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FRIDAY 8th October – SUNDAY 10th October 2021

A tense way to kick off the weekend
Jake Gyllenhaal is a cop working as a 911 call response officer because of some mysterious event that took him off the streets. He’s fed up, stressed, bored and doesn’t like it. But then comes a call like none of the other timewasters: a woman in distress, kidnapped and scared. Suddenly Gyllenhaal’s character, Joe Baylor, is the only person who can help and he’s got to do it all through phone calls.

A remake of the 2018 Danish movie of the same name, Antoine Fuqua’s adaptation of The Guilty is a suspenseful and exhilarating watch that all takes place in one location – plus, listen out for a major cast of voice actors: Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Eli Goree, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Paul Dano, and Peter Sarsgaard. Streaming on Netflix now, we recommend watching this one at night with all phones switched off.

Watch The Guilty on Netflix now. 

Swamp life
After all that’s happened recently, we’re all very familiar with the feeling of stagnation. For their new exhibition at London’s Guts Gallery, Saudi Arabia-born, London-based artist Shadi Al-Atallah dives further into this notion via their time spent living and painting in Bahrain, unable to leave due to restrictions – Shadi has since returned to the UK with this accomplished body of work to share. Appropriately titled, I Lost the Title on the Plane, imagery of swamps play a vital role: “the perfect parallel to feeling stagnant, like still water and wet soil.” Emerge from your swamp for this excellent exhibition.

Shadi Al-Atallah: I Lost the Title on the Plane is currently running at Guts Gallery until 14th October. 

A return to form
Larry Kramer’s play, The Normal Heart, is in major revival at the National Theatre after its groundbreaking debut in 1986 – returning to London to mark 35 years since its UK premiere. The work tells the story of fictional New York native Ned Weeks, played by Ben Daniels (semi-autobiographical), a writer/activist who founds an AIDS advocacy group to fight the epidemic that plagued the 80s, raising awareness of the illness and the prejudice that came with it. This important piece of recent historical theatre comes full circle in an emotional, modern portrayal that hits just as hard.

The Normal Heart runs at the National Theatre until 6th November, more info here.

Pizza you can sleep on
Great news: Big Mamma, the team behind London hits Gloria and Circolo Popolare have opened their third London location. Situated in the heart of Covent Garden, Ave Mario offers a huge, maximalist take on the group’s other two restaurants. Seating around 300 guests, with two terraces and an inner courtyard, step through the doors and be transported directly to Florence: the beautiful Italian city is the inspiration behind the decor, right down to those stripey walls inspired by the Duomo. (We recommend heading downstairs to the 70s-inspired, mirrored basement room seemingly pulled directly out of Studio 54.)

As for the food, it’s pure Italian joy: we’re talking pasta, Italian caviar, gelato and, of course, pizza, created using a special ‘biga’ technique that promises “the pillowiest pizza dough you have ever eaten.” And how’s this for authenticity, all ingredients are carefully sourced from 180 Italian family-run suppliers [chef’s kiss].

Ave Mario is located at 15 Henrietta St, WC2E 8QG