Five of the best ... films
Avengers: Infinity War (12A)
Anthony Russo, Joe Russo , 2018, US) 149 mins
Marvel fans have spent 10 years building up to this almighty superhero battle – so it had better be worth the wait. Although, even if it isn’t, surely no one is going to stop watching now. The huge cast takes some wrangling, but there’s a universe to save and Josh Brolin’s big-chinned mega-villain Thanos to thwart. Sacrifices will have to be made.
Beast (15)
(Michael Pearce, 2017, UK) 107 mins
Outsider love rarely felt so dangerous as in this intense Jersey-set tale, which treads a very careful line between fairytale horror and twisted romantic thriller. Throughout, Jessie Buckley is a revelation, playing the misfit girl with a dark past, whose newfound soulmate (Johnny Flynn) might well be a serial killer. A match made in heaven?
Funny Cow (15)
(Adrian Shergold, 2017, UK) 103 mins
Maxine Peake puts herself in the hecklers’ firing line on the bigoted 1970s comedy circuit in this tale of hard-won empowerment. She has already survived a traumatic childhood and an abusive husband; how hard can it be? Feelgood platitudes are mercifully absent in a non-linear story that supports Peake’s tremendous performance with the likes of Paddy Considine, Stephen Graham and Lindsey Coulson, plus some comic cameos.
A Quiet Place (15)
(John Krasinski, 2018, US) 90 mins
This year’s Get Out? This hit horror doesn’t have the same political resonance, but it makes the most of a fiendishly clever premise: aliens with super-sensitive hearing, who are triggered by the slightest noise. It’s survival of the quietest in an empty, post-apocalyptic world. Kraskinski and Emily Blunt’s family of survivalists have made the lifestyle changes but, in this world, every step could be their last.
Western (12A)
(Valeska Grisebach, 2017, Ger/Bul/Aus) 121 mins
A modern-day culture-clash drama: our protagonist is the strong, silent Meinhard (Meinhard Neumann, pictured), a German construction worker in rural Bulgaria, who knows how to handle a horse and a gun, but also how to engage with the locals. His co-workers’ less savvy style threatens to erupt into violence.
SR
Five of the best ... rock & pop gigs
Kamasi Washington
Bored of musicians displaying a lack of ambition? Well just you wait until June and the release of saxophonist, producer and Kendrick Lamar collaborator Washington’s second studio album, the conceptual, two-hour long, 16-track opus Heaven and Earth. He will showcase a fraction of its scope on this brief UK visit.
The Roundhouse, NW1, Wednesday 2; Albert Hall, Manchester, Friday 4; touring to 5 May
Ravyn Lenae
Raised on a diet of OutKast, Timbaland, India.Arie, and Erykah Badu, 19-year-old Lenae creates a constantly shifting musical universe that fuses atmospheric R&B and lithe pop with unexpected electronic textures. Her third EP, Crush, which was produced alongside the Internet’s Steve Lacy, is the best showcase so far of one of modern R&B’s most exciting prospects.
Heaven, WC2, Thursday 3 May
Jungle
It has been nearly four years since sophisticated soul-pop collective Jungle’s self-titled debut. But earlier this month they broke cover, sharing a new song, House in LA, recorded for Carson Daly’s US chatshow. You’d expect the seven-piece to unveil more new material at this extensive run of shows, which feature stellar support from Rae Morris and Tom Tripp, but you will have to buy a ticket to find out.
Glasgow, Thursday 3; Newcastle upon Tyne, Friday 5; touring to 12 May
Yo La Tengo
The so-called “quintessential critics’ band” – ie, they’ve sold roughly 12 records – head out in support of last month’s critically acclaimed (obvs) album There’s a Riot Going On. It’s their 15th, so expect songs from their vast back catalogue as well as some indulgent covers (Hey Ya! by OutKast is in their repertoire).
Dublin, Saturday 28; Glasgow, Sunday 29; Manchester, Monday 30 May; Birmingham, Tuesday 1; Leeds, Thursday 3; London, Friday 4 May
MC
Courtney Pine Featuring Omar
Whether he’s setting crowds jumping to swing, funk, ska and
hip-hop, or captivating them with his soulful lyricism, multi-instrumentalist Courtney Pine has been a giant of UK jazz since the 80s. His show is a real highlight of 2018’s Cheltenham jazz festival, where he’ll play with soul star Omar.
Cheltenham Town Hall, Friday 4 May
JF
Four of the best ... classical concerts
Face
Although contemporary Australian composers get a reasonable airing in Britain, music by New Zealanders is heard here much more rarely. But the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s concert under Gergely Madaras includes the UK premiere of a major work by Ross Harris. Face celebrates the work of plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, who pioneered facial reconstruction in the first world war.
Barbican Hall, EC2, Saturday 28 April
Bruckner Orchester Linz
Based in Anton Bruckner’s home city, the orchestra that bears his name is now the second biggest in Austria, only outstripped by the Vienna Philharmonic. Although it performs contemporary music, the core of its repertory is music of the Austro-German tradition. This UK tour is dominated by one of the most massive products of that tradition, Mahler’s Second Symphony, with Markus Poschner conducting and soloists Brigitte Geller and Theresa Kronthaler.
Edinburgh, Sunday 29 April; Middlesbrough, Tuesday 1; London, Thursday 3; Reading, Friday 4; touring to 6 May
Anne-Sophie Mutter
It would be very easy for a violinist of Mutter’s huge achievement to rest on her laurels and confine herself to a handful of showy concertos. But she is too much of an inquiring musician to be content with that, and throughout her career she has encouraged composers to write new works for her. She plays one of those in her latest appearances with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Lukasz Borowicz: the second violin concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki, which he composed in the mid-1990s.
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Tuesday 1; Royal Festival Hall, SE1, Wednesday 2 May
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
James Cook: The Voyages
Talented artists accompanied James Cook on his voyages of exploration, including William Hodges, who painted what seemed to Europeans a paradise on Earth in Tahiti, more than 100 years before Gauguin got there. Cook also collected the art of the Pacific (work by Tupaia pictured). A fascinating encounter between two worlds at the dawn of modernity.
The British Library, NW1, to 28 August
Glasgow International
Glasgow’s art scene is justly famous for its creativity and lack of commercial cynicism. Where London has art dealers, this city has artists. Several – from Douglas Gordon to Susan Philipsz – have won the Turner prize. This festival celebrating Glasgow’s global art role includes Mark Leckey, Ciara Phillips and Urs Fischer.
Various venues, to 7 May
Anne Hardy
Reality and fantasy merge in the art of Anne Hardy, who creates enigmatic abandoned spaces – a cluttered basement, the aftermath of a party – that she photographs before destroying. This exhibition includes a large photographic image of a smashed-up studio full of speakers and dangling, unspooled tape: the wreckage of a lost age of sound. She also shows a new film, Area of Overlap, within one of her own artworks.
Maureen Paley, E2, to 20 May
For All Mankind: Vintage Nasa Photographs 1963-1980
The Apollo moon landings changed humanity’s understanding of itself and its world for ever. The first human journeys beyond Earth’s orbit gave us new images of our blue planet, and astronauts stepping on the moon saw and felt a new perspective on the fragility of our biosphere. The photographs they took are on view in this journey back to Nasa’s golden age.
The Exhibitionist Hotel, SW7, to 17 June
Pier Paolo Calzolari
The arte povera movement in 1960s Italy reflects its place and time perfectly. Its fascination with natural materials and processes was at once powerfully contemporary and full of nostalgia for a more natural past. Calzori distills the strange poetry of arte povera in works that cover burned wood and tobacco leaves with artificially created frost. Ethereal experiments in alchemy.
White Cube at Masons Yard, SW1, to 12 May
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
The Grinning Man
It’s your last chance to see this highly original musical based on Victor Hugo’s 1869 story The Man Who Laughs. But don’t go expecting Les Mis in a minor key. This is a far more deliciously dark affair, set in an off-kilter 17th-century England where Grinpayne had his face slashed from ear to ear as a child and now works in a circus freak show.
Trafalgar Studios, SW1, to 5 May
Five Easy Pieces
Swiss director Milo Rau’s devised show tells the story of convicted Belgian murderer and paedophile Marc Dutroux, and it is performed by one adult and seven children aged between nine and 14. A show that is funny, serious and heartbreaking as it probes the aftermath of trauma and the failings of government. In Dutch with surtitles.
Unicorn Theatre, SE1, Saturday 28 April
Ugly Chief
Back in 2013, Mike Melody was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given five years to live. So he asked his daughter, Victoria, to organise his funeral. However, the diagnosis turned out to be wrong and he’s still alive, but they are having the funeral anyway – live on stage. Because, as Victoria observes, all a funeral really is “is a sad theatre show”. This one is an absolute riot as Mike unleashes chaos and Victoria attempts to regain control.
Polam Hall School: Liddiard Theatre, Darlington, Saturday 28 April; touring to 15 May
The Believers Are But Brothers
A fascinatingly constructed and unsettlingly disturbing 60 minutes about different kinds of extremism, Javaad Alipoor’s clever Edinburgh hit, co-directed by Kirsty Housley, takes us into a shadowy online world. Disaffected young men sit hunched in the shadows clicking on sites popular with the “alt-right” such as 4chan, or watching Isis recruitment videos that lure them with promises of belief and heroism.
Theatre in the Mill, Bradford, Saturday 28 April; Theatre Royal: The Drum, Plymouth, Tuesday to 5 May
Half Breed
This is a terrific debut show from Natasha Marshall, a solo piece about a young woman, Jazz, growing up in deepest Somerset where she is “the only black in the village”. When best friend Bogan gets a boyfriend, Jazz knows that her only course of action is to leave, but not before she tells a few home truths about village life. A fierce, witty and heartfelt show about difference and tolerance.
Arc Theatre, Trowbridge, Thursday 3 May; touring to 9 June
LG
Three of the best ... dance shows
Shechter II: Show
Hofesh Shechter’s eight-strong youth company takes on the rock gig vibe of its parent organisation with a programme that includes Clowns, a satirical, circus-themed work in which the social hierarchy is turned upside down to wickedly comic effect, bookended by The Entrance and Exit, with music by Shechter himself.
Bristol Old Vic, Friday 4 & 5 May; touring to 19 May
BalletBoyz: Fourteen Days
In typically creative commissioning from the company, Javier de Frutos, Craig Revel Horwood, Iván Pérez and Christopher Wheeldon had 14 days to come up with new works on the theme of balance and imbalance.
London, Saturday 28; Bristol, Monday 30 April; Darlington, Wednesday 2; Nottingham, Friday 4; touring to 29 May
The Tap Pack
Inspired by the style and slickery of the original Rat Pack – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr – this group of Australian tappers deliver some classy dancing to a hit list of numbers that range from Sinatra to Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran.
Peacock Theatre, WC2, Tue to 19 May
JM
