Reviews by Niamh Simpson
It’s Not Me, It’s Revue
Niamh Simpson
It’s Not Me, It’s Revue plays a big card early as its house lights dim. Flickering onscreen, Michael Palin hoves into view, face inches from camera, welcoming us in and recounting his own ...
a day ago
It’s Not Me, It’s Revue
Nosferatu [15]
Niamh Simpson
To borrow an old internet gag, if I had a penny for every time Nicholas Hoult played a guy who falls in league with a bloodthirsty vampire and ends up in way over his head, I’d have two pennies - ...
a month ago
Nosferatu [15]
101 Dalmatians
Niamh Simpson
I’ve always been very fond of the Disney adaptation of 101 Dalmatians. The Mouse’s take on Dodie Smith’s children’s book, in which two plucky Dalmatians set out to rescue their children from ...
3 months ago
101 Dalmatians
The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria
Niamh Simpson
I gotta be honest, I’m really not in the mood to write about the proliferation of fascism today. Last night I rather foolishly decided that the best way to take my mind off the dread of election ...
4 months ago
The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria
Evolver
Niamh Simpson
I worry that when it comes to reviewing anything involving tech, I’m building a reputation as a bit of a Luddite. I think NFTs are a morally bankrupt and environmentally catastrophic grift; I think ...
4 months ago
Evolver
Gormenghast
Niamh Simpson
Before we start, I have some allegiances I should probably declare. I personally know two members of the Gormenghast cast (Gormencast?), as well as the show’s marketing officer. This, however, has ...
4 months ago
Gormenghast
Heathers: The Musical
Niamh Simpson
On the face of it, Heathers is a show that seems ripe for criticism. It’s crass, it’s crude, it’s glib, and the opening number is peppered with slurs. The trigger warnings are myriad: suicide, ...
4 months ago
Heathers: The Musical
Buffy Revamped
Niamh Simpson
Buffy: Revamped is, in many ways, a testament to the extraordinary cultural staying power of its source material. Joss Whedon’s documented scumbaggery notwithstanding, Buffy the Vampire Slayer ...
6 months ago
Buffy Revamped
çhâñt élečtrónïqùe
Niamh Simpson
çhâñt électrónïqùe don’t need a ton of bells and whistles to work their magic. The avant-garde international musical collective is unassuming in its stagecraft - no lightshows, no elaborate ...
6 months ago
çhâñt élečtrónïqùe
I Saw the TV Glow
Niamh Simpson
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for I Saw The TV Glow and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The lights come up on the closing credits of I Saw the TV Glow. Half of East Oxford’s trans population, myself included, ...
7 months ago
I Saw the TV Glow
Money Talks: Art, Society & Power
Niamh Simpson
Money. It makes the world go round, if Cabaret’s Emcee is to be believed. Of course, seven years prior to Kander and Ebb’s enigmatic narrator extolling the virtues of the mark, the yen, the buck ...
7 months ago
Money Talks: Art, Society & Power
Lost Communications 失絡之聲
Niamh Simpson
Last night at Fusion Arts saw a completely packed house for Lost Communications, billed as a truly one-of-a-kind audiovisual collaboration between electronic musician An-Ting and creative ...
8 months ago
Lost Communications 失絡之聲
Much Ado About Nothing
Niamh Simpson
Of all of Shakespeare’s comedies, Much Ado About Nothing is probably the one that has had the greatest influence on the modern rom-com. There’s no magical faerie intervention, no identical twins ...
8 months ago
Much Ado About Nothing
Oxford Comedy Festival 2024
Niamh Simpson
Monday night saw us back in the Tap Social to another packed house, which is saying something given that the heavens really decided to open for business that evening. It’s no surprise, though - ...
8 months ago
Oxford Comedy Festival 2024
Oxford Comedy Festival 2024
Niamh Simpson
Kudos to Oxford Comedy Festival attendees, we don’t let a last-minute time change deter us from getting the yuks in. There were a few empty seats in the Tap Social as the double-bill of Fatiha ...
8 months ago
Oxford Comedy Festival 2024
The School for Scandal
Niamh Simpson
I’ve been on a bit of a Bridgerton kick lately. I and the rest of the world, it seems, as the Regency romance has been doing gangbusters on Netflix analytics over the last few weeks. As modern ...
9 months ago
The School for Scandal
The Oxford Imps Game Show (Live)
Niamh Simpson
The nature of any Oxford Imps show is that when it comes to what you’re going to get, it’s always a spin of the wheel. The acclaimed improv troupe’s latest show, however, has taken that in a ...
10 months ago
The Oxford Imps Game Show (Live)
Jesus Christ Superstar
Niamh Simpson
Today I have been forced to do something I hoped I would never have to do in my capacity as a critic. Something that goes against my principles, my morals, the sacred ideals that govern my soul. I ...
10 months ago
Jesus Christ Superstar
what’s safe, what’s gross, what’s selfish and what’s stupid
Niamh Simpson
what’s safe, what’s gross, what’s selfish and what’s stupid is, on its face, a film about gestation - desiring it; fearing it; the lengths taken and obstacles faced in achieving it. When ...
11 months ago
what’s safe, what’s gross, what’s selfish and what’s stupid
Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings
Niamh Simpson
If you’re an aspiring artist, you’ll know that there’s a fine line between inspiration and intimidation. Viewing an elaborately crafted masterpiece in a gallery setting might ignite your own ...
12 months ago
Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings
Frieda Toranzo Jaeger: A future in the light of darkness
Niamh Simpson
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been feeling a bit apocalyptic of late. When it’s clearer than ever that Western powers’ coffers are apparently big enough to fund genocidal war ...
12 months ago
Frieda Toranzo Jaeger: A future in the light of darkness
Mean Girls [12A]
Niamh Simpson
“Rarely does good come from a wealthy auteur micromanaging their twenty-something-year-old property.” When film essayist Lindsay Ellis made this observation, she was referring to some of the ...
a year ago
Mean Girls [12A]
The Ivy Brasserie
Niamh Simpson
Last night I had the pleasure of enjoying a night of nostalgia at The Ivy, which recently unveiled its new 1917 set menu. A “culinary time capsule”, as they put it, the menu serves as a ...
a year ago
The Ivy Brasserie
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
Niamh Simpson
Before we get going, let’s get one thing, for lack of a better word, straight; drag is not, and has never been, a threat to your kids. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, based on the real-life ...
a year ago
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
Cosy Club
Niamh Simpson
Last Thursday, Niamh and Sophia ventured to Cornmarket’s slick new cocktail bar/upmarket restaurant, Cosy Club, for the location’s opening party. They share their verdicts below. NS: The word of ...
a year ago
Cosy Club
I, Daniel Blake
Niamh Simpson
I, Daniel Blake’s heart is about as in the right place as you could get. The stage adaptation of Ken Loach’s 2016 film, chronicling Daniel Blake’s Sisyphean slog through a callous and ...
a year ago
I, Daniel Blake
England and Son
Niamh Simpson
The last time I saw Mark Thomas live on stage, some poor fool at the Old Fire Station had just told him to stop swearing when referring to the late Queen. Given that Thomas has been using his blunt, ...
a year ago
England and Son
Jamie Mykaela: I JUST NEED TO SMILE MORE at The Oxford Comedy Festival
Niamh Simpson
“I’m a comedy-cabaret artist,” Jamie Mykaela smirks wryly at the denizens of the Tap Social. “If you laugh, it’s comedy; if you don’t, it’s cabaret. Fuck you, I can’t lose.” It’s ...
2 years ago
Jamie Mykaela: I JUST NEED TO SMILE MORE at The Oxford Comedy Festival
Boundary Encounters
Niamh Simpson
What would be the sign you would most expect to encounter upon entering a gallery space? For most of us the phrase that leaps to mind is ‘do not touch’ - the gallery setting is often one that ...
2 years ago
Boundary Encounters
My Lost Country [TBC]
Niamh Simpson
On Sunday evening I had the distinct privilege of attending a director Q&A screening of Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez’s My Lost Country, organised as part of the SAFAR Film Festival taking place in ...
2 years ago
My Lost Country [TBC]
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Niamh Simpson
Just before the lights went down as we settled in for The Ocean at the End of the Lane, my phone pinged with a message from a friend. I had posted a picture of the programme online and she had very ...
2 years ago
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Electric Daisy
Niamh Simpson
If there’s one attitude with which you should go into Electric Daisy, I would suggest ‘meditative’. At only twenty-five minutes or so long, this self-contained sound-art experience gives from ...
2 years ago
Electric Daisy
Brilli-ANT!
Niamh Simpson
In the upper reaches of the Story Museum, there’s big trouble in a little anthill. For their latest exhibition, Brilli-ANT, visitors take on the role of ants trying to find solutions to the ...
2 years ago
Brilli-ANT!
The Spongebob Musical
Niamh Simpson
I’ll be honest, my colleagues were a little confused as to why I lobbied so hard for this particular ticket. If you don’t keep up to date on contemporary musical theatre news, The SpongeBob ...
2 years ago
The Spongebob Musical
The Oxford Imps... return to the Bullingdon!
Niamh Simpson
An Oxford Imps show is never anything less than a treat. Oxford’s pre-eminent “yes-and”ers delivered their first improv show of term on Monday with both a packed house and a packed stage, with ...
2 years ago
The Oxford Imps... return to the Bullingdon!
Carey Young: Appearance
Niamh Simpson
The glow of an immense screen lights up a vast, dark atrium. The set-up onscreen is simple: a seamless white backdrop, a smattering of cameras and sound rigs in the foreground, and a chair cushioned ...
2 years ago
Carey Young: Appearance
The Oxford Imps: Women and NB Special! - Improvised Comedy
Niamh Simpson
Improv is a skill for which I harbour an intense combination of awe and envy, the way most people watch Olympic sport. Speaking as someone that can only reliably be funny with at least a week’s ...
2 years ago
The Oxford Imps: Women and NB Special! - Improvised Comedy
SPUDS: A Spudding Romance
Niamh Simpson
They say love is a many-splendored thing, and on Friday night I was lucky enough to catch five of those splendours at A Spudding Romance, a Valentine’s spectacular hosted by local drag collective ...
2 years ago
SPUDS: A Spudding Romance
The Cher Show
Niamh Simpson
If you’re anything like me, one thought probably leapt to mind when you heard that The Cher Show was hitting the New Theatre: “Wait, didn’t Drag Race do this already?” And you’d be right. ...
2 years ago
The Cher Show
Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality
Niamh Simpson
There are few Greek legends which have as much cultural capital as Theseus and the Minotaur. The first chamber of the Ashmolean’s latest exhibition, Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth and Reality, lines its ...
2 years ago
Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality
The Tempest
Niamh Simpson
Adapting The Tempest is a tall order for any dramatist. Shakespeare’s last ever solo theatrical work summons a perfect storm of elements from multiple theatrical conventions, comic and tragic ...
2 years ago
The Tempest
Stewart Lee: Basic Lee
Niamh Simpson
If his last few tours are anything to go by, Stewart Lee is fond of a set piece. Content Provider saw his stage strewn with DVDs and defunct computers; a flurry of snow during the closer of ...
2 years ago
Stewart Lee: Basic Lee
Tar [15]
Niamh Simpson
It’s been impossible to escape the hype for Cate Blanchett in Tár, especially if you happen to run in the kind of social media circles I do. The centre of Todd Field’s near three hour meditation ...
2 years ago
Tar [15]
The Whale [15]
Niamh Simpson
Let me begin by adding my horn to Brendan Fraser’s well-deserved critical fanfare, because my God, what a seismic comeback this is. Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale has been the subject of much ...
2 years ago
The Whale [15]
Corsage [15]
Niamh Simpson
I must say I went into Corsage with some idea of what to expect. The film’s marketing had a flavour of The Favourite or Marie Antoinette about it, a quirkily askance account of an enigmatic monarch ...
2 years ago
Corsage [15]
Mamma Mia!
Niamh Simpson
Pull up your bell bottoms and strap on your platforms, because ABBA’s smash hit jukebox musical Mamma Mia! has finally hit the New Theatre. Seen by over 65 million people since it first premiered ...
2 years ago
Mamma Mia!
The Menu [15]
Niamh Simpson
Well, before we begin let’s get the obvious gag out of the way - nothing on The Menu is cruelty free. When enigmatic celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) extends a coveted dinner invitation ...
2 years ago
The Menu [15]
The George Hotel, Dorchester
Niamh Simpson
At five centuries old, Dorchester-on-Thames’ George Hotel boasts the accolade of being one of the oldest coaching inns in the UK. Its recent acquisition by the Coaching Inn Group has seen some ...
2 years ago
The George Hotel, Dorchester
SPUDS! Strange People Undertake a Drag Show
Niamh Simpson
Hallowe’en is often referred to as “queer Christmas”, and for good reason. It’s the time of year when the veil is thinnest and boundaries get blurred; where we revel in what we are otherwise ...
2 years ago
SPUDS! Strange People Undertake a Drag Show
The Two Popes
Niamh Simpson
Heavy hangs the head that wears the mitre. The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, upsetting 700 years of Catholic precedent, sent shockwaves across the faith back in 2013. A staunch conservative and ...
2 years ago
The Two Popes
German-Ukrainian poetry collective Landschaft
Niamh Simpson
The stage of the Old Fire Station is sparsely set – three laptops, a sound mixer and a looming projector screen. Pan-European poetry collective Landschaft saunter onstage, their bright red boiler ...
2 years ago
German-Ukrainian poetry collective Landschaft
Marina Abramović: Gates and Portals
Niamh Simpson
I am lying prone on a black mat in a corner of the Modern Art Oxford Gallery. Moments earlier an attendant, clad in black, took my hand and wordlessly guided me through a black archway, out of which ...
2 years ago
Marina Abramović: Gates and Portals
Dreamgirls
Niamh Simpson
The Apollo Theatre, New York, circa 1962. The rise of Motown and R&B sees the music industry brimming with possibility; the stuff that dreams are made on. Enter the Dreamettes, a plucky girl group ...
2 years ago
Dreamgirls
Adult Children & All Kinds of Limbo
Niamh Simpson
“Thought’s as valid a method of travel as any other these days.” “Except, it’s not really, is it?” This was the exchange that stuck out to me most during Adult Children, one half of a ...
2 years ago
Adult Children & All Kinds of Limbo
Spike
Niamh Simpson
You’d be hard-pressed to find any pillar of British comedy that doesn’t owe Spike Milligan a debt of gratitude. Monty Python, Eddie Izzard, The Mighty Boosh; all have credited Milligan’s ...
2 years ago
Spike
The Society Of Wood Engravers: 84th Annual Exhibition
Niamh Simpson
Attempting to review the Society of Wood Engraver’s 84th annual exhibition is no mean feat, if only because of the sheer volume of subjects and styles on display. Founded in 1920, with the aim of ...
2 years ago
The Society Of Wood Engravers: 84th Annual Exhibition
KA-BOOM! The Art of Creating Comics
Niamh Simpson
If there’s one thing the Story Museum’s KA-BOOM: The Art of Creating Comics wants you to know, it’s that in this space, kids rule. This is clear from the moment of entry, when you are greeted ...
2 years ago
KA-BOOM! The Art of Creating Comics
The Feast [18]
Niamh Simpson
In an ultra-modern detached house sat incongruously in the heart of the Welsh mountains, Cadi (Annes Elwy) has been hired to cater a very special dinner party. Politician Gwyn and his wife Glenda ...
2 years ago
The Feast [18]
Young & Wild? Art in 1980s Germany
Niamh Simpson
There is a sense of experimentation simmering within the exhibition space of Young and Wild?, the Ashmolean’s retrospective on 1980s Germany’s Neo-Expressionist movement. The connection between ...
2 years ago
Young & Wild? Art in 1980s Germany
