Friday 2nd January 2026

Culture

‘The political is also political’: Ash Sarkar’s ‘Minority Rule’

Universities have often been seen as bastions of radicalism. Forgetting the fact that higher educational institutions, particularly ancient and elite ones in the Anglophone world, are governed by centuries...

Graceful and self-assured: Circle Mirror Transformation reviewed

Boulevard Productions’ Circle Mirror Transformation is a faithful and competent take on Annie Baker’s...

‘We’re all mad here’: Alice in Won-DRE-Land at Tingewick 2025

When I wandered into Tingewick Hall on a cold, dark evening in seventh week,...

A comical approach to a classic text: ‘Hedda Gabler’ reviewed

Tiptoe Productions’ Hedda Gabler, co-directed by Ollie Gillam and Gilon Fox, delivered a strong...

Zoom in on…paparazzi photographers

In the first of our new interview series, Jaimie Harris talks to Sophie Baggott and Amy Rollason about life as a pap

The X-facts

Huw Fullerton lifts the lid on TV's reigning talent show: he's endured the live auditions so you don't have to

Woman-To-Be

Angelika Benz hasn't herself quite figured out yet what it means to be a woman. Carefully portraying girls and young women she meets - including her own reflection in the mirror - she attempts to get closer to the core of their identity and finds that much of what she sees also lives in herself.

Review: Julius Caesar

Vickie Morrish is impressed by Gregory Doran's coupling of modern Africa and ancient Rome

Cultural Conversation Starters

A Guide to How to Appear More Interesting Than You Actually Are Through the Medium of Culture

The Freshers Guide to Classical Music in Oxford

Katy Wright appraises Oxford's diverse classical musical offerings

The Cuban Beat

Reeva Misra touches the pulse on her trip to Cuba

Review: Cantina

Finola Austin urges readers to see London's hottest circus

Review: The Thick of It – Series 4

The return of Armando Iannucci's award-winning political satire leaves Lizzie Greene wanting more

Colleges and their Movies

A Guide to Oxford Colleges as Represented by Spurious Movie Associations

Review: The Bourne Legacy

Huw Fullerton is Ultimately Supremely underwhelmed by the Identity of the new Bourne movie.

Review: Asylum of the Daleks

Huw Fullerton isn't as excited about Doctor Who as a grown man ought to be.

Land of the Rising Sun

Rachel Savage and her camera take a trip around Japan.

Review: The Vaccines – Come of Age

Olivia Arigho Stiles' love affair with the London indie rockers is sorely tested by this lukewarm follow-up record.

Review: The Castaways of the Fol Espoir

An anarcho-socialist theatre commune who live in a disused factory turn out to be theatrical visionaries

Track Review: Muse – Madness

Susan Yu is entranced by the electronica inspired harmonies of Muse's latest single

Ned Beauman and the Booker

Viccy Ibbett talks writing, Cambridge and the creative appeal of Weimar Germany with Booker long-listed novelist, Ned Beauman.

Review: Wayne Krantz Trio

Alexander Chalk reviews the veteran jazz musicians' performance at the iconic Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.

Review: Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Ellie Halls finds that this forbidden play might have more literary than theatrical value

Review: The Revenger’s Tragedy

Clever casting and inspired performances make this play a hidden gem

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