Five of the best ... films
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (12A)
(JA Bayona, 2018, US) 128 mins
You pretty much know what you’re getting with the Jurassic Extended Universe. This maintains the expected standards, but as well as state-of-the-art dino mayhem (prompted by a volcano), and the return of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (and, briefly, Jeff Goldblum), there are questions of human-animal relations to get your teeth into.
McQueen (15)
(Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, 2018, UK) 111 mins
Every fashion talent gets a documentary, but – with his boundary-pushing artistry and unique story of East End roots, colourful associates and tragic death –Alexander McQueen is more relevant than most. This hits the right balance, with a combination of emotional intelligence, pacy storytelling and breathtaking couture.
My Friend Dahmer (15)
(Marc Meyers, 2017, US) 107 mins
An unnerving but unsensational portrait of the serial killer as a teen reject, based on a graphic novel by his one-time classmate. Ross Lynch acquits himself as the weird kid, who is practically a compendium of danger signs: interest in dead animals, unstable family, repressed sexual urges. The meat of the story comes in Dahmer’s semi-acceptance by his peers, who admire his outsider status – up to a point.
Zama (15)
(Lucrecia Martel, 2017, Arg/Various) 115 mins
An immersive, disorienting journey to the frontiers of “civilisation” and a beautifully composed study of colonial self-deception, this 18th-century odyssey really takes you off the map. The title character (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is a bored, self-important minor official at a South American outpost, whose attempts at romantic and professional progress are frustrated, prompting him to embark on an impulsive manhunt.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (12A)
(Ron Howard, 2018, US) 135 mins
It hasn’t been as big a hit as hoped at the box office, but this is one of the most entertaining Star Wars movies, unburdened by musings on the Force or the Skywalker dynasty. It’s an action-packed space western, full of new landscapes, and carried by a likable cast including Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover.
SR
Five of the best ... rock & pop gigs
Taylor Swift
Please welcome to the stage … T-Swizzle’s leotard and amazing array of barbed lyrics! Taking her vengeful, lusty record Reputation on the road after a year of busting rumours about her personal life and voting habits, the hyper-professional star brings Camila Cabello and Charli XCX as supports, plus her usual glitzy finesse.
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Saturday 9; Croke Park, Dublin, Friday 15; touring to 23 June
Jamie Isaac
NME recently hailed the new breed of male crooners (Matt Maltese, Rex Orange County et al) as “schmaltzcore”, and while Jamie Isaac certainly fits part of that template, “bedsit bossa nova” is probably more apt. The singer, who is a pal and contemporary of King Krule, fuses dulcet Chet Baker vocals with laconic jazzy R&B, and recently released his second album.
Village Underground, EC2, Tuesday 12; Rough Trade, Bristol, Thursday 14 June
Ghostface Killah
If Damon Albarn is the most prolific man in rock, Ghostface Killah is his rap contemporary, only without the songs about baby elephants. Beyond his six albums with the Wu-Tang Clan, he’s put out 12 solo LPs and four collaborative ones, and cameoed in TV shows, films and games. According to Masta Killa, he’s also about to mastermind a new Wu-Tang album.
Milton Keynes, Saturday 9; Newcastle upon Tyne, Monday 11; Glasgow, Tuesday 12; Bristol, Wednesday 13; Manchester, Thursday 14; Leeds, Friday 15 June
Katy Perry
Witness: The Tour arrives in town, sure to feature nose-tapping nods at world leaders, iPhones, robots and the Illuminati. The Californian pop star may have swapped her whipped cream-cannon bras for Miley Cyrus-style rebellion, but beyond the heavy handed political messaging she’s sure to bring a circus of cartoonish buoyancy and confetti-filled frivolousness.
The O2, SE10, Thursday 14 & Friday 15; touring to 25 June
Phronesis
Since 2005, Anglo-Scandinavian trio Phronesis have made knotty jazz complexities and ecstatic rock excitement meld in a multitude of ways. Pianist Ivo Neame, bassist Jasper Høiby and drummer Anton Eger – one of European jazz’s most dynamic bands – will rework five of their albums in this mini-festival for Edition Records’ 10th birthday.
PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Soho, W1, Thursday 14 to 17 June
JF
Four of the best ... classical concerts
La Vida Breve
Juanjo Mena steps down as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic this summer. He devotes his last concert in Manchester to music from his native Spain. The main work is a concert performance of De Falla’s La Vida Breve, with Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Salud; before that are two works by Albéniz: The Magic Opal overture and Rapsodia Española.
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Saturday 9 June
Surcos
Ilan Volkov’s latest guest appearance with the CBSO typically mixes the mainstream with the brand new. There is Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 2 with Alisa Weilerstein as soloist, and Schoenberg’s magnificent orchestration of Brahms’s first piano quartet. The novelty is the UK premiere of Simon Holt’s Surcos.
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Wednesday 13 June
Thea Musgrave at 90
Jac van Steen conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s tribute to the Edinburgh-born Musgrave. Works by Aaron Copland and Musgrave’s friend Richard Rodney Bennett are interleaved with four of her own scores, including the oboe-and-percussion concerto Two’s Company, with Nicholas Daniel and Evelyn Glennie.
City Halls, Glasgow, Friday 15 June
Bach at the Barbican
John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir provide the spine to a weekend of unalloyed Bach, with three programmes devoted to cantatas from different seasons in the liturgical year. There are also motets from Solomon’s Knot; violin sonatas from Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout; cello suites from Jean-Guihen Queyras; and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau plays the Goldberg Variations.
Various venues, EC2, Friday 15 to 17 June
AC
Six of the best ... exhibitions
Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One
Modern art was convulsed by the Great War. In Berlin, the dadaists unleashed a savage satirical vision. Their take is compared here with more introspective depictions from Britain and France, including works by Paul Nash and the lesser-known Christopher Wynne Richard Nevinson.
Tate Britain, SW1, to 23 September
Thomas Cole; Ed Ruscha
Hudson River school painter Cole was one of the most interesting US artists of the 19th century, and his Course of Empire cycle is a compelling vision of history’s tragic grandeur. In a parallel exhibition, subversive LA painter and conceptualist Ruscha gives a contemporary take on America’s empire.
The National Gallery, WC2, to 7 October
Talisman in the Age of Difference
Yinka Shonibare explores magic as a form of artistic resistance in this multimedia exhibition. He has curated a rich and wide-ranging survey of African diaspora art from Jacob Lawrence’s paintings to “the Warhol of Marrakesh” Hassan Hajjaj. Perhaps the most truly magical artist here, though, is Betye Saar, whose altar-like installations emit a mysterious, supernatural enchantment.
Stephen Friedman Gallery, W1, to 21 July
Virginia Woolf
Works ranging from the eerily still, ascetic portraits of Gwen John to the gender masquerades of surrealist photographer Claude Cahun are seen here through the lens of Woolf, in an exhibition dedicated to the author’s singular modernist vision. It is not hard to see how Cahun in particular shares the radicalism of her identity-shifting novel Orlando. Woolf’s sister – the Bloomsbury group artist Vanessa Bell – also stars.
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, Saturday 9 June to 16 September
Howard Hodgkin
This emotional, sensual, passionate artist of colour and memory left a last legacy of raw and expressive paintings that rage against the dying of the light. Hodgkin was ill and frail in his final years, yet managed to keep painting until just a few weeks before his death last March at the age of 84. This exhibition charts the last decade of his art and is a powerful reminder of his brilliance.
Gagosian Gallery, Grosvenor Hill, Saturday 9 June to 28 July
JJ
Art Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Grayson Perry – one of the contemporary art world’s most recognisable presences – curates this year’s RA Summer Exhibition. The show’s “biggest, brightest and most colourful” iteration yet, it features creations by the likes of Anish Kapoor and David Hockney and YBAs including Tracey Emin and Michael Landy.
Royal Academy of Arts, W1, Tuesday 12 June to 19 August
HJD
Five of the best ... theatre shows
An Octoroon
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s knowing comment on racial representation is a madcap evening of subversion that riffs on Dion Boucicault’s 1859 melodrama about the relationship between a cotton plantation heir and a woman of one-eighth African ancestry. First seen at the Orange Tree in Richmond, Ned Bennett’s production is as fearless as the play.
National Theatre: Dorfman, SE1, to 18 July
Wind Resistance
Karine Polwart’s solo show – made with a large team of mostly female artists – is a thing of beauty. Melding folk song and music with myth and stories hewn from the landscape itself, it is a beguiling portrait of life on Fala Moor, Midlothian, a place of beauty and harshness.
Eden Court, Inverness, Saturday 9; Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, Friday 15 to 17 June; touring to 28 July
Three Sisters
RashDash are on form with this reimagining of Chekhov’s play that asks questions around creation; whether a drama written by a dead, white male more than 100 years ago can speak to women today; and who gets to decide which art should be valued (elderly, white, male critics, mostly). Brilliantly funny yet deadly serious, philosophical yet playful, this multi-layered evening transforms Three Sisters into the musical it should always have been.
The Yard, E9, Saturday 9; Tobacco Factory, Bristol, Tuesday 12 to 16 June
The Last Ship
Sting’s musical, about a Tyneside shipyard on the brink of extinction, sank in 2015 after four months on Broadway. No matter. With a rewritten book and a rousing production from Northern Stage’s Lorne Campbell, the show has been relaunched and it’s a popular charmer that’s full of heart.
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, Saturday 9; Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tuesday 12 to 16 June; touring to 7 July
Romeo and Juliet
It is always considerably far longer than the “two hours traffick of our stage”, but Erica Whyman’s fleet-footed staging makes the time fly. This is a Romeo and Juliet for today, made all the more poignant by the number of knife-crime deaths this year. Leads Karen Fishwick and Bally Gill are engaging, while Charlotte Josephine’s Mercutio is alert to what it means to be one of the gang when the gang is predominantly male.
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, to 21 September; touring to 10 January
LG
Three of the best ... dance shows
Rhiannon Faith: Smack That (A Conversation)
In her latest work, choreographer and performance artist Faith addresses issues of domestic abuse. Constructed as a party with an all-female cast of guests, its mix of dance, game-playing and confessionals becomes a channel for each performer to express their own real-life experiences.
Barbican Centre: The Pit, EC2, Tuesday 12 to 16 June
Birmingham Royal Ballet: Romeo and Juliet & Mixed Bill
BRB’s short London season matches Kenneth MacMillan’s seminal production of the Shakespeare-Prokofiev classic with a bill of contemporary ballets that includes Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room and a new work by George Williamson.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, Tuesday 12 to 16 June
Ballet Cymru: Cinderella
The intrepid Welsh company puts a fresh spin on the fairytale classic, with a newly commissioned score and elements of circus mixed in with the classical dance.
Lincoln, Sunday 10; Bury St Edmunds, Monday 11 & Tuesday 12; Newcastle-under-Lyme, Wednesday 13; Tewkesbury, Friday 15 June; touring to 7 July
JM
