The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

the times | Saturday December 18 2021 saturday review 3

Film

The Lost Daughter
Olivia Colman is on commanding form in
this brilliantly unsettling Elena Ferrante
adaptation directed by the actress Maggie
Gyllenhaal. Colman plays Leda, a middle-
aged academic on holiday on a remote
Greek island. She is brittle, aloof, eccen-
tric, vulnerable and ever so slightly un-
hinged, especially once she encounters the
exotic Nina (Dakota Johnson). Her genius
is that she plays all these facets while re-
maining sympathetic in a film that gamely
tackles the taboo of the mother who re-
jects motherhood. In cinemas now and on
Netflix from Dec 31
Kevin Maher

Television

The Girl Before
Much like The Replacement, The Nest and
other keep-you-guessing psychodramas,
The Girl Before is annoyingly moreish
from almost the first minute. Gugu Mba-
tha-Raw stars as Jane, a young profession-
al who gets the chance to move into an
ultra-minimalist London house. The
catch? An odd list of stipulations set out by
the landlord owner, an enigmatic architect
(David Oyelowo). Gradually Jane starts to
discover what happened to her predeces-
sor in the house... BBC1, Sun-Wed, 9pm
James Jackson

Theatre

Cabaret
Prepare for an immersive adventure as
you make your way into the Playhouse’s
in-the-round recreation of the Kit Kat
Club, presided over by a demonic Eddie
Redmayne. If Jessie Buckley’s incar-
nation of wannabe chanteuse Sally
Bowles is an acquired taste,
Rebecca Frecknall’s produc-
tion includes a sympathetic
older pair of ill-starred lovebirds in Liza
Sadovy and Elliot Levey as Fräulein
Schneider and Herr Schultz. Playhouse,
London WC2 (kitkat.club), to Oct 1
Clive Davis

Pop

Supergrass
This Oxford quartet began life as the
young rascals of 1990s Britpop and, with
1995’s Alright, had a massive singalong

showing this week

Cover story 4-5

The Aardman animator Nick Park and

the creators of the new Shaun the

Sheep film talk to Andrew Billen

anthem that caught the mood of the

nation. Perhaps feeling that they couldn’t

keep singing “we are young, we run green”

in middle age, they split in 2010, but

returned in late 2019, by which point their

legacy as a great band with influences

from the Beatles to Frank Zappa was

established. This tour celebrates that. O2

Academy, Glasgow, Sun; O2 Academy Brix-

ton, London SW9, Mon (supergrass.com)

Will Hodgkinson

Classical

Wigmore Hall

A trio of early music concerts should give

you a glühwein glow in the lead-up to

Christmas. The Dunedin Consort comes

with Handel’s Messiah (today, live

streamed on the Wigmore’s website and

YouTube) conducted by John Butt; on

Monday the excellent young group

Solomon’s Knot tackle Bach’s Christmas

Oratorio; and Thursday’s concert with

Arcangelo features 17th-century German

music, culminating with Schütz’s The

Christmas Story. Wigmore Hall, London W1

(wigmore-hall.org.uk)

Neil Fisher

Visual art

Late Constable

As the year winds towards its end, watch

one of our nation’s greatest landscapists as,

in the last 12 years of his life, he sets about

forging a radical new artistic language. Oil

paint, slapped down with a palette knife,

feels almost sculpted. Clouds churn. Skies

are stirred by dark storms. “Tempest on

tempest rolls,” he wrote. “Still the darkness

is majestic.” And so is this Royal Academy

show. Royal Academy, London W1 (royala-

cademy.org.uk), to Feb 13

Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Dance

The Little Prince

This is a charming take on Antoine de

Saint-Exupéry’s famous tale of the Little

Prince who leaves behind his own tiny

asteroid to journey through the universe,

coming face to face with the baffling world

of grown-ups. It’s told in a distinctive mix

of dance, music and spoken word by Luca

Silvestrini and his Protein troupe. Suitable

for all ages. The Place, London WC1 (the-

place.org.uk), to Dec 24

Debra Craine

What the critics are watching and listening to Contents

Hugo

Rifkind 6

“Why is everybody

so angry out

there?”: Social

Media, Anger and Us

reviewed

Olivia Colman stars

in The Lost Daughter.

Below: The Little Prince

My culture fix 12

The crime writer Harlan Coben lets us

into his cultural life

Exclusive story 14-15

Ghosts star Simon Farnaby writes an

original spooky tale, Stage Fright

Books 16-21

A doomed Antarctic expedition;

growing up in communist Albania;

plus the latest thrillers

Cover photograph

Aardman

YANNIS DRAKOULIDIS/NETFLIX/THE HOLLYWOOD ARCHIVE VIA ALAMY

Twelve TV treats 8-9

TV editor James Jackson picks the

must-see shows for the holiday season

Television 10

The Amazing My Blunden has been

remade for a new generation by

Mark Gatiss, who talks to Ben Dowell

TV and radio 23-79

All Creatures Great and Small and your

14-day Christmas TV listings guide

Puzzles 80-83

Crosswords, sudoku and all your

favourite brainteasers

Podcasts 13

James Marriott

picks the 25 best

listens, including

Iain Dale’s The

Presidents and

Prime Ministers