Another weekend, another influx of new cultural releases to dive into.
To help you sort the good from the bad, here is The Independent’s weekly Arts Agenda, in which our team of critics and arts editors hand-select the very best new releases from across the worlds of film, TV, music, art, literature and theatre.
Chief art critic Mark Hudson recommends a new canine-themed art exhibition that ought to have any dog-loving art enthusiast wagging their tail. Features editor Adam White takes a look at Nicolas Cage’s new Dracula film, and a sumptuous but odd animation from Japan’s Makoto Shinkai. Arts editor Jessie Thompson raves about a new short story collection by Katherine Heiny, and a tremendous book-to-stage adaptation at the New Diorama Theatre, while music editor Roisin O’Connor has glowing things to say about the debut record from rapper Avelino. Rounding out the list is TV editor Ellie Harrison, who discusses ITV’s new three-part crime drama based on the case of Raoul Moat.
Art
Marguerite Humeau: meys
From sound-emitting, AI-created sculptures to termite-eaten logs shaped into rocking forms you can lie down on, the much-lauded French artist’s first London exhibition is a surreal world unto itself. Despite the show’s self-proclaimed context of “impending extinction”, the focus on creative cooperation, inspired by the “architecture” of ants, creates an upbeat – at times euphoric – mood. White Cube Bermondsey, until 14 May
Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney
Our millennia-old love affair with our four-legged friends is explored through art. This themed collection ranges from Ancient Roman sculpture and Leonardo drawings to David Hockney’s dachshunds and a major showing of Victorian dog portraits from Sir Edwin Landseer. For an extra helping of canine ooh-ing and ahh-ing, there’s a free display on the Queen and her Corgis. Wallace Collection, until 15 Oct
Lee Miller: Portraits
The Sussex home of the golden couple of British surrealism, photographer Lee Miller and painter Roland Penrose, is packed with eclectic collections and murals, and reopens with a display of Miller’s iconic portraits, from Picasso to Dylan Thomas. Annabel Moeller’s poignant images of the Afghanistan conflict, shown alongside, link back to Miller’s harrowing photography of the Second World War. Farleys House & Gallery, Chiddingly, East Sussex, until 3 Sept
Mark Hudson, chief art critic
Books
Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
I always think Katherine Heiny writes a bit like Elizabeth Strout after a few shots of tequila, and that’s a very good thing indeed. Her second short story collection proves her to be one of the finest architects of the form, stuffed with the human foibles and wisecracks that Heiny is known for. Witty though she may be, some of the stories in Games and Rituals take a melancholy turn, reflective of the difficult lockdown period through which Heiny was writing – and some of the personal losses she suffered in that time.
Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage by Rachael Lennon
In many instances, the case for marriage being feminist ain’t great: taking a man’s name, being given away by your dad and then no women doing any speeches. But Rachael Lennon’s book might provide some answers as to how marriage can become more progressive as an institution. Weaving in her own experiences – she wed her wife a few years after the UK legalised same-sex marriage – she explores, beyond simply the rituals of a wedding day, the possibilities for a fair, feminist future for partners to share together.
Jessie Thompson, arts editor
Film
Loving Highsmith
It’s no easy task to condense all of Patricia Highsmith’s cantankerous, acid-black and frequently vile worldviews into a 90-minute documentary. Loving Highsmith, an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the author behind The Price of Salt, Strangers on a Train and the Tom Ripley novels, doesn’t quite nail it all. But it’s a valiant gesture nonetheless, with Gwendoline Christie giving voice to Highsmith’s diaries, and a handful of the novelist’s former lovers recounting their affairs. In cinemas now
Renfield
One of the first hints that Nicolas Cage wasn’t your typical actor came in 1989’s Vampire’s Kiss, a horror comedy in which the actor bellowed with unbridled glee, ate a live cockroach and repeatedly proclaimed “I’m a vampire!” once his character, um, became a vampire. Nearly 35 years later, he returns to the world of fangs and capes as Count Dracula in another horror comedy. This one sees his perpetually henpecked and typically devoted manservant (Nicholas Hoult) realise he might actually want more from his life. In cinemas now
Suzume
Makoto Shinkai’s animated films resemble the prettiest screensavers in the world, from the vast skies of Weathering with You to the dazzling cityscapes of Your Name. Suzume, his third feature, mirrors its predecessors by combining themes of existential dread and sentimental touchy-feeliness. Here, teenager Suzume stumbles upon a mysterious portal which, when opened, unleashes a torrent of natural disasters. Things get increasingly surreal from there, with Suzume’s new sorcerer friend being transformed into a chair, followed by an encounter with a talking cat. Sure! In cinemas now
Adam White, features editor
Music
Album: Avelino – God Save the Streets
After first teasing the project three years ago, north-London rapper Avelino comes out swinging with his phenomenal debut album, God Save the Streets. Collaborators include Ghetts and BackRoad Gee, on the sizzling trap-influenced single “Vexed”, and his mentor Wretch 32 on the dance-friendly “Sin City”. He closes on “Acceptance”, a visceral rumination on success featuring some of Avelino’s most intricate wordplay to date. This is undoubtedly one of the most confident, accomplished statements of intent released in some time – a brilliantly produced collection of observations about poverty, self-worth, power and authority. “You can’t rush greatness,” Av told me in an interview earlier this week. He’s proved his point. God Save the Streets was worth the wait.
Live music: In the Round festival - The Roundhouse, London
The Roundhouse’s annual In the Round festival kicks off today, with a fantastic lineup of one-off gigs. This year they’ve booked artists including Elbow frontman Guy Garvey and kora virtuoso Sona Jobarteh. Friday’s event, Diaspora Dialogues, is being hosted by musician, poet and yogi DemiMa Mseleku, who will explore themes including African identity, ancestry and migration through the artist’s lens. DemiMa will be joined by Thandiswa Mazwai, one of the most influential singers of the past 25 years in South Africa.
Roisin O’Connor, music editor
Stage
Private Lives, Donmar Warehouse
The Donmar Warehouse is marking half a century since the death of Noel Coward with a revival of one of his most celebrated plays, Private Lives. The story of warring divorcees who end up on the same holiday, new spouses in tow, has previously attracted star pairings from the (actually divorced) Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, to Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan, to Matthew MacFadyen and Kim Cattrall. For Michael Longhurst’s production, Stephen Mangan and Rachael Stirling get ready to spit tacks at one another. Donmar Warehouse until 27 May
Hamnet, RSC
Maggie O’Farrell won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020 for her poignant imagining of the death of Shakespeare’s son, later thought to have inspired the writing of Hamlet. The obvious home for its stage revival, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti, is, of course, Stratford-Upon-Avon, where is it being staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company. A West End transfer will follow in the autumn. RSC Swan Theatre until 17 June
Little scratch, New Diorama Theatre
The New Diorama Theatre continues to carve out a space as a must-go venue by bringing back this exquisite adaptation of Rebecca Watson’s novel. First staged at Hampstead Theatre in 2021 to an array of stellar reviews, Katie Mitchell’s production pulls off the difficult feat of turning this experimental novel – which spans one day inside a young woman’s head – into a thrilling live theatrical event. The result is more akin to a symphony than a stage play. New Diorama Theatre until 13 May
Jessie Thompson, arts editor
TV
The Hunt for Raoul Moat
In 2010, former bouncer and tree surgeon Moat became notorious when he eluded capture for six days after he shot his former girlfriend Samantha Stobbart in the stomach, killed her new partner Christopher Brown and shot PC David Rathband at random in the face. A new three-part crime drama, starring Lee Ingleby, is telling the extraordinary story of the efforts to catch him. Sunday at 9pm on ITV
Scared of the Dark
Whether it’s Naked Attraction or Sex Box, Channel 4’s entertainment department is now well known for its bonkers commissions. Its latest offering is no different, and its basic premise is: Danny Dyer makes eight celebs live in total darkness for eight days. Gazza is there. So is Chris Eubank. How will they survive? It sounds deranged, so of course, it must be watched. Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4
Bowelbabe: In Her Own Words
This heartbreaking yet inspiring archive-based documentary charts the last five years of the life of cancer campaigner Deborah James, a former deputy headteacher who lived with incurable bowel cancer. She helped make the documentary in the months before she died, and it’s full of voice notes, TikToks, Instagram posts, interviews for the You, Me and the Big C podcast, as well as never-before-seen mobile phone footage and home videos shared by her family and friends. Monday at 9pm on BBC Two
Ellie Harrison, TV editor
