Although Dangerous Liaisons may be best known to many from the 1980s Glenn Close adaptation or it’s more recent incarnation, Cruel Intentions, Quo Vadis’ production stands on its own two feet as a fine example of Oxford’s thespian talent. With its timeless story of intrigue, lust, and revenge, Dangerous Liaisons details the manipulations and seductions of the Marquise de Merteuil and her sparring partner, the caddish Vicomte de Valmont.  

Alexander Stewart’s Valmont alternates between a sinister whisper and an assertive roar, stalking his prey around the stage, while Emerald Fennell sparkles as the scheming Marquise, calmly controlling the ingenuous Cécile de Volanges. Although one does spend much of the play watching the actors in profile as they banter across the stage, this heightens the intimacy in the moments where they are physically close. The staging conveys the complicated dance of Parisian aristocratic society, notably emphasising Cecile’s youth and social inexperience. The exchanges between Cécile (Sophie Siem) and a tuneful Chévailer Danceny are a pleasure to watch. 

Based on an epistolatory novel, naturally the dialogue is heavily rhetorical and at times may seem artificial, but the cast rise to the challenge of pulling it off without descending into pantomime or farce. Jonathan Rhodes provides a delightful comic touch to his portrayal of Valmont’s manservant, Azolan. Reminiscent of an eighteenth century Reginald Jeeves, Azolan’s cynicism tempers Valmont’s more sinister moments.  

Promising stunning costumes, some of which were featured in the recent Kirsten Dunst film, Marie-Antoinette, and with excerpts of contemporary music by Glück, Dangerous Liaisons demonstrates attention to detail and commitment to authenticity. Sure to be even more impressive when installed in the Moser Theatre, this production should appeal to even the most dedicated admirers of Choderlos de Laclos’s literary masterpiece, or of previous adaptations of Hampton’s play. 

by Chantal Hadley

The driver of the refuse lorry that crushed an Oxford student cyclist broke down yesterday and cried at an inquest into the incident last April.

The deceased cyclist Tsz Fok, 22, was an outstanding third year engineer at Worcester College. He died of multiple injuries after being crushed under the wheels of the lorry at the junction of Broad Street and Parks Road on April 18, 2007.

He was cycling with Worcester law student Alicia Tew, to a dance class at her college. Ms Tew told the Oxford Mail that they were heading straight across the junction into Holywell Street. Mr Fok was level with the front of the lorry, on the inside, while the light ahead of them was red.

The lorry driver, Trevor Ashworth, 31, recalled the course of the fatal crash to the inquest at County Hall. He stopped his refuse lorry at traffic lights at the top of Broad Street. He had noticed “two, three, or four” cyclists on his passenger side.

As he turned left into Parks Road, he “felt a bump in the road, just like a pot hole.” “In the commotion I stopped and I saw what I had done.”

PC Steve Jenkins, a roads policing forensic investigator, acknowledged that Mr Fok had not been wearing any high-visibility clothing or a cycle helmet and said “the deceased’s actions played some part in his death.” However he believes Mr Ashworth should have been especially cautious ahead of the collision.

“He should have been aware of the dangers at this busy junction, taking extra care checking for pedestrians and cyclists as he commenced his left turn,” PC Jenkins added.

PC Jenkins also spoke of the possibility that Mr Ashworth’s phone records that morning showed several calls. But he said lack of evidence failed to prove that the driver had been using his phone during the accident.

Katherine Harris, a history of science student, who was between Mr Fok and Ms Tew said the deceased accelerated at the same time as the lorry driver when the lights switched to green.

“I was still and waiting just in horror. The next thing I knew the lorry completed his turn and Mr Fok was rolling in the street.”

Mr Ashworth will be tried at Wantage Magistrates’ Court next week, for driving without due care and attention.

A tourist was knocked down on George Street on Wednesday night. The victim, a visiting American, was struck by a dark Volvo as he crossed the road outside The Cock and Camel public house. The Volvo had been reversing around the corner to avoid the traffic cameras on George Street. A pool of blood was visible on the road and the tourist was taken to hospital but police at the scene described his injuries as minor. The driver of the vehicle was questioned but was later allowed to leave.

What do the Brits really think of the Germans? I've heard two contrasting opinions over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, Richard Morrison's column in today's Times, on whether the Brits' perceived anti-German feeling is finally calming, is well worth reading. Sixty years after the war ended, he says, we’re at last embracing the Germans by – among other things – opening German markets in town centres that “could have been downtown Düsseldorf”. Apparently it goes down well:

Even 20 years ago, the very words “German market” would have induced English wits to break into goosesteps, shouts of “vee hev vays of making you drink” and quips about getting to the swimming-pool first. But I saw nothing like that. Just punters eager to sample a different set of yuletide grazing customs.

The second opinion: a man named Noah Klieger, a Holocaust survivor, who I went to hear speak last night in an event to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Klieger was born in Strasbourg, ended up in Auschwitz, lived through its evacuation and escaped on a boat to Palestine by the skin of his teeth after being stranded in the sea off the coast off France. I asked him why we never hear stories like his on the British side of the Channel, and why the British think it was easy after the Holocaust for Jews to settle in Palestine – which, according to most presumptions, was a compensation present from Europe to the Jews. (His story shows this is false.) His answer? The British can’t properly empathise with the victims of the German past. They weren’t occupied by the Nazis, didn’t suffer in the war as much as others did, haven’t marginalised Holocaust deniers enough and couldn’t be bothered to sacrifice their relations with oil-rich states for the sake of one small people looking for refuge.In other words, the British don’t hate the Germans enough. Who do we believe? A British journalist who thinks the “virulent antiforeigner tone in some papers is more hysterical than anything the British press produced in the summer of 1914”, or an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived through Auschwitz, the death marches and the clandestine exodus to Palestine?

PS For those of you still interested in the state elections round here – and the star ratings you've given my posts suggest there aren't many of you – still no one can agree on who to form coalitions with, and the farce is going on and on without much of a solution in sight. Prepare yourselves for a re-election…
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The first of the exciting new Mystery Mime series! Guess what Dep Ed Dan is singing this week… Leave comments below!
 

Sangwon Yoon and Jenny Moore provide 3rd week's mid-week news report . Tune in every week! 

The Animal Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the recent vandalism of the property of an Oxford University contractor.

The message, posted on the ‘Bite Back’ website, threatened: “If you have a contract with the uni you need to terminate it now. If you don’t there’s a very good chance we will see u soon.”

“The fact that the uni have nearly finished building their lab only makes us more determined – we will go on as long as it takes,” it concluded.

Read More in this week's Cherwell…

By Jack Farchy

A link between promiscuity and low academic achievement has been found following a survey of over 1000 undergraduates at Cambridge University.Students from colleges ranked at the bottom of the Tompkin Table came out top in the number of sexual partners.“It seems we have to choose between top grades and top totty” said Varsity editor, Tom Bird.The poll also indicated that the number of sexual partners is connected to the student’s subject. “It’s completely individual!”, responded Newnham’s JCR President.
Read More in this week's Cherwell…

By Clare Barnard