AROUND TOWN

Shine a light on Edinburgh’s fascinating past as you step beneath the Royal Mile on an atmospheric Lantern Led Tour (Friday 23 – Sunday 25 February), leading you through a warren of historic streets and featuring interactive encounters.

Making its debut this weekend is a treat for lovers of all things macabre. The Blackheart Market Glasgow (Saturday 24 February) will be taking over Drygate Brewing Co to showcase the best in horror, goth and alternative art, crafts and merch.

Edinburgh’s City Art Centre is the setting for a pair of free catwalk shows from Edinburgh College fashion and textile students. Deep Rooted // Reuse Reinvent (Saturday 24 February) features project work encompassing sustainability and celebrating the architecture and resources held in public collections across the city.

MUSIC

Love and Money’s James Grant (Saturday 24 February) will be at Dundee Rep this weekend for a solo show featuring favourites from across his career. As he draws on a broad palette of pop, folk, soul, country and blues influences, he’ll be accompanied by cellist Maya Burman-Roy.

The French bossa nova covers band Nouvelle Vague (Sunday 25 February) will be getting funky when they swing by Edinburgh’s The Liquid Room this weekend as part of their 20th anniversary tour, which also acts as a launchpad for their new material.

In Charlie Chaplin’s Hollywood Piano By Candlelight (Saturday 24 February) the Golden Age of Hollywood will be brought back to life by award-winning pianist Matthew Shiel as he performs some of the era’s favourite film music at Edinburgh’s St Vincent’s Chapel. The performance includes a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s short romcom Those Love Pangs, with Matthew providing the score.

STAGE

Marx In London (Thursday 22 & Saturday 24 February) is a kinetic, amusingly farcical new production from Scottish Opera and Jonathan Dove documenting a madcap day in the life of the legendary German philosopher, and starring Roland Wood as Marx. Check it out at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.

If you’re in the mood for something more contemporary then Ignite (Saturday 24 February) is a hip hop theatre night featuring Scotland-based dancers and exploring themes such as the impact of social media and the butterfly effect. Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre is where it’s at.

Over at The Stand Glasgow, Matt Green: That Guy (Saturday 24 February) sees the Twitter funnyman, best known for his satirical videos, bring his political humour back to the stand-up stage.

SCREEN

If you’re looking for a laugh, then the irresistibly badly behaved Wicked Little Letters will sort you out nicely. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley reunite for a hilariously potty-mouthed comedy based on a real-life scandal.

Memory stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard as two struggling souls who are brought back together following a high school reunion. With Sarsgaard winning Best Actor for his performance at last year’s Venice Film Festival and Chastain as excellent as ever, expect an acting masterclass.

Apple TV+’s latest slice of sci-fi is the intriguing Constellation, a series which follows an astronaut from a fatal accident onboard a space station to her return home to a world that’s disturbingly different to how she left it. Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks star.

PODCASTS

New podcast Here Comes The Guillotine brings together Scottish funny people Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe and Christopher MacArthur-Boyd. With no topic too controversial, they’ll be putting the world to rights, Glasgow style.

In Straight To The Comments! hosts Archie Manners and Josh Pieters delve into the often deranged comments left under MailOnline stories, inviting celebrity guests to read along and try to make sense of all the outrage.

As Facebook turns 20, listen as Jamie Bartlett traces the history of social media and its power over us in BBC Radio 4’s fascinating new series The Gatekeepers.

VISUAL ART

ReConnect Painting Show (until Saturday 6 April) at Glasgow’s Platform brings together the work of artists from Project Ability for a large scale painting exhibition showcasing an eclectic mix of styles and subject matter from artists with lived experience of mental ill health.

Printshop! (until Sunday 14 April) combines a participatory exhibition with artist-led workshops, while you can try your hand at letterpress printing in the gallery for its duration. Also featuring a collaboration from printer and typographer Edwin Pickstone, animator Ross Hugg and electronic musician Konx-Om-Pax.

And finally, on loan from London’s Natural History Museum, Wildlife Photographer Of The Year (until Monday 6 May) is an exceptional exhibition of images capturing fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the impressive diversity of the natural world.