The Garden Cinema runs new restorations of
Tarkovsky’s final two films, made outside the Soviet Union, with
one or the other back on screen most days this week. Angel Comedy turns
The Bill Murray over to Edinburgh work-in-progress sets, a former Kiln
chef cooks one free night of canapés in Smithfield before her own
restaurant opens, and Brilliant Corners plays its last Dalston sessions
before a fortnight’s refurb. Friday brings two free, unrelated
blue-chip closings on the same day.
A hand-checked shortlist of the week in London culture
· new every Thursday
This is a week that closes in on itself on one Friday. On 31 July,
Victoria Miro shuts its Shahzia Sikander and N S Harsha shows the same
day the Barbican’s Sculpture Court closes Delcy Morelos’s
soil-and-spice installation — two free last-chances, a cab ride
apart, both gone by Saturday. The same evening, Brilliant Corners plays
its penultimate night before the fortnight’s refurb, and The
Garden Cinema screens the second of the two new Tarkovsky restorations
it’s running all week. Thursday belongs to Angel Comedy, which hands The
Bill Murray over to Edinburgh work-in-progress sets for two nights
running, and to a former Kiln chef cooking one free evening of canapés
in Smithfield before her own restaurant opens this autumn.
Two service notes. Islington Festival of Music and Art, which we
covered fully last issue, runs on to 2 August without a repeat write-up
here — nothing new to add to what we already told you. And
Café OTO and Vortex get a rest this week: both have carried heavy
runs in these pages lately, so the space went to newer rooms instead.
The Garden Cinema · Covent Garden · Thu 30 Jul–Wed 5 Aug · check thegardencinema.co.uk for per-screening prices
New digital restorations of Andrei Tarkovsky’s last
two films, both made outside the Soviet Union and both about exactly
that: Nostalghia (1983), a Russian poet researching an
émigré composer in Italy, screens Thu 30 Jul at 6pm and again Tue 4
and Wed 5 Aug; The Sacrifice (1986), an old writer alone on a
Swedish island, screens Fri 31 Jul at 5pm and across the weekend.
Wednesday 5 August is the one day to catch both back to back.
His last two films, both about leaving home, back to back on Wednesday.
The Bill Murray · Islington · Thu 30 Jul (Matt Forde, 5pm; Patrick Spicer, 6.30pm; Dan Tiernan, 9.45pm) & Fri 31 Jul (Dane Buckley, 6pm) · free nightly stand-up continues through Sun 2 Aug at Camden Head
Angel Comedy’s home room spends the run-up to
Edinburgh handing its stage to touring comedians testing new hours:
Matt Forde, Patrick Spicer and Dan Tiernan on Thursday, Dane Buckley on
Friday, all working out material that won’t be this rough again.
The free nightly stand-up that made the club’s name — RAW
Thursdays, then Camden Head Friday to Sunday — runs alongside it,
no ticket required.
61 Charterhouse Street · Smithfield · Thu 30 Jul, from 5pm · Free
Karla Knowles, formerly head chef at Kiln, previews her
first solo restaurant with one free night at the Smithfield site
before it opens this autumn: her canapés, sake cocktails from
Dreamsake, and a photography exhibition curated by Cluster on the
walls. No ticket beyond the free Eventbrite registration.
Brilliant Corners · Dalston · Richard Brooks (Thu), Reda (Fri), Rosy R (Sat) · closed 2–16 Aug, sister bar mu open instead
Three nights of rotating selectors on Dalston’s
serious sound system. Richard Brooks opens Thursday, Reda takes
Friday, Rosy R closes it out Saturday — last chance to hear this
exact room before it changes.
Park Theatre (Park90) · Finsbury Park · Fri 31 Jul, 7pm · £15 (concessions available) · 16+
Two more comics road-testing Fringe hours in a studio
space rather than a comedy-club backroom: two hours fifteen with an
interval, strong language, and the specific pleasure of watching a set
before it’s finished being written.
Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road · Islington · to Fri 31 Jul · Free
Two unrelated shows sharing a closing date: Sikander’s
pattern-dense animation and miniature-derived drawing in Gallery I,
Harsha’s cosmological, grid-based paintings next door in
Gallery II. Free walk-in, both galleries, last day Friday.
Barbican Sculpture Court, Level 3 · City · to Fri 31 Jul, 11am–7pm · Free
A monumental installation of soil, clay and fragrant
spices — cinnamon, clove, hay — you walk through rather
than around, in low light and narrow paths. Visceral rather than
contemplative, and gone after Friday.
Bush Theatre, Holloway Theatre · Shepherd’s Bush · to Sat 1 Aug · price via bushtheatre.co.uk
A queer love story that turns thriller partway through,
starring Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (last seen in Jamie Lloyd’s
Romeo & Juliet), transferred into the Bush’s main
house for its final week.