THEATRE
Bakkhai
(Almeida Theatre, N1, Thursday to 19 September)
The London stage can’t seem to get enough of Greek tragedy at the moment, what with Juliette Binoche’s Antigone, Kristin Scott Thomas’s Electra and Helen McCrory’s Medea, plus three plays at the Almeida. The second in that trilogy is Bakkhai – the original spelling has been restored by poet Anne Carson – which offers the prospect of Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel going head-to-head in Euripides’s play. Whishaw is the god Dionysus, miffed after a snub by the king Pentheus (Carvel) and whose revenge goes way out of proportion. The play is a compare-and-contrast of the rational and spiritual; head and heart; man and god. Mark Cook
The rest of this week’s theatre
FILM
Ant-Man
A minor Marvel movie in every sense (the climactic showdown takes place in a child’s bedroom), but Paul Rudd is a welcome new addition to the next cycle of the comic-book franchise masterplan. His initiation is mostly good, silly fun played in a comic key with soapy family interludes, some standard corporate intrigue and inventive microcosmic effects, even if it all feels like a routine summer movie rather than the next big thing. Steve Rose
COMEDY
Arj Barker: Get In My Head
(Soho Theatre, W1, Monday to 28 July)
Even comedy aficionados know Arj Barker better for his appearances in cult comedy series Flight Of The Conchords than for his solo stand-up work. Yet Barker’s a proper hard-working comic, having gigged for more than 20 years and picked up the best newcomer award at the fringe back when it was still sponsored by Perrier. Onstage, he comes across as a version of the kind of guy you get calling up a radio phone-in. He points out problems with the world, and comes up with completely dumb prescriptions for solving them, using the kind of unthinking idiot logic that masquerades as common sense. You’d be terrified if he became a politician, but as a comic, he’s a richly entertaining exposer of contemporary gormlessness. James Kettle
The rest of this week’s comedy
EXHIBITIONS
Camille Blatrix
(MOSTYN, Llandudno, Saturday to 1 November)
It is rare that an artist comes along who immediately seems to be on to something this refreshing. The constituent elements of Camille Blatrix’s installations can certainly be traced back: there are hints of the thematically restrained and technically controlled surrealistic dreams of Magritte or De Chirico, while his compositional structures owe much to a cool and clean-cut brand of minimalism. Yet, with exquisite compositional finesse, Blatrix touches on aspects of involuntary memory, existential melancholy and a yearning for something lying beyond the visible. Here, by the unusual act of sampling works made by his ceramicist mother and ex-artist father, he evokes the mysteriously formative experiences of childhood. Robert Clark
The rest of this week’s exhibitions
CLUBS
The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club
(Motion, Bristol, Saturday)
Space-station vending-machine technician and last human being in the universe Craig Charles seems to be in a pretty good way at the moment. After his days on cult comedy series Red Dwarf, his career has had its ups and downs, but he’s ushering in his 50s travelling the UK with these wild, jam-packed retro funk and soul parties. Tonight, LA’s neo-soul godfather Roy Ayers heads up the bill. Also in tow is a less widely known musical veteran who deserves his place in the history books: Mixmaster Morris, AKA Irresistible Force, who previously toured with the Shamen but is now best-known for soothing the highs of 90s rave and popularising ambient music at desert festivals, wonky London clubs and the Radio 1 airwaves alike. Gwyn Thomas de Chroustchoff
TALKS
Guardian Live: The Next London Mayor?
(Kings Place, N1, Monday)
With a year left of his second term, London’s current mayor now has bigger fish to fry. Many would argue that he always did. Assuming they don’t go down the random, Sol Campbell route, the Tories will fancy another posh maverick – this time probably Zac Goldsmith – to run the capital for them. However, London was actually Labour’s one bright spot in the recent election. Who will get the chance to try to prove that the party isn’t electoral kryptonite after all? This Guardian hustings, hosted by Hugh Muir, will be an opportunity for Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Gareth Thomas and Christian Wolmar to present their respective cases. Housing, inequality and transport will be high on the agenda but in a woeful year for the Labour party, a touch of can-do rabble-rousing might be the most effective tactic of all. Phil Harrison
TV
The Javone Prince Show
(Sunday, BBC2, 9.45pm)
Best known for his role as self-proclaimed lothario Jerwayne in E4’s cult comedy PhoneShop, Javone Prince returns in this new high-energy sketch show with a variety edge. With culture clashes and subverted stereotypes galore (a Peckham-based parody of Made In Chelsea is particularly riotous), there’s plenty here to set the show apart. Adding a touch of nostalgia, 90s neo-soul icon Omar is on hand with a live band each week. Hannah J Davies
DANCE
Ballet Folklórico De México
(London Coliseum, WC2, Wednesday to 25 July)
Dance is one of the key ways in which any country celebrates and sustains its own history, and in the 63 years since Amalia Hernández founded Ballet Folklórico, this company has been maintaining Mexico’s rich stock of folk dance, music and national costume. Now directed by Hernández’s grandson Salvador López, the company has infused its basic traditional material with more contemporary elements, embracing the diversity of Mexican culture in dances such as the folk ballet Sones de Michoacán (Melodies of Michoacán) with its pre-hunt Deer Dance. Judith Mackrell
MUSIC
Glyndebourne Opera: Saul
(Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, Thursday to 29 August)
The last new production at Glyndebourne this summer is also the most unpredictable. The staging of Handel’s Saul marks the company debut of Australia-born director Barrie Kosky, a major figure in European opera but relatively little known in the UK. In fact, British audiences will get another chance to sample Kosky’s work when his much-praised production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute comes to Edinburgh next month. But before that it’s his take on Handel’s English-language oratorio that’s the centre of attention, promising a “baroque nightmare world”. The title role is sung by Christopher Purves and Ivor Bolton conducts. Andrew Clements
The rest of this week’s live music
FILM EVENT
The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson + Q&A
(London, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff)
Most people diagnosed with inoperable cancer get their affairs in order; Wilko Johnson went on tour. Refusing any treatment, the ex-Dr Feelgood guitarist accepted his fate with admirable dignity and an apparent lack of fear or regret. The same couldn’t be said for his fans. Johnson’s energy and individualism, onstage and off, have established him as an all-round decent human being and won him generations of admirers, not least rockumentarian Julien Temple, who already chronicled the Dr Feelgood story in his great 2009 documentary Oil City Confidential. Temple’s fascinating new film, following Johnson’s supposedly final months, is far more than a music doc, bringing emotional drama, unpretentious metaphysics and playful archive footage to a story which – it’s no spoiler to reveal – has a surprisingly feelgood ending: Johnson is still very much with us. So is Temple, at these select Q&A screenings. SR
The rest of this week’s film events
