TV
London Spy
(Monday, 9pm, BBC2)
For the second time this year, Ben “Q” Whishaw is plonked in the vicinity of Vauxhall’s MI6 building; however, this intriguing espionage drama-cum-psychological thriller is worlds apart from Spectre. In the chilly opener, Whishaw’s dead-end hedonist Danny begins a haltingly tender affair with Edward Holcroft’s odd fish – a man with “inscrutable” employers – before tragedy sets him off on a treacherous, twilight journey to uncover the truth. Includes great support from Jim Broadbent as Danny’s Whitehall-based mentor. AJC
FILM EVENT
Cine-city
(Brighton, various venues, Friday to 29 November)
It is occasionally referred to as London on Sea and, in some ways, Brighton’s main film event is a smaller cousin of London’s LFF, except with sea air and smaller crowds. There’s a similar slate of forthcoming titles from the festival/Oscar/indie circuit (Cannes winner Dheepan, 17th-century US horror The Witch and punk siege thriller Green Room are highlights). That’s only half the story, though. The festival’s commendable support of art documentaries and artists’ cinema continues, led by a free, continuous 24-hour celebration of the BBC’s Arena at the University of Brighton Gallery. There are romantic films playing in the Royal Pavilion. And, as always, plenty of new works, from veterans such as Terence Davies and Peter Greenaway and local heroes Ben Wheatley and Grant Gee, who will be here for Q&As: Gee with his Orhan Pamuk collaboration Innocence Of Memories, Wheatley with his dystopian thriller High Rise. SR
The rest of this week’s film events
FILM
Brooklyn
It could almost be Mills & Boon: a 1950s Irish girl is torn between her new life in New York and her old one back home – with a dishy suitor in each country to sharpen the dilemma. Between Colm Tóibín’s source novel, the attention to historical detail and a finely textured performance from Saoirse Ronan, it becomes something far richer, even if the plot is disappointingly straightforward. SR
All of this week’s new film releases
CLUBS
50 Weapons
(The Warehouse Project, Manchester, Friday)
Originally intended only for a limited slate of releases, Modeselektor’s ultimately sprawling techno imprint finally closes its doors, but not before a fond farewell from The Warehouse Project. The Berlin duo will be on the decks themselves, as well as playing live as part of Siriusmodeselektor, the colourful and festival-wobbling collaboration between the pair and cult electro producer Siriusmo. And while anything Modeselekted (if you will) arrives attached with a natural level of fun, the more unforgiving sounds of their home city look to be supplied in equal measure, with Berghain regulars Rødhåd, Shed and Truncate all vowing to knock some heads clean off. Those looking to be appeased with more melodic tendencies should note the inclusion of technology-tinkering crowd favourite James Zabiela, the lighter Doc Daneeka and, guesting from Warp for the evening, Clark and his Phosphor live show. Whatever the tempo, come suitably prepared for what’s sure to be a far from quiet send-off. JT
The rest of this week’s best club nights
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
With Bob And David
(Netflix)
Mr Show, with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk was a wildly successful cult hit in the late 90s. Perhaps inevitably, in the light of the pair’s individual triumphs in Arrested Development and Better Call Saul, Netflix has given them the opportunity to revisit the sketch-show template. This feels a little broader and more populist than its predecessor but it’s still good fun; it’s full of belly laughs but with flashes of absurdist humour, too. PH
THEATRE
King And Country
(Barbican Theatre, London, Saturday to 24 January)
Two major anniversaries are being marked by the RSC in an upcoming season at the Barbican: 600 years since the battle of Agincourt this year, and the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death in 2016. How better to celebrate than with a production of Henry V, with Alex Hassell taking the role of the French-routing monarch, having played Prince Hal in the Henry IV plays? Under the title King And Country, RSC artistic director Gregory Doran has programmed the whole cycle of history plays from Richard II onwards. Henry V plays from Saturday to 30 December, with Henry IV Parts I and II – featuring Antony Sher as Falstaff – from 12 to 29 December, and David Tennant reprising his Richard II from 7 to 10 January. All the plays will then run in rep together from 12 to 24 January. MC
The rest of this week’s best new theatre
MUSIC
Julia Holter
(Brighton, Bristol, Birmingham, London, Glasgow)
Julia Holter’s production is so gorgeously gauzy it’s almost not there. The elements float as if suspended in mercury. Her lyrics are delivered softly and strangely, her affected, clipped pronunciation a texture: songs glide like honey down silk thread. It’s this quality that gave the LA musician’s 2011 debut, a concept record based on a Euripides play, the feeling it was transmitted from some liminal cloud zone between humans and Greek gods, in all their passion and fury. Three albums on, she’s still channelling that muse. JLA
The rest of this week’s best live music
EXHIBITIONS
Alexander Calder
(Tate Modern, London, Wednesday to 3 April)
Happy, gurgling babies the world over owe a debt to Alexander Calder (or at least their parents do). The inventor of the mobile – the term itself was first used by Duchamp to describe his friend and fellow artist’s ceiling-hung sculptures – might not have envisaged the form’s widespread use over cribs, but no doubt he approved. This was, after all, an artist whose childhood fascination with miniature circuses led him first to create his own, and eventually beat an unusual path, via an engineering qualification, into a key role within early 20th-century avant garde art. This exhibition of approximately 100 of Calder’s works includes his motorised kinetic works, his wire portraits of other artists from the 1930s and his projects in the fields of film, theatre, music and dance. OB
The rest of this week’s best exhibitions
COMEDY
Spencer Jones
(The Blundabus, Nottingham, Sunday)
Corbynism might seem like the most popular religion among stand-ups these days, but even more widespread is the devotion to the clowning workshops of Philippe Gaulier. Having inspired A-list types such as Sacha Baron Cohen, a place on a Gaulier course is now de rigueur for any comic seeking to add an experimental physical component to their work. Gaulier’s techniques have shaped some intriguing comedy talents, among them mime artist Doctor Brown and emerging star Spencer Jones, whose delightfully crude antics bring all of this high-flown theatrical rhetoric right down to earth. Jones appears here in the guise of The Herbert: a hunch-shouldered misfit incapable of communicating sensibly with an audience and who takes a childish delight in the daftest of physical jokes. For all the theory involved, this is Mr Bean-esque comedy that connects primarily with the gut – and which you don’t need any classes to understand. JK
The rest of this week’s best comedy
DANCE
Sasha Waltz & Guests: Sacre
(Sadler’s Wells, London, Wednesday to Friday)
Germany’s Sasha Waltz choreographed her version of Rite Of Spring in Berlin in 2013, 100 years after Stravinsky debuted his radical score in Paris. Her own epic group work takes flight from the fierce rhythms and jolting orchestral colours of the music, harnessing the dynamic energies of a stage full of dancers to emotional effect. Le Sacre Du Printemps (Rite’s French name) gets its UK debut here as part of a mixed bill of Waltz’s recent work, including her setting of Debussy’s L’Après-midi d’un faune and Scène d’Amour (an extract from Romeo And Juliet). JM
The rest of this week’s best dance
