arts and entertainment

There’s a busy programme at the Rio over the next few weeks. The main features include Young Adam beginning on 26 September and running for two weeks. Based on a cult novel by Scottish/Italian bohemian junkie Alexander Trocchi, the film stars Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swanton against the backdrop of gritty 1950s Glasgow. Kill Bill Volume 1 begins a two-week run on 17 October. Starring Uma Thurman and David Carradine, and directed by Quentin Tarantino, the film is a homage to the Chinese martial arts films of the 1970s and is designed to be shown in two parts. Described by Empire magazine as ‘bigger balls than Rainbow Dogs’ (whatever that means).

The Rio rep programme has Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines on 27 September (1.45 and 11.15). The hunt for John Connor continues with Claire Danes as T-X, a female terminatrix clashing with Schwarzennegger’s technically inferior T101 model. Great action sequences. The pace slows down on Sunday 27, with Etre and Avoir at 2.15 and The Clay Bird – a subtitled, topical movie about growing up in an East Pakistan village – on at 4.15. Black History Month opens at the cinema on 4 October (1.45) with the captivating, nostalgic and musically brilliant movie Standing in the Shadows of Motown, the reunification of the legendary Motown house band. ‘Heard it through the Grapevine’, ‘Baby Love’… unmissable for all devotees of the finest record label of the 20th century. The Black History season continues on 18 October with Marcus Garvey : Look for me in the Whirlwind (1.30), a profile of America’s original nationalist black leader. Other rep offerings include on 5 October Goodbye Lenin ( 2.15) and Buffalo Soldiers (4.30), the former being a quirky tale concerning a family in East Berlin as the Wall tumbles down, the latter a black comedy about US GIs stationed in West Germany. As well as all this, there is the 11th London Turkish Film Festival, running feature films, documentaries and shorts betwen 10-16 October. Something of a treasure, the Rio. Contact the Rio on 020 7241 9410 or www.riocinema.org.uk .

Between 1 and 18 October (no Sundays) at 8pm the Arcola Theatre presents Didn’t Die, a dark comedy by Annie Caulfield about the relationship between three women. An hilarious and bizarre evening with a theatrical genius is on 5 October (8pm) with a production for one night only of Ken Campbell’s History of Comedy – ‘sidesplittingly funny’ (Time Out). In A Special Relationship (20-25 October, 8pm) a black Death Row prisoner encounters a white British woman. Between 28 October and 22 November, the theatre presents Americans, a powerful play about the assassination of President William McKinley (8pm, no Sundays). For more information phone 020 7503 1646 or www.arcolatheatre.com .

At the Geffrye Museum until January 2004 there is an exhibition of paintings from the UK and abroad under the title Home and Garden: Domestic spaces in paintings from 1730 to 1914, On 2 November there is an afternoon of Music from Georgian England, a concert of Handel, Bach etc. For the kids there is a variety of events, including Half-Term workshops from 27 to 31 October and a celebration of Black History Month on 21 October. Phone 020 7739 9893 or contact www.geffryemuseum.org for more details.

The 250-seater Hackney Empire Bullion Room offers a range of drama, music and comedy in October and November. The performances include The Taming of the Sista (19 October, 7pm) a black contemporary theatre reworking of The Taming of the Shrew and comedian Tony Hendricks’’Brixton Road Portraits (30 October to 2 November, 8.30pm). Keep Coming Back – a story of contemporary Ireland – runs from 20-25 October (8pm). Find out more from 020 8985 2424 or www.hackneyempire.co.uk.