THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN
Your cultural musts for November
Finally, November has arrived – offering us the perfect excuse to batten down the hatches, stick the kettle on, and brace ourselves for a guilt-free night in (after all, there will be plenty of festivities in the coming weeks that will drive us out of our hybernation, so really, staying in is simply an act of self-preservation). 1 This month marks the return of one of Netflix’s most anticipated series – The Crown, this time starring Olivia Colman as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She was born for this role, clearly, but Helena Bonham Carter also brings the goods to the role of her sister, Princess Margaret. We cannot wait until series three airs on November 17. 2 All that Netflix-and-chilling should boost your energy levels for some choice cultural outings, and top of our list is this season’s ballet offering, starting with Cork City Ballet’s rendition of Swan Lake (pictured) at Cork Opera House November 7-9, corkcit yballet.com; elsewhere, Ballet Ireland celebrates its 21st anniversary with a nationwide tour of its production of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet, kicking off in Armagh on November 6, with a run in The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin November 13-16 and finishing in Bray on
December 22, balletireland.ie.
3 Pat Shortt and Charlie Murphy star in the screen adaptation of Kevin Barry’s Dark Lies the Island, directed by Ian FitzGibbon – a dark comic melodrama about a family spinning out of control in a small Irish town, out October 18. 4 If it’s been a while since you’ve stuck on a romantic comedy, Modern Love should be worth returning to the genre for. Inspired by The New York Times’ column of the same name, this romantic comedy anthology series explores love in all its complicated forms as each standalone episode brings some of the most beloved stories to life. Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel, Catherine Keener and John Slattery are just some of the stars of this heartwarming series, available October 18 on Amazon Prime Video. Irish film director John Carney ( Once, Sing Street) serves as writer, director and executive producer, while Sharon Horgan directed the Tina Fey/John Slattery episode, which she also penned. If the concept already has you excited, pick up Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss and Redemption (Headline, approx €17) edited by Daniel Jones – a collection of some of the most unforgettable essays from the NYT column edited by Jones, out now. 5 Feeling romantic? We have more... Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs, an exhibition of more than 100 works spanning the history of photography from the Bank of America collection, opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on November 30, showcasing a full range of the medium, from 19th century salt prints to digital prints of the 20th century, nationalgallery.ie. 6 Aisling Bea has certainly had a busy few months, with the superb This Way Up having us all glued to our TV screens back in August. Now, she stars opposite Paul Rudd in Living with Yourself, available on Netflix October 18. Here’s what else we recommend this month... SEE RHA X, a collaboration between designer Roland Mouret and Dublin artist Dragana Jurišić at the RHA. This ground-breaking art and fashion experience kicks off with an immersive installation that will launch on November 15, where it’ll be animated by the artists at a gala fundraising event, rhagallery.ie. CATCH The 64th Cork Film Festival, November 7-17, which will see the Irish premiere of Ordinary Love, based on the script by Irish playwright Owen McCafferty and starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, corkfilmfest.org; Plastic: Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It at the Science Gallery Dublin October 24 to February 9, dublin. sciencegallery.com; and Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival, November 1-3, murderone.ie. WATCH Sorry We Missed You, directed by Ken Loach, written by Paul Laverty, and starring Kris Hitchen and Debbie Honeywood – a powerful exploration of the gig economy and the challenges faced by one family, out November 1; Official Secrets, a docudrama starring Keira Knightley as whistleblower Katharine Gun, alongside Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, and Ralph Fiennes, out October 18; and Brittany Runs a Marathon, an uplifting comedy-drama starring Jillian Bell as a party girl who takes control of her future, out November 1.