RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne dies aged 32

James Lee Williams, known as drag artist The Vivienne, has died at the age of 32, their public relations representative announced on Sunday.Simon Jones posted on Instagram: “It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams – The Vivienne, has passed this weekend.“James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career

‘Our thighs are aquiver!’ Inside the Siegfried and Roy opera with magic, tiger puppets and ‘hysterical sex’

Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera tells the incredible story of the tiger-loving partners, from traumatic childhoods to their shocking career-ending showMagic doesn’t just happen. Opera singers Kanen Breen and Christopher Tonkin are learning that the hard way. Making magic is key to their onstage partnership as the stars of a new Australian opera about one of the most successful stage partnerships of all time – that of Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn: two boys raised in postwar Germany with violent, alcoholic fathers, who became life and stage partners, created a celebrated magic and animal act in Europe in the 1960s, and then went on to become the highest-paid act in Las Vegas – until, in 2003, the duo’s beloved white tiger, Mantacore, put an end to their career in spectacularly bloody fashion.Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, co-written by director Constantine Costi and composer Luke Di Somma, is one of the centrepieces of this year’s Sydney festival.The first day of rehearsals with the production’s stage illusion consultant, Adam Mada, included the most important lesson in stage magic, says Breen: you never talk about how a trick is done

Director of Edinburgh international festival warns cuts put its status at risk

The director of the Edinburgh international festival has warned it could lose its status as one of the world’s greatest arts events without significant increases in public and philanthropic support.Nicola Benedetti, a Grammy-winning classical violinist who became the festival’s director in 2022, said in an interview with the Guardian she feared the creative arts that underpinned it were at risk of stagnating because of repeated funding cuts.She said an increase in Scottish government arts spending announced four weeks ago, while “a very welcome step in the right direction”, had come too late to prevent this year’s international festival being smaller.“It’s too close to impact our 25 festival in any significant way,” she said. “There are one or two late levers we’d be able to potentially pull [to stage extra events], but even that will be down to late availability

From Edvard Munch to Central Cee: Observer critics choose their cultural highlights for 2025

From Thom Yorke’s Shakespearean score to 25 years of Tate Modern, Bridget Jones to Leigh Bowery, our writers anticipate the most exciting shows, releases and events of the yearAmerican auteurs returnA new film from one of the heavy hitters of US cinema is always cause for celebration, and with projects from Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach and Paul Thomas Anderson on the horizon, there’s plenty to whet cineaste appetites in the coming year. Details on all three are scant at the moment. Kathryn Bigelow’s film, her first since Detroit in 2017, is a political thriller set in the White House, following staffers as they scramble to respond to an imminent missile strike on America. The cast includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson and Jared Harris.Even less is known about Noah Baumbach’s new film, which, like Bigelow’s, is a Netflix production

The big chill: warming, nourishing culture to help you hibernate until spring

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light iPlayer Period dramas are traditionally rather cosy, but from the very first scenes – a stark restaging of Anne Boleyn’s beheading – it’s clear this adaptation of the final book in Hilary Mantel’s epic Thomas Cromwell trilogy will be a bracing immersion into the gruesome reality of these well-worn Tudor tales. Even so, the lavish production, exquisite performances and sheer beauty of the script itself are all things to luxuriate in during cold, dark winter nights. For newcomers, the original Wolf Hall series is also on iPlayer.Am I Being Unreasonable? iPlayer A magical romcom-style flashback – two lovers bidding farewell at a train station as snowflakes drift down – initially lends Daisy May Cooper’s hilarious and enthralling 2022 dramedy a winter wonderland vibe. The reality, however, is far less lovely

From Nosferatu to Patience: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment in the UK

NosferatuOut now Director Robert Eggers has been carving out a niche for himself in the shadows for quite some time, with films such as The Witch and The Lighthouse taking a dark, artistic approach to both character and subject matter. Now he’s turned his hand to cinema’s founding vampire legend, with a toothsome remake of the 1922 classic.We Live in TimeOut now Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star in a non-linear romance that cuts to different stages of a relationship between Weetabix rep Tobias (Garfield) and professional chef Almut (Pugh), to explore both love and grief. Directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn).2073Out now Blending sci-fi and documentary to paint a dystopian portrait of life on Earth in 2073, Asif Kapadia’s vision of the future is not a happy one, with hazards ranging from drones to libertarians to tech bros