AROUND TOWN

Halloween might be over but there’s no need for the spookiness to cease. Hear spine-tingling tales of the capital’s more sinister side in Edinburgh – Dark History, a daily tour which takes you through the Royal Mile, underground and in among graves.

If your mind is already turning to Christmas then Tea Green Festive Market (Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 November) at Glasgow’s The Burrell Collection should help you get prepped nice and early with its textiles, jewellery, ceramics, illustrations and much more.

Featuring live music, hot food, and a wine, gin and prosecco bar, this year’s Alloa Real Ale and Cider Festival (Friday 8 & Saturday 9 November) has appeal way beyond its eponymous beverages. Entry includes a free glass and programme.

MUSIC

Get ready to rock with legends of the genre Deep Purple (Sunday 10 November). Glasgow’s OVO Hydro makes a fittingly epic venue for tunes from their 23rd studio album, =1, alongside established classics like ‘Smoke On The Water’.

Over at Edinburgh’s Leith Depot, they’ll be hosting a night of new music, from retro pop to riot girl punk to indie rock. It features Isabella Strange, Shambol!ca & Llennett (Friday 8 November), a PJ Harvey-inspired soloist, female-led four-piece, and eclectic and atmospheric vocalist respectively.

Meanwhile, Glasgow’s O2 Academy is the setting for a solo show from Griff (Friday 8 November), a soul and pop inspired singer-songwriter, who was winner of the 2021 Rising Star award at the BRITs, has opened for the likes of Dua Lipa, and has just released her debut studio album, Vertigo.

STAGE

Get ready for a whole new world when the stage version of Disney’s Aladdin (until Saturday 30 November) swoops into the Theatre Royal Glasgow for a magical adventure featuring all your favourite songs, alongside new music.

Manjeet Mann’s award-winning narrative poems become striking stage production Run, Rebel (until Saturday 9 November). Aimed at audiences 11+, it’s about a young runner breaking free of her family’s rules and expectations, as well as her own fears. Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre plays host.

Presenter of The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan and the BRIT Awards, affable stand-up Mo Gilligan (Saturday 9 November) is currently out on his world tour In The Moment, his biggest to date. Catch him at Edinburgh’s EICC.

SCREEN

The much-loved Peruvian furball heads off on an adventure to his homeland in the reliably madcap Paddington In Peru, the third film in the popular family franchise. Ben Whishaw returns to voice the little bear, with Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas game additions to the cast.

American Honey’s Andrea Arnold returns with Bird, a sensationally soundtracked and sensitive story following a tough 12-year-old (newcomer Nykiya Adams) as she meets a mysterious stranger (Franz Rogowski), spars with her sketchy father (Barry Keoghan), and tries to protect her three younger siblings.

A spin-off of the wildly popular main series, Junior Taskmaster sees Rose Matafeo step into Greg Davies’ presumably enormous shoes, with Mike Wozniak in Alex Horne mode, but wrangling children. It’s a hilarious prospect.

PODCASTS

With her partner-in-crime Rubina currently on maternity leave, Brown Girls Do It Too: Big Boy Energy finds Poppy shifting the show’s focus from women to men, with the help of guests like Asim Chaudhry and Wajeeh West.

Inside McKamey Manor takes a look at one of the world’s most extreme attractions, the titular American haunted house run by the controversial Russ McKamey, where punters sign waivers allowing actors to do them harm. Journalist Elizabeth McCafferty investigates.

Apparently, we make tens of thousands of decisions every day. In The Art Of Deciding host Bruce Whitfield looks into the subject of decision-making with the help of guests like Jack Reacher author Lee Child and entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid, whose own decisions have had major consequences.

VISUAL ART

Onion Press is a collaboration between comic artists Sarah Lippet and Maria Stoian, exploring island life through a series of publications. Check out their I Am A Rock Exhibition (until Saturday 30 November), now showing at Edinburgh’s Out Of The Blue Drill Hall.

Marking the culmination of a series of group exhibitions at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre, Through Line (Saturday 9 November – Sunday 2 March) features work by nine artists. Their pieces span an array of artistic media, with the use and exploration of the line the common visual thread.

And finally, over at Perth Art Gallery, Fakes And Forgeries: Uncovering The Largest Art Fraud In History (Friday 8 November) explores the forgery ring behind thousands of fake Norval Morrisseau paintings and the cultural, financial and spiritual damage that was done to the Ojibwe artist’s legacy.

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