AROUND TOWN

Now in its second year, the Drinkmonger Spirits Festival (Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 March) has more than 150 spirits to sample in a fun, sociable event designed to help you elevate your home bar and cocktail game. Edinburgh’s Mansfield Traquair is the setting.

Over at the city’s Assembly Rooms, there’s a chance to check out the popular Craft & Flea Makers Market (Sunday 16 March), a gathering of local artisans and crafters selling everything from illustrations and ceramics to jewellery, vintage collectibles and candles.

If you haven’t had a chance to experience it yet then international touring show Enlightenment (until Wednesday 9 April) is still illuminating Merchants House Of Glasgow, with its spectacular displays of sound and lights taking you through spring, summer, autumn and winter to the strains of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’.

MUSIC

The biggest country music festival in Europe, Country To Country (Friday 14 – Sunday 16 March) brings some of the scene’s top acts to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro over three days, including Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley and Cody Johnson, alongside some rising stars.

Over at Dundee Rep, Ross Wilson aka Blue Rose Code (Saturday 15 March) will be fusing folk, Americana, jazz, soul and pop as he plays tracks from Bright Circumstance, his highly acclaimed sixth album with his touring band.

Inspired by the likes of Sandy Denny and Van der Graaf Generator, The WAEVE (Sunday 16 March) unites Blur’s Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall of The Pipettes fame. Check them out at St Luke’s Glasgow.

STAGE

Bringing world class comedy to Glasgow for the past two decades, the Glasgow International Comedy Festival (until Sunday 30 March) is back, delivering hilarity aplenty in one of the funniest places in the world. This weekend sees the likes of Connor Burns, Jimeoin, Felicity Ward, Kate-Lois Elliott and Kai Humphries descend on the city.

Meanwhile, Festival Theatre Edinburgh is the setting for some outrageous adventures in the Bohemians’ production of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert: The Musical (until Saturday 15 March), featuring a soundtrack of pop anthems and tonnes of drag-fuelled fun.

Over at Dundee Rep you can check out the latest production from the acclaimed Dogstar Theatre. The Testament Of Gideon Mack (until Friday 14 March) brings to the stage James Robertson’s 2006 novel, with its story of grief and a crisis of faith channelled through its Presbyterian protagonist.

SCREEN

Nominated for Outstanding Debut at the recent BAFTAs, Sister Midnight announces Karan Kandhari as an exciting new filmmaker. This quirky, genre-bending comedy follows a dissatisfied Mumbai housewife (Radhika Apte) as she rages against her circumstances.

Steven Soderbergh has a blast with Black Bag, a glossy and mischievous thriller starring Michael Fassbender as an intelligence agent who has to investigate his beloved wife (Cate Blanchett). Tom Burke, Marisa Abela, Regé-Jean Page and Naomie Harris are also under suspicion.

Created by Jack Thorne and star Stephen Graham, limited series Adolescence is a one-shot crime drama series showing the fallout when a 13-year-old boy is accused of murdering a classmate. It also features Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty. Watch it on Netflix now.

PODCASTS

In Three People With Rebecca Front the star of The Thick Of It asks celebrity friends to name the three people who have changed their lives. She kicks things off by interviewing someone who changed hers, Armando Iannucci.

If you’ve been watching Netflix’s Toxic Town and want to know more about the real-life story behind it then In Detail… The Toxic Waste Scandal takes you through the crisis that engulfed the former steelworks community of Corby, following a botched industrial clean-up. It’s presented by George Taylor, who was personally affected by what happened and was part of the fightback.

Fashion Neurosis With Bella Freud features the designer digging into the fashion preferences of the rich and famous, asking them to explore the connection between clothes and identity. Kate Moss, Zadie Smith and Nick Cave are amongst the guests.

VISUAL ART

The work of Scottish sculptor, poet, printmaker and provocateur Ian Hamilton Finlay (until Monday 26 May) is celebrated at Edinburgh’s National Galleries of Scotland, Modern Two in a free exhibition.

Over in Kelso, the Borders Art Fair (until Sunday 16 March) takes place this weekend, with exhibitions, workshops and demos on offer, alongside a tour of Marchmont House.

And finally, Steve McQueen’s powerful 24-minute visual artwork Grenfell (until Sunday 23 March) is showing at Glasgow’s Tramway. It’s a filmed record of London’s Grenfell Tower, prior to it being covered with hoarding, created in response to the devastating fire that took place in 2017 and killed 72 people.

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