I wanted to be a comedian or actor from as far back as i can remember When I was 21, I started putting my name down for open-mic nights and kept on bottling it. All I wanted to do was try it once because I didn't want to die without having done stand-up. Obviously, now I've died loads of times.

How do you make a 100-metre dash work on a small stage? With some difficulty – but this timely production is racing towards bigger things

There are few big contenders for the Palme d'Or in this mediocre year

Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles

Kidman sparkles and Efron comes of age, but they can't save this jumpy crime drama

Kara Hayward is the latest in a line of child actresses who have brains as well as talent. The 13-year-old star of Cannes opening-night film Moonrise Kingdom has been a member of Mensa since the age of nine. Some of the Massachusetts native's artwork and poems have been published. So she looks odds-on to join the club of brainy actresses who, having taken Hollywood by storm, decide to take a career sabbatical to study. 

If you're heading down Mexico way, Mel, make sure you've got a return ticket

Homeland: so well-made, well-acted, but in the end, at the mercy of the unsubtlety of its form

Adam Sherwin on a new drama that the Clinton family may wish to avoid

Adolescents are finally putting down their Xboxes in order to get all a-quiver. By John Walsh

No explosive ending, but the fuse is lit for Homeland's second series

Philippe Falardeau, 95mins. Starring: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nelisse

Laura, daughter of top British dramatist Stephen, shows she has a voice all of her own with her debut play. By Alice Jones

I decided to conduct an experiment with the latest episode of Silent Witness – to watch it as if it was a subtitled Danish crime drama.