Listen out for Lanny: can Max Porter’s mythic tale of a mulch-guzzler really be heard in this woodland?

Every sun-dappled object is an instrument as composer Dom Coyote and sound designers Elena Peña and Dave Price conjure trip-hop-inspired rhythms in the Mendips for a new stage adaptation

‘We tried to levitate the Pentagon’: the almost unbelievable life of Ed Sanders, trickster god of the US counterculture

He gave Jimi Hendrix his gear, freaked out Frank Sinatra, inspired Norman Mailer – and tried to topple the American war machine. As a documentary about his band the Fugs comes out, the 87-year-old gives a rare interview

‘He’s terrified, panicked, can’t sleep’: the tragic, lonely death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein

Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp paid £10k at auction for Epstein’s address book. He then used it to co-author a thrilling account of the swinging 60s – and an intimate portrait of a tormented man whose life was unravelling

Wildwood review – Laika’s pleasingly old fashioned stop-motion magic-forest odyssey

The makers of Coraline return with their distinctive animation style in a magical tale of a secret world of strange beasts, talking animals and evil governesses

From Carrie to Olivia Dean: the week in rave reviews

Stephen King’s high-school scare-’em-up is reinvented for 2026, and the pop superstar brings the love in her feelgood live extravaganza. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Holding Lightning by Emily Lordi review – an intimate portrait of Whitney Houston

An empathetic biography of the the singer recasts her tumultuous later career as a triumph of self-expression

Sleeping Beauties by David Byrne review – a quirky journey through the afterlife of invention

The Talking Heads frontman considers dormant ideas that made a comeback – from Indian irrigation to Kafka

From Celebrity Traitors to Extra Geography: the week in rave reviews

Claudia Winkleman joins a castle full of celebs as the duplicitous favourite returns, while Molly Manners’ extremely funny boarding school comedy tackles desire and adulthood. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

‘A genre-defying monument’: how Sign o’ the Times captured Prince at his creative peak

As a new book on the Paisley Park polymath is released, author John McKie explains why Prince’s 1987 album is the ultimate showcase of his genius

From Youth to Heart of the Beast: the week in rave reviews

Sharon Horgan takes on divorce in a new series about life as a single fiftysomething, while Brad Pitt makes his way across Alaska with a loyal hound. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Michael Cragg review – what’s the secret of Kylie’s genius?

The pop star emerges as a great unifier in this in-depth yet heartfelt portrait of an Aussie icon

Paul, John … and Yvonne? The French novelist asking: what if a woman had written the Beatles’ greatest hits?

Celebrated thriller writer Michel Bussi explains why the plot of his new novel Code Yesterday isn’t so far fetched, saying ‘I wanted to give women revenge’

‘I could get laid every night of the week!’: punk icon Legs McNeil on booze, benders and dating Sinéad O’Connor

As he releases a tell-all book, the Punk magazine founder and self-described ‘fuck-up’ holds forth on 1970s excess, the American roots of punk and why the Beatles are ‘stupid’

Last Seen to Angine de Poitrine: the week in rave reviews

Patrick Brammall and Maxine Peake star in a propulsive new drama, and the microtonal polka-dotted alien duo return to the live stage. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

‘I’m amazed a human being could do so much’: Gloria Steinem celebrated by Margaret Atwood, Dua Lipa, Lynda Carter and more

Authors, activists and admirers pay tribute to the feminist icon who died this week at the age of 92