This week’s best culture, at home – from Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet to 50 Irish monologues

The Observer’s critics recommend the best new arts shows to enjoy on TV, on the radio and online
  
  

Cordelia Braithwaite and Paris Fitzpatrick, centre, in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet.
Cordelia Braithwaite and Paris Fitzpatrick, centre, in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet. Photograph: Johan Persson

Dance

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet
As part of its Reel Adventures season of shows by Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures, Sky Arts presents the TV premiere of their characteristically different and emotionally devastating use of Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, set in an institution that forces young people into submission, with terrific performances from a convincingly young cast, led by Cordelia Braithwaite and Paris Fitzpatrick. Today, Sky Arts, 8pm. Sarah Crompton

Art

Grayson’s Art Club
Direct from his London studio, Grayson Perry and his special guests offer tips, insights and live-action art for anyone who wants to have their work considered via Skype, Zoom et al. The first of this six-part series focuses on portraiture. Tomorrow, Channel 4, 8pm Laura Cumming

The Way I See It
Actor, comedian and collector Steve Martin is the latest star to choose his favourite paintings in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, praising the wildly coloured abstractions of the long-forgotten synchromists. Today, Radio 4, 2.45pm. LC

Theatre

Dear Ireland
“What should Ireland write on a postcard to itself?” In a gloriously ambitious project, Dublin’s Abbey theatre has commissioned 50 dramatists to write monologues addressing the future of the nation, with each piece performed by a different actor. Playwrights include Edna O’Brien, Joseph O’Connor and Kit de Waal. Among the performers are Denise Gough and Brendan Gleeson. Screened in four parts, the monologues can be viewed on the Abbey’s YouTube channel from 7.30pm on Tuesday until 1 May. Susannah Clapp

Five From Inside
Rona Munro has developed these five monologues at speed with the cast of her latest play, Donny’s Brain, which had been due to open at Edinburgh’s Traverse theatre when lockdown struck. The play could not go on but the company could, getting creative from home with director Caitlin Skinner. As Munro says, “Nothing can replace live theatre”, but these new pieces should help to beguile until the show does, at last, go on. Streaming free on demand until 2 May via the Traverse’s YouTube channel. Clare Brennan

Classical

Australian Chamber Orchestra
The eclectic Australian Chamber Orchestra – due back in the UK in October – has launched a digital season of live programmes from musicians’ homes. This week: violinist Maja Savnik (Tuesday). On Friday, artistic director Richard Tognetti and principal violin Satu Vänskä give a recital from their Manly home. Fiona Maddocks

Comedy

Never Have I Ever
This coming-of-age comedy created by Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) explores the life of an Indian-American teenager as she navigates the world of sex, grief, crushes and clashing cultures. Get ready to see a south Asian girl as the lead in an American high-school drama for possibly the first time. Premiering on Netflix, tomorrow. Kadish Morris

Watch a trailer for Never Have I Ever

Music

Car Seat Headrest
Prolific US singer-songwriter Will Toledo has a new set of songs, Making a Door Less Open. It was recorded twice: once with instruments and once with electronics, the two versions merging on the final cut. Out on Friday. Kitty Empire

Lianne La Havas and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Back in February, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and public spaces were still abuzz, London’s Barbican Hall played host to singer Lianne La Havas and the fantasia-like versions of her songs by contemporary rearranger Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Now available for all to hear on Radio 3, Tuesday, 7.30pm. KE

Film

The Assistant
Audacious documentary maker Kitty Green (Casting JonBenet) makes a startling fiction debut with this sharp, clear-eyed study of workplace abuse, directly inspired by events in Harvey Weinstein’s office. On digital release from Friday. Guy Lodge

 

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