Here's a run down of what's on in Scotland in August.
MUSIC
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
LIGHT On The Shore, a new music strand which is part of Edinburgh International Festival, presents
16 nights of music this month at Leith Theatre. As well as gigs from Scottish heavy hitters King Creosote (Aug 9), pictured above, Karine Polwart (Aug 16) and Mogwai (Aug 22 and 23), local promoters guest curate evenings, such as Neu! Reekie! (Aug 12 and 17) and Hidden Door, who present the mighty Jesus and Mary Chain on August 14. Watch out also for live orchestral versions of Anna Meredith’s Varmits (Aug 11), Martyn Bennett’s Bothy Culture (Aug 21) and Boards Of Canada’s Hi Scores (Aug 23).
All concerts at Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, various times and prices. Full listings and tickets at www.eif.co.uk #LightOnTheShore
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
RISING star Josephine Sillars and her band The Manic Pixie Dreams launch their new single Is It Love? with a gig at Glasgow’s Broadcast on August 18.
Joining their political-pop sing-alongs will be the angel-voiced Caitlin Buchanan and Freakwave, a band whose debut performance at Celtic Connections sold out in January.
August 18, Broadcast, Glasgow, 7pm, £5.50. Tickets: bit.ly/JosephineLaunch www.facebook.com/josephinesillarsmusic soundcloud.com/josephine-sillars
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
FEATURING members of Sister John, Thrum, God Help The Girl, Sporting Hero and The Berie Big Band, The Gracious Losers launch their debut album at a special gig at new Glasgow venue The Great Eastern on August 31. The country-soulsters will be supported at the gig by the multi-talented Kidd and Cloth, another band currently making waves for the Last Night From Glasgow (LNFG) label. The Gracious Losers’ album, also out on LNFG and available at the gig, features artwork by DC and Marvel graphic artist Sean Phillips.
August 31, The Great Eastern, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £7.50. Tickets: bit.ly/GraciousLaunch www.lastnightfromglasgow.com www.facebook.com/GreatEasternGLA
FILM
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
THE GFT’s Hitchcock season continues this month, with To Catch A Thief (tomorrow to Aug 7), The Man Who Knew Too Much (Aug 12 to 14), North By Northwest (Aug 19 to 21), pictured above, and Psycho (Aug 26 to 28).
Glasgow Film Theatre, various times and prices.
Tel: 0141 332 6535. glasgowfilm.org
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
TO celebrate the 30th anniversary of Heathers, Michael Lehmann’s viciously spikey comedy
starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater returns to the big screen for one night (Aug 10) showing in its new 4K restoration format.
August 10, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 6pm, £7.50, £5 concs. Tel: 01382 432 444. Tickets: www.dca.org.uk and Grosvenor Cinema, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £9, £7 concs. Tel: 0845 166 6002. Tickets: grosvenorwestend.co.uk and Perth Playhouse, 8pm, £6.75, £6 concs. Tel: 01738 623 126. Tickets: perthplayhouse.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
ON August 19, filmmaker Mark Cousins will join Eoin Dara, head of exhibitions at Dundee Contemporary Arts, for a Q&A session after a screening of Cousins’s new film The Eyes Of Orson Welles. Cousins will also attend a Q&A following a preview screening at Glasgow Film Theatre on August 12 (7.30pm).
August 19, DCA, 11am, £8, includes cinema ticket, pre-film breakfast roll and hot drink. Tel: 01382 432 444. www.dca.org.uk
August 17 to 23, Glasgow Film Theatre, various times and prices.
Tel: 0141 332 6535. glasgowfilm.org and August 17 to 23, Filmhouse, Edinburgh, various times and prices.
Tel: 0131 228 2688. www.filmhousecinema.com
@markcousinsfilm
VISUAL ART
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
JUST as his documentary The Eyes Of Orson Welles (above) is shown in cinemas, filmmaker Mark Cousins is the adviser of a world exclusive exhibition of sketches, designs and drawings by the pioneering director at Summerhall next month. Welles drew and created visual works from his teens into later life, and this exhibition offers insight into his
life, with sketches from holidays and homemade Christmas cards.
Until September 23, Laboratory Gallery, Summerhall, Edinburgh, 11am to 5pm, free. Tel: 0131 560 1560. www.summerhall.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
ANOTHER of Summerhall’s programme of art during the Fringe is Free The Pussy, a collection of work from around the world produced in response to the imprisonment of punk group Pussy Riot by Russia in 2012. Scotland-based artist Tamsyn Challenger curates the exhibition, which includes work by Yoko Ono, Billy Childish, John Keane, Judy Chicago and Jamie Reid.
Until September 26, Summerhall, Edinburgh. Tel: 0131 560 1580. www.summerhall.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
PRESENTED by Sonica, the sonic arts programme run by Glasgow’s Cryptic, are two large-scale works of public art sure to interest people of all ages. Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey’s Pivot turns George Square into a playground with giant, talking seesaws, while Robbie Thomson’s Portal invites audiences to take a subterranean odyssey through the Clyde Tunnel. Free and wheelchair accessible, both are presented as part of Festival 2018, the cultural programme running as part of the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.
Pivot: Until August 12, George Square, Glasgow, free, non-ticketed. Portal: Until August 12, Clyde Tunnel, Glasgow, free, ticketed. Tickets from cryptic.org.uk
TALKS
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
ORIGINALLY to be held at Glasgow’s CCA, this talk by award-winning novelist Ajay Close (above) will now take place at the nearby Project Cafe. Titled Mayhem in Long Skirts – The Scottish Suffragettes, Close will discuss the extraordinary characters who inspired her novel, A Petrol Scented Spring, and explore the technical challenges and ethical dilemmas involved in writing fiction about real people and events.
August 14, The Project Cafe, Glasgow, 7pm, £5, £3 concs on the door. www.ajayclose.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
IN 2015 Scottish writer Kirstin Innes won the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize for Fishnet, her debut novel which follows a woman who, after learning her missing sister was working as a sex worker, sets out to examine the sex industry. Out of print following the closure of her previous publisher, Fishnet has been re-published in a new edition by Black & White Publishing. The new edition is dedicated to the memory of Laura Lee, the sex workers’ rights activist who passed away suddenly earlier this year.
August 14, Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, 6.30pm, free but ticketed. Register at: bit.ly/FishnetGlasgow kirstininnes.com
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
EDINBURGH-based, documentary and portrait photographers Jannica Honey and Mhairi Bell-Moodie join The Arienas Collective to talk about their recent exhibitions and the power of photography to heal. Full address details and directions will be sent once payment is confirmed.
August 8, New Town, Edinburgh, 6.30pm, £10. Tickets from bit.ly/ArienasTalk www.thearienascollective.com
EVENTS
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
HAVING already visited Wick last week, Looping: Scotland Overdub (above) sees Scottish Dance Theatre collaborate with legendary Glasgow music label Optimo to bring a show inspired by Brazilian street festival to the Isle of Mull and Dundee this week. With words by the acclaimed writer Kieran Hurley and choreography by Brazilian dancers Felipe de Assis and Rita Aquino, each also features community casts of local young people.
August 7, Mull Theatre, Isle of Mull, 8pm, free. Tel: 01688 302211. www.comar.co.uk
August 10, Dundee Rep Theatre, £17, £9 to £14 concs. Tel: 01382 223530. www.dundeerep.co.uk www.scottishdancetheatre.com
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
YOUNG dancers are invited to audition to be part of the junior chorus in Jack And The Beanstalk, the Christmas pantomine presented at Inverness’s Eden Court Theatre. Auditions are open to children and young people aged 9 to 16 in school years P5 to S5 at the time of the production, which runs from December 4 to January 6. Full details at www.imaginetheatre.co.uk where you can also find information on more auditions at Greenock’s Beacon Arts Centre (Aug 24), Kirkcaldy’s Adam Smith Theatre (Aug 24), Falkirk Town Hall (Aug 25) and Kilmarnock’s Palace Theatre (Aug 25).
August 26, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, 9.30am. Tel: 01463 234234. www.eden-court.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
TEMPORARILY moving the workshops they usually hold in the CCA, inclusive music company Paragon will meet in Glasgow’s Theatre Royal for their Beat It jam sessions on Aug 21
and 28 (10.30am). Their Mindful Drumming workshops, sessions focused on mental health and wellbeing, follow on the same days at 1.30pm.
August 21 and 28, Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Tel: 0141 354 0234. www.paragon-music.org
THEATRE
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
IN August all eyes are on productions happening as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. That weighty catalogue can bamboozle, but you’d do worse than starting with the National Theatre of Scotland’s First Snow/Premiere Neige, an international collaboration with leading Quebecois theatre companies (until Aug 26, King’s Hall). Other NTS productions include Birds of Paradise’s new musical comedy My Left Right Foot (until Aug 27, Assembly Roxy) and the return of David Greig and Gordon McIntyre’s hugely successful Midsummer (until Aug 26, The Hub).
Times and prices vary. Tickets: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
THE Summerhall Fringe theatre programme is as vital as ever, with this year’s highlights featuring
the premier of the much-anticipated Square Go (until Aug 26), pictured above, a collaboration between two of Scotland’s best young writers Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair and Riot Days (Aug 10 to Aug 19), a part-gig, part-theatrical documentary show led by Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina.
Times and prices vary. See the full programme and book tickets at www.summerhall.co.uk
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
SCOTLAND’S new writing theatre, the Traverse, is always a venue to watch, with highlights including David Leddy’s Coriolanus Vanishes and the Traverse company’s two main productions, Ulster American by David Ireland and Cora Bisset’s autobiographical What Girls Are Made Of.
All until August 26 (not Aug 6, 13, 20), various times, £20.50, £9.50 to £15.50 concs. Tel: 0131 228 1404. www.traverse.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here