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Going out: Cinema
Last Breath
Out now
A survival thriller that hews close to the documentary on which it is based, about a 2012 diving disaster in which a diver carrying out repairs 100m below the surface of the ocean became trapped. Starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole, it’s the fiction debut of Alex Parkinson, who also co-directed the doc.
Sister Midnight
Out now
Writer-director Karan Kandhari announces himself as a bold new cinematic voice with this singular tale of a woman who rebels against the limitations of her marriage in fairly spectacular fashion, in a punky debut feature anchored by a blistering lead performance from Radhika Apte.
Black Bag
Out now
Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a spy thriller with a truly juicy cast: Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play secret agents, one of whom is suspected of betraying their country. Also starring a clutch of likable screen presences in the form of Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela and Pierce Brosnan.
Opus
Out now
John Malkovich plays Alfred Moretti, a pop star who retired from the limelight decades ago, but is now bent on hosting a small group of media types, including junior writer Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri), for a listening party. But there’s more on the cards than just new tunes, in this satirical horror. Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Rizzle Kicks
19 to 22 March; tour starts Manchester
Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sulé returned last month with their third album of playful UK hip-hop, Competition Is for Losers. Expect 2010s bangers Down With the Trumpets and Mama Do the Hump to go down a treat. Michael Cragg
The Wombats
18 to 26 March; tour starts Nottingham
The Liverpool rockers’ sixth album Oh! The Ocean became their fifth in a row to crack the UK Top 5 last month, hence this huge arena tour by way of celebration. Everything Everything offer stellar support. MC
Nash Inventions
Wigmore Hall, London, 18 March
The Nash Ensemble end their Wigmore season with a sheaf of premieres to mark the group’s 60th anniversary, including Acrobat on a Loose Wire, a quartet for flute and strings by Simon Holt, and Helen Grime’s Long Have I Lain Beside the Water, with soprano Claire Booth. Andrew Clements
The Beautiful Storm
Newcastle upon Tyne, 18 March; Aberdeen, 19 March; Tobermory, 20 March; Edinburgh, 21 March
One of his country’s most resourceful jazz artists, Scottish saxophonist Phil Bancroft has a new trio bridging eastern and western takes on improv, featuring creative Aberdeen guitarist Graeme Stephen and Delhi-based tabla maestro Gyan Singh. John Fordham
Going out: Art
Arpita Singh
Serpentine North, London, 20 March to 27 July
Born in 1937, this Indian artist is only now getting a major solo show in Britain. As befits an artist whose career spans the post-colonial era, she has called the exhibition Remembering. Her portrayal of modern life draws on the miniaturist painting traditions of Indian courts, as well as surrealism.
Andy Warhol: Portrait of America
MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, to 29 June
As Trump flushes the US’s reputation and honour down the toilet, here is an exhibition of the artist who chronicled its golden age. Warhol portrayed the stars and depicted the products of an America that was glamorous yet, even then, troubled. His art catches the dream and foresees the nightmare.
Victor Hugo
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 21 March to 29 June
From fairytale castles to an undersea encounter with an octopus, the drawings and watercolours of Victor Hugo are full of surreal fantasy. Hugo is, of course, far better known as a novelist, but his visual imagination is lavish in Notre-Dame de Paris and he’s a tremendous Romantic artist.
Towering Dreams
Compton Verney, Warwickshire, to 31 August
Such was the imagination of Georgian architect Sir John Soane that when he designed the Bank of England, he commissioned an artist to paint it as it would look in ruins, far in the future. This exhibition features drawings for fantastical yet, in some cases, real buildings from Soane’s collection. Jonathan Jones
Going out: Stage
Marjolein Robertson
Touring to 14 June; continues Crieff, 15 March
The Shetland-born standup is swimming in blood in the promo imagery for her new show, O, about a condition that causes extreme period-related bleeding. Yet the show’s true theme is far more shocking, as Robertson questions why the medical establishment is so uninterested in women’s health. Rachel Aroesti
Weather Girl
Soho Theatre, London, to 5 April
The latest from Fleabag and Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody takes a stark look at the climate crisis. Julia McDermott stars in Brian Watkins’s dark comedy as a weather presenter trying to keep smiling as the world burns. Kate Wyver
Playfight
Bristol Old Vic, to 29 March; then touring
Time speeds up when a girl becomes a woman. Debuting at the fringe to effusive reviews last year, Julia Grogan’s coming-of-age tale sees three teenagers grapple with their friendship and the devastating obstacles thrown in their way. KW
Boy Blue: Cycles
Aviva Studios, Manchester, 21 & 22 March
East London hip-hop goes north with Boy Blue’s acclaimed piece Cycles. It’s a work that focuses on the core of hip-hop dance: its relationship with music, with a score by Michael “Mikey J” Asante. Lyndsey Winship
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Staying in: Streaming
The Residence
Netflix, 20 March
The stately home murder mystery gets a modern US twist with this archly silly White House-set whodunnit. When the chief usher is found dead during a state dinner, the “world’s most formidable detective” Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) is tasked with whittling down a shortlist of suspects.
Happy Face
Paramount+, 20 March
Melissa Moore’s story has already been a book and a podcast, but this is the kind of horrifying true-crime tale that can withstand a multitude of tellings. In this series, Annaleigh Ashford plays Moore, a makeup artist who is finally ready to share her darkest secret with the world – that her father (played by Dennis Quaid) is a serial killer.
Gangs of London
Sky Atlantic/Now, 20 March, 9pm
The hyper-violent, high-octane crime drama returns with quite the body count: 600 people have died due to a spiked cocaine shipment and undercover cop turned gangster Elliot Carter (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) believes one of his rivals has poisoned the drugs, with Joe Cole’s Sean the most likely culprit.
Comic Relief: Funny for Money
BBC One, 21 March, 7pm
The BBC’s Comic Relief programming is no longer the watercooler moment-factory it once was; fittingly, the charity will celebrate its 40th birthday with a “nostalgia-filled evening”. That said, it still has plenty of star pulling power: this year’s campaign kicked off with Amelia Dimoldenberg and Joanna Lumley. RA
Staying in: Games
Wanderstop
Out now, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
You were once a great warrior, but now you’re stuck managing a whimsical tea shop in a fantastical forest. And you’re not happy about it. This is a cosy-feeling game with an interestingly frictive message about learning how to slow down.
33 Immortals
Out 18 March, PC, Xbox
Thirty-three players enter each arena in this mythology-inspired action game, but not all of them will make it out. Rather than fighting each other, you’re fighting together but surviving the immortal hordes is no easy task. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: Albums
Neal Francis – Return to Zero
Out now
On Need You Again, the curtain-raiser to his third album, New Jersey-born, the Chicago-raised singer-songwriter sets out his stall, pouring vintage funk, soul and rock’n’roll into a heady cocktail of genres. Anchored by his penchant for analogue production, it’s an album full of warm, spacious throwbacks.
Throwing Muses – Moonlight Concessions
Out now
More than 40 years into their career, the US alt rock legends – the first American band signed to British label 4AD – are still going strong. On this 11th album, fuelled by Kristin Hersh’s abstract lyrics and eerie voice, songs such as Summer of Love creep around like vaguely remembered dreams. MC
Mia Wray – Hi, It’s Nice to Meet Me
Out now
Since releasing her debut EP way back in 2014, Australia’s Mia Wray has morphed from a folk-tinged singer-songwriter type to a more pop-leaning star, as evidenced on this belated debut. Near title track, Nice to Meet Me, is a pogoing, handclap-heavy bop, while windswept balladry is showcased on Sad But True.
Charley Crockett – Lonesome Drifter
Out now
A year after releasing his Grammy-nominated album $10 Cowboy, the blues and country singer is back with his first album on major label Island. Not much has changed; Crockett’s voice is still a tremendously characterful instrument, underpinning the rolling drama of the album’s title track.
Staying in: Brain food
Embedded: Alternate Realities
Podcast
NPR’s documentary strand Embedded presents an engrossing three-part series following reporter Zach Mack’s year-long journey to convince his father that the online political conspiracy theories he has become fascinated by are damaging and fictitious.
ModPo
YouTube
The University of Pennsylvania’s modern poetry course seminars are the subject of this informative and wide-ranging series that screens small-group sessions analysing everything from Emily Dickinson standards to modern writers such as Lissa Wolsak.
Loud
BBC World Service, 15 March, 12.06pm
With growing research showing that noise is not only an irritant but also damaging to our health, James Gallagher goes in search of people living in loud places and learns how they survive. Ammar Kalia
