Reviews by Orla Browne
Thaikhun
Orla Browne
George Street Thaikhun is the latest branch in a mini-chain that's represented in Manchester, Aberdeen, Cambridge, Nottingham and Glasgow. The laziest way to describe it is probably as a Thai Wahaca ...
8 years ago
Thaikhun
Beerd Oxford
Orla Browne
Let's face it, The Grapes was probably due a few quid spent on it. It was a bit grubby, with a fairly stubborn odour, and you could easily walk down George Street and miss the pub entirely. But what ...
8 years ago
Beerd Oxford
Natural Bread
Orla Browne
I’ll be honest, I very rarely go for breakfast at 9am on a Saturday morning. There always seem to be so many better things going on, like sleep, Netflix or possibly a Far Eastern Grand Prix ...
9 years ago
Natural Bread
The Rickety Press
Orla Browne
Grown up sibling of Magdalen Road’s Rusty Bicycle, The Rickety Press has been a firm favourite of Jericho residents for five years now. The grey-blue painted former Radcliffe Arms on the corner of ...
9 years ago
The Rickety Press
Moya
Orla Browne
I've only ever heard very favourable things about Moya, and here are a few more. Oxford’s only Slovakian restaurant offers reassuring consistency in service, quality and menu, and some top class ...
9 years ago
Moya
G & D's (George and Delila)
Orla Browne
The eastern outpost of a modern Oxford institution, Cowley Road’s George and Delila always seems half full. Offering WiFi, bagels and constantly changing organic locally-made ice cream, it’s a ...
9 years ago
G & D's (George and Delila)
The Bear and The Bean
Orla Browne
Never before has Oxford seen so many hipster clichés all in one place; don’t let that put you off though, as The Bear and the Bean is actually friendly and well meaning, and you’ll covet ...
9 years ago
The Bear and The Bean
Branca
Orla Browne
I do find that I tend to feel favourably towards venues that have a real tree growing through their dining room. In this respect Branca makes an excellent start.
The medium-sized Jericho ...
9 years ago
Branca
The Perch Inn
Orla Browne
Miraculously this was my first time coming to The Perch, drawn out to Binsey by the Irregular Folk Summer Sessions Weekender; it won’t be my last visit. We spent most of the time inside due to the ...
9 years ago
The Perch Inn
Intermezzo
Orla Browne
Intermezzo is Richard's Strauss' thinly-veiled 1924 depiction of his tumultuous relationship with his accomplished wife Pauline. In 1920s Austria a famous composer Robert Stroch is packing to leave ...
9 years ago
Intermezzo
Getting Inside Carnivorous Plants
Orla Browne
On a balmy Oxford summer evening in the bright lecture theatre of the Botanic Gardens, Karen Lee begins a talk behind an enticing selection of pitcher plants and insectivores. The room is just how ...
9 years ago
Getting Inside Carnivorous Plants
Royal Shakespeare Company, Summer 2015
Orla Browne
Arthur Miller's finest work and tragic depiction of the myth of the American Dream is a fitting choice for a break in tradition for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the centenary year of Miller's ...
9 years ago
Royal Shakespeare Company, Summer 2015
Oxford Literary Festival 2015
Orla Browne
Remember those oft-quoted figures of how much you could have made if you'd bought Apple stock instead of an iPod Original? Your $399 2001 investment would now be worth about $40,000. Not bad. Now ...
9 years ago
Oxford Literary Festival 2015
Pratchett Premières
Orla Browne
What links a knight who sold over 70 million books worldwide with a market town in South Oxfordshire best known for throwing baked goods off buildings? Though the theatrical adaptations of Terry ...
9 years ago
Pratchett Premières
The Top Films of 2014
Orla Browne
Top 10 Films of 2014
Blue Ruin [15]
Blue Ruin is an innocently wide-eyed grim smile of an indy revenge thriller, with a pleasing number of darkly comic laughs. It packs a gruesome punch right ...
9 years ago
The Top Films of 2014
Jerusalem
Orla Browne
Think Port Meadow on May Morning, with a West Country accent, Jerusalem is a heady mix of pagan revelry, boredom-fuelled debauchery, alienated youth, and folklore. Jez Butterworth’s modern marvel ...
9 years ago
Jerusalem
The Pillowman
Orla Browne
In the decade since premiering at The National Theatre, The Pillowman has lost none of its shock and awe. Since 2003 Martin McDonagh’s plays have won Tonys and Oliviers, he’s won an Oscar for his ...
9 years ago
The Pillowman
Fidelio
Orla Browne
There is perhaps no exploit quite so quintessentially British as quaffing French Champagne and listening to German opera on an expansive country estate. Sussex have Glyndebourne, and Ox-Bucks have ...
10 years ago
Fidelio
NSFW
Orla Browne
80 minutes of smart and satirical entertaining theatre is a real little treat at the Oxford Burton Taylor Studio.
NSFW - used to denote soft-pornographic internet content that is 'Not Safe ...
10 years ago
NSFW
Much Ado About Nothing
Orla Browne
Returning to Oxford for the first time since 2005, the Royal Air Force Theatrical Association this year bring the Oxford Garden Shakespeare indoors to the Old Fire Station, with the dedication and ...
11 years ago
Much Ado About Nothing
What Maisie Knew [15]
Orla Browne
A modern day Manhattan adaptation of Henry James's 1897 novel, What Maisie Knew is a sad and bitter story of a six-year-old pawn in a hateful couple's custody battle.
The daughter of a ...
11 years ago
What Maisie Knew [15]
Push Me, Pull You!
Orla Browne
Apocalyptic Circus’s Push Me, Pull You! is a beautiful hour of visual storytelling exploring the relationship between the on-stage performer and the (usually) off-stage technician. With hardly ...
11 years ago
Push Me, Pull You!
Georgina's
Orla Browne
Unpretentious upstairs hideaway and a great spot for breakfast, Georgina's is still going strong. They started serving meals on chopping boards long before the gastro-pubs got round to it, and ...
11 years ago
Georgina's
Frances Ha [15]
Orla Browne
Noah Baumbach’s edgy indie flick Frances Ha has him reunited with quirk-queen Greta Gerwig, their first professional collaboration since 2010’s Greenberg. Co-written by the pair, this is ...
11 years ago
Frances Ha [15]
Two Gallants w. Mozes and the Firstborn + ToLiesel
Orla Browne
It’s an awfully long time since I got my first taste of Two Gallants, when ‘Las Cruses Jail’ appeared on a Best New Bands Showcase 2006 CD that came free with my precious copy of ...
11 years ago
Two Gallants w. Mozes and the Firstborn + ToLiesel
The Act of Killing [15]
Orla Browne
Just go and see it. Go and see The Act of Killing. Enlightening, unbelievable and soul-crushingly powerful, this is absolutely vital cinema.
In a week in which I watched McCullin and The Spirit ...
11 years ago
The Act of Killing [15]
Much Ado About Nothing [12A]
Orla Browne
"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy", and yet it seems I must try to find the words to express the joy conveyed by Joss Whedon’s slick and stylish Much Ado.
Let’s be ...
11 years ago
Much Ado About Nothing [12A]
Hänsel und Gretel
Orla Browne
Arriving down the mile drive entrance of Wormsely Estate, tunnelled in greenery, it is easy to feel like you are travelling straight into the middle of a fairytale, albeit one with a pristine replica ...
11 years ago
Hänsel und Gretel
Nil By Mouth [18]
Orla Browne
Gary Oldman’s semi-autobiographical debut directorial feature is harrowing, unflinching and important in style and in substance. Of the same vintage as Trainspotting, this is an altogether ...
11 years ago
Nil By Mouth [18]
Dancing at Lughnasa
Orla Browne
Perhaps the greatest work from arguably Ireland’s greatest living playwright (Tom Murphy might have something to say), Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa at the Oxford Playhouse was always ...
11 years ago
Dancing at Lughnasa
The Reluctant Fundamentalist [15]
Orla Browne
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, adapted from Moshin Hamid’s 2007 novel, is a fascinating and flawed study of identity, pride, love and trust (or suspicion).
The narrative is framed within a ...
11 years ago
The Reluctant Fundamentalist [15]
Mud [12A]
Orla Browne
Mud, Mud, glorious Mud. Director Jeff Nichols off the back of his dark and disturbing debut feature Take Shelter is fast developing an impressive reputation, which is only enhanced with this latest ...
11 years ago
Mud [12A]
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Orla Browne
Fictional tribe portraits, a golf tee sculpture & amazing knitted chicken wire at The Workshop Studios on St Marys Road.
11 years ago
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Orla Browne
Ceri Allen's exhibition City Life at Corpus Christi College shows lonely, alienated figures in varying urban settings, all in familiar stances of time killing; a café customer on their ...
11 years ago
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Orla Browne
Alan Franklin uses only graphite and paper to create hypnotic abstract 'flat sculpture' drawings within his own unique set of rules. For this piece he gave himself 35 minutes, one continuous ...
11 years ago
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
Orla Browne
No frames, no artist notes, just beautifully screen printed gig posters hung nonchalantly above coffee cups & vinyl at Truck Store
11 years ago
Oxfordshire Artweeks 2013
I'm So Excited [15]
Orla Browne
This strange Spanish sexploitation farce from notorious director Pedro Almodovar is quirky, rude but doesn't quite hit its mark.
Set on flight 2549 from Madrid to Mexico City we find out ...
11 years ago
I'm So Excited [15]
Repetition
Orla Browne
Two questions run through Repetition like Heraclitus’ stream; is repetition possible, and is there such a thing as constancy? This production is an ambitious new adaptation of the Soren ...
11 years ago
Repetition
Efterklang, w. Anna von Hausswolff
Orla Browne
The best thing out of Copenhagen since Borgen and bacon, Danish synth-pop trio Efterklang last night (19 April) graced the upstairs stage of the O2 Academy Oxford. Having sold out venues as ...
11 years ago
Efterklang, w. Anna von Hausswolff
Wood Festival 2013 Competiton
Orla Browne
Here’s a full alphabetical list of all the artists at WOOD 2013:
ADAM BARNES - ART THEEFE - BAND OF HOPE - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S "NEBRASKA"
CASE HARDIN - CO_PILGRIM - DANNY ...
11 years ago
Wood Festival 2013 Competiton
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2013
Orla Browne
After 25 years in politics, Paddy Ashdown was sure to be a good bet for a charismatic and eloquent speaker, but the incredible story that he brings us of the most remarkable little raid of WWII is ...
11 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2013
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2013
Orla Browne
Four-time Irish and three-time UK Sportswriter of the year, David Walsh has been one of the most respected sports journalists of the last 30 years. In the Sheldonian Theatre, he tells us his ...
11 years ago
Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival 2013
Broken [15]
Orla Browne
Broken is a stylish, gripping, flawed and enthralling tale of a young girl's loss of innocence in the modern, nefarious, society setting of a claustrophobic cul-de-sac.
The first act begins ...
11 years ago
Broken [15]
St. David's Day
Orla Browne
Welsh cakes (Pice ar y maen) might have been around for centuries, but they went positively viral during the 2012 US Presidential election campaign. Mitt Romney's omnipresent wife Ann seemed so ...
11 years ago
St. David's Day
Lights, Camera, Action
Orla Browne
Having hosted everyone from Hamlet to the Hairy Bikers, via Harry Potter, Blenheim has been welcoming Hollywood and Bollywood for nearly 50 years.
A visit to Blenheim palace is always a pleasure ...
11 years ago
Lights, Camera, Action
No [15]
Orla Browne
Gripping, tense and smart, Pablo Larraín's Oscar-nominated No is as much historical drama as it is a story of personal struggle as well as a cutting political and corporate satire. ...
11 years ago
No [15]
