Five of the best ... films
High Life (18)
(Claire Denis, 2018, UK/Fra/Ger/Pol/US) 113 mins
Over the years, Claire Denis has forged a reputation as one of the most intelligent and uncompromising auteurs around. High Life is her typically subversive take on the sci-fi genre, with a little of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine and a lot of her own trademark inspections of physical matter and the human relations that arise. Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin and Mia Goth star.
Amazing Grace (U)
(Sydney Pollack, Alan Elliott, 2018, US) 89 mins
In 1972, Aretha Franklin recorded a live gospel album at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Director Sydney Pollack recorded it on film, but a problem with sound-image syncing meant the footage languished in a vault. Released with the singer’s estate’s permission, this is a record of a performer at the height of her powers.
Madeline’s Madeline (15)
(Josephine Decker, 2018, US) 93 mins
Drama about the relationship between performance and reality, told through the experience of a teenager working on an improv show while waiting to find out if she got into acting school. Taking its cue from the emotion trigger (“madeline”) cited by Proust, Josephine Decker’s actor-y film has Helena Howard as the fringe-theatre ingenue whose talents are exploited by stage director Evangeline (Molly Parker), and who scraps with her mother Regina (Miranda July).
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (PG)
(Rob Letterman, 2019, Jap/US) 104 mins
More evidence that Hollywood will turn absolutely anything into a smartmouth kidult thriller, given the chance. This is ultimately derived from a role-play video game, and is a long, long way from your standard feature-length Pokémon film, with the yellow electric furball out solving crimes in a voice supplied by Ryan Reynolds. Points for trying, if nothing else.
Diamantino (15)
(Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt, 2018, Por/Fra/Bra) 96 mins
Bizarre satire/fantasy from Portugal. The eponymous Diamantino is a perfectly sculpted genius sportsman, whose resemblance to Cristiano Ronaldo is surely deliberate. His head filled largely with glitter and puppies, Diamantino’s world is turned upside down after he misses a penalty in the World Cup final.
AP
Five of the best ... rock & pop
Actress
Right: pay attention, things are about to get complicated. Billed as Actress x Stockhausen Sin (x) II, this world premiere finds electronic producer Darren Cunningham, AKA Actress, teaming up with his artificial intelligence project, Young Paint, to create a libretto inspired by real MPs debating the meaning of love against the backdrop of the protracted Brexit debates of December 2018. Phew!
Royal Festival Hall, SE1, Tuesday 14 May
Aldous Harding
Three albums in and no one is any closer to working out how to describe New Zealander Harding’s output. Which is good news for her, but bad news for music journalists. New album Designer is perhaps the best example of her playful creative meanderings, fuelled by lyrics such as: “Show the ferret to the egg / I’m not getting led along.”
Brighton, Wednesday 15; Cambridge, Thursday 16; Leeds, Friday 17; touring to 23 May
G Flip
Last February, G Flip, AKA drummer and part-time music teacher Georgia Flipo, popped her synth-led, ludicrously catchy debut single About You online from her Melbourne home. It was swiftly picked up by Pitchfork, which rewarded it with its prestigious Best New Music tag. Since then, she has released Drink Too Much, a bouncy ode to model Steph Claire Smith, and the more maudlin I Am Not Afraid. One to keep an eye on, basically.
The Garage, N5, Wednesday 15 May
The Funk and Soul Weekender
Like funk? Like soul? Fancy a weekend of funk and soul? Then Brighton’s self-explanatory Funk and Soul Weekender could be just the ticket. Now in its third year, the lineup is essentially late-night radio come to life, ranging from jazz adventurer Kamasi Washington to rap legends the Pharcyde, via DJ sets by the likes of Craig Charles and, of course, Huey Morgan.
Various venues, Brighton, Friday 17 to 19 May
MC
Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy
The spirited and vocally dazzling soul and jazz vocalist Sarah Jane Morris has written a raft of memorable, often political, songs. But it is her interpreter’s gift, and the creativity of her collaboration with guitarist Tony Remy, that steers this album-launching tour, devoted to the brittle intimacies of the late folk star John Martyn’s songs.
Purcell Room, SE1, Tuesday 14; touring to 19 May
JF
Three of the best ... classical concerts
Phaedra
Hans Werner Henze’s “concert opera” was his penultimate stage work, first performed in 2007, five years before his death. With a libretto by Christian Lehnert that’s as much commentary as narrative, it’s a piece that hovers between concert hall and opera house, retelling the well-known Greek legend from the point of view of Hippolytus, Phaedra’s murdered stepson. The Royal Opera’s staging is directed by Noa Naamat, with singers from the Jette Parker Young Artists scheme, and the Southbank Sinfonia conducted by Edmund Whitehead.
Royal Opera House: Linbury Theatre, WC2, Wednesday 15 to 20 May
London Festival of Baroque Music
“Travel and Discovery” provide the theme for this year’s week of all things baroque at St John’s Smith Square. The programme ranges across the Old and New Worlds, from the Andalucian origins of flamenco to Latin American baroque, from music of the 18th-century Grand Tour to Purcell’s The Indian Queen, depicting an imaginary war between indigenous Mexicans and the Incas. Artists include Ex Cathedra and La Nuova Musica, Le Concert de l’Hostel-Dieu and Jordi Savall’s Hespèrion XXI.
St John’s Smith Square, SW1, to 18 May
Outre Mémoire
Composer Thierry Pécou brings his Ensemble Variances to the Brighton festival for a performance of his commemoration of the slave trade. The 12 movements of the 75-minute work trace the slaves’ journey from their homes in Africa to the plantations of the Americas; it’s a haunting meditation on cruelty and exploitation, poverty and the desire for wealth.
All Saints Church, Hove, Thursday 16 May
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
AI: More Than Human
Can computers make art? Well, they can offer human creators help, as the likes of Anna Ridler and Mario Klingemann demonstrate in this artistic futurama. They work with learning machines that can not only pick up skills but criticise their own efforts. Ridler’s digital remake of Dutch golden age tulip paintings is seductive, and very human.
Barbican Centre, EC2, Thursday 16 May to 26 August
Woodwork: A Family Tree of Sculpture
At the opposite end of the technological scale from AI is wood. Modern artists including Barbara Hepworth and Ronald Moody brought this ancient material back to the cutting – or chiselling – edge. Their works are shown here in a sampler of carved wonders that spans the globe.
Leeds Art Gallery, to 29 March
Francis Bacon
The meaty genius of the greatest British artist of the 20th century hits you like a lorry mowing down a Soho drunk, a scene he’d surely have observed with clinical detachment. Bacon’s bleak sense of life as a tragicomic combat of lovers in a locked room is claustrophobic and remorseless, yet he shocks you with blasts of passion and pity. At the centre of it all is the human figure, crucified in horribly modern ways.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, to 2 June
Joy for Ever
What is the point of art? Victorian critic John Ruskin believed it could change, even save, the world. The Whitworth marks the 200th anniversary of his birth with an exhibition that asks how art can recapture that social purpose today. Local communities are involved alongside contemporary artists and masterpieces from the collection, including Aikaterini Gegisian, Jorge Otero-Pailos and JMW Turner.
The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, to 9 June
I,I,I,I,I,I,I, Kathy Acker
This provocative and stimulating show splices passionate, hilarious images and words into a homage to the pioneering postmodern writer. Whether on video or in wall texts taken from her works, Acker’s presence is restless and challenging. Art that resonates with her libertarian politics of sex and gender ranges from a ventilation system removed from a Belgian bar to the decadent drawings of Jamie Crewe.
ICA, SW1, to 4 August
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
Anna
Kudos to the National Theatre for going a bit edgy. Ella Hickson (The Writer) is an inventive and enjoyably unpredictable playwright and her latest work is set in East Berlin in 1968, a time heavy with surveillance and suspicion. Ben and Max Ringham have created a soundscape, which will be fed to the audience via headsets, under the direction of Natalie Abrahami. Phoebe Fox leads the cast.
National Theatre: Dorfman, SE1, Saturday 11 May to 15 June
Dido
Opera – for the family! Purni Morell and ENO conductor Valentina Peleggi are joining forces to create a new version of Purcell’s devastating opera. This version, aimed at a younger audience, will focus on Dido’s daughter, entangled in her mother’s tragic demise. This is Morell’s last show for the Unicorn and she will undoubtedly go out with a bang.
Unicorn Theatre, SE1, Saturday 11 May to 2 June
Norfolk & Norwich festival
All art festivals label themselves as “inventive” these days, but the Norfolk event’s lineup this year – Daniel Brine’s second in charge – looks genuinely leftfield and exciting. There will be a high-wire walk through the city to kick things off; a news show made by kids (News News News); Ray Lee’s magical mystery tour of Norwich; three storytelling shows by Shôn Dale-Jones to celebrate Hoipolloi’s 25th anniversary; and Johannes Bellinkx’s walking tour, done backwards.
Various venues, to 26 May
The Lehman Trilogy
Don’t let the synopsis put you off. Ben Power’s play (an adaptation of Stefano Massini’s Italian epic) tells the 160-year-long story of the Lehman brothers, German Jewish immigrants who made a fortune and then – during the crash of 2008 – spectacularly lost it all. It sounds long. Potentially dull. However, it is gracefully directed by Sam Mendes and stars hard-hitters Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles. It will surprise you.
Piccadilly Theatre, W1, Saturday 11 May to 3 August
Class
Iseult Golden and David Horan’s play arrives in London off the back of some top-notch reviews. The action unfolds in a primary school, where nine-year-old Jayden is struggling. The teacher thinks the boy should see a psychologist; his parents think otherwise. Can they – should they – trust the system? A complex, biting comedy; the type where every laugh comes with a twinge, gasp or moment of doubt.
The Bush Theatre, W12, to 1 June
MG
Three of the best ... dance shows
Gary Clarke Company: Wasteland
Following his award-winning Coal, about the miners’ strike in his home town of Grimethorpe, Clarke’s latest dance-theatre piece looks at what happened after the mines closed, specifically at how young people looking at a bleak future found rave culture. It features archive film and artwork by Jimmy Cauty of the KLF.
Cast, Doncaster, Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 May
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet
A world premiere of a new show from master storyteller Matthew Bourne. As ever, his take will come with unexpected twists, as we find the young lovers in a mysterious institution in the not-too-distant future, set to Prokofiev’s classic reorchestrated score.
Curve Theatre, Leicester, Monday 13 to 18 May; touring to 12 October
Rambert: McGregor / Motin / Shechter
She has choreographed for Christine and the Queens and Dua Lipa; now trés cool French hip-hopper Marion Motin makes her first work for a contemporary dance company. It shares the bill with early works by Wayne McGregor and Hofesh Shechter.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, Tuesday 14 to 18 May
LW
Main image composite: Martin Valentin Menke; Peanut Factory Studio; Johan Persson
