'I've talked with the King about who wrote Shakespeare's plays'

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( July 01, 2023 [View in browser](   I can’t remember the last time so many exciting things were opening all at once. There’s the five-star [Paul McCartney photography show at the revamped National Portrait Gallery](. The shiny, [newly transformed Young V&A museum](. The deliriously entertaining [Accidental Death of an Anarchist in the West End](. The explosive [untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play at the Manchester International Festival](. The boundary-pushing [Broadway hit]([A Strange Loop](. And there are still so many summer delights to come, from blockbusters like Barbie, Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible 7 to [Mark Rylance](’s return to the stage. Prepare to be very, very busy (and highly cultured). A self-portrait by Macca at the height of Beatlemania, shown in the National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition (Paul McCartney/National Portrait Gallery) As well as delivering our verdicts on all of those brilliant and exciting things, this week we had a [fantastic interview with The Wire star Wendell Pierce, who told Andrew Pettie]( he hopes his next act will be to start a family. There was some very important journalism from Isobel Lewis, who wrote a wonderfully entertaining [oral history of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging](, to mark 15 years since the film adaptation was released. And as the sad [death of Julian Sands was confirmed](, five months after the actor went missing in the Californian mountains, Geoffrey Macnab [looked back on the making of the film that made his name,]([A Room With A View](. Also this week: Idris Elba [admitted that the discourse around race put him off playing James Bond](, and Claire Allfree [argues in our State of the Arts column](that 007 has become a poisoned chalice for Daniel Craig’s successor due to our highly politicised times. And get well soon, Madge – Helen Brown has [written a gorgeous love letter to the queen of pop](, following the news that [Madonna was hospitalised earlier this week](, causing her tour to be delayed. Jessie [@jessiecath](   What to do this weekend Books | [Carrie Fisher: Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller]( The late Carrie Fisher's final film, Wonderwell, finally got a release in the US this month (a digital UK release is apparently soon to be announced). Anyway, apparently it's a total dud – Rita Ora is one of the stars – so a better way to remember the irreplaceable legend might be to read Sheila Weller's biography, which captures what a complex, funny and compassionate person she was. Then watch Bright Lights, the documentary about Fisher and mother Debbie Reynolds, in what turned out to be the last year of their life, and have a cry. Jessie Thompson | Arts editor [@jessiecath](   Theatre | [Accidental Death of an Anarchist]( Tom Basden's sharp adaptation of Dario Fo's classic farce [is one of the best things I've seen in the West End for ages.]( Daniel Rigby proves why he's one of the most underrated stars in comedy with a bombastic performance that's so magnificently big, you'll need a lie down afterwards. It takes aim at the Met Police, throwing barbs among the laughs. Jessie Thompson | Arts editor [@jessiecath](   Film | [Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]( Harrison Ford is in [typically redoubtable form in his fifth and final Indiana Jones film, titled The Dial of Destiny, but it is otherwise sprawling and very uneven](. It starts promisingly with an action sequence toward the end of the Second World War in which somehow, using the magic of CGI, Indiana is shown as a youngish man tussling with the Nazis. But, soon after, the film wavers. It pulls in too many different directions at once. On the one hand, this is an exercise in affectionate nostalgia. On the other, like its predecessors, it’s an old-fashioned matinee adventure in which characterisation is deliberately broad. Certain episodes are knowing and ironic, while others seem painfully naive. Geoffrey Macnab | Film critic   TV | [Run Rabbit Run]( Missing the Roys? Sarah Snook stars in this new Netflix thriller, but our critic Clarisse Loughrey says the film "[ticks off tropes as if it were conducting some sort of paranormal safety check](". One for Shiv superfans only then, perhaps. Jessie Thompson | Arts editor [@jessiecath](   Theatre | [A Strange Loop]( “Winner of every best musical award on Broadway,” scream the posters for A Strange Loop, so you might expect a musical aimed at the masses. [But Michael R Jackson’s critically acclaimed production is not a show you can second guess](. On the one hand, this is a “big, Black and queer-ass American Broadway show” as proclaimed in the opening number, all sparkling lights, jazz hands and a set reminiscent of Chicago’s sultry murder anthem “Cell Block Tango” (designed by Arnulfo Maldonado). On the other, it is both structurally and thematically knotty, exploring race dynamics, gay culture and class struggle, while also combining a sick humour with moments of poignancy. None of this is without design: A Strange Loop doesn’t give the audience an easy ride. There are periods when the show’s style threatens to drown out the story, but its emotional impact cannot be overstated. Isobel Lewis | Culture reporter [@izlew](     [The Saturday Interview – Mark Rylance]( [Oscars image]( Mark Rylance returns to the West End with his play 'Dr Semmelweis' (Getty) Mark Rylance is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, but he's also a deeply fascinating person, too. As he prepares to return to the West End with his play Dr Semmelweis, [Rylance sat down with Chris Harvey to talk about everything from theatre to method acting](, his conversations with the King about Shakespeare's plays, and what he made of working with Jeremy Strong. Rylance in 'Dr Semmelweis' (Geraint Lewis) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… The Oxford academic Jonathan Bate has said that the future King Charles once wrote to him for help with arguments to defeat his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, in dinner table discussions about the authorship question. The late Duke is believed to have thought Shakespeare was a front for the work of diplomat Sir Henry Neville. Would Rylance like to get stuck into debate with the new king about it over dinner? “I have talked about it with him,” he says. Did they agree to disagree? “No, he’s not that kind of person when you discuss things. He just listens and asks very good questions. He’s very, very discreet about his own personal views. I’ve heard that he and his father would talk about that, but the king has never mentioned that to me. You never feel he’s secretive, but you feel he’s properly discreet… “When I’ve spoken about Shakespeare with the King, we have spoken about the themes of kingship,” he adds. “We spoke about Henry Five. I did have a friend of mine who’s a Baconian come with me once, and we were talking about landscape and the Baconian thing [the idea that Francis Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare] but he didn’t try and argue it. It’s always his way.” The King occasionally expresses opinions obliquely, Rylance suggests. “Sometimes, maybe he’ll say, ‘don’t you find…?’ [Read the full interview here](   Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Sloane Crosley I love [Sloane Crosley]('s essay collection I Was Told There'd Be Cake, and her latest novel, about a woman who keeps running into her exes, continues her unique brand of millennial life chaos in New York. It's now out in paperback, ready to pass around your pals between cocktails and sun loungers. A book I recently read and loved is… Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt. It’s hard not to fall back on flap-copy clichés with this one but it’s brimming with insight and humanity, always feeling without veering into sentimentality. It’s also wonderfully British to an American ear. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be… I am going to select from the dead so as not to insult the living: Nora Ephron, Saul Bellow and Joseph Mitchell. Not finishing books: my stance is… I saw a quote recently (which comes from Aubrey de Grey but I admit I had to look that up; it’s been co-opted by Instagram) and it works nicely for bum manuscripts: Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it. My writing routine is… Does “fear” qualify as a routine? I fear being hackneyed or unfunny or untrue or lazy or disconnected and that fear makes me get up early (sometimes no one’s definition of early but mine) to write and write until I need a sandwich. 'Cult Classic' by Sloane Crosley is published in paperback by Bloomsbury, out now Enjoy a year of unlimited digital access for just £99 £20 ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   [INDYBEST]( / [BEST BUYS]( [12 best changing robe for camping, outdoor watersports and beach days]( These [insulated, waterproof coats]( keep you warm and dry (and bang on trend). 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