From The Instigators to Bludfest: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment

Going out: Cinema

The Instigators
Out now
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck return to their Boston roots for this heist comedy, in which two ne’er-do-wells spot an opportunity to score big bucks by targeting a corrupt politician. When – inevitably – it all goes south, their therapist (Hong Chau) finds herself mixed up in the getaway.

Borderlands
Out now
Director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) has assembled a real crack squad for this big-screen take on the popular video game, with Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis reporting for duty as a rag-tag gang of misfits teaming up for some high-octane, space-based adventure.

Sky Peals
Out now
Ever felt you don’t fit in? This slow-burn debut drama from Moin Hussain explores the life of a thirtysomething night shift worker whose sense of displacement could stem from his mundane life … or does his late father’s belief that he hailed from another planet have something to do with it?

Caligula
Out now
They don’t make ’em like this any more … except when they do. This new version of the 1979 Roman romp starring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren goes back to the rushes to cut together something closer to what was originally intended when film-makers first set out to create a decadent vision of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Catherine Bray

Going out: Gigs

Bludfest
Milton Keynes Bowl, 11 August
Curated and headlined by Doncaster’s finest, Dominic Harrison, AKA Yungblud, this one-day fest is genre-diverse. So alongside his occasionally cartoonish goth-pop you can see proggy US rapper Lil Yachty, bare-chested punkers Soft Play and scrappy soul singer Lola Young. Michael Cragg

Noah Kahan
13 to 22 August, tour starts Manchester
Originally teased in 2020, US singer-songwriter Kahan’s country-folk single Stick Season made a small dent before disappearing. After going viral on TikTok in 2022, however, it eventually peaked in the US Top 10, and topped the charts here. This UK arena tour caps Kahan’s fairly ludicrous past few years. MC

Oddgeir Berg Trio
Watermill Jazz, Dorking, 13 August; Fleece Jazz, Colchester, 14 August
In some moods, the skilful Oslo-based trio led by Norwegian pianist Oddgeir Berg reflects the meditative keyboard music of his famous compatriot Tord Gustavsen, and in others the hard-rocking drama of the late Esbjörn Svensson. Berg is moving deeper into these absorbing new fusions with this fast-rising outfit. John Fordham

Oedipus Rex
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 12 to 19 August
Scottish Opera presents Stravinsky’s majestic opera-oratorio as an immersive staging directed by Roxana Haines, with a 100-strong community chorus and the audience promenading through the museum. Andrew Clements

Going out: Art

An Irish Impressionist
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh to 27 October
Belfast-born painter Sir John Lavery is reclaimed from his career as a late Victorian and Edwardian society portraitist. He was, as this exhibition touring from Dublin’s National Gallery of Ireland shows, far more vital: a dashing, even experimental painter of landscapes and beach scenes inspired by expressionism.

Mark Rothko: The Seagram Murals
Tate St Ives, to 5 January
These bloody portals to nothingness are among the greatest masterpieces of modern art. It’s hard to believe Rothko’s red, black and purple paintings were originally intended to decorate a restaurant, for they speak to the soul, not the body. Inspired by Pompeii and Michelangelo, here are paintings for the ages.

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies
British Museum, London, to 18 August
This is a rare display of a beautiful work made in China between the fifth and sixth centuries AD to chastise an empress. It’s a handscroll that was designed to be held and slowly unrolled, revealing a series of instructive scenes, replete with characterful portraits, everyday detail and dreamy landscapes.

Naomi Rincón-Gallardo
Hayward Gallery, London, to 1 September
This film in the Hayward’s project space features a cast of “vermin” including a bat, scorpion, snake and frogs. All these creatures feature in the myths of ancient Mexican cultures. They’ve returned now to communicate with dead souls by radio and explain how the legacy of colonialism shapes today’s world. Jonathan Jones

Going out: Stage

Harriet Kemsley
Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, to 12 August; touring 12 September to 16 November
The sarcasm drips off Kent-born Kemsley’s new show title: Everything Always Works Out for Me, a riff on the messy millennial comic’s recent divorce. Rachel Aroesti

Shifters
Duke of York’s theatre, London, 12 August to 12 October
Benedict Lombe’s romantic odyssey sold out at the Bush theatre earlier this year. Now it gets a bigger stage to revive this looping, smouldering story of first love. Heather Agyepong and Tosin Cole reprise their roles as lovers and dreamers. Kate Wyver

Hamlet
The Lyceum, Edinburgh, 15 to 17 August
Performed by a team of actors with Down’s syndrome, this retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy centres the importance of community. Weaving the text with the performers’ stories, the Peruvian production is sure to be a highlight of the Edinburgh festival. KW

Scottish Dance Theatre
Zoo Southside, Edinburgh, 13 to 25 August; touring 3 to 28 September
A double bill from the Dundee troupe. In Moving Cloud the choreography of Sofia Nappi from Italy meets a soundtrack of Scottish folk, while Roser López Espinosa’s The Flock is inspired by the migration of birds. Lyndsey Winship