Paradise Found - Oxford Literary Festival

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During the sleepy Easter holidays, after the hubbub of term-time activity has subsided and the students of the city’s two Universities have decamped, something quite unusual awakens the slumbering calm of Oxford; amongst the city’s dreaming spires descends literary Pandemonium.

For ten days each year the Sunday Times’ Oxford Literary Festival takes grip, marquees spring up and historic college doors are thrown open as the general public are welcomed to a huge number of talks and presentations given by a wide range of writers and panelists.  This year experts from twenty different countries--renowned novelists, screenwriters, historians and poets--slipped from their normal lives into a world full of lively public interactions and Q&A sessions, all focused around their latest works.

Highlights of the festival included Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel talking about her Wolf Hall sequel Bring Up The Bodies, original Mersey Sound poet Roger McGough reading from his latest collection As Far As I Know (a standout of which, Scorpio, opens with a strongly resonating quote from Oxford’s own John Betjeman) and children’s author cum screenwriter Anthony Horowitz discoursing widely from Alex Rider to Foyle’s War. 

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An exceptional discussion was given by broadcaster Jonathon Meades, a rare individual with the darkly playful ability to lead audiences unwittingly from the expected to a quite unanticipated subject.  Ostensibly presenting on his latest collection of architectural modernism essays, Museum Without Walls, Meades’ construction of labyrinthine sentences and razor-sharp use of unsettling conjunctions demonstrated his credentials as the consummate wordsmith.  The outspoken stalwart of British television finished by ringing a loud crescendo excoriating the dumbing-down of accessible BBC broadcasting by a new cretinocracy. Here, here.

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One of the largest crowd-drawers was the inauguration of Phillip Pullman into the Folio Society where he was interviewed on the award-winning His Dark Materials Trilogy. The three-part adventure written primarily for children is in essence an inversion of Milton’s classic from which the trilogy draws its name. Pullman spoke openly about his personal experiences from which he drew on as inspiration; the heroic father figure Pullman lost as a child, his time in Oxford at Exeter (Jordan) College and the years spent teaching prepubescent children; a large influence on the crux of his writings, particularly his interpretation of prelapsarian innocence.

Finally, A nod must be inklined to the fourth annual sister event Not The Oxford Literary Festival, which ran parallel to the larger hosting.  Staged a few doors down from the historic Eagle And Child pub in the Albion Beatnik Bookstore, a late-night reading celebrated some of the finest talent of the Sadcore Dadwave micro-genre that this humble reviewer has ever experienced.

Unforgettable.

Lysander White

Lost & Found Contributor 

Review: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (21 Mar)

Photo: Sell a door

I have always been a lover of Shakespeare. I was that kid in the classroom that secretly absolutely adored studying Romeo and Juliet amongst other of Shakespeare’s works. This affection then led onto studying a degree in English Literature and I am coincidentally currently studying Shakespeare in my second year.

With this passion for Shakespeare comes a deep feeling for sticking to traditions. I detest films, plays and any production that puts a 'modern twist' on something that was created centuries ago, especially if it involves Shakespeare. For example, I cannot stand Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, and the fact that directors are creating films out of Shakespeare's plays just seems absurd to me in the first place; Shakespeare wrote for the stage, not the screen.

However, in this instance, it was not the case. I chose to head over to Worthing today and catch A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This particular production that was put on at the Connaught Theatre, had a slightly contemporary twist to it, as the characters were wearing modern day clothing. Yet, thank God they kept to the script; when directors change Shakespeare's language, there is more or less no point staging the play. 

Photo: Sell a door

A Midsummer Night's Dream has always been so enchanting to me; from when I first picked it up, I am constantly drawn back to it and during this performance, I felt that same feeling as when I first read it. The actors and actresses on stage invited the audience into magical being of the play, through their notable ability to transform themselves into every character they played; all of them doubling up roles.

The company that staged this production was the 'Sell A Door' theatre company and as quoted in The Scotsman:“Sell a Door has gained a reputation as one of the liveliest theatre companies in the UK”, shows just how dynamic and energetic the actors and actresses were.

To find more productions from this company head to: Sell A Door. 

Click here to find out what's being staged at the Worthing Theatre's.

Jenny Lupton
Fashion/Literature Co-Editor

World Poetry Day!

Photo: www.shelbytwplib.org

Today established poets around the world are entering schools to teach our youth the significance of poetry in our language.

Poetry to me is an exploration of the language in its purest form, we do not use the most obvious words in our writing but the most interesting words that can capture an audience’s imagination and take them on a journey of self-discovery.

There are many different variations of poetry – sonnet, limerick, haiku and epic. One of my favourite page poems is an epic poem written by Oscar Wilde called The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1897), which was written as an attack on the prison system, and though it’s an incredibly long poem, I have picked out my favourite stanza for you guys:

“I never saw a man who looked

With such a wistful eye

Upon that little tent of blue

Which prisoners call the sky,

And at every drifting cloud that went 

With sails of silver by.”

However, the poetry that most excites me is performance poetry. It differs greatly from page poetry in that the words are chosen to inflict maximum impact upon a listening audience rather than words that are chosen for their beauty or sentimental values.

The performance poetry scene in Southampton has evolved into a living being over recent years with multiple venues around the city holding poetry gigs and open mics – the most notable are the Art House, Nuffield Theatre and Soul Cellar.

If you’ve never been to a poetry event before then prepare to have your minds blown by the brilliant Steve Larkin! Details can be found here

If you are interested at all in writing poetry and want to progress further in an environment full of like-minded people in the Southampton area, then you may want to check out Artfulscribe's poetry workshops, further information can be found here: Artfulscribe

Here are some videos of some of my favourite poems and poets:

Ed Neal

Film/Music Editor