Philip Roth
On Tuesday, Philip Roth died at the age of 85. The last of the great American Post-War writers (among them Saul Bellow and John Updike), this bank holiday weekend gives an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in some his best work. We recommend Sabbath’s Theatre or, for its brevity, Goodbye, Columbus. Zadie Smith writing in the New Yorker commented, “Roth always told the truth–his own, subjective truth–through language and through lies, the twin engines at the embarrassing heart of literature.”
Actress & London Contemporary Orchestra
This is a collaboration that continues to push boundaries and discover new sounds and textures, and an album of their work together is about to be release. DJ Actress (Darren Cunningham) leads from laptop and drum machine, fusing orchestral and club textures with samples of everyday objects to create whole new soundworlds.
26 May, Barbican Centre, London
Mozart by Numbers
Scottish Ensemble continue to present highly imaginative programmes, on this occasion putting an exciting range of works (moving from a duo up to a symphony) displaying Mozart’s ingenious use of forces, alongside chamber music by Sally Beamish, Edmund Finnis, György Kurtág and others.
Until 1 June, Dumfries, Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh
Hay Festival
The annual literature festival based in Wales returns for its 31st edition. Described as ‘The Woodstock of the mind’ by Bill Clinton, highlights this year include discussions with Robert Webb and Margaret Atwood, a lecture from Simon Schama, and many special edition BBC Radio broadcasts. Take an umbrella!
Until 3 June, Hay-on-Wye, Powys
Lee Bul
Artist Lee Bul reworks Southbank’s Hayward Gallery into a surreal dreamscape. Collecting work from the 1980s to the present this exhibition gives an exhaustive look at Bul’s pioneering work in performance and installation.
30 May – 19 August, Hayward Gallery, London
Nicola Benedetti/Academy of Ancient Music
This leading period instrument ensemble, under the direction of Richard Egarr, close their Barbican season with violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti. Hear how the violin was pushed to its technical and textural limits in the eighteenth century by Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi, and even hear it imitating frogs.
31 May, Barbican Centre, London
Anthony Horowitz: ‘Forever and a Day’
007 is dead. It’s up to an agent called James Bond to uncover his predecessor’s death. Horowitz returns to Bond after 2015’s Trigger Mortis.
Online and in bookshops nationwide from 31st May
Fatherland
This new production melds words, music, and movement to delve into questions of identity, nationality, and masculinity. Created by Scott Graham, Karl Hyde, and Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time).
Until 23 June, Lyric Hammersmith, London
Tacita Dean: Landscape
The visual artist Tacita Dean exhibits pioneering work on landscape in the newly opened Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries at the RA. With a mix of found objects and drawings, Dean’s new Antigone, a 35mm experimental film shown on two cinemascope projections, is a highlight.
Until 12 August, Royal Academy, London
Solo: A Star Wars Story
After a troubled production that saw directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller replaced with industry stalwart Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code), this origin-prequel-story brings Hans Solo, Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon together for the first time.
In cinemas nationwide
