Laura Denham, Author at The Orbital

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

The Great Gatsby: Review

Baz Lurhmann's take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is an explosion of colour, music and sexual tension, bringing to life what I consider to be a story that trails at a snail's pace. Behind all the glitz and glamour of Lurhmann's directorial style, it is his choice of actors that helps to give life to the otherwise lifeless portrayals of Fitzgerald. Leonardo DiCaprio does well in playing the infamous Jay Gatsby, a man both famous and mysterious for his regular mansion parties, whose relationship with Carey Mulligan's Daisy is made both awkward and increasingly addictive from their first encounter. My admiration of Gatsby's characterisation increases drastically alongside the rapid fall of Daisy's likability, a woman who frustratingly glides through life, child-like and i...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Opinion

Superficiality or ‘Social Networking’?

In 1917, Eliot wrote of a time “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”. Despite Eliot writing just under one hundred years ago, he neatly encapsulates the essence of social media, and the cultural compulsion to convey a specific type of person: a surface, a “face”. Social networking insistently requires us to create this surface – to select our profile pictures, ask us what we're thinking/ how we're feeling, whether we're interested in men or women, where we live. Though we're entitled (and quite rightly) to withhold this information from public display, the fact that we're asked creates an increased self-awareness and the means to categorise ourselves. Social networking engenders an opportunity to technologically emulate society's obsession with “faces”. I finally created a T...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

News

The EU Referendum

As the Conservative government openly defy Cameron and ask for an EU referendum, the Prime Minister has to make a decision whether to hold the referendum in 2017. But what should he do? Cameron has been in a tight corner this month and no matter what decision he makes on the United Kingdom's remaining in the EU, he will upset someone. While Cameron has already promised a referendum, this next step will place it in stone – in case anyone thought the Conservatives would go back on an election promise. There are 3 ways forward for the prime minister: If he holds the referendum tomorrow, the people will almost definitely vote ‘no' for EU participation. In this economic climate, there is just too much hatred and scapegoating of the EU. This will lose Britain her only place in a rapidly globali...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

The Importance of being Earnest: Quad Production 2013 Review

Over the years the Quad production has seen a lot of Shakespeare and Renaissance plays, but these are not the only classics. It is our hope that this year, with The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, we will re-vitalise the Quad and bring summer to Royal Holloway. After a busy year and a term full of exams what Royal Holloway needs is a bit of fun, and it is for this reason that I chose to bid The Importance of Being Earnest. With muffin fights, cucumber sandwiches and, in the production, a man in drag, we hope to bring back the witty silliness for which British comedy is so renowned. When people asked me what I wanted to do with the play, my answer was to have fun. Indeed my answer for all questions such as ‘What is your director's concept?' was simply the word ‘fun'; I was ...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Opinion

ULU: Why its closure isn’t an option

The University of London has announced that its Student Union will close this year. This decision was not put to a student vote; no student was even on the review panel which confirmed the closure. This represents an undemocratic attack on student unionism by University management. Of course it's important that Universities have their own individual unions, but as part of the collective of London Universities, we need a student-lead institution that encompasses all of the involved universities. The University of London Union (ULU) is important in student fights to maintain rent prices around London, and involved in the maintenance of Senate House Library, as well as other London University services. ULU also allows input from all London Universities, not just the most renowned ones. Being...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Features

12:41

I'll make myself a mask of your face. I've been training a long time for this Complete with puppet stick in hand I'll dance your name across the land Until we hit the floor, Exhaust sets in And I'm to cradle you once more. I'll take your mask and place it over my brittle skin That waits for yours. I'll press our masks together. Nobody can tell us apart Like this. I remember looking up at you from my bed Your lips shaping the words from a storybook as you read And I watch you Barely listening Barely hearing anything. It's been 15 years And still I cannot make your mask quite right The dreams are fading Details collapse each time I have to recreate You In the shaping of this mask… The task is near impossible some days I awake as puppeteer and still you are not operational I am unprofessiona...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Opinion

Volunteering: What you ought to know and what you should be asking

You awaken in your basic room, the sound of cockerels, voices you don't understand and the dust stirring outside your open window as the light and the heat from the sun already surpasses any summer day back home. You slip on your khakis/harem pants, pull your patterned head scarf onto your ruggedly tousled hair and most importantly your array of ethnic-y beaded bracelets. You head off in your pack, laughing, chatting of the day to come and generally looking very cool and adventurous. The smiles you are met with every day seem to allude to the fact that what you're doing feels pretty worthwhile, an amazing experience, great on the CV… Sound familiar? To countless students and young people, this will surely stir memories from that unforgettable volunteering trip they did in -insert name of ...

15May

By Laura DenhamNo Comments

Features

Summer Ball 2013: Exposed

The thing at the forefront of everyone's minds right now is the Summer Ball and we will be covering a lot of what's going on. Through exclusive content from the SU, these are the facts. The Summer Ball is an exclusively SU event, organised by the Commercial Services Management Team, and exclusively RoHo, sponsored only from within the University. A relationship has been built up with Luke from LFXEvents, who knows exactly how to put on a Uni Ball, just the way we like it. The staff are pretty much all students too, although 3rd years are given the day off to enjoy. Yet, some partake in any case because it's such a great event to be a part of. The students that you have been seeing all year around campus, serving you in all SU buildings, will be the ones at the Summer Ball. Outside caterer...