The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeing and reading
Last chance
Yayoi Kusama at the Victoria Miro Gallery, London N1 and St George St, W1 (www. victoria-miro.com). The 87-year-old Japanese artist with a penchant for polka dots and pumpkins is showing in both branches of the Victoria Miro. Her art “reverberates with a powerful and positive energy” (Telegraph). Ends 30 July.
Showing now
Stanley Spencer: Of Angels and Dirt at The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire (01924247360). The first big Spencer retrospective in Britain for 15 years comprises paintings from all periods of his career, as well as his unpublished teenage sketchbook. “This is a show to cheer you up” (BBC Arts online). Ends 5 October.
Barbu London Wonderground at Southbank Centre, SE1 (www.londonwonderground.co.uk). This “irresistibly silly yet sexy show” from Quebec’s bearded Cirque Alfonse is “laugh-outloud witty” (Times). Ends 25 September.
The Deep Blue Sea at the Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1 (020-7452 3000). Helen Mccrory “blazes” in Terence Rattigan’s “powerful” play set in postwar London (Guardian). Ends 21 September. In cinemas on 1 September (ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk).
Just out in paperback
John Aubrey: My Own Life by Ruth Scurr (Vintage £9.99). This “ingenious” and “wholly successful” life gathers up the 17th century polymath’s autobiographical sketches and turns them into a “coherent narrative” (Observer).