We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 6th MARCH – SUNDAY 8th MARCH 2015

Dad’s got a Messiah complex and it runs in the family
James McAvoy is back in town and back on the same London stage where he thrilled as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, this time round he plays the Lead in a revival of Peter Barnes’ The Ruling Class.

First premiered in 1969, The Ruling Class centres on McAvoy’s character, Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney. Following the death of his father Gurney, a paranoid schizophrenic with a Messiah complex, inherits his family title and land, although if it was up to his nasty, surly relatives he wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near either.

It’s a guaranteed laugh from start to finish: satirical, witty and silly. To say that Gurney has a few screws loose upstairs would be an understatement, believing that he is God incarnate is just the start of it, whether he’s breaking into an impromptu performance of Dem Bones, or coo-coo-ing in an attempt to woo the woman of his dreams – a figment of his imagination made real by an obliging former stripper – all eyes are on him (and rightly so).

“How do you know you are God?” Gurney is asked. “Simple,” he replies. “When I pray to Him, I find I am talking to myself.”

The Ruling Class runs until 11th April at Trafalgar Studios, SW1A 2DY
Tickets from here

All killer, no filler
The guys over at the Shacklewell Arms have excelled themselves. Label Mates is a series of gigs celebrating nine brilliant independent labels: Bad Vibrations, Fuzz Club Records and Heavenly Recordings, among others. This week it’s kicking off with California’s much-loved Burger Records, who have curated a killer line up consisting of Froth, Eating Out and Mozes & The Firstborn.

Bringing the sunniest of Cali vibes to London (in attitude, not weather – unfortunately) headliners Froth are a must see, a live riot act with the follow through to match, having soundtracked Saint Laurent’s FW14 show. Signed, sealed, sure to deliver. 

Label Mates III 2015 runs from today, Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March at The Shacklewell Arms, 71 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2EB
Further info and tickets are here

A girl, a gun and a 3D curveball
The Rio is this weekend bringing you your chance to tick two films off your motion picture bucket list, and two of Godard’s finest cinematic moments at that.

“To make a film all you need is a girl and a gun”, so goes the oft-quoted Jean-luc Godard quote. À bout de souffle (Breathless) pays hefty testament to that statement, starring one of Godard’s iconic leading ladies, Jean Seberg, plus a series of gritty shootouts. The film’s antihero, the swaggering, misogynistic petty criminal Michel (Jean Paul Belmondo), steals a car and kills a policeman on the road to Paris, where he mets up with his old girlfriend Patricia (Seberg). Staying in a seedy hotel they talk of life and literature, make love and watch movies while he chases down criminal associates for cash owed.

In contrast Godard’s latest offering Goodbye to Language see’s him expand his horizons, throwing a curveball in the mix and delving into the world of 3D cinema. The only film to rouse a round of applause mid-screening at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prix du Jury.

The concept is simple: a stray dog (expertly played by Godard’s own dog Roxy, in fact) wanders from town to country, and over the course of the film observes a married woman and a single man as they meet, love, argue and fight. However, as is the norm with Godard, the surface belies a much richer meaning. 

The Godard double bill shows Sunday 8th March (Breathless at 2:45pm and Goodbye to Language at 4:30pm) at Rio Cinema, 107 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2PB

We are the mods, we are the mods…
Don your favourite Fred Perry, shine your Gibsons, kickstart the vespa and relive (in spirit) the days when sprung floors were jumping and feet were spinning because Wigan Casino is coming to East London for one night only.

If you missed your chance to see Elaine Constantine’s 2014 film Northern Soul you can thank Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club for gifting you a second chance. Following their screening of the feature tonight there’ll be a chance to meet its cast, trade records at the swap shop and witness some mega Bruce Lee-esque high kicks. Northern soul, hip hop, R&B, disco and funk under the one roof? Put on your boogie shoes already.

Nightspot Cinema presents Northern Soul tonight, Friday 6th March at the Bethnal Working Men’s Club, 42 Pollard Row, E2 6NB. Doors open at 8pm, screening starts on the dot at 9pm and after party from 10pm. Get your tickets here

Going Underground
Deep beneath the streets of Soho sits a sweet new find titled Cahoots. The underground venue, previously used as an air raid shelter during the second world war has been converted into a 1940s themed bar complete with an entire retro tube carriage, bunk beds, sandbags and spam fritters.

Keep calm and try a Dig for Victory cocktail made from victory garden essentials such as beetroot, potato and ration book staples powdered milk, OXO cubes and treacle. At an impressive eight pages long the cocktail menu is full of unusual spins on old classics.

The bar-slash-museum is authentic to the max, full of vintage posters and disused tube signs. Staff come period dressed – complete with practised accents – each with their own backstory. A+ for effort.

And here’s a secret tip for you,make your way to the back of the menu and read the envelope titled ‘Do Not Open.’ Inside you’ll find the bar’s black market specials, served at your table from a disguised cocktail trolley. Nice.

Cahoots, 13 Kingly Court, London, W1B 5PW

TOP GALLERY IMAGE CREDITS:
1. ‘The Ruling Class’ 2015. Photo Johan Persson
2. Still, ‘Breathless’ © Les Films Impéria 1960
3. Still, ‘Breathless’ © Les Films Impéria 1960
4. Still ‘Goodbye to Language’ © Studio+ 2014
5. Froth, photographed by Hedi Slimane
6. Still, ‘Northern Soul’ © Baby Cow Productions 2014
7. Still, ‘Northern Soul’ © Baby Cow Productions 2014
8. Image © Cahoots 2015
9. Image © Cahoots 2015