Comedy
Boris: World King
If Tom Cranshaw’s satirical stage play about BoJo felt significant when it was first performed in Edinburgh in 2015, it feels nigh-on essential at this year’s festival, especially as Cranshaw has given it a post-Brexit buff and polish, making Johnson more monstrous than ever.
It’s on at the Pleasance Dome until 29 August.
Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer has rarely encountered a cultural medium that she hasn’t conquered, from sketch comedy with her series Inside Amy Schumer to film with her romcom-skewering Trainwreck. She’s also just released a collection of essays, The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo. But it’s on stage where Schumer’s brand of abrasive, feminist-tinged comedy really shines. Her UK and Ireland standup tour kicks off in Dublin this week. Ticket info here.
Music
Quincy Jones Prom
The man who made Michael Jackson appears at this orchestral celebration of his work on Monday night at the Royal Albert Hall, surely the only time you could call the Proms “groovy”. Conductor Jules Buckley and his Metropole Orkest are the ones providing the tribute.
Exhibition
Constellations
What connects Cindy Sherman to Grayson Perry? Did Marcel Duchamp beget Rachel Whiteread? This exhibition, currently showing at Tate Liverpool, illustrates artistic lineage via word clouds placing “trigger artists” at the heart of their thematic fields. It’s a neat presentational conceit, one that effectively frames an impressive assortment of modern art from the likes of Hepworth, Beuys, Blake, Ligon, César and many more.
Fanzines: A Cut-And-Paste Revolution
Before blogs and social media platforms, there were fanzines. It’s easy to scoff at the now-primitive idea of young idealists putting together their own DIY magazines. But this was how ground-level expression used to work. This free Barbican library exhibition – which coincides neatly with 2016’s Punk London festival – explores the best of these cut-and-paste personal manifestos, which range from sci-fi screeds to riot grrrl polemics. Includes the renowned likes of Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glue among numerous less feted but equally revolutionary bedroom missives. Continues until 30 August.
Film
The Childhood Of A Leader
Backed up a by a booming orchestral score from Scott Walker, Brady Corbet’s film is never less than arresting. Set in Paris during the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles, it depicts the formative years of a future fascist with grim authenticity, and boasts a stunning payoff. It’s in cinemas now.
TV
The Circuit
The omens for this comedy pilot look promising. It’s created by Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, reuniting for the first time since their BBC3 comedy Pulling. Its stars include Adeel Akhtar (from Kelly’s other series, Utopia) and Nicola Walker (from gloomy but excellent drama Unforgotten), and its premise – a couple attend the worst dinner party ever – has tons of anarchic potential. Catch it on Thursday at 10pm on Channel 4.
Festivals
FrightFest
The horror film festival has been terrifying attendees for 16 years and shows no sign of slowing. This year sees FrightFest move from the West End to Shepherd’s Bush, where you’ll catch the UK premieres of South Korean zombie movie hit Train To Busan, the excellently titled southern-gothic revenge thriller My Father, Die, and the world premiere of hyper-violent scythe slasher The Windmill Massacre. Meanwhile, those who like their horror a little more camp would do well to catch Austrian blood-curdler Attack Of The Lederhosen-zombies. The whole thing kicks off on Thursday. Ticket availability here.
Manchester Pride
Among the many reasons to head to Pride, one isn’t always the music lineup. But Manchester’s offering (from Friday to 29 Aug) makes like a mini-Lovebox, with poplings such as Shura, MNEK and X Factor’s Seann Miley Moore joining greats Will Young and – returning after her 2014 appearance and now with the addendum “The Voice Of M-People” – Heather Small. As if we’d forget Moving On Up.
Books
Seinfeldia
With it’s “no hugging, no learning” mantra, Seinfeld nudged the formerly cosy US sitcom into bold new territory. TV historian Jennifer Armstrong’s book, subtitled How A Show About Nothing Changed Everything, offers an engrossing deep dive into more of what made Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s series so groundbreaking and – perhaps most importantly – funny.
