In crisp, cool black-and-white, the Oscar-winning Paweł Pawlikowski tells the story of a Nobel laureate’s return to Germany from US exile in the summer of 1949. The peerless Sandra Hüller (The Zone of Interest, Digger) stars as Erika Mann, accompanying her father, Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) on his trip to receive the Goethe prize, first in West Germany, then – controversially – on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Feelings of national loss and personal loss elegantly intermingle, as the duo navigate state banquets, press conferences and accusations of treason, in the immediate aftermath of the second world war.

Ellen E Jones, Nerve film critic

Opera refuseniks, listen up – this former denier has fallen hard for the ambitious, bold productions of Welsh National Opera, under its fabulous new co-directors, Adele Thomas and Sarah Crabtree. Their current tour of two short operas by Bartók and Stravinsky is a full-throttle, intensely gothic experience – imagine the emotional slam of a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds gig, turned up to 11. Bluebeard’s Castle is especially terrifying: a tale of a woman entering a doomed relationship with a haunted man, staged around a long, white, starkly lit table surrounded by eerie empty chairs, with seven doors to be opened and the arrival of blood, flowers and sunlight. The production also begins with one of the most nerve-jangling sequences I’ve ever witnessed live: the slow, encroaching sound of women singing in the dark, their voices and the lights gradually coming into focus before they appear, their faces shrouded and their bodies dressed in ghostly white.

Jude Rogers, writer

We may be totally overexposed to colourful scenes of everyday life on social media, but stepping into this Photographers’ Gallery show dedicated to the great American pioneer of colour photography, it’s clear that such overabundance serves to make William Eggleston’s work even more arresting. Cars, coke bottles, bathrooms, gas stations: Eggleston’s eye for angles, tones and details makes everything seem worthy of attention. To mark 50 years since the publication of William Eggleston’s Guide and an exhibition of his colour photography at MoMA in New York, the show represents these works, alongside several other series (including Graceland, Los Alamos and Cadillac) over two bustling floors, with many of his most celebrated works alongside lesser known images. It’s a feast. But one late 60s image of an overturned Cadillac, rusted out and mournful on the roadside, has particularly stayed with me, emblematic of America today, upside down and in crisis.

Imogen Carter, Nerve co-founder

Don’t be misled by the black-and-white poster of Kristin Scott Thomas looking fretful. Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of Chekhov’s classic about aristocracy on the skids is a bustling, hilarious social comedy. Like Nina and Moses Raine’s recent take on Gorky’s Summerfolk (originally written as a thematic sequel to The Cherry Orchard), Ian Rickson’s production combines a period setting with modern energy. Scott Thomas’s Ranevskaya has a proud, melancholy glamour, all tense smiles and brittle charm, while Stephen Mangan’s serf-made-good Lopakhin is as nervous as a schoolboy despite his financial ascendancy – both are manacled to the past. The stacked cast also includes Karl Johnson, Jeff Rawle, Vinette Robinson and Peter Wight on bittersweet form. Perhaps the comedy softens the tragedy and lowers the stakes, but when a play is staged as often as The Cherry Orchard, it can withstand multiple interpretations. McPherson throws open the windows and lets in some fresh air.

Dorian Lynskey, Nerve theatre critic

It’s being billed as Britain’s first gen Z sitcom, but regardless of a viewer’s vintage, there’s loads to love about Leo Reich’s debut comedy. The stand-up wunderkind stars as Ethan, “a middle-class loser gay guy” who admits to having “one of the easiest lives in recorded human history”. When his best friends from university leave their shared flat, Ethan wallows in narcissistic self-pity. As the gang try to figure out their messy lives and reduce their screen time (“I’m down to six hours per day, not including laptop or TV”), it’s riotously funny and painfully relatable. And also unashamedly rude, with hook-ups in parks, horny therapists and rogue sex toys. As if giving Reich the seal of approval from his elders, Zadie Smith narrates, while guest stars include Andrew Scott and Lena Dunham. Brace yourself for the spitting scene. It's bound to become a talking point.

Michael Hogan, writer

It takes a dancer to understand motion the way Florence Peake does. Her works freeze movement in time, poised on the brink of shifting from one shape into another, so that you feel like the sculptures will stir into action when you turn your back. In this exhibition of new work, Peake explores loss, grief and absence in pieces produced collaboratively, including with queer identifying individuals in Manchester. In a room cocooned in red fabric are bright white totem works created by pouring plaster between grieving people performing a form of somatic dance. In another, plaster shrouds reach out in embrace. The works capture the space around or in between people – the figures themselves are absent, capturing the feeling of incomprehension that someone so alive one moment simply no longer exists.

Laura Davis, writer

Gayle Rankin left Scotland at 17 to train at New York’s prestigious Juilliard school, then made a name for herself across the Atlantic in high-profile productions, including in Hamlet opposite Oscar Isaac and in TV’s House of the Dragon. Recently, she has been back home, first to film the terrific island-set comedy The Incomer, and now to star in National Theatre of Scotland’s new touring version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark’s classic novel about a fabulously errant teacher at an Edinburgh girls’ school. Director Vicky Featherstone and designer Chloe Lamford make some odd choices, including inserting dance sequences, but David Harrower’s adaptation unfolds with compellingly tragic inevitability. Rankin is simply superb as Miss Brodie, strutting and lounging around the stage like an exotic bird. What a thrill to have such a charismatic performer back on Scottish stages, however briefly. The Edinburgh run is over, but you can still catch it in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Pitlochry.

Fergus Morgan, theatre critic

A novel that discusses fame can sometimes feel rather hollow, but Divya Maniar's debut brings new life to those conversations in a world that now has a machine ready to catapult anyone to notoriety. After Care is an emotional rollercoaster of a novel that focuses on Grace, a former reality television star craving the attention she has lost, and holding on to many negative aspects of her life. This is a book that takes us down the psychological spiral of instantaneous fame in the age of social media, and the lack of care for young people once they are no longer on telly for our entertainment. 

Michaela Makusha, writer

THEATRE
Club NVRLND
(The Vaults, London SE1, from 14 November until 31 January 2027)

Fresh from a sold-out run at the Edinburgh festival, Club NVRLND will bring its immersive nightclub musical to London for over two months. A riotous, pop-fuelled riff on Peter Pan, the show follows runaway bride Wendy Darling, played by Diana Vickers, as she returns to Peter’s world of music and reckless adventure, soundtracked by 2000s anthems.

FILM
Giant
(In cinemas from 19 November)

Mark Rosenblatt’s Olivier award-winning debut play will be shown in cinemas worldwide from November 2026, following acclaimed runs in London’s West End and on Broadway. Starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl, the play is set in 1983, as the author faces a backlash over an antisemitic review and must decide whether to apologise or stand by his remarks. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, the filmed production will screen in more than 900 cinemas across 18 countries.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Love Stories
(Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, from 18 December)

Bringing together 10 internationally acclaimed photographers, Love Stories explores the messy, tender and often unexpected realities of human connection. Featuring work by Martin Parr, Richard Billingham, Zanele Muholi and Sunil Gupta, among others.