review Archives - Cherwell

A bold choice for limited space: ‘Tick, Tick…Boom!’

This ambitious take on a classic struggled in the space constraints of the Michael Pilch studio.

How not to decolonise a museum: ‘Suturing Wounds’ at the Pitt Rivers

Emma Heagney reviews Sara Sallam's exhibition at the Pitt Rivers and how the museum interacts with decolonisation.

A noble mind o’erthrown: ‘Hamlet’ at the National Theatre

This month, Hamlet returns to the stage in a new production soon to be released on National Theatre Live, following its staging last autumn.

Faith in humanity restored: Taste Tibet, reviewed

It might have something to do with the freezing January rain outside, but when I arrive at Taste Tibet in East Oxford it seems a lot like paradise.

‘Beautifully we may rot’: ‘Madame La Mort’ in review

In a small, black-painted room on the top floor of a pub in Islington, known as The Hope Theatre, Madame La Mort was staged for the public for the first time.

Damaging detachment: Reflections on the Booker Prize

This Christmas vac, I made up my mind to get out of my reading slump using the Booker Prize shortlist, revealing toxic masculinity as a key theme.

£17,000 on grass, redacted files, and 250,000 parcels: Cherwell’s 2025 FOI review

As the Cherwell Investigations team, we take our job very seriously. A big part of what we do is Freedom of Information (FOI) requests...

Illuminating American conservatism: William F Buckley’s biography, reviewed

The ornate, Latinate vocabulary. The debates peppered with witticisms. The patrician air, the untraceable accent, the playful glint in his eyes. William F. Buckley was...

The best Quod in Oxford: Dining on the High Street

A landmark of the High Street, Quod boasts an opulent facade, its name reminding me of my doom on the way to my Latin...

The lying life of authors: John le Carré and authorial double-lives

“I’m not a spy who writes novels, I am a writer who briefly worked in the secret world.” This was said by the famous...

The caring individual: John le Carré at the Weston

At the back of the Weston Library, in a small room off to one side, a stunning wealth of material is laid out in...

Over-the-top-vlogging and call centres: Dial 1 for UK

Dial 1 for UK is a one-man show following the journey of Uday Kumar (UK for short), who leaves his job at a call...

One book, 500 years of art: The History of Art in One Sentence

★★★★☆ Former Wadhamite Verity Babbs has created a practical guide to the history of art – breaking away from the traditionally dense Oxford academic style....

Academia is hell, literally: R.F. Kuang’s ‘Katabasis’

R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis touches on a range of near-universal academic experiences: impostor syndrome; frantic, caffeine-fuelled study sessions; watching someone effortlessly ace every single test...

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