The Observer New Review

Why you’ll want to see this Mayerling again and again @TheRoyalBallet gives six leading men the chance to make their mark as the antihero of Kenneth MacMillan’s masterpiece., writes @Sarahc_k. Plus, Spanish flair in Don Quixote bit.ly/4w4BaSP

The chaos and passion of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek Andrew Durbin’s The Wonderful World That Almost Was captures the intensity and intimacy of two of New York’s experimental art-scene visionaries, writes Olivia Laing bit.ly/42NGk8c

How the General Strike changed Britain Colin Kidd selects four books which show why the failed industrial action of 1926 still haunts the British left, 100 years on bit.ly/4cMjy6D

Canal Street blues of @russelldavies63 The man behind Queer as Folk as It's a Sin is one of the great chroniclers of British gay life. He tells Erica Wagner about his new show, Tip Toe, and the ongoing struggle for acceptance bit.ly/4cMhUlF

JG Ballard’s lessons in life and death @TimAdamsWrites: The Illuminated Man, begun by Christopher Priest and completed by his widow Nina Allan, is a poignant meditation on pain and art bit.ly/4cLOiVv

Alan Moore: ‘The comics industry is poisonous’ The man behind Watchmen and V for Vendetta tells Stephen Armstrong why he has now disowned them and the shadowy London of his latest novel bit.ly/49loRro

The ‘banal brutality’ of the Magdalene Laundries @Louise_Brangan’s The Fallen, a forensic history of Ireland’s Catholic-run workhouses, shows why we are always closer to history than we think, writes Seán O’Hagan bit.ly/4erR8Ah

My exclusive cover story in ⁦@ObsNewReview⁩ today on the extraordinary story of the £20m Portrait of Francis Bacon by his old friend & fellow artist Lucian Freud: stolen in Berlin almost 40 years ago & never seen again. A dogged detective reveals a suspect in the case

Tahar Rahim: ‘Pixote is one of the most essential films in movie history’ The actor tells @killianfox0 his cultural highlights, including a Brazilian cinematic masterpiece, a set designer’s secrets and Japanese photography bit.ly/4u9WXqm

What to read to understand toxic female friendships Lucie McKnight Hardy selects three books that explore the darker side of intimacy between women bit.ly/4cuHTOg

Wayne McGregor makes worlds collide in Alchemies, writes @Sarahc_k Classical and contemporary converge in a convention-shattering triple bill by the @rbo_org's resident choreographer bit.ly/4e4xWZ4

Is AI taking over podcasting, asks @msmirandasawyer? Hundreds of AI-generated shows are being launched daily, but here is proof of the value of the human touch. Plus, Esther Perel meets a man who programmed a chatbot girlfriend bit.ly/4eafM8q

Olivia Dean on tour – timeless, polished, but something’s missing As her hit song Man I Need passes a billion streams on Spotify, the gen Z darling is riding a wave of confidence, writes @kadishmorris bit.ly/4sRrnMY

‘I’m going to be writing period dramas for a very, very long time,’ says @AvaPickett The 1536 playwright speaks to @MarineSaint02 about her prize-winning show opening in the West End, her obsession with Anne Boleyn and working with Baz Luhrmann bit.ly/3QYGWFn

Femme Feral is a sly werewolf horror about the menopause Sam Beckbessinger’s debut novel channels feminine rage to produce a cathartic satire with real bite, writes @HephzibahA bit.ly/4tuFw3X

The Sunday Poem: You walk past (after Tsvetaeva) by Colin Bramwell. His debut poetry collection, Fetch, will be published by And Other Stories later this year Illustration by @chrisriddell50 bit.ly/4cRPrKW

Radio 4 explores what it means to be a girl Young women’s views on education, sex and puberty ranged from bleak to uplifting on Catherine Carr’s About the Girls, says @msmirandasawyer. Plus, why are working-class white girls falling behind at school? bit.ly/422nBWt

The making of Peggy Guggenheim In 1937, the New York collector opened her first gallery – her aim to shake up London’s art scene with work by living artists. @JoannaMoorhead writes that a new show relives her short-lived but life-changing venture bit.ly/4mzGmK6

The big picture: Hunting with America’s super rich Will Vogt offers an insider’s view of the golfing weekends and shooting parties of the US upper class. As @killianfox0 writes, quails beware… bit.ly/3OoSOjl

What to read to understand privilege John Lanchester collates three books dealing with class, entitlement and the struggle to climb the social ladder bit.ly/4vDgZLu