CD: British Electric Foundation - Music of Quality and Distinction Vol 3: Dark

Resurrected after 22 years, does this covers project still work?

It took nine years between the first and second instalments of this series, and another 22 years to make the third. And that's one of the least strange things about this record. The production team of B.E.F. (aka Human League / Heaven 17 members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh) have dedicated themselves to unusual cover versions, in the past featuring guest vocalists from Gary Glitter to Tina Turner to Paula Yates, and they are still on a mission to rework classic songs in a high-gloss 1980s pop style with very peculiar results indeed.

Passion Play, Duke of York's Theatre

PASSION PLAY, DUKE OF YORK'S THEATRE David Leveaux directs Peter Nichols's devastating dissection of sexual betrayal

David Leveaux directs Peter Nichols's devastating dissection of sexual betrayal

What’s the price of betrayal? In Peter Nichols’s 1981 play it’s a painful splintering of the psyche. The betrayer mentally compartmentalises in order to be both affectionate husband and ardent lover; the betrayed loses her confidence, her purpose, even her identity until she is – in ways that Nichols makes theatrically explicit – beside herself.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

FAR CRY 3: BLOOD DRAGON The game of 2012 gets a 1980s action make-over in this both dumb and smart expansion

The game of 2012 gets a 1980s action make-over in this both dumb and smart expansion

An invincible army of cybercommandos, neon-pink pulsing colour schemes and the throbbing sounds of a Morodor-style baseline – Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is every bit the dumb Eighties action game on the surface, but underneath it might actually be one of the most interesting approaches to mainstream gaming in a while.

Mick Hucknall, Hammersmith Apollo

MICK HUCKNALL, HAMMERSMITH APOLLO Can the Red man sing the blues?

The Simply Red man tries to show his fans he is Simply The Best

There was a point about two-thirds of the way through last night's gig when someone lobbed something onto the stage in front of Mick Hucknall. It was not clear exactly what it was due to the sea of dancing mums in front of me, but my strong suspicion is that it was something made of lace and worn below the waist judging by Hucknall's bemused declaration: "That's Tom Jones's department."

DVD: Dead Head

Howard Brenton's mordant 1986 serial plumbs the depths of British establishment malfeasance

British film noir followed two courses in the 1980s. Whereas the American neo-noir revival of the 1970s prompted such contemporary crime thrillers as The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa, and Stormy Monday, three superior BBC drama serials, though also neo-noirs, drew more rigorously on Hollywood’s classic noir era.

CD: Ian McCulloch – Holy Ghosts

The Liverpool Lip still has that soaring voice, now all he needs is a lyricist

When I suggested reviewing Ian McCulloch's new album, our glorious editor was under the impression that it was just a live collection of ancient tracks. It is actually a double album – mainly old Bunnymen beauties on the self-explanatory Orchestral Reworkings from the Union Chapel plus a newish studio album,Pro Patria Mori, which had a low-key release in 2012 funded by fans. An understandable misunderstanding, as even the press release foregrounds the live album.

Evil Dead

Full-blooded remake of Sam Raimi's horror classic hits the mark

Down in the cellar where the monsters were in Sam Raimi’s 1982 debut The Evil Dead, you glimpsed a poster for Wes Craven’s 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes, ripped symbolically in half. The bar for gruelling low-budget horror, Raimi was saying, had just been raised.

PunksNotDead/DuoTasking

Indie games are often free, and all about ideas over high-end execution

The bassline starts, "1979" flashes up on screen and, over a scratchy recording, the voice intones "Walking down the street, I get punched; you're walking down the street, you get punched".

PunksNotDead's not going to hold your attention for more than a few minutes, but in those few minutes, this hyperkinetic, luridly day-glo explosion of punk attitude and violence encapsulates everything that's great about the indie games scene – it's the ideas, stupid (and they're free).

CD: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito

Can hipsters be hip ten years on?

On hearing the opening track of this album, a friend said “I didn't expect to be listening to new albums of the YYYs 10 years on!” And this is kind of understandable: of all the new rock bands of the early 2000s – The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives, The White Stripes – they had the most air of hipsterism, their kooky demeanour and New York clubbability making it understandable that some could think they were a trend-driven flash-in-the-pan sensation.