by David Akanji Welcome to AULT, the arts and culture column of The Poor Print, written by David Akanji (me). AULT exists to refocus our minds, re-engaging ourselves with art and cultural understandings. I’ll be focusing on current opinions/events/issues in the art world, but more importantly how we as students, citizens, and humans fit into […]
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by David Akanji Welcome to AULT, the arts and culture column of The Poor Print, written by David Akanji (me). AULT exists to refocus our minds, re-engaging ourselves with art and cultural understandings. I’ll be focusing on current opinions/events/issues in the art world, but more importantly how we as students, citizens, and humans fit into […]
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by David Akanji Welcome to AULT, the arts and culture column of The Poor Print, written by David Akanji (me). AULT exists to refocus our minds, re-engaging ourselves with art and cultural understanding. I’ll be focusing on current opinions/events/issues in the art world, but more importantly how we as students, citizens, and humans fit into it. […]
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by David Akanji Welcome to AULT, the arts and culture column of The Poor Print, written by David Akanji (me). AULT exists to refocus our minds, re-engaging ourselves with art and cultural understanding. I’ll be focusing on current opinions/events/issues in the art world, but more importantly how we as students, citizens, and humans fit into it. […]
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by Alessandro MacKinnon-Botti Embrace sonic realism through Sonic Choreography: use your body’s movements to create a living auditory canvas that captures the everyday. Sonic Choreography is an innovative way to express everyday realism. Your visual map becomes a musical score, translating the everyday into a unique auditory performance. For instance, once the idea has been […]
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by Jerric Chong As you will undoubtedly have gleaned from the grey, hulking buildings occupying the northern half of Oriel’s usually picturesque Second Quad, the Senior Library is out of commission as one of the nicest spaces to study in Oxford, instead awaiting its conversion into a temporary dining facility while the hall closes (for […]
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by David Akanji Welcome to AULT, the arts and culture column of The Poor Print, written by David Akanji (me). AULT exists to refocus some of our minds, re-engaging ourselves with art and cultural understandings. I’ll be focusing on current opinions/events/issues in the art world, but more importantly how we as students, citizens, and humans fit into […]
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by Emily Lazell-Taylor ‘Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere?’ The annual Oriel College Summer Garden Play this year was the performance of one of Oscar Wilde’s greatest works – The Importance of Being Earnest. Having studied the play for my English Literature A-Level course and been captivated by Wilde’s genius ever since, […]
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by David Akanji From all-time classics to trashy child-hood highlights. Indulge your older and wiser self in some throwback flicks, whether it’s Samuel L. Jackson reciting scripture or Amanda Bynes toppling the sporting patriarchy.rom all-time classics to trashy child-hood highlights. Indulge your older and wiser self in some throwback flicks, whether it’s Samuel L. Jackson […]
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by Hani Ali You may, or may not, know about Beyoncé’s recent five-day stint in London for her Renaissance World Tour. If you weren’t aware, I may be tempted to ask you ‘what rock have you been living under?’ Five nights, three hours, sixty thousand attendees per night – Beyoncé’s first world tour in seven […]
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by Sam Hardaker Subtitled a ‘time bending rom-com’, the student-run Sisyphus House touched a nostalgic and sentimental nerve. Written by Abbie Nott and Megan Bruton, the new play had a unique and fresh voice, both loving and honest, truthful and fantastical, and Sisyphus House was able to transform a rather grey Thursday and my rather […]
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by Jerric Chong We at Oriel are quite privileged indeed to be able to listen to an extraordinarily broad range of live music. Even discounting the superb ensembles and performers of every genre who can be heard across the city and university, Oriel is fortunate to be able to put on a wide array of […]
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by Hani Ali Whether you have finals, prelims, or obscure second-year exams (why?) coming up, I can imagine you are probably under a lot of stress. Your friends are too busy to see you, the work never stops, and you’ve had to cut down on formals and other leisure activities. Why wouldn’t you be? As […]
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by Anonymous The heavy psychoanalytical undertones of Katherine Perry’s ‘California Gurls’ has been the subject of much scholarly attention in recent years, as has the Oedipal complexity that dominates the lyrics. However, less well documented is the gastronomic and culinary imagery which pervades the song both lyrically and videographically. This, coupled with a recognition of […]
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by Sam Hardaker As a fan of the show, with the Broadway album etched permanently into my brain, it is difficult to decide to see another version of something I love, knowing it will be different. But boy am I glad to have witnessed Pelican Productions’ Spring Awakening this Hilary term. From the first note […]
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by Jerric Chong For most of us, I suppose, the words ‘maths’ and ‘humour’ will rarely appear in the same sentence, let alone alongside each other. But not after attending Fermat’s Last Tango, performed by a cast and crew of Oxford students at the Mathematical Institute, which despite its niche subject matter succeeds in providing […]
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by Jerric Chong and Evie Sharp Paris has just been liberated from its Nazi occupiers. Legions of American veterans begin departing on their way home across the Atlantic. But not so for youthful Jerry Mulligan, an artistic dilettante smitten with a young ballerina he encounters on the Parisian streets. He soon meets the composer and […]
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by Sam Hardaker This past Tuesday, 31 January, Oriel’s dining hall opened its doors to a new type of formal dinner: a multicultural formal. After careful organisation and advertisement by our very own JCR Equalities and Access Officer, Shubh Kumar, the dinner featured four courses, featuring a Greek meze platter, a Moroccan sorbet, Tandoori chicken […]
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by Thomas Darcy What I have to say is that I ultimately don’t trust these Poor Print people when they say the issue’s theme is just a suggestion. I accept that many pieces before me and no doubt after (pending continued JCR funding) in fact have little relation to the others that exist around them. […]
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by Max Benster ‘WE SHALL NOT CEASE FROM EXPLORATION, AND THE END OF ALL OUR EXPLORING WILL BE TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED AND KNOW THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.’ – T. S. Eliot I think that one of the best things Oxford has going for it is the calibre of its pubs. I […]
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by Siddiq Islam ‘What?! … like … Jesus!’ ‘Yes, exactly like Jesus!’ It’s wonderful to see Oxford’s theatre scene thriving again post-COVID. Opportunities to see fantastic productions like this were not regularly available a year ago. Dead Man’s Suitcase posits the following question – is it possible for your life to have a reset button? […]
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by S. Hardaker Troy Story: Age of the Hero is an adventurous and ambitious tale of the Battle of Troy, told through the personal stories of the gods, Achilles (played by Jak Spencer) and Patroclus (Alex Rawnsley), as well as Hector (Gillian Konko) and Andromache (Erin Malinowski). Marketed as a night of myth, a journey […]
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by David Akanji Davis’s work, which was exhibited at the David Zwirner around this time last year, is still especially ground-breaking today. Davis prematurely died in 2015 at the age of 32, but his work focused on the reframing of what it means to be black. His piece The Year of the Coxswain captures the […]
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by David Maw In his lengthy debate poem Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre, the poet–composer Guillaume de Machaut related his experience of the Black Death. Celestial portents, earthquakes, and bad weather heralded its coming. It provoked processions of flagellants, conspiracies about poisoned water and air, and the scapegoating of Jews. Its victims suffered bodily […]
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by Jerric Chong Of the many celebrated musicals penned by the late Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street doubtless stands out with its lurid and gritty depiction of 19th-century London. Inspired by Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls’, it tells the story of the convicted barber’s return and thirst for vengeance against Judge […]
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by Monim Wains [CW: mentions of mental illness, sexual violence, and miscarriage] A classic tale rewritten with lucid modern lyrics, sung fantastically throughout. That was a fun evening. Persephone is a story that has probably brought many a classicist to tears, with origins far back in Ancient Greece. But Emma Hawkins’s writing brings the story […]
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by M. Davies (College Porter) Postponed due to the pandemic from the 7th to the 31st of October, a new play, Into Battle, is to make its first stage appearance at the Greenwich Theatre, London. Written by Hugh Salmon, Into Battle tells the true story of a student feud that took place within Balliol College, […]
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by Raghav Arora and Samanwita Sen Spring Awakening is a bold take on teenage sexuality. It follows the experiences of various adolescents,’ sexuality coming to full bloom, with a major focus on Wendla Bergmann as she forays into the unfamiliar territory of lustful passion in her relationship with Melchior Gabor. The play strikes a fine […]
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by Samanwita Sen When walking away after watching a performance of My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags, perhaps the most lasting impression one is left with is how seamlessly and intricately the play has been put together. It’s no secret that, when watching the play, every note that is struck, every movement that is executed, and every […]
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by Martin Yip The Chinese writing system is one of the most beautiful currently in use. Compared to alphabets, whose characters are phonographic (meaning they represent sounds), Chinese characters are logographic: each character represents a word or phrase. The result is a system that elegantly condenses information, and rich in aesthetic value. Around two millennia […]
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by Michael Angerer The self-described dark comedy You Are Frogs, put on by Practically Peter Productions, is above all a baffling play: perhaps the most baffling theatrical experience to come out of this term. Having ascended the steps up to the Burton Taylor studio, the unsuspecting playgoer intrudes into the depressingly bright-coloured kitchen of two frogs, […]
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by Monim Wains Bandages is not a play that covers up or protects. It is designed to rip off the mask and question you directly. With an intense and emotional exploration of control, image, abuse and violence, Bandages will leave you genuinely disturbed and uncomfortable, which is exactly what it wants to do. The clearly heartfelt issues […]
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by Michael Angerer As you step into the small dark space of the Burton Taylor Studio to watch Selma Dimitrijevic’s Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone, you enter a strangely surreal place: a place in which all eyes rest on two similar figures who sit facing each other, silently staring each other down. The […]
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by Zad El Bacha I was cold and tired, searching for Saint Antony’s music room, when a vibrant singing called to me from across the quad. I stepped into the room, and the energy of the cast and the rich, vivid music overwhelmed me. This is how I was introduced to a preview of Talaash, […]
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by Grace Khuri This year marks the centenary of the Armistice that ended World War I on 11 November, 1918. Throughout the nation, memorial events—both intellectual and artistic—have been and still are taking place. During this commemorative season, I would like to draw attention to a perhaps underappreciated aspect of World War I poets, namely […]
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by Lauren Hill; original composition for piano, flute, clarinet, violin and cello. Performed by players from the CHROMA ensemble. Score to be found here.
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by Amanda Higgin Xanda and I are on the bus heading from my home town into Oxford. The skies outside are grey, a welcome cool after months of heat. I’m wearing jeans for the first time since June! A few seats in front of us, I spot Boris Johnson’s scruffy form on the front page […]
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by Christopher Hill As I walk into the Jesus College lodge to ask where to go for the play, I notice the porter flag down a student who I would later find out to be part of the backstage crew. I didn’t catch the whole conversation but it went something along the lines of: ‘I’m […]
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by Caroline Ball Imagine yourself years from now, when by a freak coincidence all recordings of the Star Wars films have been lost. All that survives are brief extracts…from the prequels. Sounds horrifying? I’m only just getting started. Not only have you lost 90% of the original material, but no single surviving clip is longer […]
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by Michael Angerer A kitchen in the west of Ireland, home to two ill-compatible brothers, haunted by the alcoholic parish priest and supplied with booze by an enterprising schoolgirl: such is the scene that unfolds to the audience in the current production of The Lonesome West at the Burton Taylor Studio. The atmosphere of this […]
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