Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s classic comedy of love and trickery, made a fantastic debut this week in the beautiful setting of the gardens at Wadham. The backdrop only grew more characterful as the night went on; unhampered by a minimal set, the sunset meant the actors were lit by nothing but the lights on stage. The scenery alone made the opening night performance special, but what really animated the show was an excellent set of actors who gave their all to their performances and wer

Given the ubiquity of Derry Girls at the moment, it is shrewd of A2 Productions to capitalise on this by staging a short play by its writer, Lisa McGee. Like Derry Girls, Girls and Dolls is set in Ireland and focuses on the friendship of Emma and Clare, looking back on their early youth and how Clare’s growing obsession with one of their neighbours, and her baby, spirals into a dark and disturbing incident. It should be noted that the ‘dark’ element of the ‘dark comedy’ subtitle running on post

Image description: Honestly, who knows. A black background bearing imagery associated with sigma males is the best I can do for you. What does it really mean to be a sigma male? I found myself asking this question last week whilst swilling a glass of wine and contemplating the deeper meaning of human existence (that’s how I’m telling you it happened anyway). But once the idea of such an investigation struck, I found that my soul would not rest until I had an answer. Searching on Urban Dictiona

During Michaelmas Term 2021 I wrote for the Oxford Student's weekly column, the 'Sunday Roast', which satirizes student and local news. The column is written through the fictional persona of Rordon Gamsay. Here is a compilation of my favourite excerpts.

In a article published earlier this term Asher Weisz, OxYou’s foremost (and arguably only) journalist, argued that the best way to ensure success at Oxford is to ‘do as little work as possible, and make sure your tutors love you’. This bold and (let’s be honest) accurate statement begs the question: but how does one make one’s tutor love them? After all, tutors are difficult and chaotic people to understand. Yours might be a hip young DPhil student, someone who replies to you asking for yet ano

Image Description: a picture of a night out in Oxford with lots of students definitely having lots of fun. Never been clubbing in Oxford? Yeah, neither have we. Let two second years impart their wisdom on the local nightlife scene, formulated over a lockdown Michaelmas, a virtual Hilary, and a sort-of normal Trinity. Useless trivia and half-baked assumptions abound. Because there were no clubs open in first year, I spent far too long making an error that most people are corrected on within one

Listening to Solar Power feels like watching a professional world champion golfer play a leisurely game for fun: their mastery of the sport is evident, yet for the spectator there is little emotional investment in the performance. The album, Lorde’s third and highly anticipated after a four-year break, is rich with beautiful imagery, lush instrumentation, and some excellent tracks. However, it is also a slightly difficult record to engage with on a personal level. Solar Power’s predecessors, Me

This week’s alumni is Alan Allen, an accountant from Worthing who continues to describe himself as being in his ‘mid-to-late thirties’ despite turning 40 later this year. Allen graduated from Oxford in 2002 with a perfectly acceptable 2:2 in History, and now works as an accountant. Rordon Gamsay sat down with him to chat about this interesting career turnaround, his memories of Oxford, and the peculiar reason why he thinks students from Queen’s are ‘filthy knuckle-draggers with no principles’.

Colleges live or die by the quality of their websites. Or not. Regardless, here’s an arbitrary and judgy list ranking them all for your reading pleasure: The clear winner. Somehow manages to make the blue and yellow colour scheme look tasteful rather than horrible, which it objectively is. Clear interface that doesn’t make me feel like I’m completing some weird Crystal Maze challenge when navigating between pages. Marked down only for overlaying text right over a student’s face in their primar

Written at the beginning of 2021, reflecting on the pointlessness of New Year's Resolutions.

Image Description: Two Bubbles separating two groups of individuals The day had come – after a year of personal statement revisions, nervous interview mumbling, pointless revision, and finally, the A-Levels fiasco, you are here. You are an Oxford student, following in the footsteps of famous and universally beloved alumni like Charlies Xavier, Nigella Lawson and the actual Mr Bean. But of course this year, 2020 – about to join the ranks of 1968, 1989, 2001 and 2016 in being depressingly moment