Wales, and we are committed to encouraging and enabling academically-gifted young Welsh students to apply to Oxford and other leading universities in the UK. Our work through the Oxford Cymru consortium and the Seren programme are essential to delivering on this commitment, enabling us to embrace the depth of knowledge and experience necessary to make an impact.”
Jesus’ Welsh ties are also strengthened by its Welsh alumni and prominent Welsh figures. The summer school series was recently secured in perpetuity thanks to an endowment from Mr. Oliver Thomas, a Jesus alumnus. Additionally, earlier this year Jesus announced the Michael Sheen Bursary, which will provide financial support for Welsh undergraduate students. The Bursary has been developed in collaboration with Welsh actor and activist Michael Sheen and will operate on a means-tested basis, primarily using household income criteria.
Dr Williams added: “We understand that disadvantaged students can face financial inequalities that create a barrier to embracing the full benefit that an Oxford education can offer, so bursaries such as the Michael Sheen Bursary provide a tremendous opportunity to support Welsh students at Jesus College, making their experience more equitable, and reassuring them that Oxford is for everyone, regardless of background.”
Since the implementation of these access schemes, there has been a 20% increase in applications from Welsh state schools to Oxford and a 55% increase from 2016-2020. In 2019/20, 10% of all applications to Oxford by Welsh students came from Seren summer school participants.
The Minister also met with Helen Charlesworth, Senior Executive Officer in the University’s Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach Department; Lois Williams a co-designer of the international summer school course, Seren ambassador and alumna of Jesus College; and Tomos Wood – also a co-designer of the course and Seren ambassador who recently graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge. He was also welcomed by Rhian Edwards, Deputy Director for Further Education and Apprenticeships at the Welsh Government, and Rhian Griffiths, Head of Seren.
Miles continued: “The links between Jesus College and Wales date back centuries, and all those attending the residential summer school can be proud not just of their fantastic achievements, but also that they are continuing a longstanding tradition of learners from Wales going on to study at some of the best universities in the world.
“Since starting in 2016, our Seren programme has gone from strength to strength, and summer schools such as these play a vital role in building the confidence and raising the ambitions of Welsh learners, and ensuring they know that the world’s leading universities are within their reach too.”
The Minister concluded his day with dinner at his alma mater, New College. Daniel Powell, Head of Outreach at New, said of the event: “This year marked the creation of the ‘Wales Consortia’, an initiative which New College is incredibly proud to be a part of. We hope that the students enrolled in the Seren Summer School have a rewarding and inspiring week of study in Oxford. Of course, the opportunity to socialise is also an important trait of University life, and we look forward to welcoming them, as well as New College graduate, Mr Miles, for a celebratory dinner.”
Asylum Welcome, a local Oxford charity supporting refugees and asylum-seekers, has launched a mini-exhibition at the Old Fire Station called “Have Heart, Take Heart” to display messages of solidarity for refugees and asylum seekers in Oxfordshire. The exhibition will be open until 21st August, and these messages are also viewable on Asylum Welcome’swebsite.
Featuring more than 150 postcards with orange hearts comprising of words of kindness, solidarity, and welcome, the exhibition was launched on 28th July in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Refugee Convention of 1951. The Convention is a piece of international law, to which the UK was a key drafter and signatory, that sets out the rights and responsibilities of refugees as well as countries who ratified the legislation.
“Asylum seekers and refugees are a really important part of our society and have made a fantastic contribution,” one resident wrote.
“Some of us are deeply ashamed of the UK government’s inhumane attitude towards refugees,” another contributor expressed. “We do not share it and wish to make you welcome!”
Introduced in 1951 following the forced displacement of millions in the aftermath of World War II, the Convention today is a foundational piece of international law that underpins asylum systems in the UK and around the world. It sets out the definition of a “refugee”, the rights of refugees, as well as the principle of non-refoulement, the principle that refugees are not to be forcefully returned where their lives or freedoms would be threatened.
Asylum Welcome started its campaign to collect messages of solidarity after Home Secretary Priti Patel announced in March 2021 a plan to overhaul Britain’s immigration system, potentially bringing about major negative ramifications for refugees and asylum seekers in the country. The organisation’s stance is that the plan is “is deeply flawed, inhumane and is unlikely to achieve many of its desired aims.” On 20th July, the plan came to further fruition after the House of Commons passed the second reading of the Nationality and Borders Bill by 366 votes to 265.
Message from an Oxford resident: “Everyone deserves to feel safe and welcome in Oxford! My message is that while voices of hate may be loud, love is stronger and will win.” Image: Asylum Welcome
Stricter Requirements: Illegalising Refugee Modes of Arrival
One major reform arising from the Bill is that it will be illegal for newcomers to make an asylum claim if they came through a “safe third country” or United Kingdom waters without permission.
A safe third country is defined under the new legislation as a country where one can apply to be recognised as a refugee and where one’s life and liberty is not threatened on the grounds such as race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. By these definitions, routes taken without permission through Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, or Bosnia and Herzegovina could therefore be deemed as “illegal routes”.
Under the proposed reforms, anyone who enters through these “illegal routes” could be subjected to up to four years of imprisonment and removal, and anyone who facilitates their entry could be punished with a life sentence.
It is likely that these reforms would limit refugee protection to only people who enter the country through state resettlement or migration schemes. But the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international agency dedicated to protecting refugees, says that state resettlement is “only open to a tiny minority of eligible refugees”. According to the Migration Observatory, between 2016 and 2019, the government has resettled 5000 – 6000 refugees every year, with this number falling to 823 in 2020.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has recently announced plans to create a “displaced talent scheme” that would allow highly skilled refugees living in Jordan and Lebanon to work in the UK for a maximum of five years, which is to be piloted for 100 refugees and their families in the next two years. But the government has yet to provide a numerical commitment to resettlement in the future.
Restricting the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Prospective Use of Offshore Asylum Centres
Another set of concerns relates to the restricting of rights of asylum seekers and the prospective use of offshore asylum centres.
Under the proposed Bill, anyone who has taken “illegal routes” would be subjected to deportation back to a safe third country, but the UK government currently does not have any practical agreements to deport refugees to other countries.
In the absence of agreements, the government has proposed that those who cannot be deported will have their asylum claims processed. If successful, asylum seekers would be granted a “temporary status”, but that will leave them in a legal limbo, as their status would need to be periodically accessed and their family reunification rights as well as access to public services restricted.
The Bill also paves the way for the creation of offshore asylum centres, termed as “designated places”, to process such asylum claims following the footsteps of Australia and Denmark. Speculations are that these centres would be in Ascension Island, oil rigs, or disused ferries.
Nuha Abdo, an Oxford newcomer from Syria and spokesperson of the Have Heart, Take Heart project, expressed wariness over these reforms and said that she would not be living in Oxford today if the Bill were in place five years ago.
Abdo arrived in 2016 with her two children as part of the UK government’s family reunification program for refugees. Her husband, a Syrian professor who arrived a year before, took multiple routes that would be deemed illegal under the proposed Bill before he successfully sought sanctuary in the UK. Part of his journey to safety, which spanned the countries of Greece, Turkey, and Qatar, included travel by land on lorries and by sea on boats, multiple arrests at airports, and a serious injury that led to his hospitalisation.
“If this bill existed, it would mean that both my children and I would be separated from my husband. How can you accept people as refugees [give them temporary status] but not accept their families?” Abdo asked.
Will the Bill Effectively Tackle Modern Slavery?
At the heart of the debates around the Bill is also the question of modern slavery. During her speech, Home Secretary Priti Patel spoke of the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people found in a trailer in Essex at the hands of human traffickers and the “moral duty” to “stop this vile trade” as the drivers of the Bill.
Asylum Welcome Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Hari Reed said that the organisation agrees that modern slavery is a crucial issue that needs to be tackled but does not believe that the bill is going to “tackle it in any way”.
“The government is treating smuggling as the cause of the problems with the asylum system when in fact it is the consequence. Smugglers are filling in the gap in international legislations,” Reed emphasised. “If there are safe and legal ways for refugees to get to where they need, there would be no need for smugglers.”
Abdo said that the Bill will discourage refugees from coming to the UK, but it will simply compel them to go elsewhere without deterring the activities of smugglers and traffickers. “Refugees will not stop. They will go to Europe – France or Germany. But the Bill is not going to stop smugglers. Whatever the sum is, I will pay to be safe.”
Former Prime Minister Theresa May has also voiced opposition against the creation of offshore asylum centres, saying that it “wouldn’t automatically remove the business model of the criminal gangs”, as smugglers would be “waiting for those who are rejected by the centre, and they’d still move those people across the Mediterranean.” May also believes that the Bill could potentially even increase “people being picked up and being taken into slavery”.
The UNHCR has argued that the Bill “unfairly punish[es] many refugees” in violation of the terms and spirit of the Refugee Convention. The Refugee Council, a UK national charity providing services for refugees and asylum seekers, has also called the Bill an “anti-refugee bill”.
“Since we arrived in this country, every day new bills are being passed. We do not feel safe,” Abdo expressed her sense of insecurity. “It affects me emotionally. Every time [the government] applies something new, it is stressful to us.”
“What are we gaining from this Bill? We will only lose valuable people in our community,” Reed questioned and adding, “We don’t see this as progressing our asylum law at all.”
Each of the clauses of the Bill will next be scrutinised by the House of Commons Public Bill Committee, scheduled to meet on 21st September. Members of the public with expertise, experience, or a special interest in the Bill would be able to submit their views for the committee’s consideration in oral form or in written form to [email protected]. Further information can be found here.
The musical Smart Casual centres on a London flat, three meet-ups, and a group of friends fresh out of university: Mel, Marc, Willow, Lily, Ben, and Jordan. Together in the apartment where they got together, broke up, and made up, each of them gets caught up by frustrations typical of one’s early 20s: Ben wants to settle down into married life but discovers neither himself nor his partner, Willow, are as certain as he thinks; Lily wants only to not be boring, to not be business-like, to not be making the world shittier, yet struggles to positively want anything; and Mel knows her rent will be paid by her parents but she cannot get the one job at Vogue she wants. These characters, and their performers, feel to me like the main reason for the success of the work. Their personalities are clear-cut and well-conceived, often fitting an archetype without losing their own opinions and motivations. This frankness then lets the play focus on their interactions between them.
Most songs have two, three, or four voices singing against or with one another and they keep a conversational tone outside of the chorus or solos, thus making each song an evolving dialogue. This style is effective in continuing interactions into the songs, but at times the balance in volume between band and co-singers make the words hard to follow. But this is far from enough to get in the way of appreciating the great vocals or understanding the character development. Ultimately, however, the play is not bound to these characters and their frustrations. It is bound to the apartment. So, when Mel moves out, the play can end leaving the characters with only directions and possibilities rather than closure. Even the ‘always better for the experience’ refrain of the final song feels like an optimistic perspective rather than an objective point. As a 21-year-old myself, that felt fitting.
A special highlight of this production is the skillful incorporation of class and sexuality into the narrative. There isn’t any one way to use such important concepts in art, but I really like it when the social gives everything a slightly tragic air without reducing the characters to stand-ins. When the friends assume that Mel is doing great in London, that she will play host, and always hear their troubles, it is somewhat because she’s the rich one with ‘rents ready to cover an apartment’, but it’s also because she hides her feelings and shies from open conflict. Or when Ben spends a year never really falling in love with Marc, it must be something to do with Marc’s flawed character and defensiveness, but it’s also the naggingly familiar story of a bi-curious man who can’t think of a male as that family-starter, life-partner he grew up expecting.
Coming back to the music though, the writer, Sam Woof, claimed that Smart Casual aspires to depart from some of the ‘farce and melodrama’ that typifies most musical theatre. This is well put, and that intent is delivered upon. Obvious moves like the conversational tone, or the general lack of movement and dancing, keep the songs grounded in the apartment conversations of the group. And none of those songs are wasted. Even a comic relief song by Marc, the camp queen of the group, works as defensive posturing that his character would struggle to overcome.
However, one might ask, why bother to undo the melodrama and unreal extravagance of the musical? The form will just work against you. Nearly all musicals will dedicate 3-5 minutes of sweeping soundtracks to a singular character point or emotion, often with recurring lines. It is not impossible, but perhaps unavoidable, that the songs will drift towards the edifying and melodramatic. But what melodrama there’s left in Smart Casual, I find it is put to good use. After all, I can think of no better way of summing up the giddy feeling of knowing you are meant to be living the most ‘formative’ and ‘pivotal’ years of your life than having each life event or strong emotion affirmed in song – the most obvious extent of this being the repeated line ‘this is actually happening’. Moreover, the edification works perfectly with the self-delusion of many of the characters. Mel sings about hating her friend’s callousness in the evening and then erases that with a song about always loving them in the morning. And in that moment, you feel the affirmative background of the score is as much for the audience as for her. So, where the show delivers on giving musicals a bit more ‘real life,’ it doesn’t leave you wishing they had just made a play.
For a student work the topics discussed are close to home. It’s why the promise of a grounded and tender depiction of undeniably important years works so well. The piece made me feel like that time could be a bit more real, and so a bit more manageable. Overall, seeing Smart Casual at the North Wall was a lovely experience and I look forward to more great work from GOYA in future.
