Friday 13th June 2025
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A fresher’s guide to Oxford Drama

Matt Roberts
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A fresher’s guide to Oxford Drama

Oxford has an amazing history when it comes to the theatre, with countless stars of yesterday, today and tomorrow cutting teeth and treading boards in the theatres and rehearsal rooms of our university.

However, regardless of whether you fancy yourself as the next Richard Burton or Rowan Atkinson, or you’re just an exhibitionist with a penchant for silly voices, Oxford has an incredible array of opportunities for wannabe thesps of all varieties.

The first experience which most people have of theatre in Oxford tends to be the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) cuppers competition – teams of freshers from every college in the university put together half hour productions to be performed in the Burton Taylor studio in 5th week. Various prizes are awarded for the most promising, exciting and professional productions – with a variety of plaudits to be awarded by a variety of pundits.

If you’re feeling strident and industrious, I would advise attempting to pen a new piece of writing, if you’re feeling lazy choose a piece which is already 30 minutes long. For the love of God do not do what I did, which was try to condense a two hour play into 30 minutes and have to cut scenes during a dress rehearsal – that broadly explains why I’m writing for Cherwell this year rather than behind the scenes at OUDS.

Beyond Cuppers, your first port of call should be the OUDS mailing list, which sends out a weekly newsletter announcing the productions you can go and see, as well as calls for auditions and production teams. If you want to act, audition for as many things as you’re interested in – prepare to get turned down for things, but aim to have as much fun in the audition room as you can.

If you’re interested in production and technical work, the TAFF (Tabs Are For Flying) mailing list and training days are invaluable in understanding all of the hard work that goes into making productions happen (not least in understanding their name). Like everything at this university, productions are run by over-caffeinated, sleep deprived, passionate yet grumbling adolescents. Turn up with a smile on your face and willingness to learn, and there will be a place for you in the theatre.

There are a few major theatre spaces in the university, which regularly play host to student productions. The Oxford Playhouse, the large professional theatre opposite the Ashmolean, is used for one or two student productions of a massive scale every term. These tend to be spectacular shows of a quasi-professional quality, with a lot of seats which marketeers desperately try to fill.

The Playhouse also has a small black box space, with a capacity of about 50 people, called the Burton Taylor Studio – look here for new writing, and confusing but charming turtle-necked productions. Balliol College runs the Michael Pilch Studio in their Jowett Walk graduate centre, with weekly productions from a variety of student groups. Similarly, Keble College’s O’Reilly theatre is a large versatile space, which runs productions every fortnight.

All of the productions in these theatres tend to be run by student production ‘companies’ – assortments of friends and thespy types who receive funding loans from OUDS and other funding organisations, then use these loans to produce the sets, marketing, costumery et al which populates the stages of our wonderful city. A lot of these production companies look scarily well organised, with active social media presences and an aura that they know what they’re doing.

Whilst I can neither confirm nor deny these rumours, I do know that it is astonishingly easy to make drama happen yourself as long as you’re enthusiastic and willing to put in the hours. If you want to direct or produce a show in one of the above theatres, you will need to produce a bid document a term in advance – outlining your artistic vision, marketing strategy, budgeting etc. Running a production from this perspective is not only enormous fun, but a great opportunity to learn lots of skills – not all of them explicitly creative.

Your first stop next should be the OUDS Freshers drama fair on the 10th October at the Oxford Playhouse. You should also have a peep at the stage section of Cherwell every now and again, and if you think your opinions on theatre are worth reading, email [email protected] for free tickets and shows to review.

Why Science Must Not be Left to the Scientists

Josephine Pepper
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Why Science Must Not be Left to the Scientists

What is science? School might convince you that science is a string of facts to be memorised and recalled; media often promotes science as a world of dense, technical jargon and misleading experimentation into things we cannot see or hear. These perceptions of science are not only incomplete, but harmful.

Instead it is helpful to think of science as a mindset or method of critical thinking in which experimentation assesses the validity of logic or observations. Then the validity of the experiments themselves must be critically assessed; if the test is wrong, we cannot accept the conclusion. And scientific ‘knowledge’ is in a continuous state of flux as new and improved experiments yield new information that must be added to the picture to slowly (and usually indirectly) hone in on the ‘truth’.

A lack of discussion between scientists and the public domain, along with a lack of appreciation of the nature of scientific progression – with its wrong turns and pitfalls – can promote a fear of the unknown and two-way mistrust. Tabloid health alerts distort isolated cases of fatal infections into the next global pandemic, while even mainstream media can provoke longlasting medical implications, for example in the memorable media frenzy surrounding a rogue claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism.

The claim (which, millions of dollars later, has been debunked by multiple rigorous scientific studies) received far more attention than the methods it employed. Articles failed to mention the study’s lack of control group, without which scientific studies are meaningless. They failed to discuss the tiny sample size of 12. They failed to note the retrospective parental reports relied upon; autism symptoms usually present themselves at the age that children receive the MMR vaccine. And they failed to point out the selection bias and researchers’ vested interest.

Inevitably the pen proved mightier than the microscope. Vaccination rates fell, pathing the way for the measles outbreaks we are still seeing today. Vaccination rates in the UK today still lie below the 95% necessary to ensure herd immunity (meaning we will continue to see outbreaks hit the headlines and remain at risk of deaths) because both authors and readers gravitate towards dramatic, attention grabbing headlines: ‘vaccinating may give your child autism’ will be remembered over ‘MMR vaccine safe’.

So what can be done? We need honesty from the media, with context and specifics, rather than distortion or sensationalism in the hope of getting more hits. We need scientific literacy. We need schools to teach science like a logic puzzle rather than a memory game; to teach that if a scientific report carefully chooses the word ‘suggests’, it does not mean ‘proves’, and that ‘correlation’ does not mean ‘causation’. We need scientists to speak out. We need to have the courage to question what we read.

Seville: A Young Traveller’s Dream

Kyra Leyland
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Seville: A Young Traveller’s Dream

If somebody from Seville ever invites you to La Bicicletería (or ‘The Bicycle Shop’) after 2am, then don’t hesitate. Whilst this seductively smoky private bar in the backstreets of Santa Cruz may not actually sell bike bells or baskets, the cassette tape lampshade, the comfy chairs and the hazy, dreamlike ambience were certainly enough to draw me in.

Young backpackers tend to head for traditional hotspots like Amsterdam with its famous nightlife and Prague with its paved, picturesque streets. Being located in the southern-most autonomous community of Spain, Andalusia, Seville is undeniably out of the way for British travellers in Europe. However, it presents a wonderful alternative to the typical Interrail track, offering a range of quirky hangouts for coffees and conversations. I’ll never forget Bryan from Florida who taught us the intricacies of both the Arabic language and the Spanish marijuana laws as we sat in the shady, book-filled courtyard of El Viajero Solitario (The Solitary Traveller). A city with a café that’s purpose built for reading and meeting people surely deserves to be more widely renowned in the backpacking scene.

For those such as myself who want to see some sights as well as sip espressos, Seville is home to some incredible tourist attractions. Decked out in a hat and sunglasses and applying copious amounts of sun cream, I queued for almost an hour under the scorching midday sun to see the Alcázar, an ancient Moorish palace and world UNESCO site. I marvelled at the intricate hand-crafted tiles, the grandeur of the imposing stone walls and the crystal clear, fish-filled fountains contained within luxuriously green, labyrinthine gardens. The rich religious history of Andalusia was almost tangible amidst the mixture of Islamic and Christian architectural influence. As a student ticket only costs €2, it’s worth a visit no matter how long you’re there or how tight your budget is!

So as a bicycle stared down at me from the ceiling and the owner’s quaint, lyrical tunes played through his laptop in the background, I drank red wine with three Parisians and we talked about life, the universe and everything – as one does at three in the morning. I would definitely recommend putting in a few extra air miles and spending a tiny bit more of your student loan this summer in order to have an utterly unique, completely cultured backpacking experience – that’s every bit as wild as Amsterdam.

OxFolk Review: ‘II’

Ben Ray
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OxFolk Review: ‘II’

When you find yourself playing an album straight through for the fourth time running, you know something is going right. Moore Moss Rutter’s latest album, the imaginatively named ‘II’, is an absolute tour de force- the perfect mix of verve, originality and a respectful acknowledgement of the music’s historical roots. Fiddle, guitar and melodeon combine to create a sound that is much, much more than the sum of its parts. Whether it’s hypnotising the listener with the soft cadences of the final tune ‘Idle’ (written by Moss about a band member’s clock that ticks but never tells the correct time) or forcing the room to get up on their feet and dance along to the beautiful harmonies and steadily building pace of the first track ‘Barrows’, this album has something for everyone.

Whilst listening to the beautifully soaring fiddle of Tom Moore, I couldn’t help thinking that this album reminded me of nothing else more than Chaos Theory. Whilst the album can sound in parts like a brilliantly crowded, out of control festival, under the surface it becomes clear that these musicians are incredibly skilled and that each song is crafted minutely, giving the impression of ease whilst simultaneously displaying great complexity. This comes as no surprise from Moore Moss Rutter, a group that has been a rising star on the folk scene since they won the 2011 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. Their subtle mix of modern, electro-acoustic elements and traditional styles to create an intoxicating take on many old folk tunes makes for compelling listening: for example, the group’s innovative interpretation of the tune ‘Jenny Pluck Pears’, from Playford’s ‘English Dancing Master’ of 1653, is a haunting, ghostly waltz-like piece that seems to hang in the air long after the music is finished.

The gorgeous simplicity of the two-tone album cover and the album’s very name counterpoint the complexity of the group’s performance, and I find myself being immensely impressed with the unity and balance the music displays between the three members. Each instrument is allowed an equal space to weave its magic, making it all the more stunning when they all come together again to form a strong wave of sound. This is accompanied on some tracks by singing, an element that brings stories to life in the music- in ‘Wait for the Wagon’ Jack Rutter’s rough, honest voice, gives the American song a time-worn air that fits in well with the other tunes in the album. Indeed, there are so many fascinating aspects and depths of Moore Moss Rutter’s album that one can’t help just playing it again… and again… and again.

 

OxFolk Reviews: ‘The Fade In Time’

Ben Ray
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OxFolk Reviews: ‘The Fade In Time’

Listening to Sam Lee & Friend’s latest album, ‘The Fade In Time’, is like sitting in on a storytelling session by one of folk music’s most fascinating singers. Sam Lee has certainly led a life worthy of song: from forager and burlesque dancer to apprentice of the great Scottish Traveller singer Stanley Robertson, his adventures seem to be mirrored in the timeless songs he has learnt over the years. ‘The Fade In Time’ is a collaborative effort with a talented group of musicians, including a cellist, trumpeter, dulcimer and koto player, to bring these traditional songs to life in new and intriguing ways. With many of the tracks containing, in Sam Lee’s own words, ‘Bollyood beats, Polynesian textures and contemporary classical music’, these progressive reinterpretations of British folk songs and styles gives the album absorbing new levels of interest beyond the simply musical.

Many of these tunes, learnt by Lee through his years of song-collecting, were gathered on his iPhone and laptop, with modern and older recordings weaved seamlessly alongside his distinctive voice: for instance, in the track ‘Lord Gregory’ the voice of Charlotte Higgins floats across the years to us from a 1956 recording from song-collector Hamish Henderson, whilst in ‘Bonny Bunch of Roses’ an early recording of choral singing leads the listener into the song’s themes of war in Russia and the unity of England and Scotland. The sheer inventiveness and creativity in Sam Lee’s treatment of these songs is incredible- it seems each track introduces new rhythms and melodies that bring each song’s individual story to life, whilst being treated with sustained respect by the musicians. The extensive biographical notes that accompany each song listed in the album sleeve is testament to this- the varied, colourful heritage of British folk song is here laid bare in all its glory. From the wistful longing of ‘Phoenix Island’, collected in scattered snatches by Lee from Traveller communities all over Britain, to strange eeriness of ‘The Moon Shone Brightly on my Bed Last Night’, the last song handed down to Lee from his tutor Stanley Robertson, these songs absorb, fascinate and steal the listener away to different worlds, and different times, amongst the many patterns of our cultural folk heritage.

It is hard to sum up the magical collection of this passionate and ambitious project that is encapsulated in ‘The Fade In Time’- each song not only tells a story individually, but adds up to create a tale of Traveller community culture, folk heritage and the art of song collecting. The beautifully cluttered nature of the album’s cover, featuring Lee sitting swamped by a paraphernalia of organ parts, scarves, weights and other random items, only helps to highlight the eclectic nature of this album- it is an expression of Britain’s deep tradition of folk song, retold in a fresh, absorbing way. Listening to this music, time does indeed seem to fade.

OxFolk Review: ‘Abyss’

Ben Ray
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OxFolk Review: ‘Abyss’

There’s something infectiously joyous about Talisk’s debut album ‘Abyss’- each tune has the ability to bring a smile and elicit a toe-tap. The tight combination of Mohsen Amini on concertina, Hayley Keenan on fiddle and Craig Irving on guitar work perfectly together, seeming to broaden, not shrink, their musical horizons with this select choice of instruments. Indeed, the amount of musical variation on this well-formed album is frankly astonishing, managing to hold the listener’s attention throughout and demanding to be played all over again once the final track has faded away.

Each tune on ‘Abyss’ adds a new flavour to the listener’s experience- whether it be the blistering speed of Amini’s concertina playing in ‘Picc’, the subtle build of Keenan’s fiddle playing in the title track ‘Abyss’ or the smooth guitar introduction of Irving in ‘Echo’, there is always some impressive show of skill going on. And this comes as no surprise- winners of the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Talisk are rising stars in the world of British folk music, and in the last year have garnered many other accolades including Amini being made 2016 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year. With such a strong line up, the group have gained an impressive list of successes that belie their years- and ‘Abyss’ thankfully lives up to this new reputation.

Whilst the restriction to the group’s three instruments might have potentially limited the scope for reinterpretation (though there was pipe accompaniment on the title track ‘Abyss’), Talisk’s take on the music never fails to absorb and entertain: toying with speed, dynamic and style, the instruments interact and play off each other in ways that surprise and engage. For example, the interweaving of fiddle and concertina in the track ‘Echo’ creates a depth of sound that evolves as the tune progresses, with each instrument taking it in turn to experiment with the melody as the other accompanies. The tour de force of the final track, ‘The Millhouse’, pushes the listener back into their seat as the Keenan’s fiddle performs intricate leaps around Armini’s frantic concertina, all underlain with the steady support of Irving’s guitar chords.

All in all, ‘Abyss’ is a masterful debut onto the folk scene, from a group that has already gathered a long history of successes. A beautiful, soaring collection of tunes, this album is bound to delight. Expect great things from Talisk in the near future!

OxFolk Review: ‘2’

Ben Ray
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OxFolk Review: ‘2’

It’s hard to describe to listeners exactly what The Gloaming is: a contemporary folk group? An experimental exploration of jazz, classical and traditional music? Or a mix of all of these things? Perhaps The Gloaming describe themselves best: they sit at ‘a musical crossroads’, encapsulating all of these things and more. This group draw from the enormous breath of skill and influences, from the incredible fiddle skills of Martin Hayes & Caoimhin O Raghallaigh and the sean-nos singing of Iarla O Lionaird, to the more experimental tones of guitarist Dennis Cahill from Chicago and pianist Thomas Bartlett from New York. These are world class musicians joining together to create something astonishing- and The Gloaming’s latest album, ‘2’, is certainly worthy of their credentials.

The wonderful breadth of emotion this album manages to create within the listener is frankly astonishing- in the opening track ‘The Pilgrim Song’ the quavering, evocative voice of O Lionaird swells above the steady, melodic build of Bartlett’s piano, whilst O Raghallaigh’s glorious fiddle dances and soars in between the two, bringing the piece to life. The standard just doesn’t slip throughout the album- with The Gloaming showing they have the impressive knowledge that sometimes, less is more. The minimalist, pared-back accompaniment of Cahill and Bartlett on many of the tracks creates a wonderful illusion of simplicity and ease, when it may have been tempting to layer the sound with many other harmonies. Instead, the listener is presented with a subtle mix of textures and sounds that is never overwhelming, and is always compelling.

And, as with the best traditional music, these tunes have a strong history behind them, giving the album depth and interest far beyond the first listening. Song, melody and contemporary poetry are all explored and shaped here, with each song telling a story. For example, ‘Farewell to Maigue’ is an inventive interpretation of the work of 18th century poet Aindrias Mac Craith, whilst ‘Wanderer’ relates an ancient tale of magic. Although all of the songs are sung in the group’s native Gaelic, this only seems to add to the mystery and magic of the tunes, giving the listener the sense of something ethereal and otherworldly.

The success of The Gloaming- with their first album winning various awards, from winning a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award to taking the Meteor Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year- had a difficult task to follow with their second album. However, ‘2’ definitely achieves this, and much more: it is a soft re-iteration of their immense skill and ability to reinterpret Irish traditional music, using simple interplay and relations between their instruments to expertly shape the sound into something new, fascinating and exciting.

OxFolk Reviews: ‘The Escape’

Ben Ray
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OxFolk Reviews: ‘The Escape’

I have to declare a personal interest in UFQ (the Urban Folk Quartet) before I begin this review: over the years I have seen this band several times, and each time I have been more impressed than the last. This group just goes from strength to strength, shoring up their previous album successes of ‘UFQ Live II’ and ‘Off the Beaten Tracks’ with live performances fizzing with energy, passion and fun. At their fingertips folk music simply comes alive, and each time I have seen them perform the audience around me were on their feet and dancing by pretty much the first song. So I had high hopes for their most recent album ‘The Escape’- and I was not left disappointed. The intensity, virtuosity and flair so prevalent in their live shows have been condensed down into a powerful collection of tracks totalling only 41 minutes- and boy, do they make each of those minutes count.

When you look at the pedigree of UFQ, it is no surprise that ‘The Escape’ has such a professional, polished feel about it. Travelling all around the world, this group has played ‘from secluded coves to 30,000 capacity festival fields’, making impressions everywhere with their storming tunes and stunning musicianship. The individual makeup of the group is equally as impressive: Galician fiddler Paloma Trigas has played with various folk heroes from The Chieftans to Altan, whilst English fiddler Joe Broughton brings an astonishing flair and skill that perfectly matches the playing of Trigas. On many tracks in this album, such as the breathlessly fast paced ‘Upward Spiral / Brink’, the two instruments weave and interplay to create a fiery, forceful melody. This is accompanied throughout by the multitalented Dan Walsh, playing guitar, mandolin and oud, whose steady, well balanced accompaniment gives new depths to the music. Alongside this is the multitalented percussionist and cajonero Tom Chapman, creating extraordinary rhythms and beats that wind themselves around the music and underpin the furiously fast tunes, holding many of the tracks together.

In a departure from their earlier, more instrumental sets, ‘The Escape’ holds a near-equal balance of songs and tunes- a choice that suits the musical breadth of UFQ. The use of backing vocals and subtle instrumental patterns on the fiddles and guitar help to give the songs a fuller, weightier feel, and the voices of both Trigas and Walsh brilliantly capture the energy and power of many of the lyrics. A few of the songs have a distinctly American feeling about them- ‘Boat up the River’ and ‘500 Miles’ are both traditional songs from across the Atlantic, reinterpreted in UFQ’s uniquely energetic style. But I have come to expect nothing less from a band as accomplished and impressive as UFQ: their ability to bring any form of music vigorously to life and to make it dance in soaring colour comes across on every track of this album. The UFQ have very, very high musical standards, and ‘The Escape’ most definitely lives up to them.

UK universities to be ranked ‘gold,’ ‘silver’ or ‘bronze’

Stephen Hawes
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UK universities to be ranked ‘gold,’ ‘silver’ or ‘bronze’

From May 2017 universities in England will be ranked as ‘gold’, ‘silver’ or ‘bronze’ as part of the government’s controversial Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

In ‘Details of how universities will be rated under the second year of the Teaching Excellence Framework’, published this week, it was announced that the ratings will be made available to students applying for courses in autumn 2017. It is hoped that this move will incentive universities to raise standards whilst providing greater transparency to potential students.

The Department for Education, which administers TEF, is planning to allow universities with high ratings to increase tuition fees in line with inflation, possibly from as early as 2018. As next year falls within TEF’s trial period, all universities participating in the scheme  will be able to raise their fees. Oxford is one such university planning to  charge the new maximum fee, £9,250, from October 2017.

The lobby-group Universities UK and the University Alliance organisation have highlighted the need for scrutiny of the scheme during its trial period in order to ensure that it meets the diverse needs of Higher Education institutions across the UK. They have also expressed concern that such drastic reforms are taking place as UK universities adapt to the uncertainties of Brexit.

A panel of assessors will group higher education providers into the three bands based on their performance in three ‘metrics’. These metrics are student satisfaction, retention (the number of students who complete their courses at the institution within the prescribed timeframe) and graduate employment. All of these metrics have come under a degree of criticism from universities and student groups as likely to be effected by factors other than teaching quality. It has also been suggested that measuring retention rates may lead to universities making their courses easier whilst graduate employment rates may discourage universities from offering niche or highly academic degrees.

Original proposals had described the three bands as ‘outstanding’, ‘excellent’ and ‘meets expectations.’ These were changed to ‘gold’, ‘silver’ and ‘bronze’ after consultation as it was believed that ‘outstanding’ and ‘excellent’ were potentially misleading due to similarities in meaning. Concerns were also raised that describing  some universities as ‘meeting expectations’ could damage the reputation of UK Higher Education internationally.

In was also revealed that universities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would now be able to opt-in to TEF, although at this stage it would not affect their funding.

THE: Oxford best in UK for medicine, humanities, and social sciences

Katherine Pye
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THE: Oxford best in UK for medicine, humanities, and social sciences

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, which recently put Oxford in first place globally, have released rankings by subject group. Oxford gained the top spot worldwide in the clinical, pre-clinical and health category.

The groups categories cover arts and humanities, business and economics, clinical, pre-clinical and health, computer science, engineering and technology, life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences.

Oxford was ranked top worldwide in the clinical, pre-clinical and health category for the sixth year running. This follows a successful year, with Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe receiving a Lasker Award for his work. Earlier this month, Oxford University was awarded £126.5m by the National Institute for Health Research to support medical research and Oxford’s Professor Robert MacLaren performed the world’s first eye operation using a robot.

Professor Alastair Buchan, Dean of Medicine and Head of the Medical Sciences Division at Oxford said, “We are delighted to have come first in clinical, pre-clinical and health subjects for the sixth year running. This success is because of the quality of our students, who come to Oxford because of the quality of our faculty. We are pleased to be able to house students in a fully integrated basic science, translational science, clinical science and population health division, which has a global impact, especially through our overseas units.”

Oxford also performed highly in other categories, and did not drop outside the top ten for any subject. For social sciences Oxford came second globally, nine spots ahead of its nearest European competitor, the University of Cambridge. The Oxford Humanities Division tweeted earlier today that the award was “testament to lots of hard work.”

For arts and humanities Oxford University saw off all British competition, coming third overall in the world, behind Harvard and Stanford. Oxford also took third place in the computer science, engineering and technology and business and economics categories, again coming in ahead of all its UK competitors.

Oxford University came third in the life sciences category, behind Harvard and Cambridge universities, and in physical sciences came sixth overall, second in Europe.

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