TALKS
Kate Tempest
(London, Bexhill-on-Sea)
With its mixture of hip-hop hooks and literary smarts, Kate Tempest’s 2014 album Everybody Down sunk its hooks into a lot of people. But it is indicative of her range that anyone looking for the south Londoner’s next instalment will have to venture into a different artistic discipline altogether. Her debut novel, The Bricks That Built The Houses, breathes fresh life into characters from the album, placing them at the heart of what initially appears to be a crime story but eventually proves to be a musing on trademark Tempest themes such as place, identity and belonging, along with class, immigration, drugs and violence. At these sessions she’ll be reading extracts and taking part in Q&As with her audience. Don’t expect music, however; Tempest is as comfortable working as a poet, a playwright and a prose writer as she is a rapper, and these nights will be dedicated to the written word. A magnetic and charismatic performer regardless of her chosen medium, this event should be a treat on its own terms. Phil Harrison
MUSIC
Kiran Leonard
(Bath, London, Ramsgate, Cambridge, Nottingham)
It can’t be easy being a musical prodigy. By the time he was 18, Kiran Leonard already had an impressive catalogue, a profusion of styles and a growing reputation. Here was a young man who could play most instruments, sing in an impressive fashion and hold an audience with lengthy digressions on the meanings of his songs. Which path, however, should he take? To judge by his recent Grapefruit album and its predecessor Bowler Hat Soup, he has not felt any pressure to decide, veering between batty psych, lo-fi tinkering and passionately delivered songs. It’s an interesting mix, and Leonard at times comes over like a one-man Mystery Jets, on the cusp between psychedelia and quirk. It’s likely, though, that he’ll find a decent audience for another of his modes: that of a post-rock Jeff Buckley. John Robinson
All this week’s best live music
COMEDY
Namedroppers: Reginald D Hunter On Censorship & The N Word
(Backyard Comedy Club, London, Wednesday)
It is sometimes said that trying to analyse comedy ruins it for everyone. And that may be true, in so far as learning or understanding anything about anything can really spoil the fun of staring in slack-jawed incomprehension at the world as it passes you by. Those with a little more curiosity are likely to find plenty to interest them at Namedroppers, a newish club night where comics are grilled about their career and approach to their art form. Comedy promoter and performer Joel Sanders plays host, having already persuaded big names such as Harry Hill and Barry Cryer to submit to his interrogation. This week it’s the turn of the reliably incendiary Reginald D Hunter. There should be plenty of interesting ground to cover, given Hunter’s penchant for unapologetic truth-telling and willingness to push taboos. There may also be time to discuss the sublimely hysterical imbroglio that occurred when Hunter was accused of racism by that shining chapel of political correctness, the Professional Footballers’ Association. James Kettle
All this week’s best live comedy
FILM
Victoria
The “all in one take” conceit gives this Berlin thriller an invigorating immediacy and a technical wow-factor, even if real-time storytelling has its drawbacks. It starts like a freewheeling urban indie: trusting Spanish clubber meets random trio of tearaways for nocturnal carousing and potential romance. But the story shifts several gears into nailbiting heist-thriller territory, where all bets are off. Steve Rose
All this week’s new film releases
CLUBS
NTS Is 5
(Various venues, London, Monday to Friday)
Operating out of a soundproofed shack in Dalston, NTS Radio has become a resounding success since its inception back in 2011. Its fifth birthday celebrations see 30 artists take over five venues, with Gigi Masin kicking off proceedings on Monday. Tuesday sees a lineup of post-punk, grunge and psych-rock from Shopping, Skinny Girl Diet and more, then Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti and UK grime crew Neverland Clan are amongst the acts taking over a snooker hall on Wednesday. Expect dry ice, reggae and deadpan social commentary as Babyfather, the latest project from Dean Blunt, follows on Thursday. The whole shebang climaxes at Corsica Studios on Friday, with some 12 members of the NTS family gathering together: Hieroglyphic Being and Funkineven are the cool, cognac-toting uncles, while Eclair Fifi and Nidia Minaj are the freakishly precocious cousins. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
All this week’s best club nights
EXHIBITIONS
Joe Fletcher Orr
(The International 3, Salford, to 29 April)
Joe Fletcher Orr’s father used to take him to galleries to have a giggle at contemporary art. Accordingly, the young artist tends to dodge notions of artistic seriousness in his own creations. Rather, he offers up jokes, teases and impish sidesteps, playing with ideas of collaboration and what artwork should consist of. Past exhibitions have featured edible information printouts, a bouncy castle guarded by a real-life bouncer and even the artist’s own outline spray-tanned on to a gallery wall. For his second solo show the theme is Mummy’s Boy. His installation mixes plant pots created with his mother at a pottery class at home in Liverpool and professionally shot photographs of fruit bowls from the family home (such as Welcome Fruit), with the walls painted an especially nice colour she picked out at B&Q. Robert Clark
All this week’s best exhibitions
THEATRE
Boy
(Almeida Theatre, London, Tuesday to 28 May)
An ordinary youth at a bus stop is the starting point for Leo Butler’s new play, appropriately entitled Boy, which uses his journey as a portrait of coming of age in austerity-hit London. For 10 years, Sheffield-born Butler worked with young writers at the Royal Court, which was where his second play, Redundant, was premiered in 2001. This production, involving 25 actors, is also the jumping-off point for a joint project with the Arsenal Foundation to get young people from north London involved in theatre. It’s directed by Sacha Wares, who returns to the Islington venue alongside award-winning designer Miriam Buether after last year’s highly praised Game, about the negative effects of rising property prices. Mark Cook
All this week’s best new theatre
TV
You’re The Worst
(10pm, 5Star, Thursday)
Unlike the majority of Brit actors who’ve decamped to the US in recent years, former Waterloo Road star Chris Geere turns up in this romcom with his accent intact. Thankfully he’s not playing some bumbling, 90s Hugh Grant type; rather, Jimmy is a misanthropic writer who hooks up with Gretchen, a friend of his ex’s sister at said ex’s wedding. Naturally, by the second episode of tonight’s opening double bill they’ve embarked on an inadvisable fling. A leftfield love story with aptly stunted, cynical leads. Hannah J Davies
FILM EVENT
Kinoteka
(Various venues, London, Thursday to 28 April)
Polish cinema is alive and well, as the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar win for Ida in 2015 indicated. But although there’s new talent to spot, as always the real draw at this annual festival is the older talent – in particular, retrospectives of three Iron Curtain veterans who helped put the country on the map. First up is Jerzy Skolimowski, former Polanski collaborator and purveyor of vintage British classics such as The Shout and Deep End, who presents his latest, the formally innovative 11 Minutes. Also in town, and still in business, is Agnieszka Holland, a former arthouse fixture who’s moved on to directing TV such as The Wire and House Of Cards. And then there’s Andrzej Zuławski, best known for his deranged horror Possession, who sadly died in February. The UK premiere of his final film, the typically offbeat Cosmos, is followed by a panel discussion. SR
All this week’s best film events
DANCE
Phoenix Dance Theatre
(Theatre At The Mill, Newtownabbey, Wednesday; touring to 17 June)
Although they’ve been established some 35 years, Phoenix continue to trawl for interesting new work from a variety of sources. The latest addition to their repertory comes from distinguished choreographer Kate Flatt. Based on five of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Undivided Loves combines words and dance in an exploration of duplicity and desire. Also in the programme is Sharon Watson’s Melt, a fusion of aerial dance and floor-based choreography set to a score by Wild Beasts, and a revival of Itzik Galili’s Until.With/Out.Enough. Judith Mackrell
All this week’s best new dance
