Dark and unsettling, Alice Lacey’s production of Caryl Churchill’s play is a triumph from start to finish. Despite a very drawn out freezeframe at the beginning (with the actors looking as bored as you feel) the play soon picks up and proves to be riveting. Violent and shocking, the play portrays a girl whose life is plagued by violence, at war and at home. The staging of Churchill’s excellent play is helped in no small measure by fantastic performances from the cast and a subtle and understated soundtrack.From the first scene the audience is thrown into a terrifying and totalitarian world but provided with little explanation as to how it came about. At first, this appears to be an oversight on the part of the playwright, but as the actions progresses it becomes clear that you are supposed to understand as little about the situation the characters live in as they do. The plot follows the life of Joan and her experiences as she grows up. Setting the ominous tone that pervades the entire production, the audience first meets her as a young child, unable to sleep after being sent away to an isolated country house and hearing inexplicable disembodied screams from her bedroom window. Particularly worthy of mention is the parade of the prisoners, where the grotesque contrast of men trudging to their deaths with their garish headgear has all the visual appeal of a car crash, but at the same time is strangely mesmerising.The staging gives the production a claustrophobic feeling. Actors frequently come right up to the audience and bring them more directly into the characters’ world of violence and desctruction. By the end, we feel as frightened as they do. Although perhaps not a play to see if you’re feeling fragile, this is definitely not one to be missed for those of you who like your theatre slick, thought-provoking, and ever- so-slightly nightmare inducing.By Sarah Davies 

Tom Richards’s production of Edward II, by Christopher Marlowe, is complete with smoky night clubs, the sweet-sour smell of weed, star-cross’d lovers, and violence. Like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, the production has moved an Elizabethan play into a modern gangster setting. Edward II highlights the correspondance between the power game in Marlowe’s early modern court and the one-upmanship in the mafia world, adding in political controversy from Edward’s homoerotic affairs. However, exciting as this premise is, the actual execution of the play falls slightly short of expectation.The play explores the complications that love causes in a political context. Ben Galpin captures Edward’s anguish as a young man yearning, but is not so convincing when playing Edward as king. Krishna Omkar is convincing in the role of Gaveston styled as Edward’s melancholic lover. Arabella Lawson as Queen Isabella plays a bitter, desperate wife fallen from her husband’s favour, but the political intrigue surrounding her, including a connection to the IRA (a modern equivalent of Marlowe’s French intrigue) is not quite convincing. They portray passion, yet the shades of passions are rarely identified and distinguished.The staging of Elizabethan drama in a modern-styled production is problematic and aspects borrowed from both periods are never quite brought together. The actors change awkwardly between their dual identities, never quite sure whether they are playing nobles or gangsters. This is a production which overwhelms and excites the viewer with its modern adaptation of a Marlowe play, yet it has not quite fulfilled that potential. Just as Edward in the play could personally testify, it is never easy to balance politics and love in life; in theatre, the same applies. By Chen-yi Liu

A row has erupted after leaders at Oxford’s Central Mosque announced plans to install a loudspeaker to broadcast the call to prayer.

Despite opposition from locals, elders at the mosque in Manzil Way, Cowley, have pledged to go ahead with the plans and will submit a planning application in nine months, when construction of the building is complete.

A spokesperson for the mosque said that they did not want to upset the local community, and promised to keep the call volume to a minimum, but emphasised that sounding the call to prayer was “very important” to their religion.

If permission is not granted for broadcasting the call to prayer three times a day it is likely that the call will be sounded on Fridays when around 700 come to worship each week. Last month, dozens of people attended a Council meeting to express their anger at the proposals.

Earlier this month, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that non-Muslims faced a hostile relationship in places dominated by the ideology of Islamic radicals.

He implied that the public establishment of such Muslim practices as the call to prayer would make living and working in the area difficult for non-Muslims.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has said that he sees no problems with the plans. His spokesperson explained, “He believes there are no ‘no-go areas’ and that there are good inter-faith relationships in Britain and that we should be tolerant of diversity.”

Sazan Meran, co-President of Oxford’s Islamic Society, supported Rev Prichard’s comments. She said, “The society would welcome such a development as long as the establishment of a megaphone happened with full and proper consultation of the local community and authorities.”

She said that, should the plans be accepted, the call to prayer would be a “positive reflection of diversity in the community.”

Students at the adjacent St Catz graduate accommodation were unaware of the proposals, but one resident told Cherwell that he had no problem with the proposal. He said, “It could not possibly be more annoying than the Magdalen bell practices”

Lady Margaret Hall has lost its third student officer this academic year after the JCR’s OUSU officer stood down.Georgie Day said that she was standing down because her position had become “awkward.”
She said, “We stopped being happy so I decided it would be best to leave the team.”Her resignation comes just two months after the student body’s newly-elected Vice-President was pressured into standing down by the SCR, and means that there are now two vacancies on the JCR Executive.Alasdair Craig won the position of VP in the College’s November elections, but was subsequently pressured into resigning by the college’s SCR after the Dean described his campaign poster as “illegal”
and “obscene.”The posters showed him with a carrot protruding from his trousers.  His tutor Michael Broers, who was acting as Dean at the time, believed that the poster depicted Craig’s penis and withdrew his permission to run.Michaelmas also saw the resignation of Conor Kennedy from his role as Male Welfare Officer.
Kennedy stood down due to “academic commitments.”  He said, “Being a finalist, I just have a lot of work to do.”His position has since been filled by Jake Leeper, a first-year historan.  A by-election will take place on Thursday to elect both a new Vice-President and OUSU officer.A former JCR officer expressed disappointment at the resignations. He said, “People are just using these positions as CV liners. It’s a shame.”by Omotola Akerele

Concerns have been raised at Keble after a blaze in a college washroom initially failed to trigger the fire alarm.The fire broke out last Friday night in a third-floor washroom above the Hall in Liddon Quad, which was uninhabited due to building works. Residents in adjacent staircases had to be alerted to the danger by a knock on their doors, and fire alarms only went off after everyone had been evacuated.Sanna Waseem, a 2nd year medical student who lives on adjacent staircase L5, was asleep when the fire started. “Someone was going round knocking on all the doors – it was a bit surreal, since I had just woken up I assumed it was a drill,” she said.When you left the building you could smell the smoke. The evacuation happened quite quickly, but then we had to wait for over an hour in the JCR and the bar, because it was raining outside.Once I left the building I heard an alarm. I thought, ‘Wait – there’s an alarm; but why didn’t it wake me up?’” she added.Keble JCR President, John Maher, claimed that while there was some delay in the fire alarms sounding, they had not failed.“The fire alarm is triggered by an automated system rather than by fire or smoke: if a sensor triggers for a long time, alarms are progressively sounded in nearby buildings.“The computer system itself may be too slow but it’s not an issue of the fire alarms failing.”The fire was apparently caused by an electrical failure in a dishwasher heating element in the washroom.Two fire engines and a police car arrived at Keble at approximately 9.10 pm, minutes after being alerted of the incident. They extinguished the blaze soon after their arrival.Averil Cameron, Warden of Keble, said in a statement, “Our fire detection system operated as designed and called for the evacuation of the immediate vicinity including the adjacent residential building of staircases L4 and L5. Fortunately there were no staff or students in the Hall or adjacent service areas and those in L5 were evacuated until the all clear was given.All damage is covered by our insurance. The Domestic Bursar has already investigated the possible causes and our Health and Safety Committee will review this incident thoroughly at its next meeting. We are thankful that the damage was relatively minor and are very grateful to the Fire Brigade and to the College staff who acted so promptly to give the alarm.”by Jack Farchy 

What makes a pub funny? There may be an occasional funny sign above the bar: Beware of the Mother In Law, Beware of the Wife, and so on. Yet the pub itself is usually but a vessel, empty of mirth after closing time. There is one pub, however, which contains comedy in its very mortar. The Wheatsheaf is unassuming, tucked away, served by its beard-sporting, Sepultura T-shirt-wearing landlord. Strangely, for all this pub’s attempt to ward deathly students off with the garlic and crucifix of gruffness and obscurity, it is the hub of Oxford’s burgeoning comedy scene. The Oxford Imps, the undisputed masters of improvisation in Oxford, have been doing a weekly show at the Wheatsheaf for four years now. The Imps were not to have the limelight to themselves for long, however, as their Monday night show was soon joined by Ministy of Mirth’s somewhat more stationary stand-up comedy. The Ministry of Mirth are an ever-changing collective of aspiring standups who appear on Tuesday to carry out their own devious and subversive ends. In the sweaty, cramped upstairs of the Wheatsheaf the audience can hang off the bar and gaze up at the small box that constitutes the stage. They heckle or marvel at the (t)wits of Oxford’s coolest comedy scene and embrace the expectant clamminess of the moment. The student crowd tends to be a more hospitable dry run than lonely nights in front of disinterested Londoners whose heckling skills have been honed through years belching obscenities at the contestants on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. But for now, you’re safe, you’re in the Wheatsheaf. For the audience too the Wheatsheaf is the ideal venue, the principal advantages being the drink, obviously, as well as the value for money. Tickets at the OFS and the Playhouse tend to cost £7-8. But for only £3-4 you’ve got an Imps show – a damn sight more entertaining than, say, an a cappella group. The twinkly-eyed grandpa of Oxford comedy, the sketch group The Oxford Revue, is the latest addition to the Wheatsheaf’s diary, starting out last term with one-night shows called ‘Write Offs’. The Revue has previously been accustomed to week-long runs in theatres, with a term to prepare material and a healthy cut of the receipts at the end. By contrast, a ‘Write Off’ is written and rehearsed in two weeks and a barely any budget. But it can be a great night. The somewhat shambolic nature of the night makes the whole thing more precarious, but more fun, too. In the end, it’s that precariousness, that need for a real juicy comedy atmosphere, for proximity to the audience (and to the bar) which has driven Oxford comedians underground, or rather upstairs. Comedy in Oxford is very much alive, feeding off that funny pub down Wheatsheaf Yard.
By Kieran Hodgson

The Revue (left) are looking for sketches and inviting auditions for one of three guest performer slots in their shows. Sign up for auditions or send sketches to [email protected]