EXHIBITIONS
Ai Weiwei
(Royal Academy, London, Saturday to 13 December)
Ai Weiwei ranks among the few contemporary art stars with a truly global rep. Yet, typically, it’s his activism rather than his art that makes headlines. The RA’s 20-year survey is a chance to focus on his work. What’s on show has a kind of chiselled poetry, balancing clear political messages with a nuanced, 21st-century take on craft traditions. This includes the bones of those who died in labour camps reproduced in porcelain, and various comments on literal old and new values, with precious artefacts, be they temple remains or Neolithic pottery, reconfigured as contemporary art. SS
The rest of this week’s best exhibitions
TALKS
Radio Times festival
(Hampton Court Palace, East Moseley, Thursday to 27 September)
The nonagenarian TV and radio listings mag ups sticks to Henry VIII’s old gaff for its inaugural festival: a series of talks and screenings that take in many of Britain’s most successful programmes. Notable names sharing the secrets behind their respective shows include Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat, who’ll be discussing Doctor Who; Una Stubbs and Louise Brealey – AKA the “women of Sherlock” – and Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy. Other highlights include Paul Hollywood of the Bake Off revealing bread’s well-preserved secrets, and Kellie Maloney and Boy Meets Girl star Rebecca Root talking about their experiences of being transgender women. Broadcasting history gets some attention, too, with events on The Archers, Shipping Forecast and 30 years of EastEnders, as well as an appearance from one-man light-ent English Heritage site Bruce Forsyth. RA
The rest of this week’s best talks
TV
Doctor Who
(7.40pm, Saturday, BBC1)
The ninth series of nu-Who gets under way, with the promise of more two-parters, the return of squid-headed shapeshifters the Zygons, and Game Of Thrones’ sassiest assassin Maisie Williams in a mysterious role. But first, the Doctor and Clara must contend with the return of two major nemeses. Things get dark rather quickly, but not before an audacious scene of medieval combat and Brian May-style fretboard fireworks, suggesting showrunner Steven Moffat must be a die-hard fan of A Knight’s Tale. GV
MUSIC
Public Image Ltd
(Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, York, Coventry, Bristol)
John Lydon has spent nearly 40 years telling the world that he is not who they think he is. In principle a limited topic, in that time he’s managed to transform it into an inexhaustible resource, using it to examine fame, truth, media and human behaviour, meanwhile turning his bands – the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd – into two of the most influential in history. The latter have made two albums since 2012, but it’s this month’s What The World Needs Now… which is the keeper. Good jokes, big themes, bad language: it’s the stuff of PiL, and the stuff of life itself. JR
The rest of this week’s best live music
THEATRE
The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead
(Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, Friday to 17 October)
Poet Simon Armitage and director Nick Bagnall teamed up on 2014’s The Last Days Of Troy, and they come together for another ancient Greece-themed piece, although this one is set very much in the present. Returning to the confluence point of east and west, which has been a source of conflict both in the ancient and modern world, the show begins in Istanbul where a high-ranking government minister has been sent on a delicate diplomatic mission. But following a brawl in a bar, he becomes Europe’s most wanted man, and on an odyssey through a borderless Europe he has to defeat contemporary versions of the monsters that delayed Odysseus’s return home after the Trojan war. The show will tour after this Liverpool premiere. LG
The rest of this week’s best theatre
FILM
Everest
The star cast (Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley) suggests an old-school Towering Inferno-style disaster epic, but the treatment here is the opposite: a faithful account of a true story with the emphasis on mountaineering authenticity and ordinary people. That’s both a blessing and a curse. There’s real conviction to the high-altitude, sub-zero settings, but the dramatic impetus can get lost amidst the high-insulation clothing. Not quite the pinnacle of mountain movies, but a noble assault. SR
The rest of this week’s new films
COMEDY
Chris Ramsey
(Runcorn, Kendal, Hull, Worcester, Tring)
It’s a cliche that all comics are tragic clowns: that behind their smiles lurk lives of utter misery. If that’s true of Chris Ramsey, he’s doing a good job of hiding it, because when he’s onstage he looks like he’s having the time of his life. It’s as if for him becoming a successful comedian is like winning the lottery. That’s not to suggest that he’s got where he is by luck; he’s got an unforced charisma and a warm observational style that proves irresistible to audiences. Essentially, he comes across as an ordinary lad eternally baffled by the world around him. He’s confounded by the simplest things in a way that encourages us to question them too, like Michael McIntyre if he ditched the shiny suits for a T-shirt and jeans. JK
The rest of this week’s best live comedy
FILM EVENTS
Sensoria
(Various venues, Sheffield, Friday to 3 October)
As much a music festival as a film one, Sensoria brings gigs, movies and assorted in-between oddities to Sheffield. On the film side, there are cult classics such as the Can-soundtracked Deadlock and B-Movie, a personal survey of Berlin’s 1980s punk scene. Live music includes post-punk heroes the Membranes, ambient guru Laraaji, and Japanese acid-punks Bo Ningen. But most events fall between music and movies, such as DJ Yoda’s History Of Hip Hop, Asian Dub Foundation scoring La Haine, or Tim Burgess’s Tim Peaks Diner, with music from Paddy Considine’s band – and great coffee. SR
The rest of this week’s best film events
CLUBS
Individual Collective
(Corsica Studios, London, Saturday)
After 20 years in the game and with his first album since 2001 out soon, Regis is more feted than ever for his strain of UK techno: brutish industrialism that shows you can find transcendence in drudgery, rather than some spurious aspirational lifestyle. He DJs here, supported by Sunil Sharpe. On the live front, Samuel Kerridge brings his excellent and ferociously noisy current set; Headless Horseman launches his new LP; and Talker make their UK debut. It’s techno in any colour, as long as it’s black. BBT
The rest of this week’s best clubs
DANCE
Royal Ballet: Romeo & Juliet; Cas Public: Symphonie Dramatique
(Royal Opera House, London, Saturday to 2 December; Linbury Studio, London, Wednesday to 26 September)
It is 50 years since Kenneth MacMillan choreographed his version of Romeo & Juliet and in that time it has become a classic. To celebrate its anniversary, the Royal will be reviving the ballet with an exceptional number of different casts. Meanwhile, at the Opera House’s Linbury Studio, the Québécois dance company Cas Public is performing its own contemporary dance adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, set to a score by Martin Tétreault, which combines Prokofiev’s music with that of other composers. JM
