Going out: Cinema
The Bride!
Out now
Maggie Gyllenhaal directs this Chicago-set gothic romance starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale. Per James Whale’s 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein, on which it is loosely based, a lonely monster wants a mate and taps up a scientist, Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening), to create her.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Out now
As The Rachel was to women who watched Friends in the 90s, so the Peaky Blinders mop chop was to male fans. Will the return of the Birmingham gang drama in feature film form prompt another wave of ill-advised dos? Only time will tell. Just remember, Cillian Murphy looking amazing with that haircut doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for absolutely everyone.
Hoppers
Out now
More freaky science (see The Bride! above), this time for the family crowd. The latest animation from Disney-Pixar sees humans able to “hop” into sophisticated robot animal bodies in order to walk and talk and sing with the animals. A long-overdue animal revolution against humankind proves to be the unintended consequence of the tech.
Sound of Falling
Out now
For her second film, German director Mascha Schilinski constructs a historical epic taking place across decades and following four different generations of women connected with the same farmhouse, as their lives unfold in war-torn 20th-century Europe and beyond into the 2020s. Winner of the Jury prize at Cannes last year. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
Kesha
11 to 21 March; tour starts Glasgow
The Yippee-Ki-Yay hitmaker brings her frenetic Tits Out tour to the UK in support of last summer’s Period album, which marked a return to joyful pop, undercut with a heavy dose of chaos, so expect a party atmosphere and wall-to-wall bangers. Michael Cragg
C2C: Country to Country festival
London, Glasgow and Belfast, 13 to 15 March
Europe’s biggest country fest returns, headlined by Zach Top, Keith Urban and Country Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn. Split across three cities over three days, the rest of the lineup includes Alana Springsteen, Canadian singer-songwriter Noeline Hofmann and America’s Got Talent alum Drake Milligan. MC
The Philharmonia and Marin Alsop
The Marlow, Canterbury, 11 March; Royal Festival Hall, London, 12 March; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 13 March
Alisa Weilerstein is the soloist in the UK premiere of the Cello Concerto written for her by Grammy-winning Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, followed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. On the podium: principal guest conductor Marin Alsop. A riot of spring colour – whatever the weather. Flora Willson
QOW Trio
Wakefield Jazz, 13 March
Over the 15 years since his UK arrival, the powerful Irish saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan has stretched the freethinking small-group methods of innovators Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman. The QOW Trio, with British free bop drummer Spike Wells and bassist Eddie Myer, make ideal partners. John Fordham
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Going out: Art
David Hockney
Serpentine North, London, 12 March to 23 August
If you’d said a few years ago that veteran painter Hockney would have a show at the deeply fashionable Serpentine, it would have sounded absurd. But the infectious joy of Hockney’s art, equally at home on canvas or an iPad, helped us through the Covid years and still makes him urgent.
Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse
National Gallery, London, 12 March to 31 May
There is a surreal intensity and existential mystery to the way George Stubbs painted horses. They stand in wise and sensitive silence with a jockey in the saddle or pulling a carriage, and appear more alive than their human oppressors. Here, a horse called Scrub is portrayed alone in freedom.
Making Waves
York Art Gallery, to 30 August
If Hockney’s colours enchant, so do the fierce sharp hues of Japanese woodblock prints. This exhibition takes a delighted look at an art form that never tires, and always appears modern. From inspiring Van Gogh to influencing manga, the 18th- and 19th-century masters here are brilliantly modern psychedelic all-stars.
John Piper
Wiltshire Museum, Devizes, 7 March to 6 June
This modern Romantic artist found his highly popular niche painting ruins and venerable buildings in the British landscape. During the second world war that passion for the picturesque became tragic and moving as he recorded the still-smoking and glowing remains of bombed churches. Here are his visions of the south-west. Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Gentleman Jack
Leeds Grand theatre, 7 to 14 March, touring to 5 September
The story of Yorkshire landowner, secret diarist and lesbian icon Anne Lister was made famous by the TV series. Now it’s being retold by Northern Ballet, in a premiere by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. It looks at Anne’s story through the prism of the two women she loved most. Lyndsey Winship
The Holy Rosenbergs
Menier Chocolate Factory, London, to 2 May
Ryan Craig’s pertinent play starred Henry Goodman – all heart and heat – when it premiered at the National in 2011. Now Nicholas Woodeson leads a strong cast in director Lindsay Posner’s revival, which sees a Jewish family in painful conflict with their local community. Miriam Gillinson
Living
Sheffield Playhouse, to 4 April
Elizabeth Newman’s first season as artistic director includes local playwright Leo Butler’s state-of-the-nation play, spanning 55 years in the life of a couple living in Sheffield. As the world transforms around them, will Kathy and Brian keep their home together through decades of profound change? MG
Harry Enfield
8 March to 30 November; tour starts York
It’s been four decades since Enfield’s knack for zeitgeisty characters – from Stavros to Kevin the Teenager to Loadsamoney – made him a one-man comic institution. For this new solo tour, the 64-year-old resurrects a selection of his alter egos, discusses his career and fields questions. Rachel Aroesti
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Staying in: Streaming
Scarpetta
Prime Video, 11 March
Nicole Kidman plays slightly against her recent TV type of icy uber-wealthy matriarchs in this new procedural adapted from Patricia Cornwell’s mega-selling novel series about a brilliant-yet-troubled forensic pathologist. The vibe is noirish Silent Witness, but Jamie Lee Curtis lightens the mood as the protagonist’s elder sister.
Rooster
Now & Sky Comedy, 9 March, 9pm
Another fish-out-of-water dramedy from the brains behind Ted Lasso. Steve Carell’s Greg, a famous author of lowbrow fiction, visits his college professor daughter (Charly Clive) who is distraught after a romantic betrayal. Soon he’s accepted a guest lectureship and is knee-deep in campus life. Will he learn any lessons about parenthood along the way?
A Woman of Substance
Channel 4, 11 March, 9pm
From teenage servant to head of a business empire, Emma Harte’s dizzying ascent of the social ladder in early 20th-century England is chronicled in a new adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s 1979 novel. Brenda Blethyn plays the imperious older Emma, while Outlander’s Jessica Reynolds is her furiously ambitious younger self.
The Claudia Winkleman Show
iPlayer & BBC One, 13 March, 10.40pm
The befringed presenter attempts to fill Graham Norton’s Friday night chatshow shoes; a task far trickier than comforting anxious celebrities on Strictly or giving Traitors contestants goosebumps. Her charm may be copper bottomed, but does Winkleman have the nerve to ask those all-important awkward questions? RA
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Staying in: Games
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando
PC, Xbox, PS5; out 12 March
A vehicle-based co-op shooter, pitching heavily armed warriors against hordes of zombies in an apocalyptic hellzone. With a story and soundtrack by Carpenter himself, this should be the cross between Left 4 Dead and Escape from New York we’ve surely all been waiting for.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake
PC, Xbox, PS5, Switch 2; out 12 March
Often overlooked as a survival horror progenitor, the Fatal Frame series provides some of the best jump scares in the genre. This instalment has sisters Mio and Mayu revisiting their haunted village. The remake updates the visuals but keeps the spooky shocks. Beware. Keith Stuart
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Staying in: Albums
Cobrah – Torn
Out now
Swedish multi-disciplinary artist Clara Christensen, AKA Cobrah, follows up last year’s collaboration with fellow agit-pop experimentalist Ashnikko with this goth-tinged debut album. Featuring production from the likes of Illangelo (the Weeknd) and Machinedrum (Dawn Richard), Torn is a bold statement of intent.
Harry Styles – Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally
Out now
Taking inspiration from bands such as LCD Soundsystem and the Rapture, Harry Styles’s fourth solo album swaps rustic soft-rock for more interesting electronic textures, as showcased on gently evolving lead single Aperture. Elsewhere, Season 2 Weight Loss and Pop head straight for the dancefloor.
Flying Lotus – Big Mama
Out now
Since 2019’s Flamagra album, mind-melting producer-rapper Steven Ellison, AKA Flying Lotus, has continued his sidestep into film, directing last year’s sci-fi horror Ash. It was during shooting that Ellison started work on Big Mama, an eight-track EP that aims to simplify his electronic excursions.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – We Are Together Again
Out now
The 31st album from US singer-songwriter Will Oldham features a host of guests, giving its well-worn folk a spontaneous spirit. The gorgeous Hey Little, for example, is a string-assisted duet with Catherine Irwin that feels like it might buckle under the weight of its prettiness. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
Logic1000 & Heléna Star Present Therapy
Podcast
Season two of this artfully crafted podcast on the realities of being a woman in the music industry kicks off with DJs and hosts Logic1000 and Heléna Star interviewing singer-songwriter Tyson on the perils of social media.
How Different Are Our Inner Monologues?
YouTube
Most of us have an inner voice but this video essay presents a convincing argument that none of them are the same. Some people have multiple, while others “see” with their mind’s eye and a few have none at all.
How Did We Get Here?
BBC Sounds
Jonny Dymond’s 10-part series on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict is a thorough primer on today’s ongoing conflict, covering everything from the 19th-century Muslim conquest to Israel’s early years, both Intifadas and beyond. Ammar Kalia
