The SheerLuxe Culture List: November

In this spin-off of the South Korean hit drama, 456 real players will enter a real-life Squid Game competition to win a life-changing reward of $4.56m. As they navigate a series of games inspired by the original series – plus some surprising new additions – their strategies, alliances and characters will be put to the test while rivals are eliminated around them.

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Anna and Ryan have found true love, and it's been confirmed by a controversial new technology. There's just one problem: Anna still isn't sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir. Fingernails stars Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson.

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The sixth and final season of The Crown will air in November. Inching ever closer to the present day, the series will take viewers to Scotland in the early 2000s. Prince William (Ed McVey) has started university at St Andrews, where he hopes to lead as normal a life as possible before taking up his royal responsibilities. Little does he know that his future will be determined on campus when he meets fellow student Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy).

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Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the launch of Robbie Williams’s solo career, this is the definitive four-part documentary series on the most successful UK solo artist of all time. Drawing from hundreds of hours of intimate, never-before-seen personal archive spanning 30 years – as well as exclusive access to Williams – this series is the first to explore the human being behind the sometimes salacious headlines.

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The Buccaneers is an eight-episode drama inspired by Pulitzer-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel of the same name. The music-driven series depicts 19th-century English aristocratic life against a modern soundtrack produced by Stella Mozgawa (of the band Warpaint) – it’s packed with songs from top female performers including Taylor Swift, Boygenius, Maggie Rogers, Bikini Kill, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Angel Olsen. The series follows a group of fun-loving young American girls as they explode into a tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash as the land of the stiff upper lip is infiltrated by a disregard for centuries of tradition. Sent to secure husbands and titles, the Buccaneers’ hearts are set on much more than that – and saying ‘I do’ is just the beginning.

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A true story of tenacity, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit, NYAD recounts a riveting chapter in the life of world-class athlete Diana Nyad. Three decades after giving up marathon swimming in exchange for a prominent career as a sports journalist, at the age of 60, Diana (Annette Bening) becomes obsessed with completing the epic swim that always eluded her: the 110-mile crossing from Cuba to Florida, often referred to as the ‘Mount Everest of swims’. Determined to become the first person to finish the swim without a shark cage, Diana goes on a thrilling, four-year journey with her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) and a dedicated sailing team.

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The latest film by Todd Haynes (Carol) is critically acclaimed Cannes Film Festival highlight May December, which follows married couple Gracie and Joe Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore and Charles Melton) whose 23-year age gap defined a notorious tabloid romance that gripped the US two decades ago. Cut to modern day and their marriage comes under renewed strain when Hollywood actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) comes to spend time with the family to better understand Gracie, who she will be playing in a film about the scandal. 

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For the past year, Sandra, a German writer, her French husband Samuel, and their 11-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he committed suicide or was killed. Samuel's death is treated as suspicious, presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. Little by little the trial becomes not just an investigation of the circumstances of Samuel's death, but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel's conflicted relationship. Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, this is one we’ll definitely be seeing at the cinema.

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Held is the newest novel from the author of the international bestsellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault. It’s 1917 and, on a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls: a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. By 1920, John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and reignite as the century unfolds.

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From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love, this is a sharply funny and super relatable story of heartbreak and friendship – and how to survive both. Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy – and he can't work out why she stopped. Now he is without a home, waiting for his stand-up career to take off and wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking. Heartbroken at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, flat-sharing and friendship has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story.

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Barbra Streisand is a living legend, a woman who has excelled in every area of entertainment across a career spanning six decades. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) and has one of the most recognisable voices in popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and became the first woman to write, produce, direct and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story of her extraordinary life, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl and beyond.

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The end of the month sees the world premiere of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which brings the world of the Netflix phenomenon to life on stage. While the show opens at the Phoenix Theatre on 14th December, previews will begin on 17th November. In Hawkins in 1959, young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach. Brought to life by an award-winning creative team, who take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension, this gripping new adventure will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may hold the key to the end.

Visit ThePhoenixTheatre.co.uk

There’s a new big-name musical in the capital. The Witches is a fresh musical version of Roald Dahl’s timeless tale, filled with wit, daring and heart. With lyrics by Olivier-winner Lucy Kirkwood, music and lyrics by Tony-nominee Dave Malloy, and directed by Lyndsey Turner, this is a show that will delight children and those who grew up loving the book alike. Witches are the most dangerous creatures on earth – and now they’ve come up with their most evil plan yet. The only thing standing in their way is Luke and his gran. But he’s ten and she’s got a dodgy heart. Time is short, danger is everywhere, and the pair have got just one chance to stop the witches from removing every child in England.

Visit NationalTheatre.org.uk

This month, the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize returns to the National Portrait Gallery after three years, following the museum’s huge renovation. Showcasing talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals, the competition celebrates a diverse range of images and tells the fascinating stories behind the creation of the works. In addition to first, second and third prizes, the National Portrait Gallery has also launched a new £8,000 commission, while this year’s In Focus display will feature work by Moroccan-British artist Hassan Hajjaj.

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