Three estranged family relationships. Three different global settings. One distinctive film-maker at the peak of his powers – but Jim Jarmusch flexes his film-making muscle in a way that’s rather different from your average auteur. Here, the director of Stranger Than Paradise, Dead Man and more recently Paterson has made an anthology film which takes the mundanity of family life and transforms it into a pleasingly mellow kind of cinematic contentment.

Ellen E Jones, Nerve film critic

We love an underdog story. In the early 2010s, Jamie Woon was dubbed dubstep's first pop star, who – like James Blake, who arrived at a similar time – blended low-end electronics with soulful vocals and a songwriterly approach. But after his Mercury-nominated second album in 2015, he went quiet, wrestling with a heavy spell of writer’s block. His return to form has a nimble lightness, though, despite its moody soul-searching. On 3, 10, Why, When, his first album in a decade, elastic basslines, lilting guitars and lush strings coalesce as the London musician details the process of putting himself back together again. The UK is deep into a soul renaissance and has welcomed his return to form with open arms – catch him live on a select few dates around the UK with his band of 20 years before he hits Europe and festival season.

Kate Hutchinson, Nerve pop critic

Tramps’ new gallery space – a former 19th-century workshop – officially opened last month. Designed by Trevor Horne Architects, the building retains the feel of its original purpose while creating two distinct spaces for the display of art. Downstairs, high ceilings and stone tiles provide a grand setting, while upstairs a lit fire, domestic furniture and a timber-clad interior feel more intimate, suggesting how works might fit at home.

On the walls is a solo exhibition by Trinidadian artist Marcus Leotaud. Dark, romantic paintings reward slow looking; traces of subjects surface and dissolve within these mysterious compositions. The closer you look, the more you find. 

All of this unfolds alongside the ongoing refurbishment of the beloved pub McGlynn’s opposite, which the gallery’s owners, artist Peter Doig and partner Parinaz Mogadassi, have also bought.

Meg Molloy, arts writer and founder of Working Arts Club

In this debut novel by Brooklyn writer and artist Larissa Pham, fact and fiction are in a state of flux as we follow narrator Christine, a writer and artist who has just published her debut novel. Using precise, crystalline language, Pham explores sex, art and power dynamics, with a succession of characters relating Cuskian microstories that you'll be thinking about for a long time afterwards. Christine's book, about her relationship with an older professor, leads her to unexpected geographical and psychological destinations.

Kathryn Bromwich, writer

When Fen (or Fenella), newly in charge of the family country estate, discovers a stash of 18th-century diaries written by her enslaver ancestor Henry Harford and hires two Black academics to authenticate them, we surely know what’s coming? A contemporary reckoning with a colonial past. I did not expect the slapstick. In her new play, Winsome Pinnock does not sidestep toxic legacies but does so with comedy. The cast of three – Rakie Ayola, Sylvestra Le Touzel and Cherrelle Skeete – directed by Miranda Cromwell manage to create both a thought-provoking but fun 90 minutes of drama.

Jane Ferguson, Nerve co-founder

 Noah Wyle’s career truly began when he donned the scrubs of Dr John Carter in 1994’s US TV juggernaut ER. Thirty years later, he’s back in the navy-blue day pyjamas to portray Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, an emergency room doctor with the distant stare of the recently traumatised.

No wonder the estate of ER creator Michael Crichton tried to sue the makers. But while demonstrably a different show set in a different city – Pittsburgh – The Pitt features the same real-time emergency-room setting and handheld camera work that made its predecessor so successful. R Scott Gemmill (also formerly of ER) writes sensationally good scripts and Wyle’s performance is captivating. Already dripping in Emmys, the first two seasons are finally available here: one in its entirety and two being drip-fed weekly.

Julia Raeside, writer

The first acts for Meltdown, curated by Harry Styles, have been announced and include Warpaint, Kamasi Washington and the Devonté Hynes Ensemble. Tickets go on sale to members from Thursday 9 April and on general sale the next day.

Deafinitely Theatre (who combine British Sign Language, spoken English and creative captions) will take Mike Bartlett’s play on tour with co-producers Birmingham Rep and the Park theatre. 

Kristin Scott Thomas heads the cast of this new production of the Chekhov classic in a new adaption by Conor McPherson, directed by Ian Rickson.

The traditional circus’s summer show, Waterfield, kicked off over the Easter weekend and will be playing at venues around the English countryside until the end of September. Definitely the sort of circus that kids will want to run away to join.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the festival includes UK premieres from the New European Ensemble inspired by novelist Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, and Mimi Doulton performing three new commissions by Elaine Mitchener, Linda Buckley and Krõõt-Kärt Kaev reflecting on what it means to be European today.