Going Out: Cinema
Prayers for the Stolen
Out now
This uncompromising coming-of-age drama is the first first fiction feature from documentarian Tatiana Huezo, who brings the keen eye of a non-fiction film-maker to the story of eight-year-old Ana and her family and friends, whose lives in rural Mexico’s opium poppy heartland are lived in the shadow of cartel violence.
Small Body
Out now
People going to extraordinary lengths for their beliefs has long been a staple of some of humankind’s most unusual endeavours. Writer-director Laura Samani’s jumping-off point in this excellent Italian period drama is the belief that an unbaptised child who dies will be trapped in limbo. The resulting quest narrative is moving.
The Outfit
Out now
Mark Rylance plays a former Savile Row tailor – or “cutter” in the parlance of this 1950s Chicago-set crime drama – now making bespoke suits for the mob. The action takes place over the course of a single night in a mafia men’s outfitters, with plenty of double-crossing twists and turns.
Compartment No 6
Out now
When archaeology student Laura (Seidi Haarla) boards an overnight train to Murmansk, she is adrift in the purgatory of a failing relationship. The last thing she needs is to share a sleeper cabin with a drunken Russian (Yuriy Borisov), but somehow, an unlikely connection forms. Catherine Bray
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Going Out: Gigs
Khruangbin
14 to 16 April; tour starts London
Otherworldly Texas trio Khruangbin have grown from a psych-rock fringe concern to landing a UK top 10 with 2020’s Mordechai. Allow their languid, exploratory near-instrumentals ease you away from this hellfire. Michael Cragg
Dua Lipa
15 April to 3 May; tour starts Manchester
Almost two years to the day since her second album Future Nostalgia cemented her status in pop’s top tier, Dua Lipa finally gets to air its lithe electropop in public. With a setlist of hits already under her belt, chances are there will be very little opportunity for a bar break, so please plan accordingly. MC
Sansara and Fretwork
St John’s Smith Square, London, 14 April
There’s choral music by Bach, Pergolesi, Rachmaninov and Schütz in this year’s Easter festival at St John’s. But the highlight promises to be the concert bringing together the vocal collective Sansar with the viols of Fretwork for works by Arvo Pärt, alongside the five-part Lamentations by the Tudor composer Robert White. Andrew Clements
Antonio Forcione Quartet
Ronnie Scott’s, London , 14 April
The Italian-born guitarist’s four-decade career has seen him splice jazz, folk and pop traditions from Europe, Africa, Latin America and beyond. Forcione’s shows join virtuosity, passion and wit, and his quartet is right up with him. John Fordham
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Going Out: Art
Scottish Women Artists Transforming Tradition
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, 9 April to 3 July
This exhibition offers a corrective to the downplaying of women in art history, focused on 20th-century Scotland, whose best painter is now widely held to have been Joan Eardley. She shares the honours here with Margot Sandeman and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Agnes Miller Parker. There’s contemporary art, too, from Caroline Walker and Sekai Machache.
Raphael
National Gallery, London, 9 April to 31 July
The third of the big three Renaissance geniuses – beside Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci – gets a new look, and about time, too. Raphael’s prowess is beyond doubt but his ability to excite and electrify modern onlookers is less certain. Will this be the moment our flawed millennium gets him?
Martin Parr Life’s a Beach
Giant Gallery, Bournemouth, to 26 June
Parr’s classically unclassic pictures of British beach life come to one of its most quintessential settings, Bournemouth, in a survey of his seaside snaps from across Britain. The images take in the delights of New Brighton on Merseyside, Margate, Broadstairs and more, in black and white and lurid colour, from the 1970s to now.
The Wig
Mostyn, Llandudno, to 12 June
This group show’s name is inspired by a French post-structuralist theory in which wigs represent … well, something to do with the superficial veneer of life and also things that are done under the guise of work. With Gianmaria Andreetta, Megan Plunkett, Richard Sides, Jason Hirata and Angharad Williams. Jonathan Jones
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Going Out: Stage
Alistair Green: Volume Three
Prince Charles Cinema, London, 11 April
The king of white room Twitter sketches brings his evocatively British character comedy to the big screen once again. Green will be on hosting duties before the third and final cinematic compilation of his iPhone-shot, internet-hit skits – plus some never-before-seen videos. Rachel Aroesti
Daddy
Almeida theatre, London, to 30 April
Slave Play writer Jeremy O Harris’s melodrama is about the relationship between a young Black artist and an older white art collector and features a fully functioning swimming pool. Bring a towel. Miriam Gillinson
The Meaning of Zong
Bristol Old Vic, to 7 May
Infused with music and lyricism, The Meaning of Zong from the Olivier award-winning Giles Terera, star of Hamilton, is set 200 years ago and focuses on the chain of events – and pioneering people – that kickstarted the abolition movement in the UK. MG
Scottish Ballet: The Scandal at Mayerling
Glasgow Theatre Royal, 13 to 16 April; touring to 28 May
Scotland gets its own production of Kenneth MacMillan’s 1978 ballet Mayerling. The psychological drama tells the true story of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, his teenage mistress and their apparent double murder-suicide at a cabin in the woods. Lyndsey Winship
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Staying In: Streaming
Roar
15 April, Apple TV+
A surreal twist on the woman-in-crisis genre, this anthology drama series comprises eight very weird fables, from The Woman Who Ate Photographs to The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf. The cast is similarly intriguing, with Nicole Kidman, Issa Rae and Meera Syal among the stars.
Gentleman Jack
10 April, 9pm, BBC One & iPlayer
Prepare for more village outrage, knowing glances and non-stop striding. Sally Wainwright’s biographical drama returns to 1830s Halifax to chronicle further developments in the life of the woman widely regarded as the first modern lesbian, landowner Anne Lister (the always captivating Suranne Jones).
Anatomy of a Scandal
15 April, Netflix
David E Kelley – creator of Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies – applies his melodramatic twists and nuanced character portraits to British life in this adaptation of Sarah Vaughan’s 2018 novel, about a politician accused of sexual abuse (Rupert Friend), and his doggedly supportive wife (Sienna Miller).
Derry Girls
12 April, 9.15pm, Channel 4
Setting its noisy, effusive but also very touching exploration of teenage girlhood against the background hum of the Troubles, Lisa McGee’s semi-autobiographical sitcom will end after this eagerly awaited third series, which sees the girls meander messily into adulthood as Northern Ireland enters a more hopeful era. RA
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Staying In: Games
Cat Cafe Manager
14 April, PC, Nintendo Switch
A cute management simulation game that does pretty much exactly what it says: build and decorate a cafe, adopt and pet a bunch of cats, make people drinks and befriend the regulars.
Alto’s Adventure: The Spirit of the Mountain
Out now, iPhone/iPad
A recent addition to Apple Arcade, this calming, endless snowboarding game has you sliding and jumping through gorgeous scenery until you inevitably stack it. Meditative and fun. Keza MacDonald
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Staying In: Albums
Syd – Broken Hearts Club
Out now
It has been five years since the Odd Future and Internet alumna Syd released her excellent debut album, Fin. Following a devastating breakup, she scrapped a more upbeat early version of what would become solo album two, with the plainly titled Broken Hearts Club moving from bittersweet slow jams to broken confessionals.
Jack White – Fear of the Dawn
Out now
The first of two new Jack White albums this year – the folky Entering Heaven Alive follows in July – arrives on the back of bonkers single Hi-De-Ho, which features Q-Tip rapping over farting riffs and wailing chants. It’s a playful reminder of what’s been missing from the former White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather man’s recent oeuvre.
Wet Leg – Wet Leg
Out now
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers stake their claim as 2022’s best new band with this self-titled debut. Buoyed by last June’s viral debut single Chaise Longue (12m plays on Spotify and counting), it’s a heady rush of arch silliness and youthful emotions.
Father John Misty – Chloë and the Next 20th Century
Out now
On his fifth album as Father John Misty, Josh Tillman adds a dash of old Hollywood to his 1970s singer-songwriter shtick. The elegant Funny Girl finds him lost in infatuation as rippling strings and brass unfurl around him, while the gently rolling Goodbye Mr Blue feels like the perfect soundtrack to an indie romcom gone awry. MC
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Staying In : Brain food
What’s Your Problem?
Podcast
Turns out there are infinite answers to the titular question posed by this design-focused podcast. Host Jacob Goldstein chats to engineers and entrepreneurs about the issues they are trying to creatively solve, from drone delivery to AI-assisted driving.
Tolkien Estate
Fantasy fans will be thrilled at this new archive, featuring detailed scans of paintings, illustrations and letters from The Lord of the Rings writer JRR Tolkien. Highlights include the work-in-progress maps of Tolkien’s vast Middle Earth.
Art That Made Us
14 Apr, 9pm, BBC Two
This detailed eight-part series traces an alternative history of the UK through its artistic output. Tonight’s second episode takes us from the creative renewal of the Black Death to the societal divisions of the Peasants’ Revolt. KM
