Going out: Cinema<\/p>\n
Normal
Out now
Ben Wheatley (Sightseers) returns with an action crime thriller starring Bob Odenkirk as a man serving as interim sheriff in the fictional little town of Normal, Minnesota, a place that turns out to have some unexpectedly big secrets involving the yakuza. Also starring Henry Winkler and Lena Headey.<\/p>\n
Obsession
Out now
In this literal \u201cbe careful what you wish for\u201d horror movie, Bear works in a music store and has a crush on co-worker Nikki. When given the opportunity he makes a magical wish for her to love him more than anyone else in the world, leading to an extreme version of the condition mentioned in the title.
Orphan
Out now
Set in the aftermath of the failed 1956 revolution in Budapest, an angry young teenager, Andor (Bojtorj\u00e1n Barabas), is raised on idealistic stories of his missing father, but struggles with family secrets when a man appears claiming to be him \u2013 and falls far short of the image in Andor\u2019s head. Historical drama from director L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Nemes (Son of Saul). <\/p>\n
The Christophers
Out now
Director Steven Soderbergh teams up with Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel for an art world caper in which the two unscrupulous adult children of a highly acclaimed elderly artist hire a younger artist to finish off some of his incomplete paintings \u2013 so that they can be sold off as the genuine article. Catherine Bray<\/p>\n
Going out: GigsMore than a feline \u2026 Doja Cat.<\/p>\n
Doja Cat
19 to 29 May, tour starts Dublin
While last year\u2019s sleek funk-pop opus Vie hasn\u2019t hit the commercial peaks of the LA rapper and singer\u2019s previous output, Doja Cat still knows how to put on an eye-popping show. Expect 27 songs, high-cut leopard print leotards and a provocativeperformer taking cues from 80s superstars such asPrince and Janet Jackson. Michael Cragg<\/p>\n
Get Together
Various venues, Sheffield, 16 May
Southend goth overlords the Horrors join the likes of Welsh-Cornish wonder Gwenno and Hot Chip\u2019s Alexis Taylor feature in this city-wide festival. Other highlights include \u201cwonk pop\u201d practitioners Lime Garden and London-based noise merchants Factory Floor. Michael Cragg<\/p>\n
Tosca
Glyndebourne, nr Lewes, 21 May to 22 June & 4 to 30 August
The UK\u2019s premier summer opera festival opens with its first ever production of Puccini\u2019s classic thriller. Staged by US director Ted Huffman in Glyndebourne\u2019s exquisitely intimate theatre, this Tosca promises to be up close and personal. Robin Ticciati conducts, with soprano Caitlin Gotimer leading two rising-star casts. Flora Willson<\/p>\n
Submotion Orchestra
The Wardrobe, Leeds, 21 May
Leeds jazz festival\u2019s fifth year boasts genre-fluid pianist-organist Kit Downes (25 May) and sax star Emma Rawicz (24 May) among the luminaries of its six-day run. The now 16-year-old Submotion Orchestra\u2019s fusion of electronica, jazz and soulful ambience will be a big highlight of the opening-night gigs. John Fordham<\/p>\n
Going out: ArtGodfried Donkor\u2019s St Ike Quartey, 2023. Photograph: Godfried Donkor\/Gallery 1957<\/p>\n
Godfried Donkor
Firstsite, Colchester, 22 May to 30 August
Travel from Colchester to west Africa and the Caribbean as this London-based Ghanaian artist weaves together stories of resistance from Boudicca to Yaa Asantewaa. Donkor mixes collage, painting and textile to talk about how identity, power and trade shape our world.<\/p>\n
Delcy Morelos
Barbican, London, to 31 July
This Colombian installation artist is making a big muddy mess, filling the Barbican with huge mounds of earth. Morelos uses soil, clay and spices to totally transform spaces into heady immersive environments, inviting viewers to contemplate mud as the very material of life, all based on ideas gleaned from ancestral Andean and Amazonian knowledge.<\/p>\n
Phantasmagoria
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, to 30 August
Video games and digital art aren\u2019t necessarily what you\u2019d associate with a gallery named after Britain\u2019s most famous sculptor, but this exhibition deals with some seriously traditional subject matter: folklore, the occult and witchcraft. Artists including Most Dismal Swamp and the brilliant Joey Holder will drag enchantment, myth and magic into the present day.<\/p>\n
James McNeill Whistler
Tate Britain, London, 21 May to 27 September
Tate Britain\u2019s major summer show is the biggest European exhibition of this US painter\u2019s work for more than 30 years. Whistler created some of the most instantly recognisable images of the 19th century: perfectly poised portraits, hauntingly penumbral landscapes, austere images of his own family, all with a haunting, innovative approach to painting. Eddy Frankel<\/p>\n
Going out: StageOn the box \u2026 Ania Magaliano. Photograph: Antonio Olmos\/The Observer<\/p>\n
Ania Magliano
21 May to 15 November; tour starts Reading
She was already a rising star but being cast in SNL has cemented Magliano\u2019s place in the comedy firmament. Now the 28-year-old is hitting the road with Peach Fuzz, a show inspired by her newfound connection to her body and inability to relate to Sabrina Carpenter. Rachel Aroesti<\/p>\n
Mother Courage and Her Children
Shakespeare\u2019s Globe, London, to 27 June
The Globe\u2019s artistic director and powerhouse performer, Michelle Terry, stars as Mother Courage, dragging her cart through a wasteland ravaged by war. Anna Jordan adapts a modern staging of Brecht\u2019s defiant protest play. Miriam Gillinson<\/p>\n
Little Shop of Horrors
Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne, to 23 May; touring to 20 June
A new actor-musician production of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman\u2019s cult hit, with Amena El-Kindy as Audrey and Kristian Cunningham as Seymour, the flower shop assistant who stumbles across a truly monster plant \u2013 feeeeeeed me! MG<\/p>\n
Uncaged+
The Mount Without, Bristol, 18 to 22 May
A coup for the Bristol dance venue, a guest performance from former Royal Ballet principal Edward Watson (18 & 19 May only) in works by choreographer Antonia Franceschi (ex-New York City Ballet, best known as the ballet dancer in the movie Fame). The venue itself is worth a visit, it\u2019s a beautiful church conversion. Lyndsey Winship<\/p>\n
Staying in: StreamingHorsing around \u2026 Lu Richardson and Emilia Clarke in Ponies. Photograph: Katalin Vermes\/Peacock<\/p>\n
Ponies
Sky Atlantic & Now, 22 May, 9pm
Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) are two bereaved wives who take over their late husbands\u2019 jobs as CIA spies in Soviet Moscow in a 1970s-set cold war thriller that doubles as a goofy buddy comedy. Adrian Lester co-stars as their handler.<\/p>\n
The Boroughs
Netflix, 21 May
A new supernatural horror set in a retirement community where a malign entity is attempting to steal \u201ctime\u201d. Cue wisecracks about how little the residents have left anyway, despite the stellar cast \u2013 Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Alfred Molina \u2013 looking far too sprightly for such gags to land.<\/p>\n
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
Apple TV+, 20 May
From Euphoria to Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles, online sex work is TV\u2019s current fixation, but this thriller takes a slightly different angle. She-Hulk\u2019s Tatiana Maslany stars as divorced mother Paula who strikes up a rapport with a \u201ccam boy\u201d whose attempt to scam her results in murder.<\/p>\n
Falling
Channel 4, 19 May, 9pm
Remember Fleabag\u2019s hot priest? Well now we\u2019re getting a hot priest and a hot nun courtesy of prolific screenwriter Jack Thorne. Keeley Hawes leads as the latter, whose romantic feelings for Paapa Essiedu\u2019s man of the cloth leads them both into temptation. RA<\/p>\n
Staying in: GamesCapers \u2026 Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Illustration: TT Games\/Warner Bros<\/p>\n
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
PC,PS5, Xbox, Switch 2; out 22 May
The caped crusader is back in Lego form as we follow the origins of the character, from newbie to Gotham legend. We\u2019re promised a vast explorable city, a fresh, high-impact combat system and some classic foes.<\/p>\n
Forza Horizon 6
PC, Xbox; out 19 May
The globe-trotting open-world racer returns, this time taking its fleet of exotic cars to Japan, where neon cities and Ghibli-esque rural landscapes provide the backdrop to an array of circuits and challenges. Keith Stuart<\/p>\n
Staying in: AlbumsOriginal pirate material \u2026 Genesis Owusu. Photograph: Isaac Brown<\/p>\n
Genesis Owusu \u2013 Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge
Out now
Released last September, Pirate Radio, the lead single from the third album by the Ghanaian-Australian rapper and singer, is a coiled spring of anger, aiming barbs at Elon Musk and Kanye. Its furious melding of punk and synthpop also permeates the galloping recent single Stampede.<\/p>\n
Dua Saleh \u2013 Of Earth & Wires
Out now
The LA based, Sudanese-American polymath \u2013 as well as writing poetry, Saleh got their break playing Cal in Sex Education \u2013 returns with this lush second album. Bon Iver adds his quivering croon to Flood, while I Do, I Do fuses alt-R&B and Sudanese folk.<\/p>\n
Drake \u2013 Iceman
Out now
Having survived Kendrick Lamar\u2019s eviscerating takedown Not Like Us, Drake returns with his first solo album in three years. Originally teased back in 2024, then again in 2025, its release date was eventually confirmed via a giant melting ice sculpture in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Rostam \u2013 American Stories
Out now
The erstwhile Vampire Weekender and producer for Haim and Clairo returns to his solo career with this follow-up to 2021\u2019s Changephobia. Celebrating his Persian roots, alongside elements of Americana, it stretches out like a perfect road trip. MC<\/p>\n
Staying in: Brain foodSpace man \u2026 Daniel Kaluuya. Photograph: Tristan Fewings\/Getty\/Red Sea International Film Festival<\/p>\n
Making Space<\/a> Five By Nine
Podcast
North London\u2019s Roundhouse venue presents this enlightening series of conversations featuring guests such as the actor Daniel Kaluuya on the value of youth programmes, and former youth poet laureate Cecilia Knapp on exploring authentic human stories.<\/p>\n
<\/a>YouTube<\/a>
This design-focused YouTube channel posts engaging and clearly written guides to improving your home layout and colour palette. Its video The Psychology Behind Why Some Homes Feel Good But Most Don\u2019t is a key primer.<\/p>\n