Flower Power

Orange Tree's Vaclav Havel revival continues with this double bill based on the character Vanek. This semi-autobiographical dissident writer was created by Havel in the dark days of the late 1970s when his writing had been outlawed by the Czechoslovakian government. The character, an absurd, brooding caricature of an activist, was a huge underground hit, borrowed (with permission) by other playwrights who were still acceptable.

This double bill pitches Vanek into two embarrassing situations: visiting friends who have just been abroad in their opulent flat, and popping round to the house of a popular, non-dissident writer following the arrest of a pop singer.

Vanek is an apt satirical vehicle, with a gentle, confused personality that sets him up as the accidental figurehead of dissident protest. A sort of radical Marco Valdo, stumbling between personal and political disasters.

Everyone likes the Fleet Foxes right now. It's hard not to like their breezy Beach Boys-meets-The Sutherland Brothers chamber pop - it's like Monopoly or tea, appealing to everyone from 20 year old economics students to 55 year old ex hippies at the same time.

Tonight the Seattle folk-pop group, whose self-titled début is certainly a contender for album of the year, play the second of two nights at the Empire.

For the first time in a decade, Steve Coogan, the legendary star of cult comedy hit I'm Alan Partridge, is touring the country performing some of the characters that earned him a BAFTA and British Comedy Award.  Expect to see brand new material involving the likes of Saxondale, Patridge, Paul and Pauline Calf and Tony Ferrino. 

His last live show played 200 performances and was seen by 350,000 people so it would be wise to book early as it might  sell out.

Although Iceland's economy seems to be going to rack and ruin, it seems to have had no effect on the constant, and endless stream of amazing indie/pop this country of 30,000 seems to produce like we make bourbons.

Tonight sees one of the latest exports, blonde-haired Icelandic siren Eliza Newman play the Slaughtered Lamb. Making amazingly mesmerizing folk/pop she is like Debbie Harry, Siouxie Sioux and Mick Fleetwood all co-existing in one body.

Straight from the Fringe Festival, Josie Long brings her unique and gentle form of comedy to the Bloomsbury with her new show All the Planet's Wonders.  This will be Long's second show since winning the if.comedy award for 'Best Newcomer' last year and it's another big hit. 

The theme of this show is discovery - all of her discoveries since last year such as the Dutch artist Hieronymous Bosch, the period of Enlightenment, Guardian wall charts and astronomy.  One of the reasons Long has been so popular (she has a hardcore following of female fans in particular) is her quirkiness and lack of conformity.  No shocking politically incorrect jokes, no one-liners or puns; just interesting, unusual, upbeat comedy that, unless you're a miserable grouchbag, will leave you with a big smile on your face.

Sorry to use the personal pronoun, but Thomas Hobbes is my favourite philosopher. It's not just his thoughts on self preservation, society and right living, which are brilliant, coherent, and only have God tacked onto them as a political necessity. It's also the fact that despite being a deep thinker he was a fundamentally happy man who enjoyed eating, drinking and hard cash, and died fat, rich and old.

This brilliant new history play, written by Adriano Shaplin and produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, documents a period in Hobbes' life when he was in deep trouble. His patron the king freshly beheaded by Oliver Cromwell, our man is seriously out of favour. The republican regime is harsh (and boring) and there's talk in the streets of revolution. But will it bring back Charles II and restore bragging rights to our young egghead? Troubled times indeed. Against this background, and while trying to curry favour with exiled kings and passionately religious roundheads all at once, our hero prepares to join intellectual battle with a bunch of dangerously radical young scientists.

The setting, in the majestic Wilton's Music Hall, is very suitable for a play set in the period when Europe began to grow rich, very fast, on good science.

You've gotta love James-Johnson Perkins! He's the artist who's spent his career making cool art out of children's toys. I mean, he's even sponsored by Mega Blok - how cool is that?

Well, this month he's got a major solo show at Exhibit at Golden Lane Estate, and it's a cracker! There's lots of sculptural works, furniture, paintings and a video installation. Hmm nostalgic.

Touring and gigging over the last year with the likes of Late of the Pier, Blood Red Shoes and Hot Club de Paris has developed the Late Greats into an incredibly tight and thrilling live band.

Back by popular demand after nearly two years hiding in outer space, the Borg fly close enough to the surface to blast a lucky crowd of ravers with fine tech house, minimal and electro at a terrifying charity bash that kicks off from 8pm until very, very late.

These rare parties are organised on a strictly guest-list, secretive basis. Register on their site to get details of the secret location and expect a tricked-out venue, stunning visuals and underground DJs so hot, you should not look directly at them.

Classy filth: Resistance is futile!

A unique, joyous fusion of world beat, dance music and chamber pop, Brooklyn's High Places make up for a tendency to flip out at times by being really, really fun at heart.

Sounding like an even more ambient and psychedelic version of  The Postal Service, they are pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face, even with the weather being as relentlessly cruddy as it is.

Rizla appear to know where it's at. At least that's what this line up is saying. Hacienda granddaddy Greg Wilson in the lounge with the Autodisco DJs, and in the house basement it's the unstoppable combination of Derrick Carter, Stuart Patterson and italo research unit Heartbreak spinning records.

It's a tenner on the door, or eight quid in advance - and you don't have to work for Rizla to go - they themselves understand that Rizla's are an integral part of some/most peoples lives.

Gosh he's a busy boy right now, that Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Not content with a solo show at Haunch of Venison and a major installation at the Barbican Curve, the artist is also doing a load of stuff at the ICA and in Trafalgar Square for a week this November.

So what exactly is he up to? Well, on 15th November there's an afternoon of video and film imagery that has inspired Lozano-Hemmer. But you have to pay for this, so we're recommending the free stuff. First up is Under Scan, a big light/video installation in Trafalgar Square.

Then there's also a retrospective exhibition at the ICA (free now too, of course). A host of monitors and projectors and things are showing works from the past ten years.

Major.

The 99 Club was founded by a group of comedians who wanted somewhere they'd always be excited to perform at: a club which was consistently packed out, friendly, fun and always full of bizarre and very funny stuff. This is a club created by comedians with an eye for detail and quality control.

Judging by the plaudits they've picked up, the 99 is as enjoyable for punters as it is for the founders. They've been recommended in Time out, The Guardian, the Standard, the Metro and even the Daily Mirror.

The fast-growing 99 Club now extends to BRB at The Arc and this new night certainly hasn't compromised on quality line-ups. Entry is expensive compared to some of their other venues but take advantage of the 2 for 1 entry prices.

To celebrate their birthday. DDD are going back to basics with a residents party in a relatively intimate venue (shhh - it's a secret.)

To get in you need guestlist or an advance ticket.

Venue to be revealed the week of the party.

One of the things about contemporary art that old grumps (not you Brian Sewell) often criticise is the perceived lack of skill involved in the actual production of the piece. It's all concept and no craftsmanship.

Well this looks set to prove them wrong. 'Demons, Yarns and Tales' is an exhibition set in what used to be a milk depot. It features fifteen internationally acclaimed artists working in the unusual medium of wall-hanging tapestry.

Tapestry might bring to mind Granny's favourite past-time or medieval images of knights and nymphs, but in the hands of these artists (Gavin Turk, Grayson Perry and Peter Blake among others) it becomes a medium that is still relevant today.

A fascinating show.

Every Sunday, Uprock Recordings take over the Westbury, delivering their take on hip hop spliced with a good dose of funk, future jazz, rare groove and other bits and bobs.

This weekend's Instrumental Special features Bugz in the Atttic maestro Daz-I-Kue and a few other tasty broken beat and dubstep producers, messing around with real instruments and that. 

A lovely pub always and this will be a musically rich session.

Blockbuster DJ James Zabiela is joined by new-school breaks veteran Meat Katie. If that sounds too pedestrian, there's brilliant Kompakt act Rex The Dog playing a live show.

Prepare to have your world rocked (in quite a gentle way) as if.comedy winner 2008, David O'Doherty, the Irish viscount of rumpled whimsy, the marble fawn of tiny keyboard based musical comedy, embarks on his first ever UK tour with the show that won him the award.

The Residents are perhaps one of bizarrest shapes to litter the punk landscape.

Cloaking their identity in eyeball heads, tuxedos and top hats, the band are a riddle of Sphinx like proportions, whilst their fiery mix of garage, pop and art pre-dated the No Wave movement by something like 10 years.

Wow! This sounds pretty cool. Riflemaker has somehow got hold of the personal files and folders of massively influential Beat poet/novelist/artist/performer fellow William S. Burroughs.

When he used to note down all his ideas, Burroughs filed them in loads of folders that he also doodled all over in ink and gouache.

This winter these are on display in the gallery and promise to provide a fascinating insight into Burroughs' creative thought-processes.

Two of Britain's favourite TV stars in an old-fashioned, creepy thriller from the 1960s? We're in.

Joe Orton's classic play combines a trademark satirical eye for British social conventions, with genuinely unsettling storyline that descends from sibling rivalry to blackmail and murder.

The cast for this revival features Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Shakespeare in Love, etc...) and Matthew Horne (Gavin and Stacey) in a tale of a brother and sister who take in a mysterious lodger, and rapidly become embroiled in abattle for his affections.

Acutely observed and rendered here with a perfect retro '60s design, this is one of the more exciting revivals of early 2009.