AROUND TOWN

What better way to distract from the winter weather than something that’s chilling in an entirely different sense? The Edinburgh Dungeon (daily) offers its own terrifying spin on Scottish history, complete with interactive thrills and spooky stories.

Meanwhile, Outlander fans can get their fill of some of the show’s most famous settings on the Outlander Filming Locations Day Tour (daily), including Doune Castle (the real Castle Leoch) and the village of Falkland which doubles as Outlander’s 1940s Inverness.

Over at Glasgow’s gamers’ paradise R-CADE (Saturday 11 January) they’ll be hosting their monthly quiz night, this time revolving around a space theme, alongside the usual gaming and arcade action.

MUSIC

The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh will be welcoming electronic composer and multi-disciplinary artist Max Cooper (Sunday 12 January) this weekend, who will be playing tracks from his tenth studio album, On Being, an exploration of the ‘desperate experience of being human’.

Glasgow institution King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut are in the midst of the 14th edition of King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution (until Saturday 25 January), boasting a line-up of more than 60 up-and-comers. This weekend, there’s a chance to check out Indoor Foxes, Leisureland and Raff.

La Belle Angele in Edinburgh will be remembering an icon when they host David Bowie’s Birthday Party (Friday 10 January). They’ll be marking the occasion by playing tracks from the great man, alongside the likes of Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Kate Bush and more.

STAGE

Featuring the hits of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, the musical Bat Out Of Hell (until Saturday 11 January) is an all-guns-blazing musical that is a loose retelling of Peter Pan set in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan. Catch it at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

The next generation of talent show us what they’re made of at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre this weekend in PASS Double Bill (Saturday 11 January), in which BA Dance and Drama Ensemble Students put in a pair of dynamic performances, produced in partnership with Dance Base.

There’ll be no shortage of nonsense when the award winning ‘super loon’ returns for Tony Law: The Law Also Rises (Sunday 12 January). Expect the comedian to cover all manner of weird subjects when he takes to the stage at The Stand, Edinburgh.

SCREEN

It’s a bumper week for quality film releases with two of Hollywood’s finest female performers giving it some welly in Maria, the Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie, and Babygirl, in which Nicole Kidman’s high-flying businesswoman hooks up with Harris Dickinson’s intern.

Meanwhile, A Real Pain brings together writer-director Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin for a wittily penned ancestral odyssey reflecting on the Holocaust, while The Girl With The Needle is a visually dynamic, unforgettable Danish drama from The Here After’s Magnus von Horn, based on a horrific true story.

Over on Netflix, six-part miniseries American Primeval, from director Peter Berg, depicts the fight for the American west with an impressive cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham and Dane DeHaan.

PODCASTS

The Traitors is back and is as deliciously duplicitous as ever. If the main show doesn’t give you your full fix then the official podcast, The Traitors: Uncloaked, should provide an enjoyable supplement to the shenanigans. Host Ed Gamble is joined by celebrity guests and ousted players.

In What? Seriously?? comedians Dara Ó Briain and Isy Suttie join forces to unravel strange but true tales, with guest experts who have a special connection to the story and will feed fragments to the hosts. Richard Herring, Georgia Toffolo, Stuart Maconie and Christopher Chung get stuck into the fun.

Naomi Alderman dissects the minds of brilliant thinkers in Human Intelligence, considering the likes of Socrates, George Washington, Mary Wollstonecraft, Martin Luther and Malcolm X.

VISUAL ART

Now showing at the RSA Building, Edinburgh is the 144th RSW Open Annual Exhibition (Saturday 11 January – Wednesday 5 February), which brings together the finest watercolour paintings from emerging and established Scottish artists.

Get stuck into some arts and crafts with the kids in Family Art Lab: Soft Impressions (Sunday 12 January),  a creative session inspired by Dundee Contemporary Art’s current exhibition, featuring a gallery visit and guidance from local artists.

And finally, wrapping up on Friday at Platform, Glasgow is Two-Step | Scribbling/Scrabbling (until Friday 10 January), a collaborative project between artists Beth Shapeero and Fraser Taylor who have reimagined their lockdown drawings into a large scale piece, alongside a selection of smaller artworks.

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