Nightlife
Kurupt FM
The fictional Brentford pirate radio station’s rise this year has been extraordinary, from BBC3 mockumentary stars on People Just Do Nothing to bona fide dance music heroes as they blur the line between reality and fiction. They round 2016 off with two big dates: on Saturday they recreate the golden age of UKG with their Champagne Steam Rooms at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, SW9. Then, on New Year’s Eve, they head to Motion in Bristol for celebrated club night The Blast’s NYE extravaganza, alongside Toddla T and DJ Zinc.
Exhibitions
Adventures In Moominland
Nordic countries have been huge cultural influencers in recent years; now the Southbank Centre is holding a year-long festival celebrating that fact. The first focus is on the Moomins, the Finnish kids’ characters whose cutesy adventures hid comment on politics and sexuality.
Rachel Maclean
Few exhibitions toe the line between cute and creepy so adeptly as Wot U :-) About? (pictured, above), a series of new displays by the Glasgow-based artist. Switching between film and visual art, Maclean’s work offers up a childlike dreamscape sullied by modern impediments, from social media to advertising. Before she heads off to represent Scotland at next year’s Venice Biennale, you can catch her luridly nightmarish assemblage at both Tate Britain and Manchester’s HOME (to 8 January).
Tate Britain, SE1, until 2 April; HOME, Manchester until 8 Jan
Theatre
Buried Child
This revival of Sam Shepard’s 1978 Pulitzer winner has pulled off a shrewd piece of casting in attracting Westworld brooder Ed Harris and his wife, Oscar nominee Amy Madigan, to London’s Trafalgar Studios, SW1. The pair play a married couple presiding over a doomed family with a dark secret in Shepard’s mordant, surreal and ultimately devastating drama,.
Trafalgar Studios, SW1 , until 18 February
Seasonal theatre and dance
It’s a cool, cool Christmas this year as the UK’s stages try to cram on as many snow-themed shows as possible. The Snow Queen is at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme; The Little Matchgirl is at Shakespeare’s Globe, SE1, and Sadler’s Wells, EC1; the Russian State Ballet Of Siberia (pictured, below) performs a run of chilly classics in Cardiff; and The Nutcracker is everywhere.
TV
Narcos Live
Netflix’s Narcos dramatised the pursuit of Pablo Escobar by DEA agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy. They’ll talk about the operation at London’s Troxy, E1, on Monday.
Comedy
Andy Zaltzman
Co-creator of acclaimed satire podcast The Bugle, standup Zaltzman descends upon London’s Soho Theatre from Tuesday to 1 January to piece together what has been a, let’s say, eventful year in global news. From Bowie to Brexit, he’s got plenty to work with. Expect a gag-stuffed takedown of this annus horribilis. Zaltzman heads out across the country with his Plan Z tour from February.
Soho Theatre, 20 December until 7 January
Film
The Eagle Huntress
Back in 2014, US director Otto Bell stumbled across impressive photos online of a teenager taming eagles. Captivated, he ventured to Mongolia to make a film about 13-year-old Aisholpan, the first girl in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to catch and train the birds. The result is a thrilling ride, combining a coming-of-age story with some seriously stunning scenery.
In cinemas now
Office Christmas Party
Yup, it’s the time of year when the entire workplace gather in the strip-lit conference room, eating Tesco mince pies, trying to neck each other and then waking up the next day regretting that extra tequila shot and dancing with the boss. Obviously, no one can tire of that scenario so here is a film about it as well, starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston.
In cinemas now
Music
The 1975
Matt Healy is a gift to modern pop, espousing cod philosophy and dreaming up overlong record titles. Luckily, their INXS-y sleaze rock is all right, too (No 24 in the Guardian’s albums of the year). Their arena tour heads to Newcastle upon Tyne tonight, and ends in Cardiff on Thursday.
