STEVE JOHNSON recommends a protest album with a harder edge than many in the genre
Time to don your Stetson Cattleman and join the melee
SIMON PARSONS is captivated by a charming zest of an intelligently reworked Rodgers and Hammerstein classic
INFECTIOUS ENERGY: Anoushka Lucas and Raphael Bushay
[Marc Brenner] 
DENNIS BROE finds much to praise in the new South African Netflix series, but wonders why it feels forced to sell out its heroine
CARL DEATH introduces a new book which explores how African science fiction is addressing climate change
In his second round-up, EWAN CAMERON picks excellent solo shows that deal with Scottishness, Englishness and race as highlights
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family
MATTHEW HAWKINS is mesmerised by a performance that dissolves the line between audience and performer
MATTHEW SHARPE recommends the essays of a Renaissance politician that instruct and unnerve after 400 years
Oklahoma
Young Vic
THIS stripped down, stylish reworking of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 classic arrives from the US with a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, and rightly so. It is a sassy, sexy and at times very dark reimagining of a Midwest community hoedown and the tensions between locals and outsiders.
Daniel Kluger’s re-orchestration of the score is a triumph. Many of the songs have been reworked to incorporate contrasting styles within the same number so Country and Western rhythms dissolve into soulful solos and familiar foot-stomping numbers blend with a cappella renditions.
Likewise John Heginbotham's choreography highlights the uneasy dichotomy between the known and the unknown with a nightmarish ballet sequence to contrast with the traditional line dancing routines.
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