Philippe Gaulier obituary

In 1980 the École Philippe Gaulier opened its doors in Paris to help performers find and celebrate their “inner idiot”. The school quickly became the prime destination for clown training, attracting theatre students, actors and curious others from around the world.Philippe, who has died aged 82 following a lung infection, made the concept of le jeu – play – central to his teaching. For him, comedy was not about jokes but about danger: the moment when a performer risks failure or ridicule in pursuit of delight. His clowns were not sentimental innocents but mischievous creatures who loved the audience and longed to be loved in return

‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs

We had a family farm three hours west of Chicago, and when I was scoping out potential studio spaces I remembered some barns where my brother and I used to make forts out of hay bales when we were little. One was in rough shape and had racoons living in it, but I got a local carpenter to do the skilled jobs and I did the mundane stuff such as boards for the ceiling. Then I just moved in, but I hadn’t realised how isolating it would be. It was February and snowing and none of my friends had cars. I’d go for two weeks at a time without speaking to anyone

Is the UK’s golden era of free museum entry coming to an end?

For a quarter of a century, visitors to the UK’s national museums and galleries have enjoyed universal free entry to see permanent collections.The policy, introduced by the New Labour government in 2001, has been widely credited with improving access to culture and significantly increasing footfall to some of the country’s best-known attractions.But as funding pressures deepen across the sector, and running costs increase, a policy once treated as untouchable is now under renewed scrutiny.The tension was brought into focus this week, when the National Gallery announced it was to make significant cuts in the face of an £8.2m deficit in the coming year, which could mean fewer free exhibitions, reduced international borrowing of artworks and higher ticket prices

The Guide #231: ​How the ​hunt for the ​next James Bond ​became the ​franchise’s ​best ​marketing ​tool

Callum Turner’s turn as James Bond lasted at most a couple of weeks. No sooner had he been enshrined as frontrunner to succeed Daniel Craig, than he was nudged from the DB5 driver’s seat by the latest heir apparent, Jacob Elordi, installed as the new bookies’ favourite after his smouldering, highly profitable performance in Wuthering Heights. Smarting somewhere in the background is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who seemed locked in for the job a couple of years ago, enjoying the backing of former 007s Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby, but now seems to have fallen out of favour. And don’t forget the succession of other dead cert Bonds now banished to the back of the odds market: the long-rumoured likes of Tom Hardy and Idris Elba (both now likely to have aged out of the role); Theo James; James Norton; Josh O’Connor; Harris Dickinson; Bridgerton’s Rége-Jean Page; and approximately 5,000 other predominately British actors who have enjoyed box office success/led a successful TV drama/look good in a tuxedo.On and on the hunt goes

My cultural awakening: Operation Mincemeat taught me how to cry – now I sob at everything

A musical number about a woman’s letter to her husband on the second world war frontline unlocked my ability to blub – and made me a happier personI am sure I must have cried as a child, but by the time I was a teenager it had stopped. It was probably a boarding school thing. Very stiff upper lip. My parents are not the most emotionally available human beings, either. I like to tease them by saying: “I love you

From Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die to Tracey Emin: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Sam Rockwell stars in Gore Verbinski’s madcap sci-fi comedy, and the YBA Goat is back with a new exhibition at the Tate ModernGood Luck, Have Fun, Don’t DieOut now If Sam Rockwell materialised in an LA diner dressed like something that escaped from an off-Broadway production of Starlight Express, wouldn’t you hear him out? In visionary director Gore Verbinski’s new film, Rockwell plays a man from the future, who has come back to warn us about the perils of artificial intelligence. Sold.The MomentOut now A couple of weeks after appearing in a small role in 100 Nights of Hero, Charli xcx is back on the big screen as a pop star preparing for her tour while navigating the difficulties that inevitably accompany a stratospheric rise to the top. She is – as they say – the moment.If I Had Legs I’d Kick YouOut now Rose Byrne stars as a therapist dealing with more than her fair share of her own obstacles: her young child is ill, her unsupportive husband is away working and she has a tricky relationship with … you’ve guessed it, her therapist