Wednesday 1st July 2026

Culture

How an Oxford undergraduate made a name in choral music

When he arrived at Oxford, he expected his future to lie primarily in orchestral music. Instead, it was choral music that transformed his direction.

‘Scenes With Girls’ and complicated female friendships

'Scenes with Girls' deserves to be seen as one of Labyrinth Productions’ (Rosie Morgan-Males and Emily Cullinan) most impressive accolades.

‘The Moro Affair’: Astonishingly original, but not quite a story

The acting in 'The Moro Affair' was superb across the board, with Harriet Wilson’s Pope as a standout, and Rosie Sutton’s direction was flawless.

‘Music can be everything’: Aurora Orchestra’s Jane Mitchell on the narratives around classical music

The Aurora Orchestra, who are playing at Oxford’s Schwarzman Centre on the 19th June, are best known for performing their orchestral repertoire from memory.

89th Academy Awards: Predictions

Oliver Barlow and Jonnie Barrow speculate which films will win big at the Oscars

Reinvention: a love affair with language

Tilly Nevin reviews approaches to the interplay of language and creativity

The birth of modernism: a journey in innovation

Surya Bowyer celebrates the originality, scope, and joie de vivre of the Ashmolean’s latest special exhibition 'Degas to Picasso: Creating Modernism in France'

A dose of sarcasm, playfulness, and politics

Priya Khaira-Hanks is delighted by Kate Nash's down-to-earth rock 'n' roll at the O2 Academy

Preview: ‘Tender Napalm’

Emily Lawford is stifled and mesmerised by this production of Tender Napalm

Laura Marling: always a woman

Ellen Peirson-Hagger delves into the folk singer’s most recent explorations of love and identity on her new album Semper Femina

“Krapp isn’t quite of this world”

Sian Bayley is finds chills and thrills in this production's take on Beckett's exploration of failure

Review: The Optimists

Suzy Cripps’ The Optimists, a tightly-paced romp of hypocrisy, coincidence and curtains, is a solid comedy of errors in the best of British tradition. Involving...

Both disturbing and utterly engaging: Suddenly Last Summer

With the tagline, “Something unspeakable happened last summer”, you might be forgiven for thinking of Aunt Ada Doom’s (Cold Comfort Farm) cry of “I...

A word from the stalls

Miriam Nemmaoui receives mixed feedback from an audience member after Suddenly Last Summer

Through the Looking Glass: the Auden set

Daniel Villar explores the perils of collaboration for Auden, Day-Lewis, Spender and MacNeice

Writing the uncanny and the lyrical

Tilly Nevin reviews Gillian Cross and Daisy Johnson in conversation

An injection of life and joy in the dark

Romilly Mavin is energised by Two Door Cinema Club's electrifying performance at Alexandra Palace

Walking in someone else’s shoes

Alice Robinson suggests that role-swapping in theatre helps to foster empathy

What to watch in the time of Trump

Tilly Nevin praises a new generation of political comedy in a ‘post-truth’ era

Two lonely people, one heartrending production

Bessie Yuill promises an intense evening of Beckett made accessible to all

Society divided: Dickens and revolution

Ethan Croft considers the politics of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities

The Coen brothers: a dynamic directing duo

Jack Allsopp argues that we should stop thinking of the director solely in the singular

The Winning Shots

Results of the portrait photography competition are in! Was your photo selected? Check out our best submissions here

Old&New: The potential of oranges

Sydney Gagliano reflects on the question of modern art’s accessibility

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