Reviews by SMB
2016 Fireworks Competition
SMB
Remember September? The fair in St Giles When the fumes from the diesel were stinging your eyes? October's main theme: students' en masse returning To these dreaming spires, devoted to learning. Then ...
8 years ago
2016 Fireworks Competition
Brick
SMB
I was lucky enough to win free lunch for myself and a guest (via a Daily Info 'retweet and win' promotion), and so we headed into Oxford on a grey and chilly Saturday 28th November.
The enthusiastic ...
9 years ago
Brick
2015 Fireworks Competition
SMB
Away that day, so
Despite my haikus' beauty,
They must be ignored
Seasonal wishes
To all you Autumn poets.
Good luck composing!
Fireworks in Oxford
But I shall watch them elsewhere
And ...
9 years ago
2015 Fireworks Competition
Foodies Festival 2015 Competition
SMB
Five Spice Glazed Pork Belly
Ingredients
6 medium shallots, halved
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 x 1kg/2¼lb piece belly of pork, skin on
500ml/17fl oz Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp five spice ...
9 years ago
Foodies Festival 2015 Competition
Oxford Wine Festival Competition
SMB
All vintages excellent - some of those from the fin de (vingtieme) siecle in particular are showing excellent legs in time for summer.
Both the Town and Gown bottlings have their fans - the ...
9 years ago
Oxford Wine Festival Competition
Wood Festival Competition
SMB
'Since I mentioned I had a spare ticket for the Wood Festival I keep getting badgered by wannabees.'
10 years ago
Wood Festival Competition
Fireworks Competition 2014
SMB
Sausage and mash would have been just right
To round off a splendid Bonfire Night.
But the Big Bang's closed and Max has left
And Oxford's banger lovers feel bereft.
The Big ...
10 years ago
Fireworks Competition 2014
Fireworks Competition 2013
SMB
Où sont les firework nights d'antan?
When I was young and full of fun we used to beg around.
‘Penny for the Guy' was commonplace:
A dummy with ...
11 years ago
Fireworks Competition 2013
The Trout Inn
SMB
Lazy.
I was tempted to stop there, but: the barman appeared to be more interested in changing a till roll than acknowledging customers; undercooked steak; lukewarm chips and burger; ribs with a ...
13 years ago
The Trout Inn
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2011
SMB
I’m howling at the moon tonight ‘cos I’ve got the firework blues:My owners locked me in the house and went out on the booze.Incarceration’s causing me the maximum dismay,I’m banged up in ...
13 years ago
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2011
Fisherss
SMB
Had a super meal here last week. Fresh food, decent service and a reasonably priced wine list. Midweek evening so it wasn't full, but nice atmosphere nonetheless. Gourmet Card discount made a ...
13 years ago
Fisherss
Jamals: CLOSED. Now Arzoo Oxford
SMB
Since my review of Jamals in Novemeber last year I decided to give their online ordering system another try. This time it worked flawlessly, the delivery was prompt and the food splendid. I hope they ...
13 years ago
Jamals: CLOSED. Now Arzoo Oxford
SoJo
SMB
More splendid food cooked and served by people who understand it. This is, and remains, the best Chinese food I've eaten outside of Hong Kong
13 years ago
SoJo
SoJo
SMB
Ate here again on Saturday 2nd July. Waiter's choice = the best way to go. We had wonderful salt and pepper squid, prawn har gow (dumplings) and tiny spring rolls followed by tofu and vegetables, ...
13 years ago
SoJo
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
SMB
Having seen Peter O'Toole in the original run of the play, I have to say that Robert Powell was superb. While O'Toole was - and always be the - definitive stage Jeff, Powell is far more physically ...
14 years ago
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2011
SMB
There’s never a reason to gush and to cooIf you want to express loving feelings.In proper society saccharine’s shunnedAnd eyes are rolled up towards ceilings.
It just doesn’t do for a ...
14 years ago
Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2011
SoJo
SMB
Went last night, asked the waiter to decide and then sat back and loved everything he brought to the table - absolutely amazing salt and pepper squid; fantastic slow cooked pork belly; deeply ...
14 years ago
SoJo
Jamals: CLOSED. Now Arzoo Oxford
SMB
After reading of the management change at Jamal's we decided to give their delivery service another go after several lapses in the past. We used the online service, which resulted in email and text ...
14 years ago
Jamals: CLOSED. Now Arzoo Oxford
Let Me In [15]
SMB
I went to see this with some trepidation. Over the years I've seen way too many American butcherings of European and Asian classics, and having absolutely loved Let The Right One In I had more than ...
14 years ago
Let Me In [15]
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2010
SMB
Dave and George have blamed their cuts on Labour’s gaffes and errors:The council budget’s slashed by fiscal vandals.That means we’ve got to all pitch in for this year’s firework partyLooks ...
14 years ago
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2010
St. Patrick's Day Competitions 2010
SMB
With dinner and drink as the prizeA limerick I must devise.But I’m stuck for a rhymeFor Iffley this time;So I’m going to starve, I surmise!
15 years ago
St. Patrick's Day Competitions 2010
Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
SMB
Love HurtsThey could have been the perfect couple;A duet sung in heaven.Living in a world of hearts and flowers,With their amps turned up to eleven.If fate wasn’t cruel and had matched them ...
15 years ago
Daily Info's 2010 ANTI-Valentine's Poetry Competition
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2008
SMB
Bad Lads’ Bonfire NightWe’ve nicked some pallets from the timber yardAnd kicked down several fences.Got two old tires for tons of smokeAnd damn the consequences!Petrol’s out at a pound a ...
16 years ago
Fireworks Poetry Competition 2008
Zero
SMB
Set in a dystopian near-future, Zero poses the problem of survival on a micro and macro scale. The Global Economic Alliance has created a society where its willing participants are rich and ...
16 years ago
Zero
The Woman In Black
SMB
There’s nothing quite as enervating as a good fright! First performed in Susan Hill’s native Scarborough in 1987, this superb adaptation by Stephen Mallatratt has been scaring the living ...
16 years ago
The Woman In Black
Born In The Gardens
SMB
Fun and thought provoking, Born in the Gardens is an excellently performed and directed piece of near-contemporary theatre which is well worth seeing. Written and set in 1979, the play examines ...
16 years ago
Born In The Gardens
Out of the Blue
SMB
Now, I’ve seen these boys busking in Oxford and thought ‘Hmm, Glee Club, but in a nice English way’ and then walked by on my way to the Covered Market. So I turned up at the New Theatre ...
17 years ago
Out of the Blue
Oxford Gospel Choir
SMB
For Life is the UK arm of the Christian Care Foundation for Children with Disabilities (CCD) which works in Thailand to provide care and support for abandoned disabled children. They are currently ...
17 years ago
Oxford Gospel Choir
The English Game by Richard Bean
SMB
Cricket has been the inspiration for some splendid words. From Sir Henry Newbolt’s Vitai Lampada:There’s a breathless hush in the Close tonight Ten to make and the match to winFrom Francis ...
17 years ago
The English Game by Richard Bean
A Doll's House
SMB
Director Erica Whyman has created a splendid production of this critique of the traditional roles of men and women in marriage. Set strikingly in the 1950s, Soutra Gilmour’s intelligent design ...
17 years ago
A Doll's House
The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole
SMB
Presented by James Seabright, written by G.M. Calhoun and directed by Rob Mulholland, The Last South tells the story of Scott and Amundsen as they race to make the first trip to the South Pole. Based ...
17 years ago
The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole
The Wiz
SMB
Tornado ballet, flying monkeys, sexy poppies, a blaxploitation pimp and an S+M witch - The Wiz certainly ticked all my boxes! This production by the Oxford Brookes Fortune Players is lively, ...
17 years ago
The Wiz
Floating
SMB
There’s this island, Anglesey, see, and when the earthquake struck in 1982 when Maggie was PM, it broke free from the Menai Bridge and sort of floated off. So the old schoolmaster – who didn’t ...
17 years ago
Floating
Eat Me
SMB
Devised theatre has its advantages and drawbacks. When done well it allows the performers to riff on a theme without the constraints of script, but still provides the structure necessary to ...
17 years ago
Eat Me
Bedroom Farce
SMB
Written in 1975, Ayckbourn’s gentle comedy provided welcome light relief after a weekend of worry about whether or not we were going to be flooded out of our house! Indeed, the early references to ...
17 years ago
Bedroom Farce
Siobhan Davies Dance: Two Quartets
SMB
Puzzling, energetic, intricate and disparate. I have to admit to a fair deal of confusion over this latest two-part production by one of the best known contemporary choreographers in Britain. Set to ...
17 years ago
Siobhan Davies Dance: Two Quartets
Whale Music by Anthony Minghella
SMB
Written, and presumably set, in 1981, Whale Music was Minghella’s first real theatrical success. Telling the story of a somewhat naïve pregnant student and her winter retreat to the coastal town ...
18 years ago
Whale Music by Anthony Minghella
Hugh Masekala
SMB
Live performance – be it dance, theatre or music – can, on occasion, be seen as a political act. With Hugh Masekela it is impossible to divorce the man from the mission. Born into apartheid in ...
18 years ago
Hugh Masekala
The Dance Of Death
SMB
Skilfully directed by Alice Lacey, this tictek production of Strindberg’s depressing commentary on intramarital strife runs until Saturday 12th May and is well worth a visit.Living on the isolated ...
18 years ago
The Dance Of Death
You Don't Need To Know That
SMB
When Beresford opens a letter asking him to fill in the enclosed form (that is not enclosed) and return it to the Department of Justice, he sets of an unstoppable chain of events that leads, via his ...
18 years ago
You Don't Need To Know That
The Full Monty: The Musical
SMB
Transplanted from Sheffield in Yorkshire to Buffalo, New York and with a raft of original songs, this musical take on the hit film works well as a musical. Focusing, like the original, on the lives ...
18 years ago
The Full Monty: The Musical
Sing-A-Long-A Sound Of Music
SMB
Normally, when you go to see a film you sit quietly and concentrate on what’s happening on the screen. Sometimes you laugh, or gasp. Occasionally you are annoyed by the whispering imbeciles in the ...
18 years ago
Sing-A-Long-A Sound Of Music
The Garden
SMB
Making stunning use of video effects, The Garden explores the effects of battle ground trauma and the healing powers of nature in a story that spans generations. Jay returns from Bosnia mentally ...
18 years ago
The Garden
The Dateless Wonder
SMB
The Dateless Wonder – Written and performed by Anjali Mya ChadhaI am rapidly coming to the conclusion that ‘if it’s on at the Burton Taylor then it’s well worth seeing.’ This splendid one ...
18 years ago
The Dateless Wonder
The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek
SMB
Another piece of superb theatre at the Burton Taylor: an absolute delight! This clever piece of writing examines the effects of The Depression on adults and teenagers in a backwoods American town. ...
18 years ago
The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek
Aida
SMB
Verdi’s Egyptian epic was performed by the Chisinau National Opera Company from Moldova and presented by Ellen Kent, who has gained a deserved reputation for touring excellent opera and ballet ...
18 years ago
Aida
Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2007
SMB
Loïc Wacquant is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Researcher at the Centre de Sociologie Européenne, Paris. His interests include urban marginality, the penal ...
18 years ago
Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2007
Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2007
SMB
Legal director of MIND before he was thirty, Lawrence Gostin is an internationally feted and consulted expert on law and public health. He is Professor of Law at Georgetown University (Washington ...
18 years ago
Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2007
Omid Djalili - No Agenda
SMB
Most famous as the only Iranian comic working in the West, and soon to have access to a wider audience through his recently commissioned BBC show (due to air this year sometime), Omid Djalili kicked ...
18 years ago
Omid Djalili - No Agenda
Cats
SMB
Cameron Mackintosh and the Really Useful Theatre Company present an excellent show for Christmas theatre-goers of all ages. There is a storyline: cats meet to decide who amongst their number is to be ...
18 years ago
Cats
Under Milk Wood
SMB
If you have any late evening free time this week, you must go and see this production. Director Emily Lim and producer Charlie Henniker have created an absolute masterpiece in turning a great play ...
18 years ago
Under Milk Wood
Portrait of Dylan
SMB
At the Burton Taylor until Saturday 11th November, and directed by Elfie Burgess, this is a whistle-stop tour of the all-too-short life of Dylan Thomas. Told partly in narrative, by a porter at the ...
18 years ago
Portrait of Dylan
Hunter [N/C]
SMB
On Sunday 29th October I was invited to the Phoenix to see a screening of a new short film written and directed by Nigel Douglas. A director with a wealth of experience in TV drama (Hotel Babylon, ...
18 years ago
Hunter [N/C]
Lord of the Dance
SMB
What a great show to have booked for half term! The New Theatre must be overjoyed at the thought of full houses all week, and so they should be. This is a fantastic assembly of dance, music and song, ...
18 years ago
Lord of the Dance
HMS Pinafore
SMB
From the opening drum roll to its closing mirror image, this production fairly skipped along, delighting the audience with music, song and whimsy. Gilbert and Sullivan’s class-based comic operetta ...
18 years ago
HMS Pinafore
Autumn Poetry Competition
SMB
Reasons for Yellow Ruefulness
(or ‘How Autumn Feels At 43!’)
A smell of wet dog by the fire in the pub
has replaced the barbecue tang, wasp fizz and
child shriek of a summer lived ...
18 years ago
Autumn Poetry Competition
Oxford Lieder Festival 2006
SMB
Fri 13/10/2006, St. Aldates Church: Dame Felicity Lott (soprano) & Maciej Pikulski (piano)
What a treat! As an opening night for this year’s Lieder Festival the organisers could not have wished ...
18 years ago
Oxford Lieder Festival 2006
The Nail
SMB
The Nail is published three times a year by Hammer and Tongue, who organise poetry slams in Brighton and Oxford. The next one in Oxford is at The Zodiac on Tuesday 2nd November and, if the contents ...
18 years ago
The Nail
The Dr Teeth Big Band - Rhythm is our Business
SMB
Ok, let’s get the cliché out of the way first: it’s so hot it’s cool!
The Doctor – aka Steve Steinhaus – has the perfect voice and energy for this irresistible collection of swing, ...
18 years ago
The Dr Teeth Big Band - Rhythm is our Business
Bus Stop Poems
SMB
In this short collection of poetry Gillian Rathbone has succeeded in turning the ordinary, everyday experience of a bus journey into an insightful gaze at the human condition. It is always a good ...
18 years ago
Bus Stop Poems
The Life and Crimes of President Ubu
SMB
Adapted by Simon Rae from the absurdist/surrealist play Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry, this is a splendidly well-realised satirical shot at the Gulf War and its ensuing fallout. Tom Blackmore’s well ...
18 years ago
The Life and Crimes of President Ubu
The Constant Prince
SMB
Alexander Zeldin’s production of de la Barca’s 17th century observations on the religious and political ideological collision of Moorish Islam with Portuguese Catholicism blends drama with ...
18 years ago
The Constant Prince
Jungle Book
SMB
The Birmingham Stage Company’s highly successful musical swung into town bringing energy, new music and a great family night out. Originally a Christmas production, Jungle Book showed all the ...
18 years ago
Jungle Book
Mazepa
SMB
The second of Tchaikovsky’s three operas drawn from the works of Pushkin, Mazepa is the story of Cossack betrayal of Peter the Great and its effect on all concerned. The eponymous character is a ...
18 years ago
Mazepa
Paradise Lost
SMB
Ben Power’s adaptation of the Milton epic is stupendous. Director Rupert Gould has collected, in The Oxford Stage Company, a fantastically talented team of actors, technical staff and an inspired ...
19 years ago
Paradise Lost
The Seagull
SMB
Konstantin wants to be a successful writer and is in love with Nina, who wants to be an actress. Arkadina, Konstantin’s mother, is a famous actress who wants to be praised, worshipped and in ...
19 years ago
The Seagull
Twelfth Night
SMB
The all-male cast of this production, directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod (the co-founders of Cheek By Jowl), crackle with energy. I am a little wary of studiedly single sex ...
19 years ago
Twelfth Night
Foggerty's Fairy
SMB
When I was twelve our English teacher – also our school chaplain – made us learn The Ghosts’ High Noon from Rudigore as a poem. I must admit that I found it rather good fun and that Gilbert’s ...
19 years ago
Foggerty's Fairy
Malena: La Amante Olvidada (The Forgotten Lover)
SMB
Written and directed by, as well as starring, Patrissia Cuberos, Malena tells of the troubled life of a waitress in a Buenos Aires bar. She is bitter at the length of time she has wasted in her life ...
19 years ago
Malena: La Amante Olvidada (The Forgotten Lover)
Nevermore
SMB
Showing at 9:30pm until Saturday 20th May, this clever intertwining of three strands of Edgar Allan Poe’s distinctive Gothic horror is well conceived, effectively delivered and well worth a visit. ...
19 years ago
Nevermore
