Going out: Cinema
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Out now
Between this and Harrison Ford doing one more Indiana Jones movie, it is the summer of action seniors, with Tom Cruise back in the saddle as Ethan Hunt, the guy who has solved so many of these supposedly unfeasible quests that he’s beginning to look like the boy who cried impossible.
The Deepest Breath
Out now
Italian freediver Alessia Zecchini is the apparent subject of Laura McGann’s spectacular documentary, but as it progresses we realise it’s really a portrait of two people: Zecchini and Irish safety diver Stephen Keenan, whose relationship with Zecchini was cut short by a tragic accident in 2017.
Oklahoma!
From Sunday 16 July
It remains to be seen whether recent virality around the musical Oklahoma! after a reference in Euphoria will translate to massive Gen Z presence for this live version of the stage play, filmed with Hugh Jackman during its 1998 run in London, but it’s always fun to see the greatest showman do his thing.
Eat the Screen
Barbican cinema, London, to 24 August
The Barbican’s new season has just one drawback: it will make you very hungry. But it’s not all hedonistic nourishment: films programmed by curator Tamara Anderson include thoughtful documentaries about supply chains and sustainability, and Fred Wiseman’s 1976 landmark Meat, an account of the production, selling and marketing of meat, which is sometimes hard to watch. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Red Hot Chili Peppers
London, Friday 21 July; Glasgow, 23 July
Expect ample amounts of guitar fiddling, slap bass and surprisingly taut bare flesh as Anthony Kiedis et al return to the UK in support of 2022’s double whammy of Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen albums. The lineup is fleshed out by the Roots and King Princess. Michael Cragg
Abdullah Ibrahim Trio
Barbican Hall, London, Saturday 15 July
Since the 1970s, the Cape Town-born pianist (formerly Dollar Brand) has so evocatively re-synthesised traditional African, classical and American jazz music that his compositions have become standard-songs, and his performances like hip meditations. Soulful saxist and bassist/cellist Noah Jackson accompany him here.John Fordham
BBC Proms at Sage Gateshead
Friday 21 to 23 July
The BBC brings the Proms to the north-east for a weekend of concerts. The local orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, takes part in three events, including a programme of Mazzoli, Mozart and Brahms, and a CBeebies “ocean adventure”; there’s also late-night jazz and choral music, and a recital of African-American spirituals. Andrew Clements
Latitude festival
Thursday 20 to 23 July, Henham Park, Suffolk
Pulp, Paolo Nutini and George Ezra join the multicoloured sheep in a Suffolk field this year, topping a lineup that also includes wonky pop stalwarts Metronomy, dance-pop maven Georgia and the ludicrous Australian dance duo Confidence Man. Sara Pascoe, Romesh Ranganathan, Bridget Christie and Ed Gamble make up the always impressive comedy headliners. MC
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Going out: Art
Black Venus
Somerset House, London, Thursday 20 July to 24 September
The latest provocative sprawl of a show at the former home of Nelson’s navy is curated by Aindrea Emelife and surveys representations of Black women, by Black women. It looks at historical stereotypes before taking them apart through the work of Amber Pinkerton, Sonia Boyce, Zanele Muholi, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker and more.
Paula Rego
National Gallery, London, Thursday 20 July to 29 October
This powerful, disturbing painter had fun when she was the National Gallery’s first associate artist in the early 1990s. Fascinated by the playful mixture of bony figuration, ripely rendered fruit and strongly characterised women in the altarpieces of Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli, she created a carnivalesque, cheerfully feminist mural, Crivelli’s Garden.
Lindsey Mendick
Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, to 1 October
With the Edinburgh festival soon to start, the theme of Lindsey Mendick’s show couldn’t be more apposite for those crawling from venue to pub. It’s called Shitfaced and explores the culture of binge drinking. Mendick is an inspired potter whose glazed ceramics flow with colour, obscenity and unabashed fun.
The Weight of Words
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, to 26 November
Doris Salcedo is one of the contributors to this exhibition about poetry and sculpture. The poetry of her art is dislocating, from distorted furniture to a crack in Tate Modern. But what makes a piece of sculpture resemble a poem, or vice versa? Also with Pavel Büchler, Tim Etchells and more. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Christopher Bliss
Moth Club, London, Thursday 20 July
With his sky-blue shellsuit, nerdy enthusiasm and essential idiocy, character comic Rob Carter’s disturbingly prolific author is a delightful buffoon. Yet he’s not only silly, he’s a satisfying bit of satire, sending up the self-importance and frequent dumbness of the popular literary scene. Rachel Aroesti
Family dance day
Coram’s Fields, London, Saturday 15 July
A day of free dance, theatre, storytelling, arts and crafts, brought to you by dance organisation The Place. There’ll bequality performances by south Asian dancers Sonia Sabri Company, circus group Mimbre, hip-hop crew BirdGang and a piece designed for neurodiverse children from Corali Dance Company. Lyndsey Winship
The Tempest re-imagined for everyone aged six and over
Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, London, to 22 July
A treat of a summer show, co-produced by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and the brilliant Unicorn Theatre. The Bard’s spellbinding play has been boiled down to 75 minutes, brimming with spells and monsters, revenge and romance. Miriam Gillinson
The Sound of Music
Chichester Festival Theatre, to 3 September
Gina Beck stars as nun Maria, sent to look after the Von Trapp children as the second world war looms. Directed by Adam Penford, whose musicals always have bite as well as pizazz. MG
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Staying in: Streaming
The Bear
Wednesday 19 July, Disney+
This hypnotically stressful kitchen-set dramedy starring Jeremy Allen White as a top-tier chef marooned in his late brother’s failing Chicago restaurant was the breakout TV hit of 2022. Its second series returns less taut and less tense but just as meaty in its exploration of food, work and family of all stripes.
The Sixth Commandment
Monday 17 July, 9pm, BBC One & iPlayer
Another haunting true crime crunched into disturbing drama, this time excavated from 2015, when a 69-year-old university lecturer was murdered by a younger man who conned him into thinking they were an item. A trio of national treasures – Timothy Spall and Sheila Hancock – and Anne Reid star, while Sarah Phelps (EastEnders) is on writing duties.
Rob & Romesh Vs
Wednesday 19 July, 9pm, Sky Max & Now
Fresh from presenting the Baftas, Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan continue to make fools of themselves for our viewing pleasure as their reliably hilarious challenge show returns for series five, with the pair kicking things off by awkwardly attempting the art ofK-pop hit-making.
Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard?
Thursday 20 July, 10pm, Channel 4
This provocatively titled film sees the comedian, who has cerebral palsy, address the ableist abuse that has blighted her career – something that made headlines after her 2021 Question Time appearance prompted a wave of vile social media comments – by looking into the prevalence of such behaviour and bravely confronting a troll offline. RA
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Staying in: Games
Ridiculous Fishing EX
Apple Arcade, out now
One of the greatest ever iPhone games (pictured) gets an extra life this week: haul as many fish as you can out of the sea, then blast ’em with a shotgun. Best played in moreish morsels.
Viewfinder
PC, PS5, out Tuesday 20 July
Imagine you’ve got a magic Polaroid camera that lets you superimpose whatever you photograph on to reality, and you’ve got the premise of this brain-bending puzzle game. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Claud – Supermodels
Out now
Originally started in their New York apartment on an out-of-tune guitar and a secondhand piano, the second album of indie pop from Claud has a beguilingly careworn feel. Inspired by the various life upheavals following 2021’s debut, Super Monster, it features the sad shrug of a lead single, Every Fucking Time.
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Out now
The east London rapper ended his three-year hiatus in May with the spit-flecked heater It’s Crazy, before dropping the more party-leaning summer-ready banger Who Told You, featuring Drake. Expect more of that sonic and thematic split across this third album’s 19 tracks, which also feature the likes of Jorja Smith and Popcaan.
Mahalia – IRL
Out now
Leicestershire-born Mahalia Burkmar returns with her second album of sumptuously crafted R&B, with support from the likes of Stormzy, Kojey Radical and JoJo. The latter lends her vocal talents to the excellent 90s breakup anthem Cheat, while Raye adds songwriting and production assistance to Terms and Conditions.
Rita Ora – You & I
Out now
The Hello, Hi, Goodbye hitmaker and occasional actor returns with her first album in five years. Channelling late-90s dance (Praising You reworks Fatboy Slim’s 1998 hit Praise You), and elegantly heartbroken electropop (on lead single You Only Love Me), it’s a welcome return for one of pop’s more playful exponents. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
The Secret Life of Canada
Podcast
Five seasons in and this fascinating series (pictured) on the indigenous and marginalised histories of Canada is still shining a light on important issues. There are eye-opening, troubling tales of forced sterilisation, as well as the “forgotten war”.
Service95 newsletter
Online
Far from being a pop star’s vanity project, Dua Lipa’s weekly newsletter commissions some of the most thought-provoking short-form cultural writing you can find. From spotlighting designers fighting ageism to explaining South Korea’s feminist movements, there’s plenty to learn.
Extraordinary Portraits
Monday 17 July, BBC One
Bill Bailey’s surprisingly informative art series returns, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NHS. Pairing NHS workers with portrait artists, we explore the creative process alongside interviews on the joys and challenges of vital, frontline work. Ammar Kalia
