UNI 2023
THE SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
'Throughout the academic year of 2022-2023, the Oxford Revue celebrated seven decades since the O.T.G. originally concocted and funded a collection of sketches and music for performance at the then-recently established Edinburgh Fringe. Commemorations for the occasion included a number of shows across the academic year, followed by two Fringe shows - The Oxford Revue Did It and The Oxford Revue Will See You Now - across the entirety of August. The end of 2023 was marked by a Christmas-themed sketch show All I Want For Christmas Is Revue.
Pictured - Oxford Revue advertisement posters for Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 respectively.
The Revue, along with its extinct sister troupe the Etceteras, is regularly compared to the Cambridge Footlights. Their respective histories are undoubtedly entangled, with Oxford and Cambridge alumni collaborating on some of the most significant comedy projects of the 20th century. Less flatteringly, both have also grown to represent the continued cultural dominance of these universities' graduates, and the upper class to which they are, even now, more than likely to ascribe to.
'Four-fifths of students from England and Wales accepted at Oxbridge between 2010 and 2015 had parents with top professional and managerial jobs, and the numbers have been edging upwards.' - Hannah Richardson, BBC News, 2017 [source]
'The state-educated 94% of the UK student population are given less than half of Oxford’s offers... Oxford is still not doing enough to improve access for underprivileged students." - Marie-Ann Harvey, Cherwell, 2020 [source]
In spite of such parallels, there are persistent differences between Oxford and Cambridge comedy. The diligently maintained internal structure and brand familiarity of the Cambridge Footlights has led to an almost comforting reliability - a consistent output of productions that extends back to the 1880s [source]. The story of Oxford written comedy, on the other hand, has largely been a race against impending obsolescence. The established concept of a revue was outdated barely a decade after the first Oxford Revue at Edinburgh, while the successes of the late 1970s were cut short by the rise of alternative stand-up. Lacking the sanctuary of international renown enjoyed by the Footlights, Oxford written comedy has nearly withered away for good, on multiple occasions.
Pictured - 2022/2023 Revue members making each other laugh on the Bodleian steps.
This Archive is, in a way, an epitaph. The 'glory days' of Oxford written comedy, as we know them, are over, and that is not a bad thing. Should the responsibility and expectation of creating something with the same impact as Beyond The Fringe burden any teenage shoulders? A nostalgic audience that remembers the triumphs of Oxford's alumni is also likely to forget their far more numerous failures. Comedy has also become a increasingly individual affair over the past seventy years, with enough TikTok skits and Netflix specials to appease and focus any personal taste. To expect an established talent, let alone a student group, to appeal to the entire UK's sense of humour in the present day (in the same way as, say, Monty Python did) is a doomed affair. Besides, as we've seen, student comedy nowadays is largely a nurturer for talent, as opposed to a source of raw talent itself.
Pictured - the Revue rehearses 'The Oxmas Pantomime Spectacular', the 2022 Christmas show. This was the first performance of future Revue president Annabelle Chua.
The second best thing about comedy is its sell-by date. While other forms of art may be defined by their creator or medium, the core property of comedy is a singular emotional reaction from its audience. Thus, as culture and its contributors evolve over time, so must it, resulting in a genre for which upheaval is fundamentally necessary. As the University of Oxford staggers and shuffles towards more inclusive admission, an emerging diversity of voices presents the opportunity for a generation of comedic performance unlike any other - informed by a similarly novel array of inside and outside influences. It is clear, then, that imagining the Revue's future success to be any sort of replication of the past is pointless. The greatest comedic strength of Oxford, after all, has historically been its capacity to adapt and experiment - without which, performances like Hang Down Your Head and Die, or the Revues of 1964 and 1977, would never have happened. Maybe, one day, Oxford can even adapt to escape the centuries-old bicker of its internal elitist politics, and become a centre of true creative innovation.
The 'glory days' of Oxford written comedy, as we know them, are over, and that is not a bad thing. Unknown or even presently unknowable 'glory days' may well be ahead.
Pictured - the Oxford Revue's table at the 2022 Freshers' Fair. The signs on the table read 'Stand-up', 'Music', 'Sketch comedy' and 'More...'
Who knows, really? It's likely I'm analysing this too finely. But the strength of the future is the unlikely and the new. After all, without the second best thing about comedy, you cannot have the best thing about comedy. It makes you laugh.'
- Jack McMinn, 70th co-president of the Oxford Revue
"We had an absolute blast up in Edinburgh, which was made all the more wonderful by our fabulous venue buddies, technicians, @jttedinburgh [Just the Tonic venue] pals, and comedy comrades 💛 2 shows, 46 performances, & 15 cast members - ‘22-3 revue over and out x" - Oxford Revue Instagram post, 2023 [source]
"While glorying in the great traditions of its past, Oxford is ever a city of the present and the future - a city of youth... How many times shall this now lofty scene be acted out, in states unborn and accents unknown?" - British Council Film, 1941 [source]