Going out: Cinema
Expend4bles
Out now
Returning for a fourth slice of mayhem, Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren lend their considerable collective talents in the field of kicking and punching to another seemingly deadly mission, this time involving a plot to stop terrorists from getting up to no good with some nuclear weapons.
RMN
Out now
Beautifully directed by Cristian Mungiu, this is a nuanced and sometimes brutally frank drama about a Romanian village’s response to the arrival of foreign workers, which allows viewers to become intimately familiar with the rhythms and emotions of the community, in a film more interested in understanding than judgment.
Dumb Money
Out now
Buzzy comedy combining an appealing cast (Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Pete Davidson) and a juicy premise. It’s based on the true story of a group of Reddit users who orchestrate a short squeeze of the stock of the video game retailer GameStop.
The Lesson
Out now
When aspiring writer Liam (Daryl McCormack) takes a job tutoring the son of famous author JM Sinclair (Richard E Grant) and Sinclair’s cool-as-a-cucumber wife Hélène (Julie Delpy), he’s thrilled to have access to a literary star. But he soon finds himself out of his depth in this slow-burn thriller from director Alice Troughton. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Hak Baker
Sunday 24 to Friday 20 September; tour starts Manchester
On June’s debut album, World’s End FM, the east London songwriter muses on depression, gentrification and colonialism. Fusing potent lyrics to grime, punk and reggae, it’s an album that pushes important topics via glorious, sun-kissed melodies. Michael Cragg
New Order
Friday 29 September to 7 October; tour starts London
After last year’s successful joint tour of the US alongside Pet Shop Boys, Bernard Sumner and co return to the UK for this arena tour. With their last album, Music Complete, now eight years old, there may be the chance of some newer songs mixed in with their undeniable, decades-spanning classics. MC
Geoffrey Keezer/Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Friday 29 September; touring to 1 October
Grammy-winning former Jazz Messengers and Sting pianist Geoffrey Keezer joins the very classy Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for this three-date tour. Keezer’s imagination as an arranger rivals his powers as a piano improviser, and this trip showcases his vivid treatments of classics by Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. John Fordham
Falstaff
Grand theatre, Leeds, Thursday 28 September to 25 October, touring to 18 November
This autumn is Opera North’s Green Season – three new productions in which all the costumes and sets have been sourced from previous shows or acquired second-hand. Puccini’s La Rondine and Masque of Might, a new work based upon Purcell, follow, but the season opens with Verdi’s Falstaff, directed by Olivia Fuchs. Henry Waddington takes the title role, with Kate Royal as Alice; Garry Walker conducts. Andrew Clements
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Going out: Art
Sarah Lucas
Tate Britain, London, Thursday 28 September to 14 January
The punkiest of young 1990s British artists always had an edge of scorn in her comically obscene metaphors for the body and dark evocations of death by motorbike, suicide or cancer. Her work has never softened since. But her interest in the nature of modern sculpture has become exceptionally intelligent.
Marina Abramović
The Royal Academy of Arts, London, Saturday 23 September to 1 January
From risking her life – sometimes literally – in fiery early works to confronting individual audience members with unsettling intensity, Marina Abramović has defined what we mean by “performance art”. This retrospective combines films and videos with reenactments by trained practitioners of the Abramović Method to survey and evoke her charismatic art.
Rubens and Women
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, Wednesday 27 September to 28 January
Powerful goddesses, unconventional bodies, intimate portraits: the Baroque genius Peter Paul Rubens puts women at the centre of his artistic universe. This is a vast theme for Dulwich to take on, material for an epic blockbuster. Expect an essayistic questioning of our assumptions about Rubens and his painterly relationships with women.
Turner prize 2023
Towner Eastbourne, Thursday 28 September to 14 April
Strange to think how many leading British artists have never won a Turner - including Tracey Emin and the Chapmans. Maybe it never was as important as it seemed. Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim, Barbara Walker: surprise me. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Paul Foot
Thursday 28 September to 17 May; tour starts Finchley Arts Depot, London
Best known as the mullet-sporting purveyor of wacky whimsy, Foot’s latest show, Dissolve, breaks with (un)convention to discuss the crippling depression and anxiety that has long blighted his life – and the miraculous, mysterious day in March last year when it suddenly disappeared for good. Rachel Aroesti
Deriva Traversa/Le Sacre du Printemps
Gulbenkian theatre, Canterbury, Thursday 28 & 29 Friday September
A one-off UK show by the contemporary dance company Dewey Dell that features a new work, Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), which references the life cycles of plants and animals with elaborate costumes, set to Stravinsky’s famous score. Lyndsey Winship
untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play
Young Vic, London, to 4 November
A freewheeling and clever response to the racist and sexist stereotypes captured in Miss Saigon and beyond. Written by Bruntwood prize-winning playwright Kimber Lee, directed by Roy Alexander Weise and starring Mei Mac (brilliant in My Neighbour Totoro).
Dublin theatre festival
Various venues, 28 September to 15 October
Thirty-eight productions. Fifteen world premieres. Eighteen days of theatre, music, dance, events, talks and installations. Featuring a mix of established and emerging Irish and international artists, including an expanded family season for ages 4+. Miriam Gillinson
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Staying in: Streaming
Brassic
Sky Max & NOW, Thursday 28 September
Joe Gilgun and Danny Brocklehurst’s raucous and darkly irreverent portrait of working-class northern life is casually establishing itself as one of the decade’s most successful comedies. Now it’s returning for a fifth series, with Vinnie (Gilgun) and pals back for more ill-conceived crime-adjacent capers in the community.
The Fake Sheikh
Prime Video, Tuesday 26 September
UK tabloid journalism can be a moral cesspit, but it doesn’t lack characters. Mazher Mahmood was one such (grimly) fascinating figure, an investigative reporter who posed as a sheikh in order to carry out stings on celebrities before being jailed for evidence tamperingjailed for evidence-tampering. This three-part doc unpicks his lies and life-ruining set-ups.
Otto Baxter: Not A F***ing Horror Story
Sky Documentaries & Now, Saturday 23 September
This fascinating documentary film about a film follows 35-year-old Baxter, who has Down’s syndrome, as he sets about making his short The Puppet Asylum, an ominous Victorian London-set musical starring Paul Kaye that riffs on Baxter’s fears and fury at how others have treated him.
Moulin Rouge: Yes We Can-Can!
BBC Two & iPlayer, Wednesday27 September
The Moulin Rouge is the epitome of fin-de-siècle French glamour - so it may be a surprise to learn that these days the legendary cabaret is run by a Yorshirewoman called Janet, who recruits many of her dancers from the UK. This fly-on-the-wall series documents the slice of Blighty nestled within a Parisian institution. RA
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Staying in: Games
Mineko’s Night Market
Out Tuesday 26 September, Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One and PC
A long-awaited cosy game about setting up a life and a shop full of oddities on a remote Japanese island inhabited mainly by cats.
EA Sports FC 24
Out now, Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Windows, XBox One, XBox series X/S
The Football Game Formerly Known As Fifa makes its debut, doubling down on the women’s game by adding female players to Ultimate Team. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Kylie Minogue – Tension
Out now
Tension’s lead single, the summer-dominating, meme-ready bop Padam Padam, gave Kylie her 35th UK Top 10 single, and her first since 2011. Packed full of throbbing electropop (the title track) and gloriously camp dance workouts (Vegas High), expect Tension to further cement Kylie’s A-list status.
Samantha Urbani – Showing Up
Out now
Urbani has steadily worked her way towards this debut, the follow-up to 2017’s EP Policies of Power, channeling the likes of Madonna, the Tom Tom Club and Blood Orange into a pop-leaning melange that peaks on the undulating single, One Day at a Time.
Drake – For All the Dogs
Out now
After a productive 2022 that saw him release dance-leaning album, Honestly, Nevermind, and the 21 Savage collaborative record, Her Loss, Drake has spent most of 2023 working on this eighth album. Featuring artwork by his five-year-old son, and appearances by Nicki Minaj and Bad Bunny, expect it to dominate the rest of 2023.
Doja Cat – Scarlet
Out now
The campaign for rapper Doja Cat’s fourth album has involved her coming for both her critics and her fans. This bitterness is reflected in the more “masculine” music, a conscious shift away from the pure pop of 2021’s Planet Her. Unfortunately for her, lead single Paint the Town Red has become a huge global smash. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
The Dream
Podcast
Jane Marie’s scam-busting show returns for a third season, this time turning its gaze towards the world of life-coaching. Having already delved into the wellness industry, Marie continues to investigate the lucrative theme of self-improvement.
Chinese Cooking Demystified
YouTube
American expat Chris and Chinese native Steph front this charming video channel documenting recipes from their home in Shenzhen. There is everything from easy egg fried rice to intricate siu mai dumplings to try out.
Likeminded
WaterBear, Friday 29 September
Environmental streamer WaterBear presents a refreshingly optimistic series profiling the activist communities aiming to change the world through local, grassroots solutions. Episode one looks at the network joining together the British Asian diaspora in London. Ammar Kalia
• This article was amended on 25 September 2023. The Stage entry for untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play initially said that the writer Kimber Lee was “brilliant in My Neighbour Totoro”. That should have applied to Mei Mac, who has starred in both shows.
