Refigure

Chris and Rifa natter about the arts and culture. After abandoning Tip Toe , Chris and Rifa retreat to old episodes of Brighton-based detective series Grace . Then Rifa reports back from her trip to London's Bush Theatre to see The P Word . Chris is reading Michael Bracewell's short, oddball new book 'The Smiths - A Novella', while Rifa is reading Ursula Le Guin's lesser known...

Refigure episode 96. Chris and Rifa watch two TV shows on the BBC iPlayer: the fourth season of Showtime's NYC-based reality show Couples Therapy with Dr Orna Guralnik, which gets as close as television can to the reality of a psychotherapist's process, and the hit BBC drama series built from James Graham's West End play Dear England , documenting Gareth Southgate's time as England...

This episode, we saw Joelle Taylor give an outstanding performed reading of her new book Maryville. We then watched a panel discussion with the rapper / singer-songwriter Ren and his business team. Rifa is reading Samantha Harvey's Booker prizewinning novel Orbital , while Chris is reading John Grindrod's funny and thought provoking LGBTQ+ social history Tales Of The Suburbs . Thanks so mu...

Chris and Rifa enjoy Kate Butch's drag cabaret show Choose Your Own Cabaret at The Old Market in Hove and watch Brazilian thriller The Secret Agent , which has just become available to stream via Mubi. Rifa devotes her 'What You Reading For?' slot to some emails from guys who recommend women authors. Chris is reading Patrick Radden Keefe's new non-fiction thriller London Falling ....

Rifa and Chris go to Hammersmith Apollo to see the Brooklyn cult band Geese and watch Riz Ahmed's new dramedy TV series Bait . Rifa is reading a short fiction compilation called Re:sisters , while Chris is reading Kate Kennedy's Cello (thanks for the loan, Jon Clayton). Thanks for listening! Follow us on Insta @refigureUK

Chris and Rifa visit Tate Modern to check out the Tracey Emin retrospective Second Life and the major show of Nigerian Modernism. We also watch two art history docs on the BBC: Jim Moir's Gaga For Dada about Dadaism and the Irish film Iarsmaí ( Remnants ) about campaigns in Ireland to persuade museums and institutions to give back stolen artefacts. Rifa is reading Tori Amos' book Resistanc...

It's (accidentally) an episode about comedy in different artforms. Rifa and Chris go to a Q&A with David Shrigley for Penryn Art School on tour, hosted by Phoenix Gallery. Then we also watched Mackenzie Crook's offbeat new BBC comedy drama series Small Prophets , about a man growing Humunculi in jars in his shed, and we went to Sadlers Wells East for Chicos Mambo's 'Tutu' c...

Long-running bitesize culture review show from Brighton, on the UK south coast, with Rifa and Chris. This episode we watch the BBC drama series Waiting For The Out, then flag up the major art exhibitions we're most looking forward to in 2026. Rifa is reading The Story Of Art and Chris is reading Sophia Giovannitti's Working Girl . Thanks for listening! Find us on Insta @refigureUK or perso...

Chris and Rifa look back over their year in arts and culture. Thank you for listening and supporting the show in 2025, we've had a blast, you've made it all feel worthwhile.

Chris and Rifa do their final art trip of the year, to Tate Britain for the Turner and Constable exhibition and the Lee Miller show. Rifa is reading Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and Chris is reading a book-length essay called Pirate Care from the Vagabonds series of small radical books, published by Pluto Press. Thanks for listening. Find us on Insta @RefigureUK

Chris and Rifa's adventures in culture and the arts. We scooted up to Wembley to see the seminal cult shoegaze / noise-rock band My Bloody Valentine on their arena tour, before checking out former reggae singer-turned-stage actor Lorna Gee's powerful one-woman (autobiographical) music theatre show The Legends Of Them on tour at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange. Two contrasting ways for artistry...

Rifa and Chris watch the premier of Dr David Bramwell's film The Haunted Moustache at the Duke Of York's Cinema, fail to resist watching The Celebrity Traitors and check out young Irish singer-songwriter George Houston on his first UK tour. Chris is reading a book about pop music and Rifa is reading a book about art. Thanks for listening. Find us on Insta @refigureUK.

Chris and Rifa watch the new PT Andersen film One Battle After Another and Netflix animated series Long Story Short, from the team behind Bojack Horseman. Rifa is re-reading Iain Banks' classic thriller Complicity , while Chris is reading Beans On Toast's collection Wild Folk People . Thanks for listening. Find us on Insta @RefigureUK

A shorter than usual episode. Chris and Rifa chat about their last couple of weeks, which were partly spent separately, as Chris drove up to Scotland for Frank Turner's Lost Evenings, on the way catching the William Kentridge exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, while Rifa went out for a cocktail pub crawl, though they both went to SeptemberSong festival in Oxfordshire. Rifa is re-reading J...

A packed episode of Chris and Rifa's bitesize arts review show, we watched US emergency room drama series The Pitt , saw Tim Key's comedy film The Ballad Of Wallis Island and checked out Paul Foot's transformative new stand-up show Dissolve . Chris is reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message and Rifa is reading John Higgs' book about the KLF. Thanks for listening, find us on Insta...

Chris and Rifa's bitesize adventures in arts and culture get messy as the plucky pair regret watching The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix, so then watch the most different film possible, Hot Milk on MUBI. Chris is reading Emily Herring's biography of Henri Bergson, Herald Of A Restless World , while Rifa is reading Ursula Le Guin's 1971 scifi classic The Lathe Of Heaven. Thank you so m...

Bitesize adventures in arts and culture with Rifa and Chris. We watched the opening few episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox on Disney+ and went to Tate Modern to see the major retrospective of Australian artist Emily Kam Kngwarray. Rifa is reading another bell hooks book, this time on art, while Chris has just started Ian Leslie's John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs . Thank you for...

Chris and Rifa's bitesize adventures in arts and culture. We went to Tate Britain for the retrospective of 20th century British surrealist Ithell Colquhoun, and taped that segment in the café. Then Rifa reports back from poet Akila Richards' performance piece Mango Ritual at Brighton Dome. Rifa is reading Poor Artists by Zarina Muhammed & Gabrielle De La Puente (aka the White Pube), while Chri...

Chris and Rifa chat festivals Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Glastonbury in Somerset. Thanks for listening.

Chris and Rifa are back for series #8 of Refigure, our bitesize arts and culture podcast. This is episode #78 and we chat about Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the 19th season of Taskmaster on Channel 4. Thanks for listening. We are @refigureUK on Insta.

Season 8 of Refigure is (finally) coming!

Chris and Rifa are in London on a visual art binge. We talk about Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1820 at Tate Britain . We also argue about Judy Chicago: Revelations at the Serpentine Gallery . Rifa is reading the classic Theosophical Society book Thoughtforms: A Record Of Clairvoyant Investigation by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. Chris is reading The Place Where Souls Are Bo...

More adventures in the arts and culture with Rifa and Chris. We watched the new doc Eno at the cinema, about the artist Brian Eno (obviously), which recuts itself and runs differently, every single time it's screened, making a review somewhat moot. Rifa went to an LGBTQI+ 'late' event at the Wallace Collection in London, while Chris went to Black Country, New Road's gaza benefit at...

Adventures in culture and the arts, with Rifa and Chris. Thanks for joining us! This episode we're in Barcelona for Primavera Sound 2024 and we also checked out some art: photographer Jeff Wall —  Possible Tales at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, and painter and collagist Armand Boua at OOA Contemporary Gallery in Sitges. Rifa is reading Mikaela Loach's book It's Not That Radical and,...

Chris and Rifa are in Paris to visit the Brancusi retrospective at Centre Pompidou and also stumble on the lost 1950s Parisian painter Requichot's abstract work. They also binge-watch season three of Sweet Tooth . Rifa is reading Katy Hessel's Great Women Artists substack and Chris is reading Adèle Oliver's essay Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture & Criminalisation of UK Drill , whic...