Going out: Cinema
Evil Dead Rise
Out now
Crawling out of the grave to striking effect, Evil Dead Rise isn’t just another exercise in resurrecting an ancient horror franchise for a quick studio cash-grab. Full credit to director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground) – this is nail-biting, fun-filled horror with a flair for shock and gore.
Pacifiction
Out now
Set in French Polynesia (hence the title: Pacific + fiction), this slow-burn political thriller from the auteur Albert Serra stars Benoît Magimel (The Piano Teacher) as the high commissioner of the republic, and explores political and personal tensions in a society still haunted by the spectre of French nuclear testing.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Out now
An ensemble cast, including American Honey’s Sasha Lane, play a band of passionate campaigners dedicated to direct climate action of the sort advertised in the title. A thriller with a conscience from Daniel Goldhaber, based on the notorious book by Andreas Malm.
Queer East festival
Various venues, London, to 30 April
With strands including Focus Korea (a selection of 15 films dating from the 1960s to the present), the fourth year of LGBTQ+ film festival Queer East includes films from 17 Asian countries and takes place in London this month, before touring nationwide from September across 10 UK cities. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Lemar
O2 Ritz, Manchester, 27 April; Indigo at the O2, 28 April
After starring in Sky’s kids drama Little Darlings, the twice Brit award winner and Fame Academy alumnus returned to music earlier this year with seventh album Page in My Heart. Expect a smattering of songs from that LP, alongside the silk-soft If There’s Any Justice and the Michael Jackson-esque Dance (With U). Michael Cragg
The Flaming Lips
25 to 29 April; tour starts London
Wayne Coyne et al arrive in the UK to belatedly celebrate the 20th anniversary of 2002’s dreamy psych-rock masterpiece Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. That album’s 11 mini epics will be augmented by confetti cannon, smoke machines and – fingers crossed! – Coyne in a giant hamster wheel. MC
Cheltenham jazz festival
26 April to 1 May, various venues, Cheltenham
Early highlights of 2023’s Cheltenham jazz festival include the new Soul Jazz Summit’s huge ensemble (27 April), and bassist Ruth Goller’s dreamily innovative Skylla (28 April). Star singers Lizz Wright and Laura Mvula, and instrumental innovators Stanley Clarke and Andy Sheppard arrive in the second week. John Fordham
Strange Attractors
Wigmore Hall, London, 22 April
The Jack Quartet, one of the world’s leading new music groups, takes up residence for a day of concerts. The three programmes include works by Erin Gee, John Zorn and Helmut Lachenmann, but their centrepiece is a performance of Catherine Lamb’s Divisio Spiralis, a 90-minute microtonal descent based on the overtones of a single pitch. Andrew Clements
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Going out: Stage
Machynlleth comedy festival
Various venues, 28 to 30 April
This far-flung Welsh fest is a paradise for comedy nerds, featuring top standups Phil Wang, Nish Kumar, James Acaster and Isy Suttie, plus exciting up-and-comers Freddie Meredith, Celya AB and Josh Jones. Rachel Aroesti
Big Aunty
Belgrade theatre, Coventry, 24 April to 6 May
From Corey Campbell, the Belgrade’s creative director, this dark yet hopeful comedy looks at the ways we navigate loss. It follows an estranged family who are drawn back to Jamaica for the funeral of Big Aunty, a woman who took care of people with nowhere else to go. Kate Wyver
War & Culture
New Diorama theatre, London, 26 April to 12 May
Last year, New Diorama theatre submitted freedom of information requests about government interference in cultural organisations and arts funding. This new production from playwright Nina Segal reveals the findings. KW
A Festival of Korean Dance
The Lowry, Salford, 24 April; The Place, London, 28 April; festival runs to 11 May
Sample some of the new work coming from the young, vibrant and movement-focused scene in South Korea, as well as the London-based artist Sung Im Her. Lyndsey Winship
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Going out: Art
Isaac Julien
Tate Britain, London, 26 April to 20 August
A retrospective of the radical artist and film-maker ranging from his 1989 cinema release Looking for Langston, about the Harlem renaissance writer Langston Hughes, to more recent installations, film and photography made for art galleries. In his 2010 work Ten Thousand Waves, Julien remembers the Chinese cockle pickers killed on the Lancashire coast.
Richard Wright
Gagosian Davies Street, London, to 13 May
The Turner prize-winning creator of elusive, ephemeral site-specific paintings brings his lavish yet fleeting aesthetic into a conventional gallery space. Wright’s latest works include churned-up, psychedelic reinventions of the abstract styles of Bridget Riley and Peter Halley and a perversely gothic transformation of old photographs under rivers of gold.
Kathryn Maple
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, to 30 April
Pastoral scenes and kaleidoscopic evocations of nature by the winner of the 2020 John Moores painting prize, held at the Walker, and previously won by David Hockney. In Maple’s winning picture The Common, people gather in a crystalline glade, making contact in an optimistic moment. There’s a hint of Watteau.
Stefan Brüggemann
Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, to 17 June
Words are wielded as enigmatic hand grenades by this Mexico City-born artist. Texts are the common thread in Brüggemann’s multimedia works, which range from white neon texts to gold paintings in the style of Warhol. Here he brings a graffiti art aggression and sense of urban decay into the gallery. Jonathan Jones
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Staying in: Streaming
Guilt
27 April, 9pm, BBC Two/iPlayer
This twisty Scottish drama by Neil Forsyth (The Gold) began by chronicling the fallout from a hit-and-run by two brothers. Now it returns for a third and final series with an infinitely more complex plot and a large cast of characters. Ideal for those who find Succession a bit too easy to follow.
Citadel
28 April, Prime Video
This bombastic, high-budget TV blockbuster – which follows a pair of elite global spies whose memories have been erased – balances out its slightly schlocky energy with a very classy cast. Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas play the central duo, with Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville providing ample support.
The Curse
27 April, 10pm, Channel 4/All 4
The Kurupt FM lads’ gleefully daft riff on the 1983 Brink’s Mat robbery and its aftermath is back for a second series. Witness the hapless crew leave their grotty London caff for the flashy novelty of the Costa del Crime, where they hope to launder their ill-gotten gains in relative peace.
The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld
26 April, 9pm, BBC Two/iPlayer
They don’t make ’em like Karl any more. The late Chanel boss didn’t simply preside over fashion for decades; his idiosyncratic look and eccentric character – plus his very un-PC observations – made him a superstar in his own right. This documentary contacts his confidantes to uncover the man behind those oversized collars. RA
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Staying in: Games
Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp
Nintendo Switch
It’s a war game, but by Nintendo, so it won’t depress you. Manoeuvre dinky little troops and tanks around in this lighthearted pair of strategy classics.
Dead Island 2
PS4/5, Xbox, PC
The perfect counterpoint to The Last of Us, this slapstick zombie game is set in sunny, bloodstained Los Angeles. Big on gore and laughs, light on harrowing post-apocalyptic narrative. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight
Out now
Neale’s third album, and second for Sub Pop Records, was recorded in isolation in rural Virginia at the start of the pandemic. Rather than retreating inwards, however, Neale rebelled against the quiet, creating a record of bristling post-punk (Faster Than the Medicine) and, on I Am the River, a swirl of art-rock majesty.
Everything But the Girl – Fuse
Out now
Purveyors of top-tier emotional dance-pop, Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn return from a 24-year break with this 11th album. With the duo aiming to embrace a modern sound, Fuse bristles with experimentation, such as in the elegantly fracturing lead single, Nothing Left to Lose, while preserving the their trademark soul via Thorn’s swollen vocals.
The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum: Act Three
Out now
A sequel of sorts to 1995’s classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s so-so Machina/The Machines of God, Atum is a three-part “rock opera” written and produced by Billy Corgan. This final instalment adds 11 more songs to the gloriously OTT mix, including the synth-filled single Spellbinding.
Silver Moth – Black Bay
Out now
Silver Moth were formed after a Twitter conversation between a bunch of musicians, including Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, about the Isle of Lewis. Fast forward to a few months later and the seven-piece collective were on the Scottish island recording this debut album, full of post-punk epics and Celtic-inspired experiments, over just four days. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
25 April, 9pm, Sky Arts
Film-maker Robert Weide’s documentary on Slaughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut has been more than two decades in the making. The result is a touching testament to friendship and examines Vonnegut’s journey from prisoner of war to bestselling writer.
Stiffed
Podcast
Writer Jennifer Romolini tells the story of erotic women’s magazine Viva, which was first published in 1973 by the founder of Penthouse and aimed to couple feminist discourse with full-frontal male nudity.
James Hoffmann
YouTube
There’s a whole world of coffee-related content to discover online and aficionado James Hoffmann is one of its most popular proponents. His YouTube channel features everything from product reviews to experiments on developing photographic film using coffee. Ammar Kalia
