Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Author: Laura Denham

All My Sons at the Richmond Theatre – Review
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

All My Sons at the Richmond Theatre – Review

On Saturday 4th April, a friend and I went to see Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the Richmond Theatre. It is currently on tour (until 25th April), and is a Talawa Theatre Company production – the Talawa Theatre Company is a UK-based black company, Talawa meaning ‘small but mighty’ in Jamaican patois. All My Sons was Arthur Miller’s first success, and follows a family, the Kellers, almost torn apart from the Second World War. One of their two sons was reported missing three years ago, and the patriarch of the family, Joe Keller, was exonerated after having been jailed for providing the military with faulty airplane parts, which caused the deaths of twenty-one pilots. However the blame was placed firmly on Joe’s partner, and the family is as rich and successful as ever, despite the fact that...
Book Review: Isaac Asimov, Foundation Series
Culture & Literature, Literature

Book Review: Isaac Asimov, Foundation Series

So its revision season. You haven’t got time to read for pleasure and even if you did, do you want to get into a new book? And which one?! This was my line of reasoning, but then the revision comes and you realise you should take a break, and how better than to just sit down and throw yourself into some fictional world. Preferably one in which exams and essays don’t exist. Asimov’s Foundation series fills the niche. Primarily three books, the series extends to whatever point you can read to. All of Asimov’s books are linked in one way or another, and yet each is a stand-alone novel – perfect if you might have to abandon reading to some essay deadline. So the setting – the Milky Way galaxy, a mere 20,000 years in the future. Earth is just a legend and instead humanity has melded all of the ...
BFI Flare
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

BFI Flare

The BFI LGBT film festival, dubbed ‘Flare’, was held between the 19-29th of March and played host to the years best crop of LGBT films as well as special revival screenings and events. During this flamboyant 10 days we attended 2 of the marquee events, a screening of the much celebrated new French film ‘Girlhood’ as well as a 40th anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As we entered the atmosphere was electric and Grindr was lighting up like a christmas tree. We were seated in the BFI’s gorgeous south bank auditorium where we first viewed Céline Sciamma’s ‘Girlhood’. The film was a beautifully shot coming of age story about a young girl in urban paris, a locale not often explored in french cinema which has a strikingly similar aesthetic to London. It proceeds to documen...
Not sure who to vote for? Here are the party policies
Features

Not sure who to vote for? Here are the party policies

Not sure who to vote for? Confused about what all the politicians are saying? We took the party manifestos / policies and broke them down party-by-party, issue-by-issue.  With some (hopefully) helpful infographics too.  (These policies were correct at the time of writing)
Love Knows No Distance
Features

Love Knows No Distance

What was your role in the event? As President of the History Society, I was one of the primary organisers of the event and had to make sure all of the collaborators knew what was going on and were happy with everything. I was also involved in deciding what letters and poems were involved in the evening and making sure everything flowed well from one to the other. Additionally, I compered parts of the evening and introduced all of the letters, poems and memoirs. Are you happy with how the event turned out? I am extremely happy with how the event turned out! When you are working with so many different societies and groups, it can get very confusing and make it difficult to make such an event successful, but luckily it was a success and I was so impressed with how everyone pulled tog...
Opinion

SHAG Week: Abortion Rights in the UK

With free access to abortion in the UK, there is really nothing to fight for when it comes to reproductive rights. Except this is not really the case. In Northern Ireland abortion is illegal even in the case of rape, incest or if the foetus has no chance of survival. Women are left by our government to raise their rapists child, or a child they cannot afford. The right for women to control what happens to their bodies is taken away; more shockingly the right for women to control their own bodies has been made illegal, holding a penalty of life imprisonment in Northern Ireland. Of course this does not stop women in desperate situations from trying to obtain an abortion. As the abortion charity ‘Women on Waves’ states: ‘No one can prevent all abortions. You can only eliminate safe abortio...
Features

‘Sexting’: Unashamed and Confident

After the hacking of many celebrities’ nude photos, the issue of ‘sexting’ and explicit photos became a discussion topic once more. Celebrities from all spheres were affected by the hacking, including Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna, with the photos being posted on the website 4chan. ‘Sexting’ is the act of sending sexually explicit photos, messages or videos via a mobile device and evidence suggests it is becoming more common among young people. Six out of ten teenagers say they have been asked for sexual images or videos according to an NSPCC/ChildLine survey. Technology and access to the internet play a large role in this with more people able to send these kinds of images and messages easily and privately. SHAG (Sexual Health Advice and Guidance) Week gives students an opportunity ...
Features

GM Two: ‘I don’t really know what happened, but I’m sure it went well.’

Nothing to declare at the start of this GM, beginning just about 6:30pm, as Chair, Gillian Craig, highlights the presence of a Poppy Appeal box at Tommy’s Bar, and of Maths Soc representatives making cubes for charity at the back of the hall, encouraging us to go and donate to both if we can. When it comes to approving the Agenda, Democracy Officer, Hannah Strathern puts in a request for the Elections to come before the Motions, as she needed to be elsewhere from 7:30 in order to take part in the RAG Naked Calendar! Communications & Statements saw LGBT+’s Alexandra Sophia plugging the LGBT+ Rainbow Rave on Thursday 20th November, taking place at Medicine with proceeds from the night going to charity. Alexandra also highlighted that on the 25th of November, there will be an Art Sh...
News

Clubs & Societies reminded to adhere to NUS Alcohol Awareness Policy

Royal Holloway’s recently revised Alcohol Awareness Policy has been causing controversy at the beginning of the new academic year amongst societies and clubs on campus. The Orbital has been informed that a certain society , not affliated with the Students’ Union, has been called in to speak to the College, to remind them that committees need to ensure society-led events encourage sensible consumption of alcohol. College have stated that they will take disciplinary action against students who misuse alcohol on College premises or encourage or pressurise others to do so. It is understood that the society in question was called in to speak to the College regarding a planned pub crawl during fresher’s week, over concerns that the misuse of alcohol may have been encouraged during the even...
Opinion

The Mona Lisa Re-born?

It’s a miracle like no other. The Student’s Union of Royal Holloway has seen a truly remarkable rebirth. It’s the return of the Mona Lisa, widely criticised to have a smile so true to life it’s almost as if you only had to step into a room and grin at yourself in the mirror to merely replicate it. A smile, which has kept many an art historian busy for centuries, that is so completely between innocence and invitation that the distinction is beyond reckoning. Such a miracle can be found, miraculously, on the latest Student Entertainment posters advertising function nights at the SU throughout October including one, hastily replaced on the 13th October, publicising Come in Your Kit. They are NOT a true representation of our student body, as they are, and particularly not of women in sport....