The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
Make a date with a masterpiece
After the drought, the deluge! From Rossetti to House of Gucci, Coldplay to Cabaret – 100 must-sees to fill your autumn diary
SEPTEMBER 1 THEATRE
BACK TO THE FUTURE
The beloved 1980s movie gets a musical makeover, produced by original writer-director duo Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. Olly Dobson plays teenage Marty McFly, trapped in the 1950s and forced to matchmake for his future parents. Adelphi Theatre, London WC2 (lwtheatres.co.uk), booking to Feb 13
COMEDY
SIMON AMSTELL
The former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks is one of the most selfbaring comics around. His touring show Spirit Hole flits from social faux pas at sex parties to South American psychedelic drug rituals. Soho Theatre, London W1, to Sept 3 (simonamstell.com), and touring
2 FILM
ANNETTE
Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard play a showbiz couple in trouble in this invigoratingly mad rock opera from France’s Leos (Holy Motors) Carax and avant-garde pop duo Sparks. Brace yourself for Cotillard turning into a sea monster, moonlit motorcycle rides, a toe-tapping #MeToo sextet and a knockout performance by a wooden puppet.
COMEDY
KATHERINE RYAN
Often compared to a young Joan Rivers, the reliably sharp Canadian comic follows her hit Netflix special with Missus, a touring show about the highs and lows of matrimony. The Hawth, Crawley (livenation. co.uk), and touring
3 THEATRE
EAST IS EAST
Ayub Khan-Din’s exuberant culture-clash comedy about a devout Muslim chip-shop owner, his white English wife and their six children, living in 1970s Salford, gets a 25thanniversary revival.
Birmingham Rep (birmingham-rep. co.uk), until Sept 25; then National Theatre, London SE1 (national theatre.org.uk), Oct 7 to Oct 30
THEATRE THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE
A hugely welcome revival of Martin
McDonagh’s name-making 1996 debut, with Ingrid Craigie as the decrepit and duplicitous elderly woman and Orla Fitzgerald as the resentful unmarried daughter who cares for her, in this rich, rural Irish tragicomedy, directed by Rachel O’Riordan.
Chichester Festival Theatre (cft.org.uk), until Oct 2; Lyric Hammersmith, London W6 (lyric. co.uk), Oct 9 to Nov 6
6 COMEDY
OLGA KOCH
Born in St Petersburg, the confident and charismatic Koch tackles national identity – and becoming a British citizen – in her new touring show Homecoming.
Soho Theatre, London W1, until
Sept 11 (rocknrolga.com), and touring
7 CLASSICAL
ON THE COVER
Daniel Craig returns as James Bond in No Time to Die (© Universal Pictures)
LAMMERMUIR FESTIVAL
This jewel of a festival – which takes place in beautiful corners of East Lothian – is back in style, with Scottish Opera, virtuoso choirs including Tenebrae, and Scotland’s own Dunedin Consort.
East Lothian (lammermuirfestival. co.uk), until Sept 20
TV
HELP
Covid arrives at a Liverpool care home in Jack Thorne’s hard-hitting drama starring Merseyside’s two finest actors. It follows the relationship between a carer (Jodie Comer) and her patient with early-onset Alzheimer’s (Stephen Graham). Channel 4, exact date TBC
9 ART
MIXING IT UP
Who said that painting was dead? This mouth-watering survey of contemporary painting in Britain, featuring more than 30 artists spanning three generations, begs to differ.
Hayward Gallery, London SE1 (southbankcentre.co.uk), to Dec 12
DANCE
MATTHEW BOURNE’S
THE MIDNIGHT BELL
A new Bourne piece, set amid the bars of 1930s Soho, inspired by the novels of Patrick Hamilton? Only a dummkopf would bet against it. Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, until Sept 11 (new-adventures.net), and touring
10 TV
THE NORTH WATER
This bracing drama, set on a whaling ship in the 1850s, was shot further into the Arctic than a television drama has ever ventured. Colin Farrell, Jack O’Connell and Stephen Graham are among the shivering cast. BBC Two
COMEDY
MARK WATSON
In his new stand-up show This Can’t Be It, the endearingly shambolic Fringe veteran contemplates mortality, after a life-expectancy app informs him that he might have less time left than he’d thought.
Trebah Amphitheatre, Cornwall (markwatsonthecomedian.com), and touring
11 POP
PARKLIFE
Manchester’s grime, hip-hop and dance music festival offers bravura young talent, headlined by poetic UK rapper Dave and ear-frazzling US sensation Megan Thee Stallion. Heaton Park, near Prestwich (parklife.uk.com), until Sept 12