Just in case you missed last week’s news, No.6 will now be open throughout April – see our Instagram videos about it here. The work to build the Royal Marines Museum, which will see No.6 return to the Boathouse in Sept ’26, commences a little later than expected, giving us the chance to bring you more of the finest in filmed entertainment. Putting together the April programme is happening apace, with some films still ‘to be confirmed’, but see the Coming Soon paragraph below for titles we will be showing in the coming weeks. And in terms of THIS week’s fare, please note that as Saturday 29th is no longer our closing night, we are instead showing a pre-Mother’s Day treat, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
Here is this week’s timetable. As always, the bar opens at 6pm for the 7pm screenings.
Hard Truths
Thursday 27th March at 4.15pm
Another chance at this matinee screening to see Hard Truths, Mike Leigh’s portrait of a black British family through the eyes of Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) a woman suffering depression and anxiety. Returning, after two forays into period drama, to the contemporary working-class comedy drama that made his name, Hard Truths also marks the Director and Lead Actress first work together since 1996’s Secrets & Lies. A typically forensic examination of the minutiae of family ties and duties with a 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the site describes Baptiste’s performance as ‘a prickly masterclass’ and the film as ‘another superb character study from writer-director Mike Leigh.’
NT Live: Dr Strangelove
Thursday 27th March at 7pm
The latest in our NT Live series is a stage production of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. Steve Coogan gives a virtuoso performance in recreating the multiple roles originally portrayed by Peter Sellers in the film, including the maniacal title character and the President (possibly less unhinged than the real thing.) Written by Armando Ianucci and Sean Foley, and directed by the latter, the production adds a layer of self-reflexive humour about its function as a tribute piece to a cinematic masterpiece and ramps up the present day relevancy. Filmed live at the West End’s Noel Coward theatre, this savage satire is a must see in these troubled times.
The Last Showgirl
Friday 28th March at 7pm
A notable entry in the tradition of characters in the twilight of their chosen careers (usually with ‘the’ titles – think The Shootist, The Wrestler etc.) The Last Showgirl, directed by Gia Coppola, focuses on 57 year old Shelly, who has worked the same Las Vegas show for thirty years, now closing to make way for a more modern replacement. A poignant, nuanced performance by Baywatch’s finest (sorry, Hoff), Pamela Anderson, is complemented by the equally acclaimed Jamie Lee Curtis as her best friend and former colleague. RogerEbert.com cleverly sums up the forces at play in Anderson’s acting: “an indictment of an industry that pumped her up while simultaneously de-valuing her, barely considering her an “actress” at all. Nobody could play Shelly the way Anderson plays it”.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
Saturday 29th March at 7pm
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is surely an ideal film for the night before Mother’s Day. Renee Zelwegger reprises the title role for the fourth film in the series, now a widowed mother of two who finds herself ‘out there’ again after the death of her husband (fear not, ladies, Colin Firth does appear via flashback), navigating various potential relationships, including one of her son’s teachers. Expect an evening of cosy entertainment, with Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones as Bridget’s parents, Hugh Grant fulfilling with typical aplomb his obligation to appear in every British romcom, and TV faves like Sally Phillips and Claire Skinner, this is the perfect night out at the pictures for the whole family.
Up Next Week:
Carry On Audience:
As part of our April programme we want to show a Carry On film after the success of Carry On Screaming last Halloween, so we are once again going to ‘ask the audience.’ The choice is between three of the most well-loved classics: Carry On Cleo (‘infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it infamy’!), Carry On Up The Khyber (‘Fakir – off’!) or Carry On Camping (‘oh, I bet you do’!) We’ll announce the screening date in our next edition, but as always votes need to come in thick and fast (especially fast), namely by Thursday 27th March, so we can book the film. Please send your vote to [email protected]
Coming Soon:
With the April programme a work-in-progress, we’d urge you to keep an eye on the websiteand social media for announcements about upcoming films. Films we will be showing include When Autumn Falls, Sister Midnight, Richard Burton bio Mr Burton, Four Mothers and The Return. And for music fans, we will have the fantastic new documentary One to One: John & Yoko, depicting the couple some time in New York City in 1972.
We asked you last week to tell us about films we screened this last year that you might have missed or would like to see again, so we are re-showing Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain on Thursday 3rd April as several of you requested it. For those who took our question as applying to just any film ever made, we will keep those ideas on a back burner for the future. We do have to emphasise that getting licences for films isn’t always easy, and many titles are not available to us, but rest assured we always do our best for our audience.
