★★★★☆
A-capella groups from Oxford have long been favourites at the Edinburgh Fringe, with Out of the Blue, Oxford Gargoyles and Oxford Belles often returning year-after-year to sold out performances and enthusiastic audiences. This year however marked a new act on the festival scene: The Oxford Commas. Self-described Aca-demic Weapons, and dripped out in their sub-fusc (commoners and scholars alike), they burst out into song with their opening number ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons.
With a confident and self-aware quirkiness, the entire ensemble delivered each number with passion. Spoken interludes from the group’s members included jokes about student life at Oxford covering everything from exam stress to college marriages,accompanied with gentle swaying chords from the Commas. The performance sustained a delightful energy with every member of the 12-strong ensemble engaging and interacting with the audience. From a rendition of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ with numerous references to the movie Saltburn (including a graveyard scene featuring Slane’s iconic hymn melody ‘Lord of All Hopefulness’) to Manėskin’s ‘Beggin’’ which included a particularly vibrant tenor solo.
Despite the high-octane atmosphere curated throughout, there were some extremely beautiful moments shared in the intimacy of quartets and slower chorale-like sections in songs, which showed off the close rapport and rich basso profundo sound many of the ensemble possessed. It was in some of these moments however, that minor intonation issues were exposed.
Some of the show’s highlights were a particularly humorous interaction with an audience member in Ed Sheeran’s ‘Loving You’, and the choreography during the medley of ‘Baby I like your style’ and ‘Your love is poison’ which saw the ensemble dashing across the stage and singing to each other in a tightly coordinated frenzy. Comparatively, the choreography of many of the other numbers felt slightly stilted. The somewhat indulgent body-swaying that occasionally gripped the singers felt much weaker than the more engaging and active movements.
Overall, Aca-demic Weapons was a thrilling debut show that really showcased the passion and energy that the group bring to every song. Hopefully, this means a return to the Fringe in 2026.
