Roger Daltrey, Nish Kumar and the wild making of Face/Off

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [View in browser]( [The Independent]( April 23, 2022 [The Independent]( Written by Louis Chilton   The IndyArts Newsletter   Hello again, and welcome to another installment of the IndyArts newsletter. I’m Louis Chilton, still filling in. It’s been a relatively quiet week of news on the culture front, hasn’t it? On Wednesday, it was announced that Robert Morse, the Tony-winning star of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, had died at the age of 90. To many, myself included, he’ll always be best known as Bert Cooper, Mad Men’s eccentric, Ayn Rand-loving elder statesman. For music lovers in the US, last weekend meant one thing: Coachella. The California-based music festival saw some big names perform, including Megan Thee Stallion, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish, who made history by becoming the youngest ever artist to headline. Maanya Sachdeva carried out a [great interview with Sikh-American singer Raveena](, who also performed at the festival. Billie Eilish performs on stage at Coachella 2022 (Invision/AP)   On the Indy’s culture desk, we’ve run a number of other terrific pieces this week. There’s Laura Barton’s [interview with Kae Tempest](, the acclaimed spoken word artist who’s a force of nature on stage. Tom Murray [dug deep into A24](, the curiously popular film distribution company known for indie hits like Midsommar, Lady Bird and, more recently, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Annabel Nugent [spoke to Fleabag’s Sian Clifford]( about ageism and acting neuroses, while Tom Fordy explored the [wild backstory behind the making of Face/Off](. I also really enjoyed Isobel Lewis’s [interview with the wonderful comedian Nish Kumar](, who opens up about the importance of the BBC, the struggles of writing a joke about Rishi Sunak, and his encounter with a racist heckler at a recent gig. I’d also just like to flag Fiona Sturges’s eloquent [comment about sexual violence in Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal](, and Roisin O’Connor’s [look at the musicians taking action on Earth Day 2022](.   [The Saturday Interview – Roger Daltrey]( [Oscars image]( Roger Daltrey: ‘Musicians cannot earn a living in the record industry any more’ (Press image) For the [Saturday Interview]( this week, Mark Beaumont spoke to The Who singer Roger Daltrey. Among the topics covered in the wide-ranging interview were Daltrey’s new solo tour, seeing shades of the late Keith Moon in Liam Gallagher, and why smashing up guitars broke his heart. The conversation also moved on to politics, with Daltrey offering up his take on the Partygate scandal.. [Oscars image]( Daltrey performing onstage in 2019 (Getty) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… Far from an ego fest, Daltrey sees the tour as an extension of his philanthropic work. He initially organised it in order to give work to a band and crew after two lean pandemic years. “Musicians have had a real rough two years, really rough,” he explains. “Most of them are self-employed, they got no furlough, no anything. It’s been brutal on them. So if I can go out there and employ 10 musicians [and] 10 road crew for a month, I’m gonna do it.” The tour is titled Who Was I? – not an existential conundrum, but a tongue-in-cheek post-pandemic gag. “Two years on, you do start to wonder ‘Didn’t I used to be a singer?’” he grins. “But you do change over the years; I’ve changed a great deal. I was a terror when I was younger. I was a real handful, but you grow. I’m a totally different bloke now than I was all those years ago.” [Read the full interview here]( What to binge this week Camille Cottin in 'Call My Agent' (Netflix) Call My Agent! This French showbiz satire is punchy, well-acted and laugh-out-loud funny – it’s no wonder every other country under the sun is clamouring to remake it. The British version, Ten Per Cent, arrives on screens this weekend, but you could do a lot worse than catching up on the real French McCoy on Netflix. For three seasons, Call My Agent! was superlative TV, focussing on a Parisian talent agency and their complicated dealings with celebrity clients. Its fourth season may have been something of a disappointment, but that hardly mattered: a forthcoming TV movie and fifth season give it ample chance to redeem itself. 'Call My Agent!' is available to stream now on Netflix Out and about [The Burnt City – One Cartridge Place]( Cult favourites Punchdrunk stage a tale of woe and violence in a former military arsenal in Woolwich. With this immersive show – a retelling of Greek tragedies – the company have “created an enthralling world of microscopic details, meticulously crafted to entice”, writes Isobel Lewis in a four-star review. [Buy tickets here]( [Marys Seacole – Donmar Warehouse]( This ambitious production uses the 19th-century British-Jamaican nurse (and author of Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands) Mary Seacole as a lens to paint an era-spanning portrait of Black women in health care. In her four-star review, Nicole Vassell writes: “Moments of confusion aside, it’s a timely tribute brimming with unexpected potency.” [Buy tickets here]( [The Bone Sparrow – Theatre Peckham]( Pilot Theatre’s adaptation of Zana Fraillon’s children’s book makes smart use of puppetry to augment this potent story about refugeeism. Yaamin Chowdhury plays Subhi, a young boy who’s spent his life in an Australian immigration detention centre. [Buy tickets here]( [Subscribe today](   Essential reading [Terry Crews supports ‘dear friend’ Will Smith after Oscars slap: ‘I’ve done worse’]( [Terry Crews supports ‘dear friend’ Will Smith after Oscars slap: ‘I’ve done worse’]( [Liza Minnelli was ‘sabotaged’ by Oscars appearance, friend claims]( [Liza Minnelli was ‘sabotaged’ by Oscars appearance, friend claims]( [Jada Pinkett Smith returns to Red Table Talk for first time since Oscars slap]( [Jada Pinkett Smith returns to Red Table Talk for first time since Oscars slap](         If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's entertainment newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. If you do not want to receive The Independent's entertainment newsletter, please [unsubscribe](list_name=IND_Culture_Newsletter_CDP). If you no longer wish to receive any newsletters or promotional emails from The Independent, you can unsubscribe [here](. This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345. Read our [privacy notice]( and [cookie policy](.