Grenfell by Steve McQueen, Serpentine Gallery review - a stirring memorial for the tower block inferno

★★★★★ GRENFELL BY STEVE MCQUEEN, SERPENTINE GALLERY A stirring memorial for the tower block inferno

Anger and compassion combine to make for an unforgettable experience

The fire which engulfed Grenfell Tower in London’s North Kensington on 14 June, 2017, with a death toll of 72, is still under investigation. The dead were largely recent immigrants to the UK. The tragedy, it’s clear now, was caused by an unholy mixture of neglect, racism, greed and corruption. There’s been much shameful denial and buck-passing, and the issues around the building’s shockingly inadequate cladding haven’t led to much action elsewhere.

Blu-ray: Full Circle

★★★★ BLU-RAY: FULL CIRCLE Mia Farrow palely haunts in a resurrected, atmospheric London ghost story

Mia Farrow palely haunts in a resurrected, atmospheric London ghost story

Julia (Mia Farrow) stands jolting and shuddering, a butterfly pattern of blood on her blouse, shocking the ambulancemen on her doorstep. Her nine-year-old daughter Kate, who choked on an apple like Snow White before Julia cut her throat in a desperate tracheotomy, lies dead and unseen in the kitchen.

Gagarin Quartets, Modulus String Quartet, Brunel Museum review - a multimedia journey into space

Enjoyable music in an intriguing venue doesn’t quite connect with its subject

London concert life is infinitely varied, especially if you dig below the surface. So after spending Tuesday evening in the lofty Royal Albert Hall, on Wednesday I was 16 metres below ground, in the tunnel shaft of the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe for a multi-media event celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space, 62 years ago to the day.

National Youth Choir, Royal Albert Hall review – a spectacular jubilee

★★★★★ NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIR, ROYAL ALBERT HALL A spectacular jubilee

40th anniversary vibrantly celebrated with young voices raised in harmony

The recently re-branded National Youth Choir was founded in 1983 as a single choir of about 100 voices, and in those 40 years has grown to be a family of four, ranging from the nine-year-olds at the bottom of the boys’ and girls’ choirs to the 25-year-olds at the top of the NYC proper.

Facade Ensemble, Collins Rice, St Margaret Pattens Church review - meditation and reflection

★★★★ FACADE ENSEMBLE, COLLINS RICE, ST MARGARET PATTENS CHURCH Experimental classics create space for quiet contemplation

Experimental classics create space for quiet contemplation

The Facade Ensemble is an interesting chamber group of young players dedicated to exploring 20th repertoire, in this case John Cage, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Bryars, who celebrates his 80th birthday this year. The programme, put together by founder and conductor Benedict Collins Rice was contemplative in tone, and an interesting opportunity to hear these experimental and minimal works in a pared-down scoring.

Diana Evans: A House for Alice review - lyrical sequel to Ordinary People

Diana Evans's compelling fourth novel reprises the lives of black Londoners

Diana Evans specialises in houses, their baleful quirks and the meaning of home. In her acclaimed third novel, Ordinary People (2018), formerly happy, black couple Melissa and Michael live in a crooked, malevolent Victorian terraced house in south London – the address is Paradise Row – where Melissa, struggling to cope after the birth of her second child, feels that the “floorboards were like a demon presence”.

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Apollo Theatre review - a turbo-charged, game-changing piece of theatre

★★★★★ FOR BLACK BOYS..., APOLLO THEATRE Turbo-charged, game-changing theatre

A terrific ensemble make an exhilarating plea for Black boys with blighted lives

For a show that comes with a trigger warning about the themes of racism, gang violence, toxic relationships, sexual abuse, child abuse, domestic violence and suicide it will tackle, For Black Boys… is unexpectedly joyful.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Complicité, Barbican review - murder in the forest

★★★★ DRIVE YOUR PLOW..., BARBICAN Complicité tackles a rich and passionate novel

The veteran theatre company tackles a rich and passionate novel

Complicité, the adventurous theatre company led today by Simon McBurney, one of its founders, is now 40. Over the last four decades, McBurney and his collaborators have changed the face of theatre.

Rooted in the training of Jacques Lecoq, along with Robert Lepage, Ariane Mnouchkine and others, they have created work that combines poetry and intelligence, illuminating the stage in a way that combines the inspiration of the best story-telling with the play of the imagination.

Berlusconi, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - curious new musical satire

A reprehensible man treats women badly, but the political magic is left entirely unexplored

One wonders if Ricky Simmonds and Simon Vaughan pondered long over their debut musical’s title. Silvio might invite hubristic comparisons with Evita (another unlikely political leader), but Berlusconi feels a little Hamilton – too soon? They went with the surname of their anti-hero which appears a mite unwieldy on the playbill.