Going out: Cinema
La Chimera
Out now
The Crown’s Josh O’Connor is on splendidly rumpled form here as a linen-suited tomb raider bent on extracting all manner of treasures from artefact-rich central Italian soil in the 1980s. But Indiana Jones he ain’t: this is grubby, shadowy work rather than high-octane, boulder-rolling heroics.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Out now
Set about three centuries after the events of the last instalment in the Apes franchise, this soft reboot takes place at a time when humans have regressed to a feral state and apes rule the roost. Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand and William H Macy.
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
Out now
Martin Scorsese tells the story of his lifelong obsession with the movies of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the unique film-making partnership that gave us films including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death.
Shallow Grave – 30th anniversary rerelease
Out now
It’s 30 years since three flatmates (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox) found a naked corpse played by Keith Allen in their spare room, accessorised with a tempting suitcase full of cash, but Danny Boyle’s debut has lost none of its pitch-black comic energy or nasty charm. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Girls Aloud
17 May to 30 June; tour starts Dublin
More than a decade since their split, and following the death of their unfiltered rebel Sarah Harding in 2021, the UK’s best girl band head out on a lengthy arena tour. Expect to hear a selection of some of pop’s most outlandish experiments including The Show, Biology and No Good Advice. Michael Cragg
Nickelback
16 to 23 May; tour starts Glasgow
Two decades after they unleashed karaoke classic How You Remind Me, Canadian rockers and enduring memes Nickelback are still taking their semi-ironic legend status to the bank. This UK tour may be in support of 2022’s Get Rollin’ album but it’s all about hits such as Photograph and Rockstar. MC
Bill Frisell Trio
Islington Assembly Hall, London, 15 May
One of jazz guitar’s most original and cinematically atmospheric stars for more than four decades, Bill Frisell continues to spontaneously remix bebop, swing, bluegrass, early rock and even classic movie themes with his longtime bass/drums partners Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston. John Fordham
Carmen
Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, 16 May to 17 June; 1 to 24 August
There are just two new shows at Glyndebourne this summer, and one – Bizet’s perennial favourite – starts the season off. Directed by Diane Paulus and conducted by Glyndebourne music director Robin Ticciati, it’s double cast, with Rihab Chaleb as Carmen for the first run, and Aigul Akhmetshina taking over for the second. Andrew Clements
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Going out: Stage
Eric Andre
14 to 23 May; tour starts Dublin
The cult comic’s surreal spoof chatshow staggers on to the stage. Expect eye-watering audience participation (including his ranch dressing-chugging competition). Rachel Aroesti
The Artist
Theatre Royal Plymouth, 11 to 25 May
The 2011 Oscar winner is reinvented for the stage by director Drew McOnie and playwright Lindsey Ferrentino, its silent movie-era setting the perfect vehicle for McOnie’s choreography and Robbie Fairchild’s tap dancing skills. Lyndsey Winship
The Great Privation: How to Flip Ten Cents Into a Dollar
Theatre503, London, 14 May to 1 June
Pennsylvania in the 1800s, where Black bodies are denied rest even after death: Nia Akilah Robinson’s bold new play excavates the historic act of grave robbing. A finalist for Theatre503’s International Playwriting award, The Great Privation examines the act of stealing dead people’s body parts for medical research. Kaye Wyver
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Oxford Playhouse, 15 to 18 May
Former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Gregory Doran directs some lucky students – and a dog – in this staging of Shakespeare’s early comedy, which will complete his direction of the Bard’s canon. KW
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Going out: Art
Ranjit Singh
Wallace Collection, London, to 20 October
Ranjit Singh, “Lion of the Punjab”, established the Sikh empire in the Indian subcontinent’s north-west in the early 1800s, defeating Afghan incursions and creating a reformist government. The Wallace Collection’s treasury of Sikh armour helps it explore his reign along with portraits, jewels and other artworks.
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920
Tate Britain, London, 16 May to 13 October
Famous women 500 years ago were more likely to be monarchs than artists. But this exhibition reclaims lost miniaturists of the Tudor age and pursues the women who made British art, from Mary Beale to Gwen John and Vanessa Bell. Should be a fascinating new view of British history.
Laura Aldridge
Jupiter Artland, near Edinburgh, to 29 September
Every garden needs a lawnmower sometimes. And Lawnmower is the title of Glasgow artist Aldridge’s new exhibition in the pleasantly pastoral setting of Jupiter Artland, featuring ceramics, video, fabric and found objects including fishing floats. She describes the mixed-media effect of her art as a form of expanded collage.
Paul Maheke
Mostyn, Llandudno, to 29 June
Ghostly black-and-white images of tentative, fleeting human presences are set against bolder, brighter, even crassly confident wall decorations in this confessional exhibition. It is based on a journal the artist kept through the pandemic years. The introspection enforced on us all by lockdown has haunting echoes here. Jonathan Jones
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Staying in: Streaming
Doctor Who
BBC One & iPlayer, 11 May, 6.20pm
That this 60-year-old sci-fi series can still dominate the cultural conversation is staggering; now – after literally years of hype – Ncuti Gatwa kicks off his inaugural series as the Doctor. He’s joined by companion Ruby and fresh foes including Maestro (Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon).
The Gathering
Channel 4, 14 May, 9pm
Young, yes; free, not so much. Award-winning British novelist Helen Walsh is behind this Liverpool-based drama about a teenage girl who is attacked at an illegal rave by a mysterious assailant – an event that sparks a story about modern adolescence, parental surveillance and the high-pressure world of competitive gymnastics.
The Big Cigar
Apple TV+, 17 May
The true story of how Black Panther Huey P Newton evaded police in the late 1970s via a fake movie set gets a small-screen retelling. André Holland stars as Newton, who asks Hollywood producer Bert Schneider to smuggle him into Cuba after he’s accused of murder. Cue a scarcely believable – and rather sinister – real-life crime caper.
Me and the Voice In My Head
Channel 4, 13 May, 10pm
The public has become exponentially more literate in matters of mental health but borderline personality disorder is still little understood. Now, Joe Tracini is here to help; in this comedy-laced documentary, the actor plays himself alongside his destructive alter ego, Mike, to communicate the complexities and absurdities of the condition. RA
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Staying in: Games
Animal Well
Out now; PC, PS5 Switch
A mysterious, eerie-looking game about being a blob-creature stuck in a subterranean labyrinth with other, much larger pixel-animals. Can you figure out how to survive?
Braid Anniversary Edition
Out 14 May; all platforms
A late-00s indie classic that turns the old rescue-the-damsel trope on its head, Braid is remembered as much for its clever time-manipulation puzzles as for its distinctive art style. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Yaya Bey – Ten Fold
Out now
This follow-up to the acclaimed Remember Your North Star by the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter continues her passion for emotionally raw jazz and R&B. Chasing the Bus explores the perils of being underestimated, while Sir Princess Bad Bitch is a more braggadocious riposte to haters.
Kings of Leon – Can We Please Have Fun
Out now
Twenty years ago the Followill brothers – Caleb, Nathan and Jared, and cousin Matthew – arrived in a blaze of hype, hair and horny garage rock. That was quickly swapped for U2-sized stadium moves, but this ninth album finds them injecting more life into songs such as lead single Mustang.
AG Cook – Britpop
Out now
Fresh from working with the likes of Beyoncé and Charli XCX, sonic arsonist Cook returns with this third solo album. Like his debut, 2020’s 49-track 7G, Britpop is epic in scale, its 24 songs split into past, present and future “discs”, and ranging from fragile alt-rock to sugary dance-pop.
Amen Dunes – Death Jokes
Out now
Six years after the release of Damon McMahon’s psych rock opus Freedom, the New Yorker makes something of a left turn. Death Jokes finds him experimenting with electronic textures, with songs such as the epic Round the World laced with found sounds and a sense of eerie foreboding. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Let the Kids Dance!
Podcast
Despite being the birthplace of grunge music, 90s Seattle was a tough place for music-loving teens. This fascinating series investigates the moral panic that meant under-18s had to go to concerts in the city with a parent.
AudioSpaces
Online
Part social media experiment and part field recording archive, this quirky app allows users to roam across a map of the globe and explore areas based on the audio files users upload from the ground.
Hidden Letters
PBS America, 16 May, 9.50pm
A moving and powerful film tracing the present-day preservation of the Nüshu language, a secret script that evolved among Chinese women across generations who were forced into oppressive marriages and forbidden to read or write. Ammar Kalia
