Comedy
Stewart Lee
Lee’s ongoing Content Provider show comes with some advice via his website: “Leave voters planning to walk out in disgust will need to book early.” Expect musings on Trump, Brexit (obviously) and his own intellectual superiority.
At Oxford Playhouse, 11-12 September; Charter theatre, Preston, 13 September; Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 14-15 September, touring until 23 March
Dance
Grand Finale
Do you enjoy live music, anarchic visual spectacle and contemporary dance? If so, Hofesh Shechter’s Grand Finale – billed as “part dance, part gig, part theatre” – is tailor-made for you. Featuring 10 dancers onstage next to a band of musicians, the performance includes “cinematic electronic sounds” and “vocal chants”.
At Sadler’s Wells, EC1, 12-16 September
Exhibitions
The La’s 1987
Opening on Friday at Liverpool’s The Florrie, this exhibition features previously unseen photos taken on the first UK tour of one-hit wonders The La’s. There’s a legacy-stretching album of rarities, too.
Rachel Whiteread
Often working with casts, Rachel Whiteread started big, creating an imposing concrete impression of the interior space of a Victorian terraced house in 1993. It won her the Turner prize that year (she was the first female winner), before being unceremoniously demolished by Tower Hamlets council in 1994. This new show celebrates 25 years of her sculpture, featuring well-known works – including 1995’s Untitled (Pink Torso) – alongside some previously unseen pieces.
At Tate Britain, SW1, 12 September to 21 January
Scythians: Warriors of Ancient Siberia
This major new exhibition at the British Museum shines a spotlight on the nomadic warrior tribes of Siberia who flourished between 900BC and 200BC. For centuries, all trace of their culture was trapped beneath the ice, but recent thawing has revealed clothes, gold jewellery and furniture.
At British Museum, WC1, 14 September to 14 January
Film
Not Just Bollywood
As the title suggests, this new season shows there’s more to Indian film than the obvious. Highlights include Berlin film festival-winner Newton, the heartwarming The Lunchbox and political melodrama Court.
HOME Manchester, 14-30 September
Mother!
Darren Aronofsky’s batshit-crazy psychological horror Mother! centres on Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, whose tranquil life is obliterated after a visit from Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. Expect scenery-chewing performances, bleeding light bulbs and an uneasy feeling of perpetual dread throughout. Be baffled from 15 September.
Theatre
What Shadows
Ian McDiarmid, AKA Star Wars’s Emperor Palpatine, takes on the role of Enoch Powell in this unfortunately still-relevant snapshot of a divided nation. Playwright Chris Hannan employs a dual timeframe, switching between Powell’s incendiary 1968 speech on immigration and 1992 creation Rose, a black academic writing a book about English identity.
At Royal Lyceum theatre, Edinburgh, to 23 September
Music
John Legend
Dinner-party soul practitioner John Legend’s last album, Darkness and Light – which he’s touring around cavernous UK arenas until 20 September – attempted to move him away from mega-ballad All of Me’s sappy Hallmark-isms, employing the likes of Perfume Genius producer Blake Mills and Will Oldham. So expect a smattering of experimentation either side of the caramel-soft crooning.
Festivals
Hull Beermat photography festival
Forget hanging prints on a wall, this photography festival is all about interacting with the art – specifically, in this case, by standing your pint on it. Budding photographers are invited to take a photo in Hull and East Yorkshire, upload it to Instagram with the #Hullphoto2017 hashtag, impress photographer and judge Martin Parr and then the winners’ efforts will be made into beermats and littered across various pubs, clubs and venues. The winners will be announced by Parr on 15 November. Cheers!
At various venues, Hull, 10 September to 15 November
