ARTS & CULTURE
Originally published on Friday, 05 September 2008
Highlighting the best of London's cultural life in the month ahead, David Waters discovers artistic gold in the dank undergrowth...
Can't get through September without...
... the dizzy splash of Pop Art. David Spiller's cartoony paintings of Disney-inspired characters combined with words from favourite pop songs make for an easy art hit. An antidote to September's dismal grey skies, they take you straight back to your 8-year-old self.
At Beaux Arts, 22 Cork Street, W1 from 2nd September.
... getting a sore bum watching a nine-hour performance. Cult theatre director Robert Lepage's world premiere of Lypsynch melds voices from Vienna, Nicaragua and London over a 70-year period. Sounds like theatrical teeth pulling, but the time will more likely fly as Lepage's work is about as engaging and visceral as live theatre can be. 8th-14th
September at the Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, EC2 (from 1pm)
...drooling over Josh Hartnett in Rain Man. The slit-eyed, tousled haired hunk plays Charlie Babbitt, the Tom Cruise character from the 1988 film, in his West End debut alongside stage regular, Adam Godley. Try and concentrate on the story, though, as the self-centred car dealer exploits his autistic brother to help him save his business.
Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1, till December 20th.
...laughing yourself stupid. American writer David Sedaris reads from his latest book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, turning his dysfunctional family, drug use and the absurdities of all our lives into laugh-out-loud page-turners. Cheaper than therapy for the chronically depressed.
One night only, 10th September Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gorton Street, WC1 
...asking your bank manager for a major loan. Damien Hirst's latest works, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, go under the hammer. Can the contemporary art market defy the gloomy economic forecasts? Can being pre-occupied with death still be such a winner for art's Prince of Darkness? Does any of this really matter? Check out the auction room action and decide. For the excessively flushed, estimated prices are from £60k to £12 million.
Sotheby's, 34-35 New Bond Street, W1 on 16th September (exhibition 5th - 15th September). 
...being entertained for free. Scirocco Studios is an exhibition of new works inspired by the launch of the latest VW Scirocco car. Designers such as Hudson-Powell and Ben Wilson, film maker Kinga Burza, light designer Moritz Waldermeyer and furniture maker Philippe Malouin fluff their creative meat for your titillation. Check out Scirocco Studios and you might even win one of these mouth-watering objects too.
Scirocco Studios, Lowndes Court, off Carnaby Street, W1 2nd - 6th September.
