Going out: Cinema
Nope
Out now
From Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele comes a thriller combining elements of Spielbergian thrills and spills with another riveting performance from Get Out lead Daniel Kaluuya. One of the hottest don’t-miss-this-one tickets of the summer. Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun co-star.
Blind Ambition
Out now
A feelgood documentary about refugees Tinashe Nyamudoka, Pardon Taguzu, Joseph Dhafana and Marlvin Gwese as they flee violence at home to become qualified sommeliers. They go on to to enter the Olympics of wine-tasting in France, representing Zimbabwe on the oenophile world stage. Cheers!
Eiffel
Out now
Starring Romain Duris as Gustave Eiffel – yep, the guy who built a certain popular tourist attraction – this love story explores the relationship between Eiffel and his childhood sweetheart Adrienne Bourgès (Sex Education’s Emma Mackey). You might even describe it as a towering romance.
Laal Singh Chaddha
Out now
From director Advait Chandan and starring Aamir Khan, this Hindi reworking of Forrest Gump hits most of the familiar beats, right down to “run, Laal, run!” and “Life is like a golgappa, your tummy might feel full, but your heart always craves more”. Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh co-star. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Torres
16 to 22 August; tour starts Leeds
Mackenzie Scott has two new albums of material to tour. Released just before the pandemic, 2020’s Silver Tongue was followed in 2021 by the higher intensity Thirstier, which bolted expansive choruses on to big grunge-pop songs. With five albums under their belt, Scott now has music for all “new normal” moods. Michael Cragg
All Points East
Victoria Park, London, 19 to 28 August
The annual shindig returns with a typically eclectic lineup. Friday’s headliners Gorillaz are joined by the likes of Turnstile, Pusha T and Self Esteem, while Saturday sees the Chemical Brothers share top billing with Kraftwerk. Next weekend sees sets by Disclosure and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. MC
Kamasi Washington
Troxy, London, 13 August
When the west-coast bandleader’s multi-stylistic odyssey, The Epic, appeared in 2015, fans of all persuasions hailed a jazz renaissance. A thrilling performer, Washington brings his rousing ensemble to this UK gig, with acclaimed jazz, Afrobeat, and funk genre-crunchers Ezra Collective supporting. John Fordham
Salome
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 14 August
The Bergen Philharmonic with their principal conductor Edward Gardner do promise something special – their performance of Strauss’s Salome – only a concert version, alas – has one of the finest present-day interpreters of the title role, Malin Byström, heading a world-class cast; Johan Reuter is Jochanaan, Gerhard Siegel is Herodes and Katerina Dalayman is Herodias. Andrew Clements
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Going out: Art
Known and Strange
V&A, London, to 6 November
Photography has been obsessed with the uncanny since it was invented. Its truthlike nature made Victorians try to capture ghosts and ectoplasmic entities on camera. This free display shows how that heritage survives in photography today as artists such as Dafna Talmor and Maurizio Anzeri create impossible landscapes and surreal montages.
Alan Davie
Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, to 24 September
Scotland’s answer to Jackson Pollock gets a mini retrospective that conveys his energy, intensity and rough magic. Davie, who died in his 90s in 2014, carved out a unique path in postwar British art, rejecting figuration and pop alike in his gnarled and savage abstract art. A tremendous painter.
Our Place in Space
Midsummer Common, Cambridge, to 29 August
This outdoor art event designed by the science-minded artist Oliver Jeffers tries to help adults and children alike visualise the scale of the solar system and where we stand in it. You can follow a six-mile trail from Cambridge to Waterbeach on which the planets are mapped. Feel small.
Platform
French Institute, Edinburgh, to 28 August
Lynsey MacKenzie’s abstract paintings are windswept and exhilarating, like a breath of cool Edinburgh air. They suggest land and sea and life. Other artists in this show of emerging Scottish talent include Saoirse Amira Anis, whose video explores community through cooking, as well as Emilia Kerr Beale and Jonny Walker. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Sarah Sherman
Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh, 15 to 21 August; Soho Theatre, 22 to 25 August
Edinburgh might not be your first port of call for weird, extremely online US comedy, but SNL star Sherman – known for her surreal, body horror-tinged skits – is one of a handful of US internet sensations trying her hand at the fringe prior to a brief London run. Rachel Aroesti
Phaedra and Minotaur
Theatre Royal Bath, to 23 August
A music/dance double bill with Britten’s Phaedra alongside a premiere from choreographer Kim Brandstrup, which tells the story of Phaedra’s sister Ariadne (who helped Theseus conquer the Minotaur) with three stellar contemporary dancers: Jonathan Goddard, Tommy Franzen and Laurel Dalley Smith. Lyndsey Winship
Cruise
Apollo theatre, London, to 4 September
Soho in the 1980s. Michael has lost his partner to Aids and, diagnosed with the illness himself, is determined to live life to the max. Jack Holden’s one-man play is inspired by a real story he heard while volunteering for the LGBTQ+ helpline Switchboard. Miriam Gillinson
Medea
The Hub, Edinburgh, to 28 August
Michael Boyd directs poet and playwright Liz Lochhead’s lyrical adaptation of Euripides’ brutal Greek tragedy. Adura Onashile stars as the vengeful mother. MG
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Staying in: Streaming
Marriage
14 August, 9pm, BBC One and iPlayer
Any drama with Nicola Walker is worth a watch, but this four-parter about a 30-year relationship tips into must-see territory thanks to her co-star (Sean Bean) and the show’s creator, Stefan Golaszewski. If Golaszewski’s sitcom Mum is anything to go by, Marriage will be a minutely observed, bittersweet delight.
Red Rose
15 August, 10pm, BBC Three and iPlayer
A group of friends are threatened by a strange, dark, web-connected app that mysteriously appears on their phones in this new teen horror series, which promises to fuse standard social media dread with supernatural terror.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
17 August, Disney+
Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is just your average thirtysomething, romantically challenged, high-flying lawyer … who transforms into a green superhuman when she gets cross (much like her cousin Bruce Banner). Jameela Jamil, Tim Roth and Mark Ruffalo make up the starry supporting cast.
Bad Sisters
19 August, Apple TV+
Fans of Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan’s knotty sibling dynamic in This Way Up are in for a real treat. Horgan’s new Dublin- and London-set comedy-thriller revolves round the tight-knit Garvey clan (Anne-Marie Duff and Eve Hewson among them), who have pledged to look after each other following the deaths of their parents. RA
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Staying in: Games
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
Out now, PC
PC players now have the chance to play one of the most enjoyable superhero games around, web-swinging through a picture-perfect New York while foiling criminals.
Rollerdrome
Out 16 August, PC, PS4/5
This mix of rollerskating game and shooter is even more deadly than actual roller derby. Pull wild stunts and shoot rockets at your competitors in this stylish futuristic bloodsport. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom – Reset
Out now
Reset may be the first album officially credited to Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox and Peter Kember but the pair go way back, with Kember producing Lennox’s 2011 solo album, Tomboy. Sonically Reset and Tomboy share a lot of common ground, fusing saturated psychedelia with off-kilter Beach Boys harmonies.
Pale Waves – Unwanted
Out now
While the Manchester quartet’s first two albums channelled 90s indie, Unwanted – produced by Zakk Cervini (Blink-182, Yungblud) – leans heavily towards pop-punk. Both Jealousy and Reason to Live come on like lost Avril Lavigne singles, while the acoustic The Hard Way shows off frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie’s fragile vocals.
Hudson Mohawke – Cry Sugar
Out now
The Glaswegian electronic producer returns with his oversized fourth album, full to the brim with hyper-surreal, trap-infused beats and unexpected pockets of euphoria, its highlights include head-knocking recent single, Dance Forever.
Danger Mouse and Black Thought – Cheat Codes
Out now
In a big week for collabs, Brian Burton and rapper Tarik Trotter team up for this guest-heavy hip-hop workout. Michael Kiwanuka adds his ghostly lilt to undulating single Aquamarine, while elsewhere the likes of A$AP Rocky, Run the Jewels and MF Doom also add their talents across 12 tracks. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Scam Land: Money, Mayhem and Maseratis
BBC iPlayer
BBC Three’s premier sleuth Mobeen Azhar takes up a curious story for his latest series: a medical student who handed out free cash before being implicated in a forex trading scam. Azhar tries to track the culprit down.
Mubi Podcast
Online
The second series of arthouse streamer Mubi’s podcast tells the story of cinema through the history of its most remarkable theatres. Host Rico Gagliano narrates notable screenings from 70s suburban Minneapolis to Paris in the 1940s.
MIT Direct to Open
Online
Spearheading the movement towards open-access research, MIT has launched a new platform making thousands of its academic monographs available for free download. Browse tomes on electronic music, the legacy of Amazon’s commercial monopoly and more niches. Ammar Kalia
