LIVERPOOL EXHIBITION
Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots
Tate Liverpool
Albert Dock
Until October 18

This journey through US artist Jackson Pollock’s career ranges from his drip paintings of 1947–49 to the the black pourings of 1951–53. Exhibiting works from the peak of the artist’s fame alongside his lesser known work, the exhibition aims to offer viewers the opportunity of a new perspective on an artist whose espousal of abstract expressionism — in opposition to socialist realism —was a key cultural component of US ideological warfare during the cold war.

tate.org.uk

LONDON THEATRE
Operation Crucible
Finborough Road, SW10
July 28 - August 22

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Sheffield blitz, Kieran Knowles’s Operation Crucible tells the story of ordinary men in extraordinary times. On December 12 1940, more than 600 people lost their lives in over seven hours of continuous bombing by Germany’s Luftwaffe with the objective of wiping Sheffield’s world-famous steel works off the map. The ruthless attack left Sheffield in ruins — destroying families, shattering a way of life and changing the city forever — and the play follows the gripping story of four men trapped in the cellar of a hotel destroyed as the bombs fall.
finboroughtheatre.co.uk

MALMESBURY MUSIC
WOMAD
Charlton Park
25-26 July

The major world music festival returns with, as you’d expect, a dazzling array of just about every conceivable global music genre. Headliners Include De La Soul, Tinariwen, Ghostpoet, Bellowhead and Laura Mvula, to name a few, and there’s also Atomic Bomb! the fluid supergroup that revives and celebrates the music of reclusive 1970s Nigerian synth pioneer William Onyeabor. Also on a massive bill is veteran Colombian singer Toto La Momposina and, closer to home, the three silken-voiced sisters from Hertfordshire, The Staves.
womad.co.uk

SIDMOUTH MUSIC
Kirsty Bromley
Sidmouth Festival
The Ham Marquee
August 5

“A proper folk-singer of the highest calibre, totally unpretentious, completely in love with what she’s doing and she totally ‘gets it!’” one critic has raved about Kirsty Bromley. She launches her new album Time Ashore — soon to be reviewed in the Morning Star — at the Sidmouth Folk Week and she’s well worth checking out. Campbell has made her name through her crystal-clear delivery of traditional English folk song, with a maturity in her vocal delivery which belies her age.
www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk