Thursday 30th April 2026

Culture

In sickness, health, and wrongdoing: ‘The Drama’ in review

CW: Gun violence. “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” is the driving question of Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama. The film centres around a couple whose otherwise perfect relationship is...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s theatre: Defining the ill-defined

It has been 93 years since the first performance of Bertolt Brecht’s The Good...

Authenticity and the pop genre: Slayyyter’s ‘WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA’

Originality could be dead in pop music. The genre is so self-referential that it...

Why you should spring clean your bookshelf this Trinity

In the Northern Hemisphere, astronomers mark the beginning of spring on the date of...

Autumn by Ali Smith: a seasonal portrait of post-Brexit Britain

The first book in Smith's ongoing quartet reminds us that sympathy is possible in our polarised times

‘Widows’ is a celebration of female grit and resolve

Viola Davis leads a group of kick-ass women in a heist film with a lot on its mind

Salome Review – ‘struggles to take audience into another world’

Tea Party Productions' 'Salome' shows the play's continuing power to unsettle

How Charlie Chaplin lost his voice

The rise and fall of the filmmaker and his silent medium

Table Manners Preview – ‘reworked in a highly engaging manner’

Alex Rugman previews Flared Productions' reworking of Alan Ayckbourn's play.

The Spotify syndicate

We should be wary of Spotify's control over the music we listen to

Strange creatures: monstrosity in Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’

The world of literature is abundant with monsters: physical monsters, psychological monsters, benevolent monsters, evil monsters. However, there is hardly a monster as puzzling...

The appeal of method acting

Many actors go to great lengths in pursuit of an authentic performance

Talaash interview – a fusion of dance, poetry, and identity

A discussion of the cultural significance and community spirit of Talaash

Normal People Review – ‘a novel that speaks to the current climate’

Jenny Scoones discusses the portrayal of masculinity and friendship in Sally Rooney's second novel

The walls that stare – what college portraits tell us about Oxford

They say a picture paints a thousand words. So what do the thousands of portraits hanging around Oxford colleges tell us about the University, and the...

Mojo Preview – ‘gloriously worded script but male dominated’

Cesca Echlin finds this rendition of Jez Butterworth's play hits comic targets, but also reflects on its male-dominated narrative.

Merlin: The magic of kindness

Exploring the continuing relevance of BBC's Merlin

The Band Review – ‘heartwarming and nostalgic fun’

The new Take That inspired musical a great testament to the great British boyband.

Journey’s End Review – ‘powerful commemoration of the centenary’

Adam Radford-Diaper is deeply moved by Cosmic Arts' marking of the centenary of the 1918 armistice

Overlord combines fun, gore, and flaws galore

An entertaining yet terrifying film that will keep you on the edge of your seat

Sufjan Stevens: Saying is believing

Everything about Stevens’ work is an attempt to love right, and to believe right

Journey’s End preview – a play about brotherhood

Bessie Yuill finds an emphasis on WW1's individual soldiers and their relationships in this Remembrance Day production

‘I just try to see the world clearly’: An Interview with Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux speaks to Abby Ridsdill-Smith about politics, popularity, and participating in a sensual eating party

The weight of inheritance

Cultural pilgrimages give us access to the inaccessible

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