Still making a big noise: A season of Michael Frayn plays is set to reaffirm the brilliance of his work

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

If there is one thing that is certain to be bursting out all over in the early spring, it is the theatrical mastery of Michael Frayn. In March, Sheffield Theatres unveil a mighty Michael Frayn season, masterminded by artistic director, Daniel Evans, and his associate, Paul Miller. In addition to a programme of rehearsed readings, it will consist of major revivals of a trio of key plays from the past three decades – Benefactors (1984), Copenhagen (1998) and Democracy (2003). There can be no better way of assessing how these works throw light on each other than by catching them at this cannily constructed festival where, on certain days, they will be playing across three auditoria.

A graphic look at Jeffrey Dahmer's high-school life

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Dark subject matter in graphic novels is nothing new – but a memoir about a childhood with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is up there with the darkest of them.

Insight: Roy Baumeister, psychologist

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Dr Roy F Baumeister is the co-author of Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength (£20, Allen Lane). Baumeister was described by Freakonomics' Stephen J Dubner an "extraordinarily creative scientist". Willpower, written with The New York Times' John Tierney, is a fascinating introduction to Baumeister (and others') work in analysing how willpower is controlled, both behaviourally and physically, and gives readers an idea how to adjust their behaviour to increase their own self-control. Baumeister is a currently professor of social psychology and the Francis Eppes eminent scholar at Florida State University.

Frank Carson dies aged 85 – after a final one-liner

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Frank Carson, the comedian who became a household name with his catchphrases "It's a cracker," and "It's the way I tell 'em," has died aged 85 after a battle with stomach cancer.

Last Night's Viewing: Bees, Butterflies and Blooms, BBC2My Life: Home Grown Boys, BBC1

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

"I'm on a campaign to wake people up," said Sarah Raven at the beginning of Bees, Butterflies and Blooms. She was on a mission, she explained, to prevent "a quiet catastrophe", namely the declining numbers of bees and pollinators in the ecosystem, a decline that might eventually have a direct impact on our ability to feed ourselves. It all sounded quite serious to me, entirely justifying her use of the word "crisis" at the very top of the programme. And it was at that point that I wondered whether Raven had really chosen the best title for her series. Bees, Butterflies and Blooms sounds like the title of a parish calendar, a bucolically cosy affair that sounds as if decoration is its highest goal. Looking at it in the schedules, you could easily dismiss it as a bit of natural history infill, designed to plug a gap in the mixed planting of the schedule's municipal flowerbed. It should really have been called "Don't You Get It You Fools, All the Bees Are Dying!"

Music awards: Roughing up The Brits

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

More awards As in more categories. The Grammies dole out awards for such things as Best Cajun Duo and Best Hawaiian Guitar Instrumental, reflecting the diversity of American culture and its breadth of musical genres. Our own music industry has, by contrast, reduced its awards to a few core categories, believing this makes them more important. It doesn't. It just makes them more mainstream. Bring back the Thrash Metal Award, the Folk Group Award and the Free Jazz Award.

The Week In Radio: Ships in the night and sharp sounds are sleeper hits

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

If, like me, you have trouble sleeping; if at night your brain starts fidgeting in your skull like a recalcitrant toddler, pin-balling from one deranged thought to the next without a care for the exhausted body that houses it, then the radio is probably your best friend.

Politicians: Sing when you're winning... or not

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Who knew Barack Obama could be a one-man stimulus package for a beleaguered music industry? When the US President belted out a couple of lines of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" at a fundraiser last month, sales of the track soared by almost 500 per cent. Now the blues classic "Sweet Home Chicago" can expect a boost after Obama confirmed his singing chops with an impromptu performance at the White House.

US university sells giant $1m sculpture for only $150

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The University of California, Berkeley may be one of the tightest concentrations of intelligence in the US, but it turns out to be capable of acts of stunning stupidity – as art lovers discovered this week with news that it sold a $1m sculpture by a prominent black artist for $150.

Picture preview: Charline von Heyl, Tate Liverpool

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:05:54 GMT

An exhibition of the work of New York-based artist Charline von Heyl will open at the Tate Liverpool tomorrow.

Critic's View: The Brit Awards, O2 Arena, London

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

There used to be a time when things happened at the Brits. Things not scheduled down to the last second. Unexpected things. Tipsy behaviour. Jokes, even. Occasionally, there was even a surprise amongst the award-winners.

Olympics Hyde Park concert will be just a Blur

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Those with tickets to the 100m final will not be the only ones whose Olympic memories will be a decided Blur. Damon Albarn's London band have been confirmed as headliners for a concert in Hyde Park at which the closing ceremony will be shown on big screens.

Killer Lovers vs Little Monsters: know your pop-fan nicknames

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

When former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger performed a solo show in London last week, possibly even more surprising than her managing to fill the Hammersmith Apollo was the discovery that her fans have their own name: Killer Lovers (a play on the title of her album, Killer Love).

The Scream expected to fetch $80m at auction

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The Scream, one of the most alarming paintings of all time, is expected to fetch more than $80m (£50m) when it goes under the hammer this spring.

Quarto chief to step down

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The founder of Quarto Books, known for its illustrated "how-to" non-fiction guides, yesterday signalled he is ready for a new chapter as he is quitting as chief executive after 36 years.

Chick non-fiction: the NYT's latest genre divide

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

On Sunday, in an otherwise complimentary review of The Obamas, Jodi Kantor's new book about the US President and his wife, historian Douglas Brinkley coined an unfortunate term: "chick non-fiction". Writing in The New York Times, Brinkley invited Kantor's potential readers to "Call it chick non-fiction, if you will; this book is not about politics, it's about marriage..."(He also described Kantor's portrait of the First Lady as "a hug, really".)

Adam Deacon: Streetwise star who knows the score

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

In the week since his Bafta win for Rising Star, Adam Deacon's world has been turned on its head. "The mainstream media didn't want to know before," he says, "but they do now. Everybody does." The win was unexpected. Everybody thought the Bafta would go to one of the more obvious nominees – Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Chris O'Dowd – but instead it went to a Hackney-born 28-year-old best known for his portrayals of vicious hooded urban youth. His victory was greeted wildly by his fans, but with suspicion, he suggests, from everybody else.

You Are Awful (But I Like You), By Tim Moore

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Two things ring very true in Tim Moore's sharp and witty book about "unloved England". The first is his verdict on Leysdown-on-Sea, which he declares to be a mudflat on the Thames Estuary with a static caravan park, reminding him of "an eighteenth-century slave ship". It's a telling observation. I cycled past recently and my chief memory is of a shop tucked between amusement arcades classily labelling itself as "BOOZE AND FAGS".

The twisted sisters who finally got their act together

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The Andrews, the Nolans, the Minogues. Down the decades there have always been singing sisters. Stand-up sisters? Not so much. The comedy double act is a tricky enough dynamic without throwing the tensions of a sisterly relationship into the pot. Nothing daunted, Sarah and Lizzie Daykin have embraced twenty-odd years of sibling rivalry and used it as the foundation for their dark-hearted duo, Toby.

Last night's viewing - Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Channel 4; Prisoners' Wives, BBC1

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

According to its makers, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is an anthropological study of an isolated and traditional group of people, which can only work to improve public attitudes to this misunderstood community. You could see exactly how this operates in last night's episode. According to several of those taking part, Travellers have to struggle against prejudice wherever they go, including the assumption that they are associated with crime and social disorder. "You're painted with that brush, yeah," as one woman put it. So to counter this misapprehension, Channel 4 had focused its film on one man who was actually in prison, another who was waiting to find out whether he'd be sent back to prison on a charge of receiving stolen goods, and a large crowd of men who spent the episode evading the police so they could stage an illegal horse race on a public highway. That should put the bigots right, I would have thought. Anyone anxious that this episode would not feature Thelma Madine and industrial quantities of tulle needn't have worried, though, because in between its valiant attempt to broaden our perception of Traveller life the episode also had time for Chloe's first Communion, in a dress that required her to be compressed into the back of her mum's car like wadding being pushed into the mouth of a cannon.

Niceness rocks! Ballads take centre stage at the Brits

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

For millions of fans, Adele and Ed Sheeran are purveyors of soaring, heartfelt anthems which soundtrack their lives. To their detractors they are leaders of the New Boring, a wave of polite, ballad-friendly artists who have driven rebellion and noisy guitars – traditional tropes of British pop – to the margins.

Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream predicted to fetch £50m-plus at auction

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:28:04 GMT

A version of Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream is to go on display in London in April before being auctioned in New York the following month.

Real Seals on the silver screen

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:59:39 GMT

It sounds like just one more testosterone-fuelled war epic with a storyline of patriotism and courage designed to make a grateful Pentagon beam. But don't look for Tom Cruise or Daniel Craig on the promotional posters because in Act of Valor, which opens in the US on Friday, the actors playing soldiers won't be actors at all.

Real Seals on ther silver screen

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:59:39 GMT

It sounds like just one more testosterone-fuelled war epic with a storyline of patriotism and courage designed to make a grateful Pentagon beam. But don't look for Tom Cruise or Daniel Craig on the promotional posters because in Act of Valor, which opens in the US on Friday, the actors playing soldiers won't be actors at all.

Brit Awards nominees in pictures

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:34:13 GMT

Tonight sees the biggest names in pop go head-to-head in one of the most anticipated nights of the British musical calendar.