AROUND TOWN

Opening this weekend in an explosion of interactive art, Beyond Van Gogh & Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experiences (Saturday 29 November – Friday 2 January) will transform Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre into a riot of colour and incomparable imagination.

Also offering its fair share of spectacle, Christmas At The Botanics (until Tuesday 30 December) returns to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This after-dark trail features street food, spiced winter warmers and Santa himself, and guarantees plenty of festive magic.

Celebrating 50 years of Scottish surfing as it hosts the Scottish Inter-Club Surfing Championships, Gathering Of The Clans (Friday 28 – Saturday 29 November) is a special weekend at Edinburgh’s Lost Shore Surf Resort, combining exhibitions, talks, competitions and revelry.

MUSIC

Soundhouse Winter Festival (until Monday 1 December) is a new five-day music festival taking place at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, featuring established artists, exciting newcomers, workshops and masterclasses.

Recently seen in cinematic smash Sinners, actor and singer-songwriter Lola Kirke (Saturday 29 November) will be swinging by Glasgow’s King Tut’s this weekend to play tracks from her new album, Trailblazer.

Over at Glasgow’s Old Hairdressers, acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Rosie Frater-Taylor (Sunday 30 November) will be promoting her latest record, Featherweight, featuring her signature fusion of rock, alt-pop, neo-soul, new-school jazz and folk.

STAGE

Bringing their much-loved TV show to the stage following its final series, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are scaring up a storm at the Edinburgh Playhouse in Inside No 9 – Stage/Fright (until Saturday 29 November). Tickets for tonight are still available.

At Glasgow’s The Stand comedy club, Liam Withnail: Big Strong Boy (Sunday 30 November) sees the stand-up get up close and personal as he tells his story of leaving home and coming to terms with who his parents are.

Kicking off this week at Òran Mór, Glasgow, is their winter panto, Mary Doll Poppins (until Sunday 4 January), a witty Glasgow twist on the story of everyone’s favourite magical nanny who, this time round, has to contend with kids who won’t get off their phones.

SCREEN

Hitting cinemas before it drops on Netflix on Friday 12 December, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the deliciously devious third instalment in Rian Johnson’s series, starring Daniel Craig, who this time is joined by man of the moment Josh O’Connor. While BDSM romcom Pillion, featuring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård is similarly superb.

Out on tour and swinging by Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall this weekend, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth In Concert (Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 November) puts the 80s cult classic back on the big screen, with its wonderful soundtrack performed by a live band, accompanying David Bowie’s unmistakable vocals.

Also sure to delight the family is the latest in Glasgow Film Theatre’s Take 2 programme – its free family screenings. This month the cinema is going for maximum cinematic sparkle with comic fantasy Stardust (Saturday 29 November), starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro.

PODCASTS

Fresh from his pretty damn successful Traitors stint, rugby legend Joe Marler launches his own podcast Joe Marler Will See You Now where he hosts a celebrity clinic. The first person on the couch is none other than his famous frenemy, Nick Mohammed, in a hilarious and adorable reunion.

Goalhanger adds to its stable of expert podcasts this week with The Rest Is Science hosted by mathematician Professor Hannah Fry and science creator Michael Stevens (aka Vsauce).

Comedy stars and friends Mo Gilligan, Babatunde Aléshé and Eddie Kadi join forces for new podcast Man Like You where they’ll share funny stories, life lessons and more.

VISUAL ART

New at Glasgow’s Tramway is an ambitious solo exhibition from the Edinburgh-born, Glasgow-based Rae-Yen Song (until Sunday 16 August), who has transformed the venue’s vast gallery space into a sub-aquatic world shaped according to the ancestral logics of the Song family.

A visual love letter to Glasgow in all its quirks and contradictions, group art exhibition Beautiful Shambles (Friday 28 – Sunday 30 November) at the city’s Glue Factory brings together work from artists Nick Smith, Chris Swan, Ross Ryan and Stewart Swan, plus a five-hour live audio installation from Ti Lumnus.

And finally, if you’re looking to get sorted for Christmas in an imaginative and ethical style, V&A Dundee is hosting a Festive Design Market (Friday 28 – Sunday 30 November) this weekend from pop-up specialists Tea Green Events.

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