ARTS 31
7 May 2022 THE WEEKThe List
Showing now
Steve Coogan is on a nationwide tour with
Alan Partridge: Stratagem. It revisits familiar
ground – “but no one makes that territory
funnier” (Guardian). Until 3 June, various
venues (alanpartridgelive.com).
The relationship between James McNeill
Whistler and his muse is the focus of Whistler’s
Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan, a small
but “beautifully simple” exhibition of his
paintings of the flame-haired Irish woman (Daily
Telegraph). Until 22 May, Royal Academy,
London W1 (royalacademy.org.uk).
Book now
A new production from The Royal Ballet
reinvents Laura Esquivel’s magic-realist novel
Like Water for Chocolate with a score by
Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra. 2-17
June (booking from 10 May), Royal Opera
House, London WC1 (roh.org.uk).
Blues favourite Seasick Steve and Grammy-
winning guitarist Cedric Burnside are two of the
headliners at this year’s Red Rooster Festival,
alongside a host of other soul, Cajun and
country acts. 2-4 June, Euston Hall, Euston,
Suffolk (redrooster.org.uk).Olivier Award-winner Alex Jennings stars as a
raffish, boozy priest working in a coastal parish
in Stephen Beresford’s long-awaited, darkly
comic new play, The Southbury Child. 13-25
June, Chichester Festival Theatre (cft.org.uk);
1 July-27 August, Bridge Theatre, London SE1
(bridgetheatre.co.uk).The Night Watch by Sarah
Waters, 2006 (Virago £8.99).
I don’t know of any writer
who better conjures up the
atmosphere of a time and
place. This book perfectly
catches a very particular
backwater of wartime London.
Henry “Chips” Channon:
The Diaries edited by Simon
Heffer, two volumes, 2021
(Hutchinson £35 each). I have
a love of diaries that I am not
proud of, but the very best
are written by the most
waspish and indiscreet people,
crippled by snobbery. These
are unputdownable.
The New Confessions by
William Boyd, 1987 (Penguin
£9.99). I love fictional life
stories and John James Todd
is one of my favourite
characters, even though not
particularly sympathetic. The
writing and plot line is, as
always with Boyd, superb, and
you are truly engaged in this
life of happenstance.Restoration by Rose Tremain,
1989 (Vintage £9.99). Merivel
is another wonderful character
and his bawdiness, touched
with melancholy, gives him a
memorable voice. I love all of
Tremain’s books and this is
probably my favourite.A Dance to the Music
of Time, Volumes 1-4 by
Anthony Powell, 1951-1975
(Arrow £20 each). This series
of novels has its lovers andhaters – I have been one of the
former since I read the first
ones as a boy and caught up as
they were published into young
manhood. I read them every
few years and still find the
leanness of the prose, the
knowing humour and the
characters quite brilliant.Somme by Lyn MacDonald,
1983 (Penguin £9.99). I have
been obsessed with the Great
War since I was very young
and there is no book that
serves it better. The humour
and poetry, the photography,
the film and the plangent songs
make it the first true, mixed-
media conflict, and it still
pulls at the heartstrings even
though wars as awful continue
to blight the world.Best books... Theo Fennell
The jewellery designer chooses his favourite books. His memoir, I Fear for
This Boy (Mensch Publishing £25) – a picaresque retelling of the highs and
lows of his colourful life and career – is out now
The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeing
On tour: Steve Coogan as Alan PartridgeTelevision
Programmes
Beck: Haunted by the Past
The popular Swedish crime
series, based on the Martin
Beck novels, returns with a
feature-length episode. Sat
7 May, BBC4 21:00 (90mins).Afghanistan: No Country
for Women Emmy Award-
winning journalist Ramita
Navai explores the realities of
life for Afghan women under
Taliban rule. Sun 8 May, ITV1
22:15 (65mins).Fergal Keane: Living with
PTSD The BBC correspondent,
who has reported from some
of the most brutal conflicts of
recent times, talks about being
diagnosed with PTSD and its
impact on his life. Mon 9 May,
BBC2 21:00 (60mins).The Spy Who Died Twice
Using actors and archive
footage, this documentary tells
the story of John Stonehouse,
the ex Labour minister who
faked his own death and who
seems also to have been a spy.
Mon 9 May, C4 21:00 (60mins).Films
The Personal History of
David Copperfield (2019)
Network premiere of Armando
Iannucci’s comedy-drama, a
reinvention Dickens’s novel
with a cast led by Dev Patel.
Sat 7 May, C4 21:20 (140mins).All the Money in the World
(2017) Thriller based on the
true story of the abduction of
John Paul Getty III in 1973,
starring Mark Wahlberg and
Christopher Plummer. Thur
12 May, Film4 01:05 (165mins).Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Katharine Hepburn is the
madcap heiress causing chaos
for Cary Grant’s studious
palaeontologist in this classic
screwball comedy. Thur 12
May, BBC4 21:00 (100mins).Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit biblio.co.ukNew to subscription TV
Ten Percent British remake
of the French comedy-drama
Call My Agent! It is written
by John Morton, who created
the BBC satire W1A. On
Amazon Prime.Gaslit Julia Roberts, Dan
Stevens and Sean Penn star
in this “surprisingly funny”
drama about the Watergate
Scandal (Radio Times).
StarzPlay on Amazon Prime.The Archers: what happened last week
As the village reels from the Grey Gables news, Brian shares his anxieties about the Home Farm
valuation with Alice. Clarrie injures herself at cricket practice and is reluctantly laid up. As Ian
contemplates looking for a new job, Adam urges him to follow his dream of buying a pizza oven
with his redundancy money and setting up on his own. Brian shares his woes with Stella, who has
a possible solution: the family could buy Alice’s share of the farm. Brian asks Adam if he and Ian
will invest their windfall, but Adam resists. Thanks to Lily, Tracy has an interview for kitchen
telesales; when the interviewer turns out to be an old schoolmate, Tracy goes to pieces. After
comforting Tracy, Jazzer decides to try for the job himself. Ian convinces Adam that they should
invest in Home Farm for the sake of Xander’s future, but later Adam does a U-turn – it’s a no. Susan
helps out desperate Tracy with some cash. Jazzer lands the job and promises he’ll do all he can to
help Tracy and she starts to feel better.