Something For The Weekend: Aurie Styla, Adrien Brody, Kristin Davis and more
As another weekend careens into view, we've put together a smashing round-up of cultural highlights to entertain you. In this week's edition, we're chatting a heavyweight Oscar contender, the race to beat COVID-19, a celebration of music and stories from Palestine, and much more
AROUND TOWN
Celebrating the relationship between whisky and Celtic music culture, the Scottish National Whisky Festival (Saturday 25 January) at Glasgow’s SWG3 offers tasting opportunities aplenty alongside live music from acclaimed Scottish artists.
At Edinburgh Castle, they’ll be marking Burns Night with Celebrating Burns (Saturday 25 January), an exploration of one of Scotland’s literary greats, looking at Robert Burns’ life and the story behind his work.
Also celebrating the Scottish Bard, W Edinburgh (Saturday 25 January) are hosting an evening of revelry in their rooftop bar which boasts panoramic views over the capital. As well as a traditional Scottish dinner (inspired by Burns’ work) there will be whisky, cocktails and live music.
In an entirely different vein, kicking off this weekend at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland is the fascinating, free exhibition Injecting Hope: The Race For A COVID-19 Vaccine (Saturday 25 January – Sunday 27 April) which looks at the rapid research, development and delivery of the life-saving vaccine.
MUSIC
An evening of stories, music and pipers from Palestine, Bethlehem Calling (Saturday 25 January) champions artists and young people from Scotland and Palestine. It features verbatim performance integrated with live music co-created by Franz Ferdinand’s Paul Thomson, and takes place at Glasgow’s Tramway.
And the city’s Galvanizers SWG3 will be hosting Texan singer-songwriter Livingston (Friday 24 January) who releases his latest single, ‘Brainstorm’, on the same day, with the deluxe version of last year’s album, A Hometown Odyssey: The Story Continues, expected in March.
Aspiring trad composers will have a chance to learn from and work with two of the best in the business in Tune Workshop Weekend (Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 January), which will feature musical collaborators Duncan Chisholm and Hamish Napier sharing their approaches to the creative process.
STAGE
Magnetic North: We Will Hear The Angels (Friday 24 January – Thursday 6 February) explores loneliness and heartbreak through the words, movement and music of a group of actor-musicians. It features the music of Hank Williams, Orange Juice, Etta James, JS Bach and more. Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket is where it’s at.
Starring Jason Donovan as Dr Frank-N-Furter, Richard O’Brien’s rock ‘n’ roll musical The Rocky Horror Show (until Saturday 25 January) will be storming the stage at the Edinburgh Playhouse as part of a new world tour. It follows a wide-eyed young couple whose car breaks down outside a creepy mansion before they are drawn into the wild antics inside.
London-based actor, broadcaster and comic Aurie Styla (Sunday 26 January) is taking his comedy back out on the road with The Aurator Tour, his biggest to date. You can check him out when he swings by The Stand in Glasgow.
SCREEN
From director Brady Corbet (Vox Lux), The Brutalist is an epic and intricate tale of immigration, ambition and artistic vision which follows a Hungarian architect (Adrien Brody) who moves to the US after WWII. Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones and Joe Alwyn co-star in this extremely early contender for one of the films of the year.
The versatile Steven Soderbergh turns his talent to the supernatural in Presence, subverting the genre by adopting the perspective of the ghost, who is haunting a family led by matriarch Lucy Liu.
Created by Drew Goddard (The Cabin In The Woods, Bad Times At The El Royale) and hitting Disney+ this week, High Potential is a comedy-infused police procedural, starring Kaitlin Olson as a single mom and cleaner turned crime solver.
PODCASTS
Returning for more polite probing, The Louis Theroux Podcast is back for its fourth season, beginning with Louis picking the brain of no less than Willem Dafoe. A chat with Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall follows, with Jamie Oliver and Armie Hammer amongst those coming up.
It changed her life and now Sex And The City star Kristin Davis wants to connect with fans of the show in Are You A Charlotte? in which she discusses the series and the issues it explored.
In unofficial Gladiators podcast Contender Ready Olympic weightlifter Emily Campbell and comedian and Gladiators mega fan Jessica Fostekew enthuse about the show with celebrity guests, including Lou Sanders and Josh Widdicombe.
VISUAL ART
Kicking off this weekend at Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy is In Orcadia (Saturday 25 January – Sunday 2 March), an exhibition of artwork inspired by Orkney’s landscape and natural environment. It includes a new body of work from Samantha Clark, the winner of the RSA MacRobert Art Award For Painting.
From photographer Stephen Deazley and now showing at Edinburgh’s Upright Gallery, The Way Of The Cross (until Sunday 26 January) charts graffitied crosses in Scottish cities, marked in ink, chalk, pencil and nail polish, and scratched into wood and stone.
And finally, Behind The Scenes Tour: Collection Highlights (Friday 24 January) gives you the chance to learn more about the most interesting objects in Perth Art Gallery on a tour of the basement of the building.
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