When We Were Women, Orange Tree Theatre

WHEN WE WERE WOMEN, ORANGE TREE THEATRE Scottish World War Two drama flirts awkwardly with formal experimentation

Scottish World War Two drama flirts awkwardly with formal experimentation

Can you peg a whole play on a decent twist? When We Were Women’s narrative tease pays off interestingly, but takes a hell of a long time getting there. It leaves little space to explore the ramifications of an intriguing revelation, a frustration amplified by the constant chronological cross-cutting in this revived Sharman Macdonald work, first seen at the National in 1988.

Lo Real, Israel Galván, Edinburgh Festival Theatre

LO REAL, ISRAEL GALVÁN, EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE Uncompromising look at gypsies under fascism is hard going, but rewarding

Uncompromising look at gypsies under fascism is hard going, but rewarding

It is an axiom of Israel Galván criticism to say the Spaniard is wired differently. He's the "Bowie of flamenco" - leggy and intense, unpredictably sparky, intemittently brilliant, and sometimes incomprehensible. His new show, Lo Real/Le Réel/The Real which had its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival last night is about gypsies under Nazism and in the Holocaust, but it approaches its subject in an impressionistic, roundabout way that during the performance feels a lot more like a journey into Israel Galván's oddball consciousness than a history lesson.

The Race for the World's First Atomic Bomb, BBC Four

THE RACE FOR THE WORLD'S FIRST ATOMIC BOMB, BBC FOUR Details of the Manhattan Project abound, to the exclusion of its wider implications

Details of the Manhattan Project abound, to the exclusion of its wider implications

Haste was of the essence as the Allies hurried to create the ultimate weapon. They were fearful that Hitler’s Germany, which had been first to split the atom, would beat them to it – and they knew that the Nazis would have no compunction about using it.

Shirley Baker, Photographers' Gallery

SHIRLEY BAKER, PHOTOGRAPHERS' GALLERY A forgotten photographer of the northern slums is rediscovered

A forgotten photographer of the northern slums is rediscovered

When a photographer is as little known as Shirley Baker, it is probably only natural that we scour her work for clues to the personality behind the camera. Certainly, Baker’s photographs of inner city Salford and Manchester, taken over a period of 20 years, seem to offer as full and intriguing a picture of Baker herself as of the disappearing communities she was committed to recording.

First Person: Poems to Messiaen

FIRST PERSON: POEMS TO MESSIAEN Michael Symmons Roberts introduces a project to respond to Messiaen through poetry and painting; we also publish one of his poems

Michael Symmons Roberts introduces a project to respond to Messiaen through poetry and painting; we also publish one of his poems

I am currently in the middle of a project called Messiaen 2015: Between Heaven and the Clouds, a year-long series of commissions and events around the UK, exploring Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l‘Enfant-Jésus, curated by pianist Cordelia Williams. 

Out of Chaos: Ben Uri - 100 Years in London, Somerset House

OUT OF CHAOS: BEN URI - 100 YEARS IN LONDON, SOMERSET HOUSE Powerful paintings that explore the Jewish émigré experience

Powerful paintings that explore the Jewish émigré experience

The exhibition Out of Chaos is a powerful dose of specific human experience, here presented almost exclusively in the form of portraits and group scenes. The selection comes almost entirely from the more than 1,300 works of art owned by Ben Uri Gallery, whose centenary commemoration this is; the gallery was founded in 1915, primarily to explore the work of Jewish artists in Britain. The majority of those in the collection are immigrants or first generation, with a few from beyond this island to expand on the Jewish experience. 

13 Minutes

13 MINUTES From the director of 'Downfall', the little-known story of an attempt on Hitler's life

From the director of 'Downfall', the little-known story of an attempt on Hitler's life

The plot to assassinate Hitler that everyone knows about was on 20 July 1944. It had its Hollywood moment in 2008 with Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise as Colonel Von Stauffenberg. That film unfortunately arrived on the coattails of Downfall, which has since made all Anglophone portrayals of the Third Reich look dismally bogus. So it’s of note that Downfall’s director Oliver Hirschbiegel, having taken leave of his senses to make Diana, has turned his attention to the lesser-known attempt on the Führer’s life.

The Saboteurs, More4

THE SABOTEURS, MORE4 Jaw-jaw not war-war makes for an involving and tense drama

Jaw-jaw not war-war makes for an involving and tense drama

The 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark, documenting the Allies' mission to stop the Nazis from going nuclear, is to historical accuracy what David Starkey is to tact. Or common decency. The Saboteurs however, a Norwegian/Danish/British TV co-production, seems to be keener to explore the truth behind the mission. Or at least as much of it as is known.

The second coming of The Third Man

THEARTSDESK AT 7: THE SECOND COMING OF THE THIRD MAN Restored noir masterpiece returns

Vienna, the zither, a twist of Lime: Carol Reed's newly restored noir masterpiece returns

What happened to Harry Lime during the war that he slid into iniquity, or was he always a swine? What cracked in him so badly that he sold diluted penicillin that gave children meningitis? What rat-like instincts of survival prompted him to betray his Czech lover so that the Russians would evict her from Austria? And why did he summon the hapless Holly Martins from America to join his racket? Was it that he could rely on Holly to be dazzled and dominated by him, as he must have been 20 years before at school?

1945: The Savage Peace, BBC Two

1945: THE SAVAGE PEACE, BBC TWO The story of the cruel aftermath of war told in bruising documentary

The story of the cruel aftermath of war told in bruising documentary

“Enjoy the war, for the peace will be savage,” was apparently a macabre joke circulating in the German military towards the end of World War Two. Peter Molloy’s searing documentary, 1945: The Savage Peace, showed us just how prescient it would prove, charting the cruelties that would follow the end of conflict. Man’s inhumanity to man would continue long after the war itself had formally ended.