“It's death to be understood,” declares Galactia, the 16th century artist-heroine of Scenes from an Execution. But the fact remains that this 1986 play is one of Howard Barker's most accessible and stringently witty works - a searching study of the fraught relationship between artist, patron, critic and political culture. 

“I’m sick of playing people who have been hit by spades”, laments Marek Larwood in his debut solo show. It’s not clear whether he is offering this slapstick stereotyping as a reason for his permanently startled expression, but there’s little doubt that the 36-year-old has a face for comedy.

TV pick of the week

Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch has launched a verbal tirade against Downton Abbey calling its second series "fucking atrocious".

America's love affair with British television drama continues to flourish after a host of UK talent received Emmy nominations, with Downton Abbey leading the charge.

American viewers couldn't get enough of the class snobbery and grandeur of Downton Abbey. But will the misery of the East End's post-war slums prove quite as appealing when Call The Midwife becomes the latest British drama to cross the Atlantic?

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and can't wait for...

A David Cronenberg film about Jung (Michael Fassbender), Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and the strictly therapeutic S&M they have with a troubled young protégée (Keira Knightley) sounds like it should be, well, dangerous.

No heroine of Victorian literature is safe. A steamed-up version of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece is going to be published in August, under the title Jane Eyre Laid Bare.

This official soundtrack to the recent festivities has an unashamedly populist slant, David Parry and the LPO presenting what are effectively a succession of musical figureheads commensurate with the celebration of a national figurehead.

Lights, camera ... action? With Entertainment One, the co-owner of kids' favourite cartoon porcine Peppa Pig, on the search for acquisitions, The King's Speech-backer Alliance Films has long been rumoured to be in its sights. Yesterday, with the sale process of the Canadian firm looking set to be completed in a matter of weeks, City scribblers were claiming that – win or lose – punters would be switching onto the media firm.

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

Stephen Hendry hit the front in his long-awaited first Crucible meeting with his fellow Scot John Higgins in Sheffield.

Blackthorn (102 mins, 15)