Reviews by Michael Skidmore
Opus 7
Michael Skidmore
Opus 7 is a kaleidoscopic blend of circus and brass. Describing their genre as 'Fanfare burlesque', Circa Tsuica, the troupe that conceived the show, are loud, wild and unaccountably fun. Circa ...
8 years ago
Opus 7
AnDa Union
Michael Skidmore
It's important to address your expectations of concerts and events: your preconceptions of the way the musicians might present themselves and their motives. With AnDa Union I was ready for a ...
8 years ago
AnDa Union
Villagers, Aiden Knight
Michael Skidmore
"Why do you keep a mandarin orange on here? Did you think it was a shaker?" Conor O'Brien brandishes the fruit at Mali Llewellyn as she sets the tuning for her harp. She doesn't reply, so we never ...
8 years ago
Villagers, Aiden Knight
M@SH Marathon
Michael Skidmore
The M@SH (Music @ St Hilda's) Marathon is an annual festival of contemporary music, designed for those tough enough to set out on a 5-hour journey through the darkest recesses of new music-making. As ...
8 years ago
M@SH Marathon
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Michael Skidmore
Oxford museums have a curious tendency to display enormous collections in the tiniest spaces. The density of artefacts in the cases of institutions like the Pitt Rivers can be overwhelming and ...
8 years ago
Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Wendy and Peter Pan
Michael Skidmore
Wendy and Peter Pan, as adapted by Ella Hickson, was first staged at the RSC in 2013 with great success. This new production is similar in an awful lot of ways, especially the design, but it's been ...
8 years ago
Wendy and Peter Pan
Peyman Heydarian
Michael Skidmore
Persian and Greek music is completely unknown to me. I'm aware of the lyra and some of its music through other traditional string instruments, but my only contact with the santur (or hammered ...
8 years ago
Peyman Heydarian
Adventure Film Festival 2015
Michael Skidmore
Adventure and extreme sports films are often appraised in two separate ways: for the filmmakers and the athletes. The disjuncture arises from direction and photography constructing the film, while ...
8 years ago
Adventure Film Festival 2015
Turtle Bay
Michael Skidmore
With the recent arrival of Thaikhun and Big Ron's, Oxford is bearing the brunt of the shabby chic revolution, celebrating ethnic street food with red neon signs and exposed filaments in jam jars. ...
8 years ago
Turtle Bay
Adventure Film Festival 2015
Michael Skidmore
Warren Miller has been making skiing and snowboard films since 1950, producing one every season. While he is no longer involved, his company continues his tradition of charting the foremost ...
8 years ago
Adventure Film Festival 2015
Laura Jurd - DINOSAUR & LABtrio
Michael Skidmore
Oxford Contemporary Music have a habit of bringing exciting new music to Oxford, and this jazz gig at the North Wall promised to be vibrant display of new jazz. The opening set was by LABtrio, a ...
8 years ago
Laura Jurd - DINOSAUR & LABtrio
Anne Hardy: FIELD
Michael Skidmore
Anne Hardy's new show, FIELD, has been developed in partnership with Modern Art Oxford, designed for and in their exhibition space. It follows her recent residency at the centre as well as successful ...
8 years ago
Anne Hardy: FIELD
Brick
Michael Skidmore
Modern Art Oxford is renowned as a centre for the promotion, creation and display of innovative and developed art. But it is also becoming increasingly noticeable for its café, a haven of ...
8 years ago
Brick
String
Michael Skidmore
As technology becomes more ubiquitous and central in our lives, science fiction and social comment are increasingly colliding in art. Charlie Brooker's TV project Black Mirror darkly satirises and ...
8 years ago
String
The Missing Bean
Michael Skidmore
The atmosphere of Missing Bean could be described as frantic, but really it reflects its popularity. The shop is buzzing, full of students returning to the hive to load up on energy before heading ...
8 years ago
The Missing Bean
Darwin Deez, Peluché
Michael Skidmore
Defenders of live music support a good cause. Music is a cultural and social process that only exists very briefly during a single event, and its cultural importance in its live settings is ...
8 years ago
Darwin Deez, Peluché
The Turn of the Screw
Michael Skidmore
Henry James' gothic classic, The Turn of the Screw, is a paragon of the genre, and Britten's interpretation fully explores the role of fear within music. Although aided by a libretto and dramatic ...
9 years ago
The Turn of the Screw
Jacobs Inn
Michael Skidmore
Who is Jacob? He seems to be taking over the Oxford food scene. Between Jacobs and Field (the café in Headington), Jacobs Chop House (the meat palace), and Jacobs Inn in Wolvercote, he's got crowds ...
9 years ago
Jacobs Inn
Kadai & Naan
Michael Skidmore
I might be spoilt by the high standard of Nepalese food in Oxford, but I enjoy Himalayan cuisine so much because the curries are usually much more complex and rich than are found in some more ...
9 years ago
Kadai & Naan
Piers Faccini & Vincent Ségal
Michael Skidmore
“Are there any Neapolitans in the audience?” Piers Faccini’s question might seem out of place when put to a small audience in the basement studio of Modern Art Oxford, but reflects his ...
9 years ago
Piers Faccini & Vincent Ségal
Pitt Rivers Museum: After Hours Guided Tour
Michael Skidmore
I’ve been a fan of the Pitt Rivers Museum for years, fascinated by its labyrinthine displays of enticing objects. I’ve been to a lot of the evening events that the museum stages; from the film ...
9 years ago
Pitt Rivers Museum: After Hours Guided Tour
Yeti Nepalese Dining
Michael Skidmore
Soaring peaks, majestic glaciers, mountain-top monasteries. Oxford has its fair share of mountain wilderness but I thought I was missing something. So I headed over to Yeti, a Nepalese restaurant on ...
9 years ago
Yeti Nepalese Dining
O3 Gallery
Michael Skidmore
I’ve always felt that small galleries are a vital distraction. Smaller is better because it limits the number of artworks on show. This not only serves to highlight individual pieces, rather than ...
9 years ago
O3 Gallery
Peter Care - Paintings
Michael Skidmore
It was a hot and busy afternoon, and I often find the best break can be found in an art gallery, savouring the silence and cool air. I had heard about a new exhibition at the O3 Gallery in the Oxford ...
9 years ago
Peter Care - Paintings
Rick's Diner
Michael Skidmore
Keen for a break from the office on a sunny day, Dave and I decided to head down to Rick’s Café on Cowley Road. Famed for its magnificent macaroons and cracking crêpes, it seemed like a good spot ...
9 years ago
Rick's Diner
The Spooky Men's Chorale
Michael Skidmore
500 people, from young children to grandparents, dancing and singing together in the Sheldonian Theatre. I’ve been attending and performing in concerts at the Sheldonian for some years and I’ve ...
9 years ago
The Spooky Men's Chorale
OVADA Warehouse
Michael Skidmore
As I ride my bike around Oxford I happen across many interesting things, from boutique chair shops to pop-up taxidermists. The Oxford Visual Arts Development Agency is one of such finds, a curious, ...
9 years ago
OVADA Warehouse
Wastelands 荒原
Michael Skidmore
A heavily pregnant woman strolls through a supermarket aisle. Suddenly a tango starts playing in the background and the woman erupts into a balletic worship of the groceries: erotically stroking ...
9 years ago
Wastelands 荒原
Al Shami
Michael Skidmore
Don’t panic! This is normal. The first bit of food that confronts every customer at Al Shami is a plate of fresh veg: half a lettuce, a whole pepper, some radishes and some mystery pink cubes. But ...
9 years ago
Al Shami
Broken Spoke Bike Coop
Michael Skidmore
Bikes and Banter: Learning new skills The saga of my bike has been long, a strenuous mountain path strewn with boulders, landslides and mountain lions. Every traffic light would present a choice ...
9 years ago
Broken Spoke Bike Coop
The Spooky Men's Chorale
Michael Skidmore
“We are the Spooky Men, We dream of mastodons”. The opening line of ‘The Spooky Men’s Theme’ accurately sets the tone for the surreal world of The Spooky Men’s Chorale. As a men’s folk ...
9 years ago
The Spooky Men's Chorale
