AROUND TOWN

Glasgow’s amazing arts centre Platform is hosting a family fun day, The Bridge Family Festival (Saturday 29 July), this weekend. It boasts a free roller disco (with skates supplied), live music, kids’ activities, food and community stalls, inflatables, rides and lots more.

Kicking off this weekend is the Aberdour Festival (Friday 28 July – Sunday 6 August), a small but perfectly formed ten-dayer featuring a wide variety of activities and events. A drinks’ launch, pet show, parade, ceilidh, comedy night and market day are amongst the highlights.

Taking its own, super-active approach to festival fun is the Energy Festival 2023 (Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 July) which combines sporting and adventure challenges, including the spectacular Colour Run, with inspiring STEM activities. Head to North Inch Park, Perth, to get stuck in.

MUSIC

To mark the release of their 17th studio album, Be Opened By The Wonderful, iconic English rockers James (Friday 28 July) are back on tour. A live orchestra will be helping Tim Booth and co deliver stirring acoustic versions of career classics and newer hits. They’ll be captivating the crowd at Dundee’s Slessor Gardens, with support from indie rockers Razorlight and Dundee's own Arms Against. 

Slessor Gardens is also the destination for indie pop stars Bastille (Saturday 29 July), who will be swinging by as part of their Bad Blood X tour. They’ll be performing tracks from their landmark debut album to celebrate its 10th anniversary, alongside plenty of other favourites.

If you like your music a little more intense, then Edinburgh’s Liquid Room will be hosting a night of fast-paced, hard-hitting techno in Evolve presents Xenia (Saturday 29 July) which will see the popular Ukrainian DJ supported by up-and-coming Irish star IMNOTYOURMATE and Scottish duo Lauz & Aslo.

STAGE

Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre will be running previews of The Grand Old Opera House Hotel (until Sunday 27 August) this weekend, the latest from Olivier Award-winning writer Isobel McArthur (Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of)). It’s a big-hearted ensemble comedy peppered with popular opera songs and supernatural chaos.

Expect plenty of energy when The Beyond Broadway Experience revive their hit 2016 show Bring It On! The Musical (Friday 28 & Saturday 29 July). Inspired by the successful cheerleading comedy, it features lyrics by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Cheer it on at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.

Bringing stunts and spectacle to Perth Theatre is Kevin Quantum: Momentum (Friday 28 & Saturday 29 July), a show in which the illusionist and inventor delivers some mind-blowing magic. Described by David Walliams as a ‘sexy Doctor Who’ when he reached the final stages of Britain’s Got Talent, Kevin was trained by no less than Penn & Teller.

SCREEN

Aussie filmmaking twins Danny and Michael Philippou have marked themselves out as ones to watch with their feature debut, the sensationally scary teen horror Talk To Me. After putting the frighteners on the festival scene, it’s now been unleashed on general release.

Another incredibly impressive debut has just landed on Netflix. They Cloned Tyrone combines a sci-fi concept with Blacksploitation stylings, social commentary and comedy chops. First-time director Juel Taylor has fun with a bonkers story and fine cast that includes John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx.

Streaming on Apple TV+ from Friday, The Beanie Bubble is a behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest toy crazes of all time, starring Zach Galifianakis as Beanie Babies creator Ty Warner and featuring Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook in support.

PODCASTS

Following up their Succession podcast, husband and wife team Sara Barron and Geoff Lloyd take a wider look at the televisual landscape in Firecrotch & Normcore: They Like To Watch. Guests including Charlie Brooker and Sarah Phelps discuss the making of their own shows and what else they’ve been enjoying on the box, while listeners offer their tips too.

Keep up to speed with what’s happening in the Women’s World Cup with The Guardian Women’s Football Weekly which delivers three helpings a week during the tournament. Faye Carruthers and Suzy Wrack are your hosts, while panellists include Anita Asante, Claire Rafferty, Robyn Cowen and Jonathan Liew.

With Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie movie breaking records at the box office, hear the story of the world’s most popular doll. Three-part podcast LA Made: The Barbie Tapes includes never-before-heard interviews with Barbie inventor Ruth Handler, as well as those that created and styled her and the marketers that made her what she is today.

VISUAL ART

Towering sculpture The Hauntings (until Sunday 12 November) is currently on display at Balhousie Castle, home of the Black Watch Museum. This haunting creation was made for the first world war centenary to commemorate those that served in the war and was inspired by sightings of a ghostly soldier.

Edinburgh’s &Gallery is the setting for solo exhibition Eric Cruikshank: Light From A Shared Place (Saturday 29 July – Wednesday 30 August). Eric produces paintings that focus on the emotive qualities of places using a palette tied to the Scottish landscape.

Paradigms (Saturday 29 July – Wednesday 2 August) is a group exhibition featuring recent work from Edinburgh-based visual artists Catherine Young, Hazel Brady, Jayne McIntyre and Louise Todd. Although all four have their own distinct perspectives and styles, they share a common passion for their art. Edinburgh’s Whitespace is where it’s at.