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2 weeks ago | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
Labyrinth Production’s staging of Patrick Marber’s 1997 play, Closer, was an ambitious move for a student-run production company. Ambitious as it was, the cast themselves put on a strong showing; my major problems with the play stemmed from the original script, rather than their production of it.
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2 weeks ago | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
Ocean Vuong is, without a doubt, one of the greatest literary names of our age. His past works have won him numerous accolades from major publications alongside a string of prestigious prizes, including the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature award and the T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry.
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4 weeks ago | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
Labyrinth Production’s upcoming production of Patrick Marber’s Closer is a novel step up in the kinds of physical and emotional intensity that the Oxford student drama scene has previously engaged with.
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1 month ago | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
For Oxford students, the start of Trinity marks not just the start of the final term of the year, but also the start of a brand new wardrobe to match the rising temperatures. College puffers and chunky thermals are out – crop tops, linen shirts, and tastefully long jorts are in.
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1 month ago | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
As students left Oxford on the last weekend of Hilary, I visited St John’s College’s auditorium to witness the final hurrah of term: the biennial Sanskrit play. This year, the play of choice was Śūdraka’s Mṛcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart), directed by Ricardo Paccagnella and delivered entirely in Sanskrit, with surtitles translated by Professor Toby Hudson and Dominik Tůma.
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Feb 9, 2025 | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
With an increased focus on divestment over the past year, Cherwell sat down with two student activists involved in this work, Diana Volpe and Lina Osman. They are the presidents of Divest Borders and Student Action for Refugee (STAR) respectively – Lina serves as co-president of STAR with Tala Al-Chikh Ahmad. We started with a conversation about what these groups do.
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Jan 18, 2025 | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
Alec Tiffou is a student playwright for Matchbox Productions. His past two plays, Daddy Longlegs and Moth, have ran sold-out shows at the Michael Pilch Studio. Cherwell: Where does your writing process start? Where do you generally get inspiration for your plays? Alec: I think it’s difficult to say it comes from one place.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
For a budget involving tax rises worth £40bn, it’s pretty damning that Labour’s Autumn Budget can still be branded a ‘non-event’. However, this label may be apt in some ways: the pattern of increased spending and taxation continues from the previous government, with a lack of the large-scale tax reform that some might hope for from the first Labour government in 14 years.
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
Half an hour north of central Oxford, you’ll find two disparate developments. On one side, Oxford’s new pride and joy: a £4 billion partnership with Legal & General for a state-of-the-art science area. On the other, Campsfield Detention Centre: a £70 million project by Galliford Try to reopen a facility for 400 immigration detainees. The hypocrisy is glaring. Campsfield’s closure in 2018 was met with significant relief, given its notorious living conditions.
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Nov 9, 2024 | 
cherwell.org | Faye Chang
When I was at school, we learned monologues from Antigone; after lunch around twenty of us would gather, choosing between playing at Haemon, Ismene, Creon, and Tiresias. Of course, as angsty, pubescent, 13-year-olds, it was Antigone’s monologue that we revelled in the most. The opening lines of her soliloquy still resonate with me: “so to my grave, / my bridal bower, my everlasting prison”. Even at our age, it evoked a depth of tragedy and righteous anger that we latched onto with fervour.
