Theatre
Committee … (A New Musical)
This play at London’s Donmar Warehouse is sure to cause a stir: it takes the form of a trial exploring Whitehall’s handling of ill-fated charity Kids Company, in order to “consider how civic life in the UK is really governed”.
At Donmar Warehouse, WC2, 24 June to 12 August
Rotterdam
Jon Brittain, the playwright who wrote the critically acclaimed Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, is behind this Olivier award-winning play, which follows a lesbian couple living in Rotterdam, one of whom hasn’t come out to her family yet, and one who comes out as transgender.
At the Arts theatre, WC2, to 15 July
Festivals
Manchester international festival
One of the world’s best arts festivals is back for another 18 days of world premieres, musical one-offs, exhibitions and performances, again pairing people from art and pop culture. Those include Jane Horrocks’s “industrial music drama” Cotton Panic!, about Lancashire’s 1860s cotton famine; a show about contemporary fatherhood featuring Underworld’s Karl Hyde; and Dark Matter, eight shows curated by Mary Anne Hobbs with music from rap crew Levelz, alt-saxist Colin Stetson and more.
At various venues, 29 June to 16 July
RebusFest
Celebrate 30 years of Ian Rankin’s detective from Friday at this noirish weekender, from whisky workshops to spoken word, live music to crime-writing classes.
At various venues, 30 June to 2 July
Love Supreme jazz festival
A truly impressive lineup at this Lewes jazz bash, covering all areas of the genre: in the pop-soul corner, there’s Corinne Bailey Rae, Laura Mvula and the Jacksons; plus veterans George Benson, Gregory Benson and Herbie Hancock; and new wavers from BadBadNotGood to virtuoso sax star, Kamasi Washington.
At Glynde Place, nr Lewes, East Sussex, 30 June to 2 July
Reveal festival
The V&A opens a new area, the Exhibition Road Quarter, on 30 June with a week’s worth of achingly cool programming. Running to 7 July, Reveal will bring fashion (British designer Molly Goddard showcasing her cult designs); dance, with a new site-specific piece from Julie Cunningham and company; plus Mira Calix live-streaming music, spoken word and more.
At V&A Museum, SW7, 30 June to 7 July
East Neuk festival
Fife’s leisurely festival prides itself on offering music in such varied venues as village churches, aircraft shelters, gardens, caves and barns. The 2017 lineup includes Spanish oboist Cristina Gómez Godoy playing Schubert and Mozart; a special 60-strong show led by trumpeter John Wallace; and Bach played on acoustic guitar by Sean Shibe, among many other concerts.
At various venues, Fife, 28 June to 2 July
Exhibitions
The New Observatory
This bold new show at Liverpool’s FACT takes the idea of an observatory but flips it for, as they say, our “technology-mediated world” where data is turning us into “observatories of ourselves”. Works on show include artist Stanza’s lurid piece The Reader, which questions the future of wearable tech, alongside other installations. Charlie Brooker would approve.
At FACT, Liverpool, to 1 October
Dreamers Awake
Surrealism has long been dominated by men, from Dalí to David Lynch, but a new show at Bermondsey’s White Cube aims to reverse all that, exhibiting rarely seen paintings from key women of the period and showing its influence to the present day through over 100 female-led works.
At White Cube Bermondsey, SE1, 28 June to 17 September
Film
Okja
Here comes another wild and wonderful film from the director they call the Korean Spielberg, Bong Joon-ho. His first Netflix-backed effort is an eco-fable with a dizzyingly odd premise, as a South Korean girl fights to keep her giant, genetically modified pig, Okja, out of the hands of an evil multinational corporation, bossed by Tilda Swinton’s magnificently mendacious CEO. Bong’s eye for a grandiose set-piece is on full display while the Jon Ronson-penned script is full of droll humour, and Swinton delivers a performance as hammy as the film’s porcine star.
On limited cinema release; available on Netflix from 28 June