Vanessa Bell, MK Gallery review - diving into and out of abstraction

★★★★ VANESSA BELL, MK GALLERY The Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores

A variation of styles as the Bloomsbury artist breaks free from Victorian mores

The Bloomsbury group’s habit of non-binary bed-hopping has frequently attracted more attention than the artworks they produced. But in their Vanessa Bell retrospective, the MK Gallery has steered blissfully clear of salacious tittle tattle. Thankfully, this allows one to focus on Bell’s paintings and designs rather than her complicated domestic life.

The Truth About Harry Beck, London Transport Museum Cubic Theatre review - mapping the life of the London Underground map's creator

 THE TRUTH ABOUT HARRY BECK Nostalgic comedy about the man who originated an everyday design classic

An English eccentric quietly re-invents our view of the capital

Iconic is a word the meaning of which is moving from the religious world into popular culture – win a reality TV show dressed as a teapot, and you can be sure that your 15 minutes of fame will be labelled iconic across social media. Not quite what Andrei Rublev had in mind 600 years ago.

Powell and Pressburger: In Prospero's Room

★★★★★ POWELL AND PRESSBURGER: IN PROSPERO'S ROOM A magical day at Derek Jarman’s Dungeness cottage, dancing with the ghosts of Shakespeare, Powell and Pressburger

A magical day at Derek Jarman’s Dungeness cottage, dancing with the ghosts of Shakespeare, Powell and Pressburger

There’s a thread of bright magic running through British cinema, from Powell and Pressburger through Nic Roeg, Derek Jarman and Lynne Ramsay, and it’s wrapped around Jarman’s last home like fisherman’s rope.

Hallyu! The Korean Wave, V&A review - frenetic but fun

★★★★ HALLYU! THE KOREAN WAVE, V&A Frenetic but fun

Learn how to succeed, South Korean style, right across the cultural board

Remember Gangnam Style, the music video that went viral in 2012? PSY’s cheeky lyrics and daft moves attracted 1.6 billion hits on YouTube, sparked dozens of parodies and turned the world on to K-pop. And that was just the beginning; K-pop has since mushroomed into a global phenomenon characterised by catchy tunes and fast-paced dance routines performed by beautiful young people in snappy outfits.

Isamu Noguchi, Barbican review – the most elegant exhibition in town

★★★ ISAMU NOGUCHI, BARBICAN The most elegant exhibition in town

A restless spirit who infiltrated many of our lives

Isamu Noguchi may not be a household name, yet one strand of his work is incredibly familiar. In 1951 he visited a lamp factory in Gifu, a Japanese city famous for its paper lanterns. This prompted him to design the lampshades that, for decades, have adorned nearly every student’s bedsit.

Bauhaus 100, BBC Four review - a well-made film about the makers

★★★★ BAUHAUS 100, BBC FOUR A fascinating centenary tale of God-like architects and punks

A fascinating centenary tale of God-like architects and punks

The Bauhaus school and its subsequent influence make an extraordinary story, and this film by Mat Whitecross, which has assembled a whole range of different voices and perspectives and woven them together, told it well.

Franco Zeffirelli: 'I had this feeling that I was special'

FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI 1923-2019 Recalling a two-day audience at the home of the great maestro

Recalling a two-day audience at the home of the great maestro, who has died aged 96

"I am amazed to be still alive. Two hours of medieval torment.” Franco Zeffirelli - who has died at the age of 96 - had spent the day having a lumbar injection to treat a sciatic nerve. You could hear the bafflement in his heavily accented English.

Vox Motus: Flight, Brighton Festival 2019 review - a novel and moving experience

Astounding combination of theatre and installation tells the wrenching story of two Afghan child refugees

Flight is a show by experimental Scottish theatre company Vox Motus, adapted from the novel Hinterland by Caroline Brothers. It’s about two Afghan child refugees making their way across Europe to the fabled land of “London” and is based very directly on her own interviews with asylum seekers as a journalist. So far, so narrartively straightforward but Flight is unlike anything most people will have seen.

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, Design Museum review - immersive detail

★★★★★ STANLEY KUBRICK: THE EXHIBITION, DESIGN MUSEUM Immersive detail

Concentrated archive show reveals the prodigious ferment of a film imagination

Who would have known that the word “Kubrickian” only entered the Oxford English Dictionary last year? You’d have thought that one of the great film directors of the 20th century would have earned his own epithet long ago.

Mary Quant, Victoria & Albert Museum review - quantities of Quant

★★★ MARY QUANT, V&A The triumph of commerce over snobbery

The triumph of commerce over snobbery

Mary Quant first made her name in 1955 with the wildly fashionable King’s Road boutique Bazaar. Initially selling a “bouillabaisse” of stock it was not until a pair of pyjamas she made was bought by an American who said he’d copy and mass produce them that Quant began dedicating herself to her own designs. Fittingly then, the V&A’s exhibition is not so much about the clothes as the attitude  commerce topped Quant’s priorities, fashion was the means.