MARIA DUARTE and MICHAL BONCZA review The History of Sound, H Is For Hawk, Saipan, and Mercy

MARIA DUARTE recommends a surreal and brilliant take on corporate lay-offs and their consequences

by Jamie Lynch

DENNIS BROE unpicks the subterfuge by which the BBC claims to represent working-class prison life in a new series

JULIA THOMAS unpicks the mental processes that explain why book-to-film adaptations so often disappoint

CONRAD LANDIN thrills to the voice of 79-year-old Emmylou Harris, that is enriched rather than compromised by the gravel of experience

RICHARD MURGATROYD appreciates a study that urges us to think about water differently, as a living entity with its own logic and intelligence

The debut novel by Uruguayan Eugenia Ladra, and poetry by Gerardo Diego

New releases from Zulu Guitar Blues, Fela Kuti, and Amadou & Mariam

CHRIS SEARLE urges you not to miss two powerful performers playing three nights that will celebrate the great pianist/composer Thelonious Monk

IAN SINCLAIR revels in the reissue of great recordings by one of the most recognisable and radical voices in British music

BRENT CUTLER welcomes a valuable contribution to discussions around the need to de-carbonise energy production

STEVE ANDREW is intrigued by a timely and well-researched book that demonstrates the conflicted history of the central Asian country

JOHN GREEN’s palate is tickled by useful information leavened by amusing and unusual anecdotes, incidental gossip and scare stories

GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a book that sets the assassination of Brian Thomson in the context of radical individualism — lost in a vast pick-and-mix of ideologies

SIMON PARSONS applauds an original, visual and movement-based take on the birth and death of a relationship

The bard contemplates X — anti-human vomit soup with dog shit croutons — and the Tory recycling bin that is Reform

ALAN MORRISON recommends an outstanding and timely anthology of poems that reflect the experience and consequences of African migration

BINOY KAMPMARK examines the food racket as evidenced by the recent promotion of Italian cuisine to the status of ‘intangible national heritage’

FIONA O’CONNOR and MARIA DUARTE review State of Statelessness, Rental Family, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and The Rip

MARIA DUARTE recommends that this dramatic reconstruction of one instance of the Israeli killings in Gaza be seen as widely as possible

WILL SCHULER praises a stripped-back ‘anti-naturalist’ production of Arthur Miller’s drama about a corrupted family business

by Matt Gilbert

MATTHEW HAWKINS contrasts the sinister enchantments of an AI infused interactive exhibition with the intimacies disclosed by two real artists

DENNIS BROE surveys the new wild west: a technology that aims to “innovate” so fast that no government regulation or union negotiation can keep up

ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes a graphic portrayal of the corrosive impact of commodification, but can’t sympathise with the characters

ABIGAIL HARRISON MOORE welcomes a BBC prison drama that shows the importance of the classroom as a space to influence personal and social change

New releases from Van Morrison, Tyler Ballgame, and Dry Cleaning

JOHN WIGHT celebrates a new account of the life of the great British boxer and communist Len Johnson

STEVE ANDREW appreciates a passionate account of the Scottish Club during the ‘lost decade’

By telling the story of a lawless frontier town from the point of view of the Lakota, Chinese labourers, prostitutes and displaced prospectors, makes for a potted history of capital, suggests ALEX HALL

RON JACOBS welcomes a timely history of the Anti Imperialist league of America, and the role that culture played in their politics

JAN WOOLF surveys a national hoard of silver and gold

TONY BURKE speaks to Gambian kora player SUNTOU SUSSO

ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Good Night, and Good Luck: Live from Broadway, Becoming Victoria Wood, Hamnet, and Song Sung Blue

MARIA DUARTE recommends a British boxing biopic about the stormy relationship between Nazeem Hamed and his trainer Brendan Ingle