Around Town

Shake up your social life and check out some of the best bars and restaurants in St Andrews during St Andrews Cocktail Week (Friday 24 March – Sunday 2 April). Get yourself a wristband for discounts aplenty, on drinks, meals, hair and beauty treatments, and more. Participating venues include The Adamson, St Andrews Brewing Co and Rogue.

^{Out Of The Blue Flea Market}

Returning to Edinburgh’s arts and education hub this weekend, is the popular Out Of The Blue Flea Market (Saturday 25 March), a monthly second hand market in the traditional ‘flea’ style. You’ll be able to browse nearly 50 stalls packed with pre-loved treasures, while the café will be serving refreshments throughout the day.

Boasting a bigger and better than ever event in celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Hawick Reivers Festival (Friday 24 – Sunday 26 March) offers the opportunity to step back in time to the mid-16th century through music, drama and re-enactments. A banquet, torchlight procession and fireworks display are also on the agenda.

Music

^{Marti Pellow}

Scottish musician Marti Pellow is best known for his days as Wet Wet Wet’s frontman but he can still pack out a stadium as a solo performer. He’ll be treating audiences at Glasgow’s SEC Armadillo to the entirety of Wet Wet Wet’s platinum selling 1987 album in Popped In Souled Out With The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Sunday 26 March).

The RSNO will also take centre stage at the SEC Armadillo this weekend when they deliver a full-scale symphonic tribute to John Williams At The Oscars. (Saturday 25 March). Robert Baxter is your conductor, with Tommy Pearson presenting and the orchestra performing scores from the likes of Star Wars, Superman and Jurassic Park.

Promising a rousing trad-rock fusion, Skerryvore (Saturday 25 March) are more than just your average folk act, with the band picking up awards for their high-energy live shows. Their spring tour sees them debut some tunes from their upcoming album Tempus and pack in plenty of old favourites, with Perth Concert Hall their destination this weekend.

Stage

^{Il Trittico}

Puccini’s epic trio of one-act operas centring on love and loss Il Trittico (Saturday 25 March) runs the gamut from high drama and tragedy to black comedy and farce. This production sees world-renowned director Sir David McVicar return to Scottish Opera for an event like no other, with all three operas presented in one night as originally intended, and time for dinner and drinks. Catch them at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.

Lovers of the spine-chilling are in for a treat with new ghost story When Darkness Falls (until Saturday 25 March) from James Milton and Paul Morrissey, now showing at Dundee Rep. Inspired by true events, this atmospheric tale follows a young paranormal expert and sceptical history teacher on a stormy night on the small island of Guernsey.

​​​​​​​Part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Eshaan Akbar (Sunday 26 March) will be swinging by Glasgow’s The Stand with his new show The Pretender. Known for his appearances on Mock The Week, QI and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, you’ll soon see him in the fourth series of Sex Education.

Screen

^{John Wick: Chapter 4}

Lent unexpected poignancy by the recent death of one of its stars, Lance Reddick, John Wick: Chapter 4 continues the neo-noir action saga. Keanu Reeves returns as Wick who is being hunted by the High Table, led by Alexander’s brother Bill Skarsgård, with Laurence Fishburne an ally of Wick’s and Donnie Yen an old friend enlisted to kill him.

Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor, Antiviral) continues to follow in his father David’s footsteps with sci-fi horror Infinity Pool. It stars Alexander Skarsgård as a creatively blocked writer who heads to a seemingly idyllic resort for inspiration and is plunged into a nightmare. Woman of the moment Mia Goth (see last week’s Pearl) and Cleopatra Coleman are in support.

Inspired by real events, The Beasts takes a nail-biting look at an escalating feud between neighbours in the Galician countryside. Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs play a middle-aged French couple who have settled in the area to the chagrin of some of the locals, with things turning very nasty indeed.

Podcast

^{Lucy Worsley}

Over six episodes new podcast Countered Terrorism goes behind the scenes at Interpol and the UK CTU to uncover how counter terrorism has foiled major terror plots in recent years. Combining exclusive interviews with dramatic reconstructions, it’s narrated by Homeland’s David Harewood and available now on Audible.

In series two of BBC Sounds’ Lady Killers With Lucy Worsley the historian continues to investigate the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective, and is joined by an all-female team of sleuths. The series covers 100 years of women who kill and asks: ‘Are things so very different today?’

Also back for a second series is The Guardian’s Pop Culture With Chantè Joseph who will be discussing everyone from Meghan and Harry to Rihanna. She kicks off by wondering whether viewers are really bothered about the Oscars any more.

Visual Art

^{Water Of Leith, Water Of Life}

New Edinburgh art space Graystone Gallery is proud to present its very first exhibition Water Of Leith, Water Of Life (until Saturday 22 April). It showcases work by Scottish artists, including those from Leith itself, that have been inspired by the history of the area and the rough, romantic coastlines of Scotland.

Presented by Aizle Artist Collective, HOLD Art Exhibition (Friday 24 March – Tuesday 28 March) showcases a series of inspiring and imaginative artworks across various media made by six Edinburgh artists, including Catherine Barnes, Ronald Binnie and Kirstine Drysdale. See it at The Dundas Street Gallery in Edinburgh.

Finally, in Conserving Scotland’s Art (until Sunday 16 April) at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh you’ll get a peek behind the scenes to see what goes on before art is ceremoniously displayed, as it shines a light on how conservators and specialist technicians preserve art, objects and cultural heritage. There is also an opportunity to put yourself in the frame by posing for a photo at the photography wall.

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