Going Out: Cinema
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Out now
Christianity sure loves a good rise-and-fall narrative, and the story of kitschy 1970s televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker fits to a tee. Starring Jessica Chastain as the woman at the heart of the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, it’s all about the fake eyelashes, Liberace-esque interiors and, of course, the music.
The Souvenir: Part II
Out now
Sequels to independent dramas are relatively rare, but it’s not essential to see the first Souvenir film before diving into this glorious British 1980s coming-of-age movie, which is worth savouring on its own terms, not least for the comic precision writer-director Joanna Hogg employs when anatomising her characters.
Jackass Forever
Out now
Of all the pop culture phenomena currently staging comebacks, Jackass is among the most memorable: a glorious, puerile and oddly heartwarming mixture of violence, stunts and gross-out gags that has only got more appealing with age (unless you hated it first time around, in which case good luck).
Belle
Out now
From Japanese animation director Mamoru Hosoda comes a visually ravishing story that’s more Satoshi Kon than Studio Ghibli. Loosely based on Beauty and the Beast but set in contemporary Japan, Belle interrogates the appeal of virtual personalities in a world where genuine intimacy is under threat. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Brockhampton
O2 Academy Brixton, London, 7 & 8 February
After releasing six albums in four years, the self-proclaimed “best boyband since One Direction” are calling it a day. These two London shows, as well as a slot at Coachella, mark the collective’s final performances before the inevitable slew of solo material and, let’s be honest, a reunion tour in a few years. Michael Cragg
Then & Now
Purcell Room, London, 6 February
The London Sinfonietta premieres works by Luke Lewis and Alicia Jane Turner, both products of its composer development scheme. Lewis’s The Echoes Return Slowly was inspired by the recordings of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, while Turner’s Tell Me When You Get Home, for soprano and ensemble, is an immersive exploration of walking alone at night. Andrew Clements
Mark Lockheart’s Dreamers
Bonington theatre, Arnold, nr Nottingham, 10 February
Saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart, founding member of the gamechanging Loose Tubes and Polar Bear, turns his imagination towards mergers of improv, ambient and hip-hop-influenced music with this new band. Long-time guitar sidekick John Parricelli, depping here for keyboardist Elliot Galvin, adds an intriguing wild card. John Fordham
Matt Maltese
9 to 27 February; tour starts Glasgow
Reading-born, London-based indie troubadour Maltese (below) scored an unlikely TikTok smash recently with his 2017 apocalyptic love song, As the World Caves In. Expect it to overshadow the lilting songs from his third album, Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow, on this month-long tour. MC
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Going Out: Art
Thao Nguyên Phan
Tate St Ives, 5 February to 2 May
The Mekong River is the theme of this show of video, sculpture and paintings. Thao Nguyên Phan finds in this famous river a tide of metaphors and images of modern Vietnamese life. She addresses the environment, industrialisation and traditional beliefs, mixing contemporary art with folklore and finding inspiration in myth.
Mike Nelson
Matt’s Gallery, London, to 5 March
This powerfully imaginative artist revisits his fascination with labyrinths and caverns of urban strangeness in the light of lockdown. It was Nelson’s 2000 installation The Coral Reef at London gallery Matt’s that made his name with its eerie sequence of deserted rooms full of dark symbolism. He returns with an even more claustrophobic maze.
Susan Rothenberg
Thomas Dane Gallery, London, to 9 April
Expressionism comes in waves – in the 1980s it was all the rage, then it was mocked as mawkish in the Hirst era. Now, expressiveness is everywhere in art again, and the late Susan Rothenberg’s dreamlike paintings of horses look more vital than ever in their passionate personal symbolism and fierce colours.
The Show Windows
Various venues, Coventry, to 1 May
George Shaw grew up on a council estate near Coventry, and it is the obsessive subject of his art – a place where the woods are full of litter, the streets chilled by rain. Shaw’s drawings feature alongside work by Elisabeth Frink, Käthe Kollwitz and others in this innovative display. Jonathan Jones
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Going Out: Stage
Wuthering Heights
National Theatre, London, to 19 March, then touring
Emma Rice’s new take on Emily Brontë’s passionate love story storms into the National. Lit up with powerful music and dance, Lucy McCormick and Ash Hunter are Cathy and Heathcliff.
Forgiveness
Farnham Maltings, 8 February, then touring
Jonny Donahoe premieres a new one-man show after the success of Every Brilliant Thing. With trademark humour and pathos, Forgiveness, about childhood abuse, is his most personal show yet. Miriam Gillinson
Acosta Danza: 100% Cuban
9 to 12 Feb; tour starts London
The Havana company founded by the great ballet dancer Carlos Acosta brings a distinctive mix of contemporary, classical and Latin American influences to the stage, the dancers bubbling with heat, life and fantastic technique. This tour brings back two existing pieces alongside UK premieres from three Cuban choreographers. Lyndsey Winship
Nish Kumar
Theatre Royal Margate, 6 February; touring to 17 May
Long a scourge of the anti-woke, Kumar became a poster boy for the BBC’s rumoured (and refuted) “leftwing comedy” purge when his satirical show, The Mash Report was cancelled last year. Now back on the road with the archly titled He’ll no doubtYour Power, Your Control, the standup will presumably be making hay out of his embroilment in the culture wars. Rachel Aroesti
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Staying In: Streaming
The Curse
6 Feburary, 10pm, Channel 4
A 1980s crime caper may not be exactly what you’d expect as the People Just Do Nothing gang’s next project, but this comedy – also starring Tom Davis – does continue the feckless pretenders theme. A group of friends accidentally become embroiled in a huge gold heist and get jinxed in the process.
Inventing Anna
From 11 February, Netflix
The audacity of fraudster socialite Anna Sorokin captivated the internet in 2018 thanks to a New York magazine profile. Now the piece has inspired a Shonda Rhimes-helmed drama: Ozark’s Julia Garner plays the scammer, and Veep’s Anna Chlumsky is the journalist behind the exposé.
No Return
7 February, 9pm, ITV
Sheridan Smith is a mother living out an obscure but potent nightmare on holiday in Turkey in this four-parter from Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic, Safe, The Stranger). When an accusation of sexual assault is made against Smith’s teenage son, the whole family’s future is left hanging in the balance.
This Is Going to Hurt
8 February, 9pm, BBC One
Adam Kay’s brutal – and brutally funny – memoir about his time working in obstetrics and gynaecology for the NHS has been turned into a droll and incredibly tense comedy-drama. Ben Whishaw stars as the sleep-deprived, underappreciated and overwhelmed author in his junior doctor days. RA
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Staying In: Games
OlliOlli World
Out 8 February, PC, PS4/5, Switch, Xbox
This rad and adorable skateboarding game gives you a cartoonish utopia and lets you loose on it with a board.
Sifu
Out 8 February, PC, PS4/5
A stylish and intriguing kung-fu game, in which you punch and kick your way through a modern Chinese city on a martial-arts-movie-style revenge quest. Keza MacDonald
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Staying In: Albums
Mitski – Laurel Hell
Out now
After the success of 2018’s breakthrough Be the Cowboy and its subsequent tour, Mitski Miyawaki (above) took 2019 off. She sounds suitably replenished on this sixth album, whether unpacking her lopsided work-life balance on the brooding Working for the Knife, or donning Lycra for the galloping 80s synthpop of The Only Heartbreaker.
Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
Out now
Over the course of five albums, Le Bon’s sound has shifted from playful psych rock to something nervier and more oblique. That continues on Pompeii, with the Welsh singer-songwriter and producer (she recently helmed John Grant’s Boy from Michigan) mobilising a plethora of agitated guitars, horror-soundtrack synths and surrealist lyrics to spellbinding effect.
Black Country, New Road – Ants from Up Here
Out now
The experimental post-rock, free-jazz, gonzo-pop septet return with their second album, a year after crashing into the UK Top 5 with their debut, For the First Time. Galloping single Chaos Space Marine recalls both Pulp and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, while the near 10-minute Snow Globes sounds like a nightmare (in a good way).
Animal Collective – Time Skiffs
Out now
Six years after the overstuffed Painting With, the avant-garde quartet (below) return with an endearingly loopy 11th studio album. Completed during lockdown, its tone is set by lead single Prester John – two separate songs mashed together – and Walker, a watery, undulating tribute to Scott Walker. MC
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Staying In: Brain food
Human Resources
Podcast
Journalist Moya Lothian-McLean’s podcast (above) examining the unvarnished truth about Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade continues for a second season. We begin at the heart of the establishment, taking aim at the royal family’s stance on abolition.
The British Museum
Online
The museum’s YouTube channel is packed with curios, and its Curator’s Corner series is a particular highlight. Experts examine the details of current displays, explaining the significance of everything from Hokusai’s drawings to the Inca system of writing.
Imagine: Marian Keyes
BBC iPlayer
Alan Yentob kicks off a new batch of his peerless arts docs with a visit to bestselling author Marian Keyes, who relays her life story with characteristic charm – from escaping to London to finding fame and love. Ammar Kalia
