To leave: Cinema
Challengers
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Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist star in this sports romance in which the wife of a grand slam champion competes with her ex-boyfriend and off-court tensions through tennis. From Luca Guadagnino, director of Call Me by Your Name.
kidnapped
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Marco Bellocchio directs the true story of a six-year-old Jewish boy who was kidnapped from his family in Bologna in 1858, by order of the pope, to be raised as a Catholic. Naturally, his heartbroken family campaigns for his return.
ISP
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The International Space Station crew, consisting of Russian and American astronauts, find themselves in a difficult situation when a nuclear war breaks out between their countries while in orbit. There’s a lot of paranoia and hypocrisy going on for the teammates played by Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina and Masha Mashkova.
Cardiff animation festival
Various venues, 27 and 28 April; Online until May 12
Wales’ largest animation festival returns to Chapter Arts with a rich selection of workshops, events and films; among them is Robot Dreams, the touching story of a lonely dog’s accidental departure who buys a robot friend. Catherine Bray
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To leave: concerts
Olivia Dean
Manchester, 27 April; Touring until May 5
It’s been an eventful year for North Londoner Olivia Dean. Last summer, her critically acclaimed debut album Messy, a collection of richly layered neo-soul, reached the top 5 and also received three British nominations. This UK tour is essentially a tour of honour. Michael Cragg
Lil Yachty
London, April 29; Birmingham, 1 May; Glasgow, May 2; Touring until May 4
Lil Yachty, who started out last year as a would-be SoundCloud rapper crooning over laid-back trap beats, has unexpectedly veered into psych rock with his fifth album, Let’s Start Here. It is unclear which lane he will focus on here; expect the unexpected. M.C.
Cheltenham jazz festival
Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, one until May 6
Embracing contemporary jazz, blues, soul, R&B and global music, this festival runs for six days and features leading names from pianist Brad Mehldau to Snarky Puppy and singer Gregory Porter. Acid jazz stars Brand New Heavies join the mighty London Concert Orchestra on May 3. John Fordham
Atlas
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 1 May
Just a month after its premiere, Anna Clyne’s first piano concerto reached the UK, with Jeremy Denk as the soloist for whom it was composed and the CBSO’s Kazuki Yamada conducting. Atlas is inspired by Gerhard Richter’s sketches, photographs and photographs of the same name; these are, as Clyne says, “pierced to the heart of the artist’s thought.” Andrew Clements
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To leave: Art
expressionists
Tate Modern, London, until 20 October
Gabriele Münter and her boyfriend Wassily Kandinsky are at the center of this trip to early 20th-century Bavaria. Inspired by Munch and Van Gogh’s despair, they and other artists founded the Blue Rider group in Munich in 1911. Franz Marc, Marianne Werefkin and Robert Delaunay share this chilling mood.
Michelangelo: The Last Years
British Museum, London, May 2 until July 28
Michelangelo’s drawings uniquely combine gentle immediacy and precision in an art of extraordinary expressive power. His later sketches in this exhibition are some of his most poignant, from mythological scenes he painted for his beloved Tommaso de’ Cavalieri to tortured depictions of the dying and dying Christ.
Tony Cragg
Castle Howard, near York, May 3 until September 22
Brideshead isn’t what it used to be. What would the character Jeremy Irons from the famous TV series think if he saw modern art all over the lawn? Contemporary art is displayed in every stately home these days; even Castle Howard, the famous setting of Brideshead Revisited, now brimming with Cragg’s cosmic abstractions.
Henry Moore in miniature
Holburne Museum, Bath, May 3 with September 8
The most ambitious sculptor of the human body produced by 20th-century Britain still dominates many horizons in sculpture parks and public spaces around the world. But here his multi-layered, reclining or enthroned, perforated and faceless figures appear on a more intimate scale. Get closer to their surrealism. Jonathan Jones
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To leave: Scene
Silence
Housein Manchester, 30. April with May 4
A clash of the personal and the political, this new documentary theater play was commissioned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the partition of India. Adapted from Kavita Puri’s book, this book brings together individual stories to show how this brutal moment in history shaped Britain. Kate Wyver
English Kings Kill Foreigners
Camden People’s Theatre, London, until 11 May
As Shakespeare’s Globe performers Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti consider what it means to cast a global majority cast in a Shakespeare play, the stage becomes a battlefield in this absurdly serious show. By diving into their own experiences portraying Henry V, they ask fundamental questions about what nationalism looks like now. K.W.
Punt and Dennis
Slough, 27 April; Milton Keynes, 29 April; Touring until June 26
After a quarter-century of hosting The Now Show and, in Hugh Dennis’s case, 17 years as a Mock the Week panelist, it’s no exaggeration to say that these two are world-class experts at delivering news. See what they learned on their first tour in a decade. Rachel Aroesti
Gateshead International Theater Festival
Various venues, 4 and 5 May
You can see Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas and the cast over the age of 60 in this performance festival that blurs boundaries; See the work of Rwanda-born practitioner Patrick Ziza; or take a Beatmotion workshop with Akeim Toussaint Buck to create your own choreography (no experience required). Lyndsey Winship
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Accomodation: Streaming
Tattooist of Auschwitz
Now & Sky Atlantic, 2 May, 21:00
Jonah Hauer-King stars in this drama based on Heather Morris’s Holocaust novel, inspired by the testimony of survivor Lale Sokolov. Told through the lens of the latter’s interviews, it pits an intense love story against the abject horror of the camps.
A Complete Man
Netflix, May 2
David E Kelley is known for his suspenseful, foreboding and starry dramas like Big Little Lies. Tom Wolfe’s latest film, based on his 1998 novel about an Atlanta real estate mogul facing bankruptcy, retains the big names (Jeff Daniels, Diane Lane, Lucy Liu) in its satire of a troubled state of the country.
Miriam: Death of a Reality Star
Channel 4, 29 April, 21:00
Even in the wild west of early reality TV, There’s something in About Miriam – a dating format based on the “twist” that its main model is transgender – felt uniquely sickening. This series looks at the legacy of its star, Miriam Rivera, from her pioneering fame to her exploits before her death in 2019.
shardlake
Disney+, May 1
Arthur Hughes became the first disabled actor to star in the RSC production of Richard III in 2022. Now this new series, based on CJ Sansom’s historical novels, jumps forward several decades to portray Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer and detective with a curvature of the spine who works alongside Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean). RA
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Accomodation: Games
Sea of Thieves
PS5 comes out on April 30
A jewel in the crown of Xbox’s gaming lineup is coming to PS5 this week: a witty, booze-filled, multiplayer pirate adventure to enjoy with the gang.
Star Sword
PS5 is out now
Aliens have taken over Earth, and as the incongruously scantily clad super soldier Eve, we must tear them into bite-sized pieces. This perfectly framed sci-fi action is a treat for the eyes. Likewise MacDonald
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Accomodation: Albums
Pet Shop Boys – Still
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The Pets return with their 15th album and first with producer James Ford (Jessie Ware, Blur). Recent single Dancing Star harkens back to the era of Please, complete with Neil Tennant’s spoken word verses, while Loneliness makes good use of their aim to tap into the “unique and diverse emotions that make us human”.
Sega Bodega – Dennis
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Irish-Chilean producer and artist Salvador Navarrete, who has worked with Björk and FKA twigs, knows all about gorgeous soundscapes. On this third album, she enriches her multi-layered electronic suites with guest spots from writer and filmmaker Miranda July and Sophie’s collaborator Cecile Believe.
Justice – Hyperdrama
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Now that Daft Punk is gone, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, AKA Justice, can take the crown as France’s best dance duo. This fourth album, their first in eight years, continues their love of pounding beats, punchy synth riffs, and more than just a smattering of cinematic drama.
St Vincent – All the Born Scream
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Shaking off the lounge-pop influence of her last album, Annie Clark can be seen digging in the ground here. With Dave Grohl’s furious drumming, singles Broken Man and Flea take everything to the core; the latter equates obsessive love with a parasite clinging on for dear life. M.C.
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Accomodation: brain food
Did you get it? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
Sky Arts, 27 April, 21:00
Syd Barrett, one of the founders of Pink Floyd in 1965, left three years later and lived as a semi-recluse; his later life has become one of the great mysteries of British music. This compelling film reveals his complex legacy.
Missing Patients
digital audio file
Reporter Will James’s series on mental health care in the US is vital and often uncomfortable listening. It traces a shocking decline in care, focusing largely on the accounts of those who experienced the system in Seattle.
Fictional Brands Archive
Online
This database by designer Lorenzo Bernini is much more than a collection of brand names from TV and movies, it contains a fascinating research section exploring how branding shapes the way we view the world. Ammar Kalia