Thursday, May 2Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Culture & Literature

Playing War: A Review of Pink Mist
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Playing War: A Review of Pink Mist

Putting on this show was a bold choice, but one that most certainly paid off. The cast and crew need to be congratulated because putting on a relatively unknown play that deals with the subject of war in Afghanistan is difficult but they managed to strongly resonate with the audience and keep everyone engaged and entertained. Issues of psychological and physical effects of warfare on lives of young soldiers, written so well by Owen Sheers, were staged in a powerful but respectful way. Incorporating physical movement with the verse was a triumphant achievement by director Emil Rousseau, and the lighting designed by Matt Fry added another level to this fascinating and complex production. It runs at about an hour and forty five minutes without an interval, but it honestly didn’t feel long ...
Three Fish in a Tree: Review
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Three Fish in a Tree: Review

“If you forever judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its life thinking that it's stupid”- Albert Einstein. This quotation is the foundation on which the Student Workshop’s recent production, Three Fish in a Tree, is based. I’m not normally one to endorse the use of Instagram-bio pseudo-philosophical quotes, however I would argue that in the context of this production the quotation is actually quite profound. Three Fish in a Tree is a celebration of originality: following the story of three characters whose lives have been affected by Dyslexia, Autism and ADD. The charming nuisances were at first completely lost upon an uncultured swine such as myself, as the abstract script is ambiguous towards the concept of time and space, which was somewhat confusing. However, onc...
A Comedic Break from Valentines Day
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

A Comedic Break from Valentines Day

The Comedy Society has put on a number of shows since the start of the year: having tested the waters with early shows, they’ve definitely had the chance to improve over time. However, there is certainly still plenty of room for further improvement - I look forward to seeing said improvement. But, for now, they’re still quite rough around the edges.  Despite this, every performer did manage a couple of laughs from me, at the very least. This isn’t the Apollo, the odd awkward silence or distastefully joke is to be expected and it’s safe to say there were certainly significant peaks and troughs. However, after a somewhat slow start, things began to pick up, and it was pretty much all uphill from there. There was however a small collection of significant blunders, most of which were, t...
Review: Love Island The Musical
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Review: Love Island The Musical

Love Island: The Musical transports us to a sunny island resort in the unlikely venue of Jane Holloway Hall. Incredibly innovative production skills use a projector, a voting app and a star performance by Director Connor Wood as the hot tub, to produce a lot of laughs and a substantial suspension of disbelief. The performances mimics the style of the hit reality TV show that swept the nation last summer, Love Island, which sees couples deserted on an island to find love and win some hefty cash prizes. It is clear that the production team from the beginning have thought long and hard about how to squeeze what they can from an incredibly low budget production. There are pre recorded ‘ad breaks’ that left the audience in hysterics and the infamous Love Island texts show up on the projecto...
Review: Three Fish in a Tree
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

Review: Three Fish in a Tree

“If you forever judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its life thinking that it's stupid”- Albert Einstein. This quotation is the foundation on which the Student Workshop’s recent production, Three Fish in a Tree, is based. I’m not normally one to endorse the use of Instagram-bio pseudo-philosophical quotes. However, I would argue that in the context of this production the quotation is actually quite profound. Three Fish in a Tree is a celebration of originality; following the story of three characters whose lives have been affected by Dyslexia, Autism and ADD. The charming nuisances were at first completely lost upon an uncultured swine such as myself, as the abstract script is ambiguous towards the concept of time and space, which was somewhat confusing. However, on...
Are we Running out of Music?
Culture & Literature, Music

Are we Running out of Music?

Recently, Lana Del Rey announced that she was being sued for breach of copyright by Radiohead. The English band are claiming that her 2017 song “Get Free” bares significant resemblance to their iconic 1992 hit “Creep”. This is not the first music copyright dispute that “Creep” has been caught up in. Upon its release, Radiohead were sued by the Hollies for having similarities to their song “The Air That I Breathe” released in 1972. Music copyright claims are, clearly, nothing new. Ed Sheeran was sued in 2017 for his platinum single “Photograph”, Mark Ronson was forced to add a number of additional song writing credits to his number 1 hit “Uptown Funk”, and even the Ghostbusters theme song was involved in a copyright dispute that was eventually settled out of court. Are these just all ...
MTS Weekend Show ‘Musical Moments Through Time’
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

MTS Weekend Show ‘Musical Moments Through Time’

The now already traditional showcase of talent within the Musical Theatre Society took place in Jane Holloway Hall this Sunday. What differentiates this show to other performances seen on campus is explained in the name - the entire show is put together in one weekend. All of the songs and choreography are learned and rehearsed on Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday, and finally performed on Sunday evening.    The performance from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat started the tour-de-force through history, which included performances from such hits as Chicago, Annie, Oliver!, 9 to 5 and many others. Though the numbers differed in style and tone, what was consistent was the high level of quality and execution by the stellar ensemble. The amount of hard...
The Importance of Being an Ideal Oscar Wilde Fan
Culture & Literature, Theatre & Performance

The Importance of Being an Ideal Oscar Wilde Fan

Dominic Dromgoole, having been artistic director of The Globe 2005 – 2008, founded his own company, Classic Spring Theatre Company, and decided for its inaugural season to pay respect and honour to the great playwright and public figure Oscar Wilde. For a whole year, the public is treated to performances of four of his plays, A Woman of No Importance, Lady Windemere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, several shorter runs of a dramatized versions of his children’s fairy-tales, including The Selfish Giant, as well as several talks by, amongst others, Stephen Fry. Truly something for everyone, for all ages and all levels of knowing and loving Wilde. Watching any performance as part of the season in the stunning and intimate Vaudeville Theatre feels like watching a...
Silent Until Now
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Silent Until Now

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault Rape is despicable. That is a statement that can’t ever be disputed. In the wake of allegations against such high-profile people like Harvey Wienstein, Louis C.K and Kevin Spacey and the widely-popular #metoo campaign, there are more people than ever who are able to speak up about what has happened to them. Unfortunately, despite the progressive and welcoming atmosphere we find ourselves in, men who have been sexually assaulted continue to be silenced and are treated poorly by charities and police. With a new documentary from BBC Three, men are openly speaking up about their sexual assault experiences in order to help lift the stigma from such a prominent issue in society. The documentary is called Male Rape: Breaking the Silence, an homage to those th...
In conversation with artist Ruth Fox
Culture & Literature, Visual Arts

In conversation with artist Ruth Fox

I had the pleasure of meeting mixed media and contemporary artist Ruth Fox, and Steven Young with whom she collaborated, to discuss her most recent exhibition ‘A Most Awkward Divide.’ We met in Gallery 46 in Whitechapel, London, on the final day of her exhibition. After looking around the exhibition and being shown a few pieces by Ruth we went into the garden to talk about her work and body hunt campaign. ‘I’m looking at how we live online and how technology and science are kind of escalating to the point where it uses a lot of time out of our minds and we really don’t focus much on our bodies anymore. I think we are kind of losing sight of our individual physical identities and it’s affecting how we live. Did you have a personal experience with the mind/body divide? I think it...