Blue, Chapter Arts Centre review - heartbreak in the family home

★★★★ BLUE, CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE Heartbreak in the family home

Farce and tragedy are evenly balanced in new play from Wales

What's worse than grieving? That all-consuming loss. For those that have experienced it, nothing really comes close. It starts to bug Thomas (Jordan Bernarde, main picture second right) during his visit to the Williams household. Recently bereaved himself, he senses the fragility in the air but no-one seems to give a straight answer. Everyone would rather focus on him, talking at speed but never really engaging beyond the surface.

Adam Riches Is The Guy Who..., Drink, Shop & Do review - super-suave Lothario on the prowl

Immersive show examines male-female engagement in the #MeToo era

The first line of this show is “I'm the guy who you meet right after you come out of a long-term relationship.” On the night I see The Guy Who..., Adam Riches has three tries with it before he meets his target, a woman who has been dumped by a long-standing boyfriend.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? review - no page unturned in a comedy about literary forgery

★★★★ CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant brilliantly paired in literary fraud yarn

Fake it 'til you make it: Oscar-tempting tour de force by Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant

What is it with all these new films based on biographiesVice, Green Book, The Mule, Stan & Ollie, Colette… and that’s before we even get to the royal romps queening up our screens. At least Can You Ever Forgive Me? brings a lifestory to the cinema which isn’t too familiar to audiences outside literary America.

DVD/Blu-ray: Under the Tree

★★★★ DVD/BLU-RAY: UNDER THE TREE A devastating suburban satire

Summer in Iceland and the living's not easy: a devastating suburban satire

If you’ve ever had an argument with a neighbour, watch Under the Tree and take notes. This mesmerising story of a dispute over a tree blocking the sun in a next-door garden is based, says Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, on an actual domestic conflict, though surely one with less cataclysmic consequences.

Kidding, Sky Atlantic review - tears of a clown

★★★★ KIDDING, SKY ATLANTIC A surprisingly deep lesson in loss

Jim Carrey-led series provides a surprisingly deep lesson in loss

There’s no one right way to grieve. It cuts through everyone differently, whether reverting to childhood traits or out-of-character impulses. The person you lose might mean one thing to you, and something completely different to someone else; it can hit you both differently, and equally hard.

theartsdesk Q&A: Chas and Dave

THEARTSDESK Q&A: CHAS AND DAVE A memorial interview with the rockney duo following the death of Chas Hodges

A memorial interview with the lovable rockney duo following the death of Chas Hodges

Chas Hodges has died at the age of 74, bringing to an end a career that reaches back to the very beginnings of British pop music. He was best known as one half of Chas and Dave. The duo he formed with Dave Peacock were the poster boys of rockney, a chirpy fusion of three-chord rock'n'roll and rollicking Cockney wit.

I object, British Museum review - censorship, accidental?

★★ I OBJECT, BRITISH MUSEUM Dissidence show doesn't allow objects to speak for themselves

Exhibition on dissidence and subversion doesn't allow objects to speak for themselves

It’s the nature of satire to reflect what it mocks, so as you’d expect from a British Museum exhibition curated by Ian Hislop, I object is a curiously establishment take on material anti-establishmentarianism from BC something-or-other right up to the present day.

Disenchantment, Netflix review - Matt Groening show has promise after poor start

★★★ DISENCHANTMENT, NETFLIX Matt Groening show has promise after poor start

Fantasy animation from the creator of The Simpsons lacks the quality of his best work

It’s an event that only comes around once a generation: a new Matt Groening TV series. The Simpsons is rightly regarded as one of the greatest shows ever made. It changed the face of American television, and 10 years later was followed Futurama, a series that may lack the cross-demographic appeal of its predecessor, but consistently produced satirical masterpieces.

Alkaline, Park Theatre review - faith, friendship and failure

★★ ALKALINE, PARK THEATRE Female friendship comedy drama is occasionally bright, but lacks plot and depth

Female friendship comedy drama is occasionally bright, but lacks plot and depth

Britain is rightly proud of its record on multiculturalism, but whenever cross-cultural couples are shown on film, television or the stage they are always represented as a problem. Not just as a normal way of life, but as something that is going wrong. I suppose that this is a valuable corrective to patting ourselves on the back about how tolerant a society we are, but do such correctives make a good play?