Thursday 2nd October 2025

Culture

Hoa hoa hoa season: An analysis of the small town aesthetic

“In the state of Washington, under a near constant cover of cloud and rain, there is a small town named Forks. Population: 3,120 people. This is where I’m moving.”...

Fashion around Oxford: India Matthews

India Matthews, president of the Oxford Fashion Society, shares her style secrets and where...

Where Oxford University Drama Society can take you

I loved theatre at school, and, aged 14, told my parents they had to...

A guide to contemporary China, through cinema

“An artwork whose medium is history”, is how sinologist Haun Saussy defines China. As passionately...

Fresh-water

I am no longer a mother—I have surrendered my body to the surgeon’ssea shells and fish bones; and my sonto the teal press of...

‘This Is What You Get’: Thirty years of mad ravings from two great artistic minds

★★★★★ This Is What You Get, the new exhibit at the Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, showcases 30 years of artwork, music and early lyrics:...

Animal History: Reviewed

If an older adult has ever raised their eyebrow at your vegetarianism, then I might just have the book for you. They might be...

Hertford Archaeology Open Day: Medieval Oxford laid bare

You may have spent the last year wondering what has been going on amongst all the scaffolding and construction noise at Hertford College. The...

The Blue Trail: Reviewed

★★★★☆ The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), this year’s winner of the Berlin International Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, is probably unlike most things you’ve...

Review: Sketches from a Curious Mind

In 1962, Edward Anthony wrote: “Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the...

Night School: Oxford’s after-hours curriculum

The first time I saw Nahom and Ethan, it wasn’t on a night out – it was an early morning. I was shuffling through...

‘Delusions and Grandeur’ at the Fringe

★★★⯪☆ If there is one word to describe Karen Hall’s Delusions and Grandeur, it is anxious. The one-hour solo cello comedy show is filled with...

The Oxford Revue at the Fringe

★★★⯪☆ Returning for their 62nd annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe, the Oxford Revue rolled into town with their new sketch comedy hour For Revue...

Academia is hell, literally: R.F. Kuang’s ‘Katabasis’

R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis touches on a range of near-universal academic experiences: impostor syndrome; frantic, caffeine-fuelled study sessions; watching someone effortlessly ace every single test...

Oxford Commas at the Fringe – Interview

The Oxford Commas are a contemporary gender-inclusive a capella group who had their Fringe debut this year. They kindly agreed to talk to Cherwell...

‘Aca-demic Weapons’ at the Fringe: Oxford Commas Review

★★★★☆ A capella groups from Oxford have long been favourites at the Edinburgh Fringe, with Out of the Blue, Oxford Gargoyles and Oxford Belles often...

‘Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?’ at the Fringe

★★★⯪☆ Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? is a one-man, one-puppet musical journey through the apocalypse. After a 'catastrophic' magnitude 1-ish earthquake, the dead are...

‘Timestamp’ at the Fringe: Existing in the ‘now’

★★★★☆ Timestamp is a part-theremin, part-dance exploration of womanhood, expectation, and time. Brought to the Edinburgh Fringe after a successful run in New York City...

Architectural and religious fusions in Andalusia and Oxford

Oxford is a city deeply entwined with religion. With the first of its colleges founded as Christian institutions, a college without a chapel is...

‘HOLE IN THE WALL L’HOPITAL’ at Fringe

★★★☆☆ Everything I write ends up being about grief – I suppose this review only proves that point. HOLE IN THE WALL L’HOPITAL, created by...

Beyond the binary: Leigh Bowery’s radical individuality

Tate Modern's "Leigh Bowery!" refuses easy categorisation—much like its subject A fashion student from Sunshine, Melbourne, rocks up to London in 1980, writes 'wear makeup...

St Anne’s goes All-Steinway: A purposeful and bold commitment to music

In a move that lives up to its motto of ‘Consulto et Audacter’ (purposefully and boldly), St Anne’s College has become the first in...

Just like the movies: An American’s notes on her Oxford year

Oxford occupies a mystical, almost fantastical place within the American psyche – so much so that when I told my peers I’d be studying...

Reading Oxford books in Oxford

For those who have not even set foot in Oxford, the city still lives in their imaginations alongside elite debates, candlelit balls and formals,...

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