Stephen Hough/Lucy Crowe, Anna Tilbrook, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review - the end of the beginning

HOUGH/CROWE, TILBROOK, WIGMORE HALL ONLINE/BBC RADIO 3 The end of the beginning

Comfort and joy as live performance returns to top chamber music venue - at a distance

After a devastating drought, even a light shower can feel like something of a miracle. Under normal circumstances, a 60 minute lunchtime piano recital from the Wigmore Hall would represent wholly unremarkable business as usual for BBC Radio 3.

Album: Westerman - Your Hero is not Dead

★★★★ WESTERMAN - YOUR HERO IS NOT DEAD High-gloss Eighties sonics conceal chasmic emotional depths

High-gloss Eighties sonics conceal chasmic emotional depths

Will Westerman is not afraid of sounding retro. It's clear his influences are diverse, from jazz fusion to the bedroom proto-house experiments of Arthur Russell. But in their final form, his high gloss production, highly literate songs and fretless bass sound like something out of a creatively leftfield but megabucks studio-produced mid Eighties record: the likes of Talk Talk, Kate Bush, Roxy Music's Avalon and above all The Blue Nile loom large.

Album: Footsie - No Favours

★★★★ FOOTSIE - NO FAVOURS The grime mainstay's first album is here

It's only taken two decades but the grime mainstay's first album is here

Footsie might not have the profile of a Skepta or Wiley, or even his Newham Generals partner and recent IKEA advert soundtracker D Double E. But anyone halfway schooled in grime will know that both as MC and producer he's a key player from grime's original generation, and still a pillar of the scene. Amazingly, though, despite the fact he's released a couple of mixtapes and four compilations of his instrumentals, he's never made an official solo album until now. So given that, since his beginnings in N.A.S.T.Y.

Antony and Cleopatra, National Theatre at Home review – Fiennes and Okonedo triumph in dragging tragedy

★★★ ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, NATIONAL THEATRE AT HOME A triumvirate of talent and a slick set can't speed things along

A triumvirate of talent and a slick set can't in themselves speed things along

Like an asp eating its own tail, the National Theatre's 2018 production of Antony and Cleopatra, streaming on YouTube until 14 May, begins as it will end. Director Simon Godwin's first tableau is the play's finale: Cleopatra (Sophie Okonedo) lies in queenly repose, a snakebite on her neck; her servants, Charmian (Gloria Obianyo) and Iras (Georgia Landers), slump around her.

Theatre Lockdown Special 4: Little-known Lloyd Webber, prize-winning Shakespeare, and starry David Mamet

THEATRE LOCKDOWN SPECIAL 4 Little-known Lloyd Webber, prize-winning Shakespeare, and starry David Mamet

In an ever-busy week, the Donmar and Finborough join the online bustle

Has anyone else noticed how fulltime this streaming thing has become?  Those who were of a mind to (and who never slept) could find enough cultural output to satisfy 24/7, especially if one adds to the free offerings that crop up by the week the ongoing back catalogue made available on sites such as Marquee TV or Digital Theatre, and the like.

Code 404, Sky One review - surreal cop comedy presses the right buttons

Robo copper's a bit glitchy: Daniel Mays and Stephen Graham star

DI John Major (Daniel Mays) has been dead a year, shot in the line of duty, though we’re far from that series in terms of tone. Now he’s back at the London Met, artificially augmented, but not very intelligently. If anything he’s a bit more shit than he was before, as one of those involved in the shooting observes.

Gangs of London, Sky Atlantic review - bloody terrifying

★★★★ GANGS OF LONDON, SKY ATLANTIC Bloody terrifying

Gripping and brutal crime epic gets off to an explosive start

You might consider equipping yourself with a shotgun and kevlar body armour before you start watching Gangs of London (Sky Atlantic), because this is a bruising, hair-raising ride. Created by Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery, it began with the televisual equivalent of being thrown from a fast-moving vehicle, as we saw a terrified man dangling on a rope over the edge of a high-rise building.

Twelfth Night, RSC/Stratford-upon-Avon online review - inventive but underfelt

★★★ TWELFTH NIGHT, RSC/STRATFORD-UPON-AVON Inventive but underfelt

Kara Tointon leads a concept-heavy, Victorian-era Shakespeare update

Twelfth Night is rarely long-absent from the British stage and nor is it in our current climate of streaming aplenty. This 2017 production for the RSC from the director Christopher Luscombe will soon be followed online by the National Theatre’s gender-flipped version, with Tamsin Greig as Malvolia, which actually preceded this Stratford production at the time.