It’s often said that there is something for everyone when it comes to extra-curricular at Oxford, and as cliched as that sounds it genuinely is true. From getting involved in the college choir to running the Town and Gown charity 10K on the Brasenose team, there’s a wealth of opportunities for everyone here at Brasenose. But the extra-curricular that has really made my short time at Brasenose so far so special has to be the incredible opportunity to participate in drama.
The first big opportunity for new first years is the University Drama Society Cuppers fest, an intercollegiate drama competition in which teams of freshers produce a half hour production which is then performed (very excitingly) in the Burton Taylor Studio. What initially sounds like a baptism of fire is actually a really fun initiation to the drama scene on both a college and a uni-wide level; not only does Brasenose as a college support the festival by providing a generous prop budget and offering guidance, but the whole College comes together to cheer on the freshers and provide a supportive audience. I can personally say that Cuppers was the highlight of my first term at Oxford; not only did the Brasenose production, a comedy written by myself and Tesni Jones, go on to win the ‘Spirit of Cuppers’ award (which included an invitation to an awards ceremony hosted by Drama Society with appropriately celebratory levels of prosecco consumption), but the fact that all our energies for the first five weeks of term were invested into Cuppers meant that by the time the performance day rolled round there was no semblance of so-called '5th week blues' anywhere to be seen. Not only was this a great initial experience of the drama scene, it was also a great initial experience of Brasenose. Working so closely together meant we really bonded as freshers, and some of the cast have become my best friends in college, but even more importantly it showed us the real sense of community spirit that makes Brasenose so special, as the older students could not have been more encouraging and supportive of us throughout the process.
At the end of first term the next big drama event is the College pantomime. Traditionally written by second year English students, the pantomime is performed after dinner on the last day of term, and most of the student body comes along to enjoy a satirical take on a traditional fairy-tale (typically with a college-specific twist). For the spring term, the big drama news is the 'Hilary Musical'. A tradition created by Freddie Hinds (3rd year physics) and continued ever since, the Hilary Musical is similar to the college pantomime in that both are performed on the last Friday of term and marks a fun and unitive way to end the term, but is completely different in that it tends to be more ambitious in its satirical element, taking on topical political issues – the musicals so far have included ‘Les Milibands’, ‘Brexit: The Musical’ and ‘Trump: An American Horror Story’.
The other big drama news is, of course, the Brasenose Arts Week. The Brasenose Arts Week is the biggest arts festival in Oxford and hosts a plethora of fantastic events and amazing talks. This year the events will include a Q&A session with Head of BBC Comedy Chris Sussman, an outdoor cinema, jazz on the quad and loads of different workshops and drop-ins, but most excitingly (in terms of drama news) the festival will feature three student plays: the first a garden play (Pygmalion, to be directed by Caroline Dehn), the second a Greek play (to be directed by William Bunce) and the third a new writing play (which I am writing at the moment). The arts week is a phenomenal opportunity to get involved in the arts in any capacity and is open to everyone from across the university.
Before I arrived at Brasenose I wasn’t hopeful about how many chances there would be to participate in drama, but I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities. I write this now as the drama rep for the arts committee, having written and directed three college plays and founded a drama society – all things that I could never have anticipated before arriving at Brasenose. Our College is such a creative, supportive and exciting environment that if you want to get involved in college drama it should 100% be the College for you.
By Katie Sayer (English 1st Year)