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Blog Page 1810
Rory and Tim’s Friday Frolics – episode 5
A trip down to the pub and a parody that was topical five years ago.
Review: Are You Having a Laugh?
The Jam Factory is a pleasant, if a touch over-priced little restaurant cum bar cum arts centre on the station side of Park End, and the Boiler Room there is a nice place for a one-man show, or, indeed, a comic sketch duo. Not too hot, not too loud. Nothing too challenging. Which about sums up the evening, really.
Perhaps I have been spoilt, but it is a little while since I have felt as uncomfortable watching a sketch show as I did with Mullins and Gladwin’s Are You Having a Laugh?. Not that they were offensive. One thing that these cheerful, well-groomed men are not is controversial. Nor did they lack energy; clearly they enjoy working together, and their broad grins and good humour in the face of minor prop malfunctions was endearing. Theirs is a friendly, gentle set.
So gentle, in fact, that I began to get the odd impression that they were deliberately shielding us from the full force of their humour, cushioning their punchlines in such a thick layer of build-up and ex-post facto exposition that any punch the lines might have had dissipated entirely before the blackout. If they were trying to protect us, they probably needn’t have bothered.
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They made the unfortunate mistake of opening with their strongest material. Much of this relied on mime, and both of them, Gladwin especially, display entertaining flexibility and energy of movement. There were indeed some perfectly well-executed, respectable physical gags interspersed throughout the show. But that is what they were; respectable. Belonging to a safe, almost conservative canon of Twentieth Century Humour.
The whole performance seemed to belong to another era, in a way which cannot now be pulled off without a near-lethal injection of irony. I, for one, have never seen a workman in a brown raincoat outside a Guy Ritchie film, and oddly I think even Messrs Mullins and Gladwin must be too young for the phrase ‘She’s a bit of alright’. Their jokes come from an earlier period in the evolution of sketch comedy, but without the abrupt, stylised delivery of the music-hall. This, perhaps, is why their cartoonish physicality plays such an important role. Granted they are not attempting naturalism, but there is something naturalistically flabby about their script. The only time the intellect of the audience is challenged is when a red herring is thrown in, some extraneous, irrelevant piece of information which must be carefully ignored for the sketch to have any meaning.
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It is telling that at one point the incidental music was the theme to Fawlty Towers. It was, no doubt, a diet of shows like this and The Two Ronnies which inspired their entry into sketch comedy, but unfortunately without the writing of a Cleese or a Corbitt to back it up, this stuff just falls flat in 2011.
There is a future for these men in children’s television; perhaps when the Chuckle brothers finally leave our screens their hour will come; it’s clean, visual, clearly signposted, daytime stuff. Nothing to frighten the horses, and no jokes younger than that expression. With this in mind, though, they might find their niche audience amongst pensioners. They’ll never give anyone a heart-attack, after all.
2.5 STARS
Review: Macbeth
Both the text and this performance of Macbeth are timeless, gritty, and fascinating. Reviewers always want people to see plays with the same sense of wonder and surprise that they experienced it, which makes reviewing a performance with deft twists on this classic difficult. Any words put on paper cannot possibly live up to this performance, but I will try here. If there is only one play you see this season, if there is only one evening you take of late in Trinity Term, it needs to be this one.
Macbeth is a tragedy par excellence, and Shakespeare at his best. For those unfamiliar with the text, the play revolves around the ambitions and hubris of the titular character. We watch as he vaunts from minor fief to king and then falls from happiness, sanity, love, power, and life.
Director Michael Boyd’s ambitions, at least, are fulfilled in this piece. He left the play un-periodized, which made it feel timeless and cloaked the audience in a blanket of disbelief. The stage itself, brilliant designed by Tim Piper, is reminiscent of a crumbling chapel: blown-out glass-stained windows, crumbling artifice, defaced idols. The play literally envelops the audience, as entrances are made from the back of the stalls, from the ceiling, and the floor. The ambiance of decay and corruption, of the acrid taste of ambition flawed, complements the actors’ performances and the director’s visions.
This production holds nothing back. The blood and gore of war and murder are fully on display. The death scenes are harrowing. Banquo dies fighting; Lady Macduff dies struggling against her captors as her children are killed in front of her. The music selection (a live three-piece cello ensemble and drums) and lighting combine to hold the audience in tense suspense throughout the entire performance. The violence and fear of tyranny is spelled out on the stage.
The most effective device of the play, and perhaps the most innovative, is the casting of the witches. Instead of making them croons or sirens, Boyd instead chooses to display a much more sinister form of evil: he casts the witches as near-dead children. Their voices echo, their pale and bruised faces leer at the actors and the audience, their shrieks and laughter haunt the theatre. The children are truly terrifying.
On the whole, the acting is superb. There are hiccups, though. Malcolm (Howard Charles) doesn’t justify his character’s transition from faithful son to outlaw to avenger as well as could be done. Macbeth (Jonathan Slinger) takes a while to warm up – the first few scenes of his are wooden and stilted. However, as the play progresses (and Macbeth increasingly becomes insane), Boyd’s faith in Slinger is justified: by the end of the production pity, hatred, and fear simultaneously flood the audience while watching Macbeth struggle against the fate of his own making. The constantly revolving supporting cast is solid (especially the poignant and complex rendition of Lady Macduff by Caroline Martin), allowing Lord and Lady Macbeth to shine in their horrible glory. This play is not to be missed.
Circumcision in Uganda
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The Renovation of the Corner Club
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Revolution vs. Repression
Tucked away next to the Eastern Art Paintings and Prints Study Room in the Ashmolean Museum, there’s a small display of posters, paintings, and objects from the Cultural Revolution — a time when the State determined cultural production, and art and politics were intertwined. The left hand wall, emblazoned with bright red hues, the visual and notional sign for Communism, is saturated with shiny, smiling faces. They are images of the masses — that is to say the Proletarian people-workers, peasants, soldiers, and revolutionary cadres — for the masses.
Typical of the Cultural Revolution, the art is cheerful, sweetened with candy colours and bold forms, easily readable, and heavily laced with Communist ideology. Perhaps paradigmatic of this popularist art form is the poster Long Live the Great People’s Republic of China (1974). Here a swelling crowd of gleeful faces is pressed up against the picture plane, a heroic image of the people. Three figures stand out amongst the crowd: a peasant, a worker and a soldier. The worker thrusts his flower-laden hand in the air, his gaze, like his companions, filled with reverence as he looks out into the distance and into a brighter future. Pinks, blues and yellows write a sense of cheerfulness on the image, whilst the abundance of flowers marks it with a sense of celebration. Behind the heroic three, an image of Tiananmen Square pierces the blue skyline, framed by the archaic red landscape from which the sea of people seem to emerge. These people are colourful and traditionally dressed, marking their minority identity. Here image and text combine: this is an image which seems to say ‘men, women, workers, peasants, soldiers, and minorities unite’, showing a people bound together by a sense of nationalism and revolutionary fervour.
In contrast to these sickly sweet posters, the end wall shows a different kind of visual language of the Revolution in the guohua (national paintings). Rooted in the ‘traditional’ styles of China’s national heritage, watery figures are scratched on to the surface of these ink paintings. Each one maps out China’s ancient landscape and yet is stamped with the spectral presence of modernity: an image of the people, an electrical pylon or some other kind of modern construction.
On the right hand side is a cabinet full of objects and memorabilia. Lying next to scattered boxes of matches there are four targets, each depicting one member of the gang of four as the bull’s-eye. Here joviality and politics mingle; as part of a children’s game these targets reveal the political potency of the period, with ideology permeating all areas of commodity and culture.
With all the beautiful ink figures, the bright colours, the cheerful faces, and the childish games, one forgets that this was a period defined by corruption and violence, political indoctrination and the manipulation of the masses. However it is precisely this denial, this masking of the violent reality of the Cultural Revolution, which reveals the sheer strength and authority of Mao’s regime.Â
‘Cultural Revolution: State Graphics in China in the 1960s and 1970s’ is on until 3rd July
College choice affects graduate earnings
Data exclusively obtained by Cherwell indicates some shocking trends in salary levels among recently graduated Oxford students. Figures show that within six months of graduating, students from certain colleges earn significantly more than those at others.
Provisional survey data of the statistics from the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education census show that at Keble, the average salary six months after graduation was £36,100. The figure at Wadham was almost half of this, at £20,700.
President of Wadham Student Union President Jacob Haddad speculated that this was perhaps because Wadham graduates opted for lower paid careers, saying, “Many students at Wadham see themselves pursuing careers in the public sector, the third sector, or the arts.
“While salary level is an important measure of success, many students here would argue that it is no more important than job satisfaction and having a socially beneficial career.
Sebastian Leape, a first year PPE student at Keble said that he was surprised by the College’s high average, but added, “Although Keble is not as academic as other colleges, the class group is sociable and confident.”
The data also showed significant gender imbalances, with female graduates earning less than their male counterparts.
At LMH, for instance, the average salary for male undergraduate leavers was £38,100 while the female average was just £21,500.
Accounting for the differences, Jonathan Black, Director of the Careers Service, said it may be because fewer women choose to go into the City, and opt instead for jobs in health care or teaching.
He added, “The question for me is why women don’t feel they want to apply to the City – when we studied this with about 600 students a year or two ago we learned that women students felt there was significant prejudice in the City (and elsewhere) that manifested particularly in promotion prospects.”
Where the information was provided, the statistics also revealed the occupations which recent Oxford students have entered.
At least 362 go into secondary education, while 38 of the respondents entered the clergy, and 20 becoming authors or writers.
The independent education charity Teach First told Cherwell that almost one in ten current Oxbridge finalists had applied to join their 2011 intake
In total, 84 Oxford graduates will be joining the scheme this year which makes up just over a tenth of the scheme’s total intake.
Liz Brewer, a Senior Officer in their Graduate Recruitment Department, said the company targeted all universities but had a “high presence” in Oxford and held many events with colleges, faculties and university societies throughout the year.
She added that they had already had “a lot of interest” from Oxford students for their 2012 intake despite only opening for applications a few weeks ago.
The statistics show that 45% of 2010 leavers took up employment while 37% opted for further study and a further 5% were combining work and study.
The 2010 unemployment figure for those finishing undergraduate courses was 7%.
Commenting on this figure, Jonathan Black said the figure had changed little over recent years and added, “Those who had been unsuccessful at interview, and had received feedback, found it was predominantly about lack of specific experience that let them down.”
However, the postgraduate unemployment figure had gone up by 4 percentage points since 2008 which Black described as “a worrying rise”.
In light of the introduction of the £9,000 annual fee, the statistics showed the number of students earning below the £21,000 repayment threshold.
If the current levels earning below this amount were maintained, 50% of Humanities students would pay nothing back on graduation in 2015 although the figure was only 25% for those in MPLS and social science courses.
Rafael Palluch, a third-year Economics and Management student said he already had a job offer in a financial company after completing an internship at the firm.
He said he had faced few difficulties in the process, commenting, “If you only plan ahead moving on is very easy.”
Commenting on the reliability of the survey, Jonathan Black said they were only able to reach 80% of UK-domiciled leavers as well as 65% of EU-domiciled and 35% of international leavers but admitted the data did have limitations and was “directionally sound, not statistically significant.”
He was positive about the graduate employment situation in Oxford, saying that the number of permanent vacancies posted on the Oxford vacancy situation had risen by 45% in the first 5 months of 2011.
Black said he believed that Oxford graduates were still at an advantage when it came to finding employment, adding, “I don’t believe that other universities will have seen such a large rise in graduate employment prospects – nationally we hear of 10%-15% rises – we believe that we are reaching new employers who traditionally have not advertised at Oxford or considered hiring an Oxford graduate.”
Commenting on the employment situation within the context of the fees rise, David Barclay, outgoing OUSU President, said there would be an “increasing focus for students on how Oxford prepares them for the world of work”
He added, “Whilst it would clearly be wrong for Oxford to turn into a production line for the economy, the University does have a responsibility to invest in student development in a holistic sense.”
“That means better support for clubs and societies, more training for Common Room officers, and proper funding for organisations.”
The full data set containing the survey results is due to be officially released by the Careers Service within the next fortnight.
Accio Emma Watson!
Emma Watson’s alleged return to the city of dreaming spires where she grew up has created a media frenzy this week.
The Harry Potter actress, now 21, is rumoured to have accepted a place to read English at Worcester College for the upcoming academic year. This comes amid speculation that Watson wishes to escape bullying at Brown university.
Watson was reported to have taken a semester off from Brown to the movies and focus on being face of Lancome.
However, she dispelled allegations that this was linked to bullying at Brown. In a message posed on her website on 29 April 2011, she said, “Please don’t try and speculate about what I might do in September – no one can possibly know because I don’t even know yet! Like my other fellow Brown students I am trying to figure out my third year and whether or not I will spend it abroad (this is common).
“I felt the need to let you all know the reason I took a semester off from Brown had nothing to do with bullying as the media have been suggesting recently. I have never been bullied in my life and certainly never at Brown.
“This ‘10 points to Gryffindor’ incident never even happened. I feel the need to say this because accusing Brown students of something as serious as bullying and this causing me to leave seems beyond unfair.”
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Watson commented, “It made me so sad when all this stuff came out that I left Brown because I was being bullied. It made no sense at all.
“Brown has been the opposite. I’ve never even been asked for an autograph on campus. I threw a party for nearly 100 students and not a single person put a photo on Facebook.”
Katy Routh, head of the English Faculty, dismissed the media hype around Watson’s acceptance of a place to study English at Oxford as “rumour in the Mirror.”
The university Press Office also declined to comment as to whether or not Watson would be transferring or taking a year abroad to study at Oxford.
James Gibson, leader of the Emma Watson fan club at Oxford stated “She’s certainly put a spell on me. I am completely under her charm. I can’t wait to Wingardium Levios-her! ”
Review: Tragedy: A Comedy
Most of the new writing performed in Oxford aims to impress. Often raising the sort of serious issues which keep students up at night – such as the nature of language – a few will even attempt the odd reference to student life to engage the audience. Tragedy: A Comedy has no such mighty purpose. It is not hoping to be recognised as the most original and thought provoking production of Trinity. Instead Asha Hartland’s play for O*LES is an inventive and knowing reworking of very famous material. As she says herself ‘it’s meta’! So, if you’ve spent the entire year procrastinating by wondering what would have happened if Hamlet and Macbeth had met Juliet the same night as Romeo, this is the show for you.
There are lots of other Shakespearian characters thrown in for good measure. The tragic heroes all receive, or at least ask for, help from various sources such as Father Lawrence, who is presented as a very doddery and deaf old man, and the three witches, who are Oxford tutors. The famous ‘double, double toil and trouble’ speech is now focused firmly on the setting of exam papers and essay deadlines. In Macbeth the witches gave out impromptu advice for free for but their new incarnations clearly feel that knowledge has a price. It’s just a shame for Romeo that they havent decided quite what they want to charge.
Shakespeare and Marlowe both make appearances thoughout, arguing over their relative merits as playwrights and poets. The blank verse has been transformed, however, into something more modern so be prepared for the most intellectual rap you’re likely to hear from these writers. There are also songs at various moments with the finale adding in a surprise new form of the supernatural to accompany the ghosts and witches. The rousing anthem quite takes the pathos out of the obligatory body count without which no self-respecting tragedy – comic or otherwise – would dare be seen, alive or dead.
If the draining essays and exams of Trinity have been getting you down then I suggest that a trip to Wadham Gardens in 8th Week could provide some much needed relief in the form of Light Entertainment. The references aren’t obscure so no one will feel excluded, the songs are catchy and the plot absolutely absurd. This tale of ‘Juliet, and Macbeth, and Hamlet, and Romeo’ is far from a ‘tale of woe’.