Five of the best … films
Animals (15)
(Sophie Hyde, 2019, UK) 109 mins
This forthright adaptation of Emma Jane Unsworth’s novel stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat as Laura and Tyler, two hard-partying twentysomethings whose collaboratively hedonistic lifestyle hits the skids when Laura meets a man with whom she wants to get into a stable relationship. A very contemporary, Fleabag-ish look at friendship.
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (12A)
(Nick Broomfield, 2019, UK) 102 mins
Marianne Ihlen was the Norwegian woman who inspired some of Leonard Cohen’s best-known songs. This film by documentarian Nick Broomfield fills in some of the details of this mythologised relationship, and adds a few more, including his own connection with Ihlen. If a film could be a love letter, then this is it.
The Chambermaid (15)
(Lila Avilés, 2018, Mex) 102 mins
A Mexican film that tackles some of the same themes as the award-winning Roma, without being filtered through the forgiving haze of nostalgia. Gabriela Cartol is the eponymous hotel worker, cleaning the rooms of the wealthy clientele while remaining essentially invisible; the contrast to her own life, as well as the destabilising effect her job has on it, is stark. It’s all filmed in a beautifully measured, low-key, observational style.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (U)
(Thurop Van Orman, John Rice, 2019, US) 97 mins
The birds v pigs slingshot phone game must have been about the most unpromising-ever source material for a film, but somehow the people behind this series have crafted something entirely acceptable and not unentertaining. Though this second chunk doesn’t exactly strain anyone’s brain, it’s a cheerful wodge of child-centred fun, with a nice empowerment message and a good few gags sprinkled throughout.
Do the Right Thing (15)
(Spike Lee, 1989, US) 120 mins
Spike Lee’s state-of-the-nation address from 1989 still packs a hell of a punch, right from the forceful opening-credits strut by Rosie Perez. Lee cast himself in the linchpin role of Mookie, the pizza delivery boy who ends up sparking a riot in a tense, boiling Brooklyn.
AP
Five of the best ... rock & pop
Salt-N-Pepa
For their latest reunion, which recently included a US tour with New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, hip-hop pioneers Salt-N-Pepa are down to a duo after the departure of DJ Spinderella following what she described on Instagram as a “‘termination’ email”. Lineup drama aside, expect them to rattle through all the bangers, from Push It to Shoop.
Indigo at The O2, SE10, Friday 9 August
Visions festival
Taking over a selection of venues in east London enclave Victoria Park, the annual Visions festival returns with a typically eclectic lineup. As well as experimental dreamscapes courtesy of Anna Meredith, White Denim and heavy metallers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs will also be on hand to pulverise your ears. Plus there’s a dog show!
Various venues, London, Saturday 3 August
Anitta
Pop star Anitta is next-level famous. Not only has she collaborated with everyone from Madonna (on the recent Madame X) to J Balvin, but it’s estimated that more than 10% of the population of Brazil follow her on Instagram. She even has her own Netflix show, Vai Anitta. See what all the fuss is about at this show – part of Nile Rodgers’s Meltdown festival.
Royal Festival Hall, SE1, Tuesday 6 August
The National
May’s I Am Easy to Find became the National’s fourth album in row to go Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic. Which is pretty good going, seeing as most people couldn’t hum one of their songs and wouldn’t know a member of the band if they shouted “I’m in the National” while wearing a T-shirt with an arrow pointing upwards. Still, their reflective indie musings feel perfect for balmy, late summer evenings.
Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, Tuesday 6 & Wednesday 7 August
MC
Gwilym Simcock Trio
From bebop and swing to techno and township music, the resourcefulness of jazz’s classic piano-bass-drums trio format is revisited in the sixth annual festival of the method at Ronnie Scott’s. Highlights include UK pianist Gwilym Simcock, American legend Kenny Barron, South Africa’s Bokani Dyer, Nikki Yeoh’s Andalusian and Arabic interpretations, and more.
International Piano Trio Festival, Ronnie Scott’s, W1, Monday 5 August
JF
Three of the best ... classical concerts
Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
New works are rare at Edinburgh international festival now but the LA Philharmonic includes a European premiere in its three appearances this year. Gustavo Dudamel and his orchestra gave the first performance of John Adams’s new piano concerto in March in LA; the soloist was Yuja Wang, who’ll also play it here. Adams’s title came from a magazine article, suggesting a Totentanz, a dance of death, and as well as solo piano there’s honky-tonk piano and bass guitar. But there are quieter episodes, inspired, Adams says, by Wang’s lyrical playing.
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sunday 4 August
Prom 20: Sibelius
At first sight, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s concert is standard Proms fare: an all-Finnish evening of Sibelius. But the version of the Fifth Symphony that Thomas Dausgaard is conducting is not the usual three-movement score, but the four-movement scheme that Sibelius completed first, in 1915. It has never been performed in the UK, so this is a rare chance to hear how one of the 20th century’s great symphonic achievements began life.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, Saturday 3 August
The Rosary Sonatas
For three short recitals in Scotland’s oldest purpose-built concert hall, the violinist Rachel Podger, accompanied by harpsichordist Marcin Świątkiewicz and theorbo player Daniele Caminiti, will play one of the most remarkable collections of baroque string music. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s sequence of 15 Rosary Sonatas are musical meditations on the life of Christ, and some of the most challenging works ever composed for the instrument.
St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh, Tuesday 6, Thursday 8 & Friday 9 August
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
Bridget Riley
This is what artistic greatness looks like. Bridget Riley revolutionised art in the 1960s. Her optical paintings confuse your perception of reality and make you glimpse the mystery of your own mind as it plays tricks on itself. She uses science and yet this superb retrospective reveals a Romantic who wants to change your life.
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, to 22 September
Joana Vasconcelos
A swimming pool tiled with a flamboyantly crafted design is this acclaimed Portuguese artist’s antidote to the summer heat. Her new installation for this fine sculpture park outside Edinburgh really is a working pool, with bathing sessions. Vasconcelos calls it Gateway and her cocktail of water and colour claims to be a portal to other worlds.
Jupiter Artland, nr Edinburgh, to 30 September
Joseph Beuys/Leonardo da Vinci
Of all the Leonardo commemorations this year, this may sound the least likely. German performance artist and sculptor Joseph Beuys surely belongs in a very different artistic age. But Beuys was fascinated by Leonardo and this exhibition reveals the drawings he made in response to the polymath’s notebooks. Beuys saw in Leonardo not so much a scientist as a shaman, whose visions of flowing water and flight explore our place in a magical cosmos.
Summerhall, Edinburgh, to 27 October
Bartolomé Bermejo
This small, free exhibition is a lovely encounter with an enigmatic medieval mind. Bartolomé Bermejo painted altarpieces that glow with the intense Christian beliefs of 15th-century Spain. He delights in the glistening armour of Saint Michael defeating a wonderfully grotesque devil, and paints the Virgin Mary mourning Christ. Yet Bermejo was probably Jewish and his true identity haunts the shadows of these gothic masterpieces.
The National Gallery, WC2, to 29 September
Takis
The art of Takis has magnetic appeal … sorry. Since the early 60s, this Greek artist has used electromagnetism to explore the boundaries of art and science. From sculptures that suspend metal objects in space to dancing magnets and eerie self-playing instruments, his creations reveal the beauty of nature’s hidden forces. A thought-provoking encounter with some of the craziest science toys ever made.
Tate Modern, SE1, to 27 October
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
Evita
There has been a spate of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber revivals recently, including a joyous new take on Joseph. Now we have got a shiny new production of Evita, directed by the always edgy Jamie Lloyd and starring American actor Samantha Pauly. It’s a musical retelling of Eva Perón’s rise from poverty to become Argentina’s first lady, and is lit up by a passionate score.
The Open Air Theatre, NW1, to 21 September
Musik
This sounds like fun. Writer Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have joined forces to write a one-woman musical-theatre cabaret show. Frances Barber reprises the role of dried-up and drug-addled rock star Billie Trix, a part she first played in Pet Shop Boys’ 2001 musical Closer to Heaven.
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Monday 5 to 24 August
Actually
A European premiere for US playwright Anna Ziegler’s intense two-hander, Actually. The play is set in Princeton College and is about an alleged rape between two students. But how to get to the truth when we are merely setting one person’s word against another’s? Emerging talent Oscar Toeman directs and the play will star Yasmin Paige and Simon Manyonda (set to feature in the BBC’s His Dark Materials).
Trafalgar Studios 2, SW1, Tuesday 6 to 31 August
The Argument
This feels like a fun blockbuster for the summer. It’s written by William Boyd, best known for his novels including, most recently, Love Is Blind. The play premiered at Hampstead Downstairs in 2016 but this is its first major outing. It’s about 10 arguments surrounding a marriage in crisis and stars Felicity Kendal and Rupert Vansittart as the warring couple. Christopher Luscombe directs and should bring real energy to proceedings.
Theatre Royal, Bath, Wednesday 7 to 24 August
8 Hotels
Nicholas Wright wrote Mrs Klein and the Olivier award-winning Vincent in Brixton and is a real master of his craft. His latest work is about celebrated actor, singer and campaigner Paul Robeson, of Ol’ Man River fame. When Robeson takes on the role of Othello and tours the country with brilliant young actor Uta Hagen, the boundaries between off-stage and on-stage, the personal and political, begin to blur. Richard Eyre directs.
Chichester Festival Theatre: Minerva, to 24 August
MG
Three of the best ... dance shows
Scottish Ballet: The Crucible
Arthur Miller’s allegorical play gets a dance makeover from American choreographer Helen Pickett, a former member of William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. Pickett takes on the drama of the Salem witch trials in this world premiere for the Edinburgh international festival, with the impressive dancers of Scottish Ballet.
Edinburgh Playhouse, Saturday 3 to Monday 5 August
The Hiccup Project: Lovely Girls
Everywhere Cristina MacKerron and Chess Dillon-Reams go, they find themselves introduced as “the lovely Hiccup girls”. It’s a complimentary label but a limiting one. Why always “lovely”? The duo tackle such knotty questions in this dance-theatre-comedy show.
Zoo Southside, Edinburgh, to 17 August
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet
Shakespeare gets the Bourne treatment as the choreographer’s latest show starts a London summer run. Here the impassioned young lovers are reimagined in a near-future world where having too-strong feelings is punished by the powers that be.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, Wednesday 7 to 31 August
LW
Main composite image: © Takis; Fotex/Rex/Shutterstock; Marc Brenner; Molly Hawkins; Allstar/MCA/Universal
