Thursday, May 22, 2025

Culture

Review: Death of a Salesman – ‘The Inside of His Head’

To review Tiptoe Productions’ staging of Death of a Salesman, I must first contextualise my biases as a reviewer. By no means do I intend to offend – I...

Oxford’s summer scene: The season of open-air performances

Trinity term at Oxford University is defined by wisteria, wild swimming, and warmth. Students...

Easter Eggs

"I’m really sorry I missed your house. Even the Easter Bunny can make mistakes."

Review: An Anthology of Pairs – ‘Two’s a Party’

There’s a particular theatrical magic that comes from two people simply talking in a...

Do LGBT+ creatives have a responsibility to produce queer art?

Being "protected" from anything that resembled queerness did not manage to make me straight

The scope for creativity in quarantine

One thing I am glad of, in returning home, is that there is no need to feel trapped. My father’s house looks from one hill to...

Modern Classical: Locked Down, Looking Back

Ludovico Einaudi is in lockdown. With time to think - to take a walk in the fresh Mediterranean breeze - perhaps the Italian pianist could...

The Last Five Years: Review

00 Production’s performance of The Last Five Years pulls off the ambitious project with surprising grace. I say surprising because bringing a musical to the small screen,...

The Last Five Years- Preview

Having watched the preview, I am excited to see and listen to the full-length production of the musical. Both Maggie Moriarty as Cathy and...

Review: Normal People – from book to screen

When it was announced last year that Sally Rooney’s second novel, Normal People, would be adapted into a BBC and Hulu television series, the excitement...

‘All the world’s a stage’: Culture in translation

With Shakespeare’s birth and death date happening on the 23rd of April, I’ve been thinking about what a great man he was. So many...

Review: Richard II

Not Way Forward Productions has managed to put up a brilliant virtual version of ‘Richard II’ in pre-recorded video format. It is well-executed -...

Ralph Fiennes: from Hamlet… to Lear?

With his aquiline nose, translucent skin and deep pale eyes, Ralph Fiennes certainly makes an impression. And that is even before he speaks or emotes -...

Friday Favourite: Amantes de cartón

Amid the national and global chaos, Hugo Ortega’s new book of poetry Amantes de cartón (Cardboard Lovers) is a quiet yet powerful exploration of...

The Philosopher on His Way to the Shops

God! Ah, fuck! By breezy decree, He’ll kick me straight to fire and rot

Ordinary Dreams

I dreamt about you last night. It was not remarkable or extraordinary; You sent me to the local shops with a list of groceries,...

Review: Lost Horizon

Of all the emotions that may be stirred in one during the current Coronavirus lockdown, tranquility is perhaps not the most obvious choice. Yet...

Estate Birds

Out here they live all for one and one for all; Brutal towers have brutal rules.

Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet

While the machine of commerce rumbles on, cynicism towards the smoke and mirrors of modern brand manoeuvrings is never too far from the media,...

On the misuse of Orwell

The habit of thoughtlessly quoting or referencing George Orwell in political debate has become, like so many bad habits, so common that it is...

Review: Fiona Apple’s ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’

“All my particles disband and disperse/And I’ll be back in the pulse.” Music, to Fiona Apple, seems like a Schrodinger’s Cat kind of paradox; it relies...

Sense and Sexibility: A definitive ranking of Austen’s leading men

Welcome to my definitive ranking of Austen’s romantic heroes and, as an auxiliary ranking that I was not actually asked to add, my favourite...

Review: Jerskin Fendrix’s ‘Winterreise’

Weird things are happening in the world of pop music. Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen have bounced back from ‘Boom Clap’ and ‘Call Me Maybe’...

Cinema: The venue transcending the visual

Maybe if I had known, I’d have stopped to take a picture. I’d have kept that ticket. Maybe if I'd known, I would have...

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