Five of the best … films
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (12A)
(Nick Broomfield, 2019, US) 102 mins
Veteran documentarist Broomfield has a walk-on role in this film about Marianne Ihlen and the relationship she had with singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen; he met her as a young wannabe film-maker in the early 70s. This memoir of the love affair that gave rise to the songs So Long, Marianne and Bird on a Wire is a tender, illuminating film, even if Ihlen’s life turned out relatively uneventful.
The Chambermaid (15)
(Lila Avilés, 2018, Mex) 102 mins
A counterpoint to the nostalgic fix of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, this is another Mexican-made investigation of the role of the servant picking her way through a moneyed milieu. Gabriela Cartol gives a superbly low-key performance as the hotel worker trying to keep her head above water, while being ignored by the wealthy people she services.
The Great Hack (No cert)
(Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim, 2019, US) 113 mins
The Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr is the star turn in this doc about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the ramifications of which we are still living with in the form of Brexit and the Trump presidency. This film does a fine job in explaining what the hell happened: how the data company extracted masses of information from millions of unwitting Facebook users, then used it for political propaganda. Cutting-edge film-making.
Varda By Agnès (15)
(Agnès Varda, 2019, Fra) 115 mins
Varda died earlier this year aged 90, and this charming lecture-cum-documentary is an excellent primer for anyone looking to understand her unique presence. As a film-maker, her achievements are clear, but it’s her infectious enthusiasm and creativity that comes across most strongly here; a fine testament to a director whose latter-day popularity was much deserved.
The Lion King (PG)
(Jon Favreau, 2019, US) 118 mins
Despite some iffy reviews, the latest Disney has already become a bona-fide cultural phenomenon: as much for the Beyoncé-curated soundtrack as the photorealistic visuals. But there is something uninspired about this heavily CGI-ed rendering of a beautifully simple animated film. A possibly unnecessary remake.
AP
Five of the best ... rock & pop
Naked City festival
Founded by brothers Danny and Kieran Clancy, AKA promoters Krankbrother, this new festival showcases the best in jazz, soul and dance, all in the lush environs of a former golf course in London’s south-east suburbs. Performances come from jazz quintet Ezra Collective, multigenre icon Neneh Cherry and Henry Wu, who will also be performing under his real name, Kamaal Williams.
Beckenham Place Park, Saturday 28 July
Lucinda Williams
Blighted by label woes, creative differences and even a tornado that threatened to destroy the tapes, Williams’s lauded 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road almost didn’t see the light of day. Here it’s celebrated as part of a 20-year anniversary tour bringing her dusty Americana to the UK.
London, Saturday 27; Bristol, Sunday 28; Brighton, Monday 29 July; Holmfirth, Thursday 1; Birmingham, Friday 2; touring to 4 August
Wilderness
Sure, Wilderness festival offers up music, including Robyn’s heart-busting electro-pop, Tom Odell’s “quite nice” piano bothering and Groove Armada’s Ford Mondeo dance, but the real star is its wellbeing offerings. Why not have an existential crisis at the Why Happiness Isn’t the Answer workshop? Or test your core during Paddleboard Yoga? Anyone?
Cornbury Park, nr Chipping Norton, Thursday 1 to 4 August
Father John Misty
There was a point when Father John Misty, AKA Josh Tillman, was everywhere, be it “beefing” with Ryan Adams, writing songs with Lady Gaga or goading music news outlets with every Twitter bon mot. He seems to be focusing on the music more of late, with last year’s God’s Favorite Customer showcasing a more vulnerable, empathic, but no less egomaniacal troubadour. Expect a lot of between-song chat.
Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, Friday 2 August
MC
Prom 16: Angélique Kidjo
Africa’s 18th- and 19th-century slave-trade diaspora to the US, Brazil and Cuba oppressed millions and it also transformed the way the world sang, danced, heard music and played it. For this late-night Proms concert, the west African vocalist Angélique Kidjo celebrates Africa’s influence on her personal inspiration, the late Cuban salsa diva Celia Cruz.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, Tuesday 30 July
JF
Three of the best ... classical concerts
Grimeborn
Amid the mainstream flim-flam of the summer’s country-house opera, east London’s alternative offers very different and much more unpredictable music theatre. As usual, the menu includes reworked and downsized repertory works – La Traviata, Das Rheingold, Die Fledermaus, Count Ory – alongside brand new operas, including Matt Geer’s Sane and Sound and Noah Mosley’s Aurora. There is also a double bill pairing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Gillian Whitehead’s Hotspur, and a rare opportunity to catch Amy Beach’s chamber opera Cabildo.
Arcola Theatre, E8 Monday 29 July to 7 September
Proms at … Battersea Arts Centre
Supplementing the main Albert Hall orchestral concerts, Proms at … takes in a series of alternative venues around London. Programme details for the visit to the newly reopened Battersea Arts Centre are still vague, but the performer-composers appearing include cellist Oliver Coates, electro-folkies Crewdson & Cevanne and the unclassifiable Jennifer Walshe.
Battersea Arts Centre, SW11, Saturday 27 July
LA Phil at Tynecastle
The music strand of the Edinburgh international festival is traditionally launched with a big event in the Usher Hall. This year, though, it kicks off at the home of Heart of Midlothian FC, with an outdoor concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. It is the first of their three appearances this year; later concerts include Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and John Adams’s new piano concerto, but they begin with an evening of Hollywood scores by Korngold, Herrmann, Waxman and John Williams.
Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh, Friday 2 August
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
David Batchelor
Found colour fascinates this Dundee-born flaneur of everyday beauty. Batchelor collects ordinary objects – a trolley, a box, a sign – that happen to use bright, distinctive colours. He arranges these neglected wonders to create sculpture that combines a formal delight in chromatic pattern with a raw sense of real life. A radiant artist.
Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh to 28 September
Cindy Sherman
The early self-portraits exhibited here by the renowned American artist of masquerade see her pose as a Hitchcockian character in black-and-white photographs that lovingly recreate the atmosphere of film noir. Sherman has gone on to remake herself in endless metamorphoses yet has rarely matched the poetry of these first works.
Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, to 6 October
Chihuly
The eye-popping glassworks of this extravagant sculptor use lurid colour and impossibly spun tendrils and tentacles to mirror the complexity of nature. It is dazzling to see such scale and intricacy in the most delicate of materials. Dale Chihuly’s glass wonders make fine summer decorations for Kew, whose glasshouses full of palms and waterlilies are themselves a stupefying artistic joy.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, to 27 October
Leonardo da Vinci
The drawings of the scientist, inventor, engineer, architect, theatre designer and – oh yes – painter, who died 500 years ago, are a dazzling window on his mind. His artistic brilliance let him think in a unique way: for instance, the anatomical illustrations here are both beautiful and a milestone in knowledge. From the foetus in the womb to sketches of the end of the world, this is a sublime encounter with genius.
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, SW1, to 13 October
László Moholy-Nagy
Moholy-Nagy was something of a Leonardo himself, experimenting with light and shadow to create an art for the machine age. In 1930, he made a device that whirrs around with lights going on and off to generate a spectacular shadow ballet. The same dramatic feel for contrasting light gives his photographs a stark strength. He has an eye for sports and spaces that lets him focus on the human machine.
Hauser & Wirth, W1, to 7 September
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
Edinburgh festival fringe
The Edinburgh fringe doesn’t officially kick off until Friday but previews start this week. If you are struggling to make a choice (there are roughly a million shows this year), the Traverse Theatre is always strong. It is staging five world premieres and has new and recent work from a host of brilliant playwrights, including Stef Smith, David Edgar, Cora Bissett and Kieran Hurley.
Various venues Sat to 25 August
Kiss Me Kate
Director Paul Hart has proved himself to be such a talent, and particularly good at sparky and modern-feeling musicals, so hopes are high for this. Cole Porter’s witty, jazz-infused riff on The Taming of the Shrew features finger-clicking hits such as Too Darn Hot. Rebecca Trehearn and David Ricardo-Pearce lead the cast.
West Berkshire Playhouse: The Watermill, Newbury, to 21 September
The View UpStairs
This new musical draws on the 1973 arson attack on a gay bar in New Orleans, one of the most devastating attacks on the LGBT community. The story focuses on Wes, an aspiring fashion designer who buys an abandoned building in New Orleans and unearths its harrowing history. Book, music and lyrics are written by Max Vernon and this European premiere will star Tyrone Huntley (pictured), who dazzled as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Soho Theatre, W1, to 24 August
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear: The Musical
The summer holidays have arrived, which means a spate of family-friendly openings. Amy Hodge’s production is for ages seven-plus and is based on Andy Stanton’s barmy book about a big friendly bear, some very brave kids and mean old Mr Gum. The show includes dancing and puppetry and the music is written by Jim Fortune, whose score for the National’s Pericles had such heart and heat.
National Theatre: Dorfman, SE1, to 31 August
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Talented theatre-makers James Yeatman and Lauren Mooney are behind Kandinsky’s devised show, which draws on local history and incorporates letters, handbills and articles from the time. The drama, set in the 1800s, is about the luddite rebellion – an attempt by textile workers to challenge the rise of machinery and agitate for rights. As we grapple with the rise of artificial intelligence, this one should sting.
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, to 10 August
MG
Three of the best ... dance shows
Sharon Eyal & L-E-V
Sharon Eyal’s choreography falls somewhere between nightclub and nightmare, and she’s the perfect choice for a four-week residency at Bold Tendencies, the car park-turned-arts hub in Peckham. Eyal and Gai Behar’s company L-E-V will be creating new work as well as performing existing pieces and collaborating with Jamie xx and Koreless from Young Turks.
Bold Tendencies, SE15 to 18 August
Bolshoi Ballet: Spartacus
Power moves aplenty from Moscow’s Bolshoi in the opening show of its London summer season. Spartacus sees the superlative dancers dazzling with virtuosic flair, high drama and even higher leaps in Yuri Grigorovich’s 1968 ballet set to Khachaturian’s score.
Royal Opera House, WC2, Monday 29 July to 10 August
Circa: Humans
The Edinburgh fringe arrives with circus acts bursting from every orifice. The proliferation of styles makes it hard to choose, but Australian company Circa is a reliable bet, bringing human connection and storytelling alongside whizzy acrobatics.
Underbelly: Circus Hub, Edinburgh, Friday 2 to 24 August
LW
Main composite image: Disney; Dan Medhurst; Darren Thomas; Courtesy of the Artist and Ingleby
