“THE FORMIDABLE PETER MULLAN DELIVERS A TENDER PERFORMANCE”
THE GUARDIAN
THE SKINNY “A DARKLY COMIC STUDY OF AGEING AND IDENTITY”
We Scots are known for sometimes being a little bit hard to please. This is especially so when it comes to the nation’s idiosyncratic weather patterns. If we get a bit of sun: ‘it’s too hot’. If it rains: ‘why didn’t I bring my umbrella or just stay indoors for the rest of my days’? If it’s too cold: ‘I wish it was hot. Remember all that sun we were having? Where did that go?’ And on it goes until it snows later that afternoon. Quite how any of us coped during the recent very clement temperatures is a modern miracle. What’s not up for debate is that Scots might moan about it, but getting the air on our cheeks and wind in our hair is hugely appealing to an increasing number of us.
Our outdoors special kicks off with a feature on running clubs, triggered by the fact that something of a boom is going on in that field. Knocking out a marathon every week might be a stretch for most of us, but a 5K Parkrun is more likely within us. If running/jogging/trotting isn’t your thing, then maybe you’ll be inspired to get up from the sofa for some cold swimming or a game involving a racket and ball (for our social experiment, we plumped for padel) or to get on your bike.
It may be June and it’s (sort of) nice outside, but don’t let that put you off heading into the nation’s cultural hotspots. Art venues in the west are opening themselves up to the contemporary delights of another Glasgow International, Scottish Dance Theatre celebrates a landmark year, Danny Beard is being unleashed onto Dundee Pride, and TRNSMT has jumped ahead in the calendar for an earlier onslaught of live action. And in our review slots, we delight in a recent Kraftwerk electro-futurist extravaganza, relish the subtle glories of Maggie O’Farrell’s writing, sing the praises of The Stand’s Sunday Service and revel in a plethora of familiar Scandi faces for The Last Viking Whether your cultural preference is for staying indoors or getting out and about, there should be something to entice you across these pages.
Brian Donaldson EDITOR
Donaldson, Claire Sawers, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Ellie Carr, Emma Simmonds, Evie Glen, Fiona Shepherd, Gary Sullivan, Greg Thomas, Isy Santini, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jay Thundercliffe, Jo Laidlaw, Kelly Apter, Katherine McLaughlin, Kevin Fullerton, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Megan Merino,
Already bored by the impending summer of sport? Our regular columnist Kevin Fullerton has some suggestions to make the season of ball-thwacking a tad more interesting
Victorian England’s wokerati-in-chief Karl Marx observed that football is an opiate for the masses. But if he were alive in 2026 and provided with a Sky Sports package, he’d conclude that the 24-hour-a-day contract negotiations and internecine drama of the beautiful game is more akin to a rapid-fire feeding tube brimming with Red Bull and crack.
Surely we need a moratorium on the same eight sporting events repeated ad nauseum? I’ve got plenty of ideas for sports that should replace our current crop and, once I’ve found sponsorship for the games below, popular footballers will either have to retrain or be culled with the righteous zeal of a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Failing that, I’ll hire some friends on Gumtree and play them myself.
Time Olympics: A true feat of endurance, everyone at the Time Olympics has to outrun the icy hand of the Grim Reaper. Athletes stand in a row in a giant stadium and, after a starting pistol is fired, wait for old age to catch up with them, each participant gradually weakening and crumpling to the ground after a period of days, months and maybe even years. Every now and then, one of them is shot, just for a laugh. Last person standing is endowed with a smug awareness of their capillary system’s marginal superiority.
JFeels like a while since we enjoyed seeing Jason Statham do his tough guy thing but thank goodness he’s back to save himself as well as all of humanity in action thriller Mutiny, directed by Jean-François Richet and also starring Jason Wong. In the music world, Johnny Orlando is giving us Songs For Young Lovers while Jon Spencer (he of the Blues Explosion) releases Songs Of Personal Loss And Protest. Iconic horror director John Carpenter has been branching out from filmmaking of late and coming soon is an album and graphic novel, both titled Cathedral, which were inspired by a dream he had in 2024. In terrific news for dog lovers,
Corpse boxing: We all know that bloodsports can have a horrendous impact on the living, so why not replace them with the dead? Two corpses are controlled by highly trained puppeteers in a feat of ingenuity that makes Weekend At Bernie’s look like amateur hour. High-profile matches would include celebrity cadavers. Who wouldn’t want to see the skeletal frame of Elvis face-off against the worm-infested abs of Hulk Hogan?
Pokémon tennis: Pokémon, the world-conquering celebration of trapping large animals in tiny cages, is yet to be introduced to the world of sport, mainly because it doesn’t exist. But what if we could fit animals inside tennis balls to give Wimbledon some oomph? Each player (or combatant) will be given five highly perishable ‘pokéballs’ filled with a potentially deadly species, which they’ll then volley towards another player in the hope of inflicting a fatal injury. Imagine a swarm of killer bees emerging from a tennis ball as it cracks open against your opponent’s racket, flying into their face and stinging them beyond human recognition. Good family fun.
Flag shagging: Let’s convert our rocket-fuelled spiral into ultra-nationalism into a fun pastime. First competitor to wear down the material of their flag with constant friction wins. Football but the ball makes farting sound effects whenever it’s kicked: Self-explanatory. Undeniably brilliant.
Glasgow pooch festival Barklove is back this summer at SWG3. Run by Jenn NimmoSmith, there are interactive events, wellness sessions, street art, dog-themed tarot and a special appearance from Travis’ Dougie Payne who has recently published a debut picture book, Poochie Pete And His Very Big Feet. To some, broadcast journalist John Sweeney might forever be known as the Panorama guy who had what looked like a serious meltdown on camera while confronting a Scientologist. But there’s way more to him than that as his memoir Staying Alive details (nothing to do with John Travolta we think), recalling the 100 war zones he’s reported from.
Welcome to this issue’s jukebox, a monthly selection of songs we’ve pulled from the forthcoming pages for your sensory pleasure. June comes bearing tunes by Belle And Sebastian, Bryan Adams, Kraftwerk, REM, Gil ScottHeron, DJ Seinfeld, Eleni Drake and plenty more
Scan and listen as you read:
Apple TV is going Peanuts crazy this summer with a raft of programmes featuring the endlessly adorable characters created by Charles M Schulz in the 1950s. Leading the non-threatening charge from late June is season two of Camp Snoopy in which the incredibly cute pooch hikes, swims and leaps around Camp Spring Lake alongside Charlie Brown and other buddies. If you simply can’t get enough of all this loveable entertainment, why not indulge yourself with Snoopy In Space, The Snoopy Show, various Snoopy Presents affairs and, of course, The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show. Sigh . . .
In this series of articles, we turn the focus back on ourselves by asking folk at The List about cultural artefacts that touch their heart and soul. This time around, Katherine McLaughlin tells us which things . . .
Made me cry: Watching Gorillaz perform The Mountain album at Birmingham NEC. It’s not only a poetic memento mori inspired by personal grief but a beautiful cultural exchange between east and west philosophies and musical styles. Seeing a giant arena of Brummies passionately dancing along to sitar and keyboards gave me all the feels.
Made me angry: On my way to the Brentford v Fulham match, a group of male away supporters dressed in 90s garb got on the train chanting classic football insults. Fine until they directed ‘get your tits out’ at a couple of 15-year-old girls. Appreciate the fashion but let’s not go back in time on the sexual politics, lads.
Made me laugh: I promised Celya AB I wouldn’t write about her work-inprogress show at The Bill Murray [comedy club] but I guess I lied. Not only did she test out her (mostly) funny new material but also engaged in audience participation via crossword puzzles. A thought-provoking experience.
Made me think: Chloe Petts is top of her game when it comes to live comedy. Big Naturals observes the cultural touchstones and social norms we hold dear in our formative years and how that shifts over time. Putting herself under the spotlight, Petts hilariously re-examines the ‘lads lads lads’ energy she soaked up through music, on the football terraces and in pubs.
Made me think twice: Olivia Laing’s Crudo is a compelling and darkly funny experimental novel set in 2017 and inspired by Kathy Acker. It ably translates how the brain functions when it’s constantly fed misleading social media posts, political idiocy and devastating news stories.
Firing the starting pistol on our outdoors special, Ellie Carr tracks the phenomenal rise of running clubs. There are collectives which bond over croissants and groups that make members feel safe within a community. As she discovers, people’s motivations for lacing up and getting out there are varied and often unexpected
They move in packs, running ten-deep on paths and pavements, both day and night, but especially weekends. Go out early Sunday morning, in Glasgow or Edinburgh, and you may encounter these swarms of runners; often (but not always) skewing Gen Z (the moustache and mullet count is high), some all-female, some mixed, refreshingly diverse, and always fresh-faced.
If you are hungover, or curmudgeonly, you do not want to see this, but you will. We are in the midst of the biggest running boom since the 1970s (when shorts were short and you knew someone whose dad ran a marathon). This time the spike centres not around traditional Athletic Clubs (ACs) but social run groups, where coffee and chat afterwards is more important than paces and PBs. These are the new run clubs, third spaces where people make pals (and yes, maybe snag a date). Blame covid (every runner I spoke to started during lockdown) or the decrease in pubbing and clubbing (again, looking at you Gen Z) or the pull of screen-free activities. Between that and the rise of Parkrun (free weekly 5K run or walk) plus the popularity of NHS Couch To 5K, more and more people are lacing up.
Strava’s 2025 Year In Sport report declared: ‘Running clubs increased more than threefold, with 37% of survey respondents viewing run clubs as good places to meet people.’ These are global stats, but look around you: every second coffee shop, bakery, pizzeria and pub has a social run group attached. To name a few, Glasgow has Glasgow Croissant Club (clue in the name), Outlier Run Club (of the Outlier café), Glasgow Girls Collective (plus yoga and crafts); Edinburgh has Blank Training Club (barber shop), Newhaven Running Group (meet outside the Old Chain Pier pub), Good Time Running Club (clue in the name).
It wasn’t always like this. When I joined an AC 15 years ago, it was singlets, weekly subs and club names like ‘Harriers’ or ‘Hare & Hounds’. I remember trembling as I arrived for the first night’s training and the embarrassment when I joined the fast group by mistake in week two, having to fake injury to hide my hyperventilating.
I loved my time in an AC and I’m a decidedly average runner. It was friendlier, more welcoming and more diverse than you might think. There was one goal, though: to get faster. Fine if you seek medals and PBs. Not everyone does. The proliferation of social clubs means barriers to running are being dismantled. Still, the curated image of certain groups on social media can make them appear intimidating.
Steph Land was after a pace-inclusive club and landed at Edinburgh Frontrunners, which is proudly LGBTQ+: ‘Being part of that community was a driver to joining; I wanted to be part of a safe and encouraging group.’ Frontrunners is a UK-wide network (with Edinburgh and Glasgow branches) that combines social club vibes with the structure and support of an AC.
You can run or walk at sessions and they offer a Learn To Run programme. They’re also organising a 5K Pride run at Holyrood Park on 19 June. As a self-described mid-sized runner who prefers lifting weights, Land was delighted to go from struggling to complete 5K to half-
marathon distance with Frontrunners. ‘Many LGBTQIA+ people have negative experiences in sport, often from a young age, so physical activity participation levels are low. This has a knockon effect on health and wellbeing outcomes. Having this club can literally be a lifesaver for our community.’
Running with others proved lifesaving for Leon Cerrone, organiser of Glasgow’s 250-strong Outlier Run Club. He started training to help mitigate severe depression and now coordinates packed-out meets from easy 5Ks to longer distances, track nights and a women-led run. Cerrone trained with London’s Highgate Harriers. His wife Jess ran with Charlie Dark’s legendary Run Dem Crew, which challenged the status quo with its manifesto (‘we are not a running club’; ‘leave your ego at home’; and ‘Run Dem Crew is open to all regardless of speed, class, colour, religion or creed’).
In this spirit, Outlier ‘strives to be open, inclusive, welcoming and supportive’, and raises significant sums for social charities. ‘Our ethos is to build community and give back to the communities we run through,’ says Cerrone. ‘Running is at the forefront, but it was never about running fast.’
But something happens when you train multiple times weekly: you do get faster. With members now chasing times and race bibs, Outlier have required speedier pace groups. The upshot is that their slowest pace group is too quick for some. It’s tricky with limited resources, says Cerrone. If their ‘chill’ pace is too fast, he steers people towards Couch To 5K or clubs like Southside Slowies (again, clue in the name).
Aidan Thomson, of Edinburgh’s indie running store Interval, recognises the need for something between chatty meets and trad clubs with accredited coaches. There is no Interval club as such, but they have built a community hub with regular events and training. You might spot the orange Interval coffee van at their marathon training Sundays (The Road To Edi ’26), at twice-yearly Solstice On The Segment on Arthur’s Seat (laps from sunrise to sunset) and in wildly popular track nights (including a women-only event).
‘The jump from social club to AC is humongous,’ says Thomson. ‘ACs still have an important role within running as a sport. Then there’s running as a hobby. We’ve tried to bridge that gap.’ Surprisingly, track nights have become their most accessible session. ‘With 60 people running, you have no idea what position you’re in. Everyone has the same feeling afterwards, no matter how quickly you get round.’
Steph Land believes grassroots clubs have a role in fighting elitism in running. She refers to Nike’s recent Boston Marathon billboard: ‘Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated’. It famously backfired because, as Land states, ‘it goes against what running is about, which should be for anyone to turn up to run, or walk if needed, doing their best to improve; that could be for a medal, a better pace, to improve fitness or mental health, and making important connections with your community.’
For her debut book, climber, illustrator, meditator and nature advocate Gilly McArthur explores the benefits to both mind and body of cold swimming. This extract from The Beauty Of Cold details that moment when she feels at one with the icy water once again
Breathing out gently to break from my conscious reaction to the cold, I push against my instinct to breathe in. I focus on my hands, speci cally the tips of my ngers moving through this inky water. I push the sharp ice from my path and, crucially, my neck as I swim toward the end of the channel I have formed. Today this water feels clean, smooth and silky. From my hundreds of swims like this I know it can o en feel dense, prickly and heavy, but not today.
And just like that, I’m swimming, surrendering; the edges of myself and the water merge. I’m at one with the water. I’m in this moment only, as life falls away.
With intentional strokes, my whole body is moving, floating, over the loch. Now, with my breathing relaxed and widening my view, I look up at the places I climb in summer and to the edges of the channel where the solid ice meets the fluidity of water. I calm my mind further with one more exhale. There is no judgement here; judgement leads to creeping fear. It’s little more than a gentle awareness of my surroundings. Just sensations. Is this even cold? I’m aware I’m smiling a broad smile though, so I know this is wonderful, effortless and deeply grounding. I’m meant to be here. The buzzard agrees. In these conditions, I’m always learning. These cold-water experiences are about neither destination nor goal. I’m not here to measure times or temperatures. For now, this feels perfect.
A few more strokes, and I’m really in my body and know it so well. Here comes the effect of the cold as my limbs feel a touch heavier. It begins under my biceps, then my toes start to feel a twinge right at the tips.
The water is not deep; I can stand up at any point, but always make sure I have plenty of time to get out if I need to. The shore is nearing, but I linger a moment longer, wanting to etch this feeling into my memory; an imprint of pure nowness. Finally, breaking the surface, I feel the warmth of the morning sun on my skin and the rush of exhilaration, and the ice clinks, sparkles and tinkles along in celebration.
I get dressed, under the watchful eye of a wee robin, who hops onto a small shard of ice left in my wake. She surfs the ripples and sings her little heart out right next to me.
My day is just beginning, and I know it’s going to be a good one.
ELIE
@elieseasidesauna
@standrewsseasidesauna
@cellardykeseasidesauna
FRIDAY 28 AUGUST | W HOTEL, EDINBURGH AWARDS
Getting around Edinburgh on two or three wheels is a constant challenge and an occasional danger. Danny Munro talks to Callum Ross of The Cycling Gardeners about his path to pursuing an eco-friendly and socially responsible business model
The Cycling Gardeners is a collective of forward-thinking horticulturists who take a unique approach to getting from A to B. Rather than cram their tools into the back of a van, this Edinburgh group, as you may have worked out, is an all-electric out t that traverses the capital’s sinuous streets on cargo bikes. ‘I basically saw gaps in the industry and the way it was operating, and thought this could be done di erently and better,’ re ects director Callum Ross from Cycling Gardeners HQ (a caravan parked in their Tollcross yard) as he explains the rationale behind the pedal-powered planting business he devised during lockdown. ‘It feels like most garden maintenance companies are shying away from doing lots of short visits and you would struggle to nd ones that are willing to go to the Royal Mile during the Fringe for one-hour garden maintenance visits. Whereas we’re able to carry lawnmowers through ancient windy stairwells into these pokey little back gardens.’
As anyone who regularly travels the streets of Edinburgh will know, the city is not always welcoming to cyclists. From angry motorists to bumpy cobbles, Ross’ cycling mission comes with many challenges. ‘Occasionally we do get what you call car-to-bike rage where there’s just some bad attitudes, but generally it’s not too bad. Edinburgh is a nightmare to cycle around, though,’ he laughs. ‘But even with the stopping and starting nature, we still get to places quicker than a van would.’
One of the reasons Ross and his colleagues are able to navigate Edinburgh so quickly is due to the Roseburn Path, a mile and half long active travel route that
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has recently become the subject of a sensitive political debate in the capital over suggestions it could close permanently to facilitate an expansion of Edinburgh’s trams. A biodiverse space that plays host to over a half million journeys every year, Ross stresses that its closure would mark a signi cant loss for his business and the wider public. ‘It would be absolutely gutting to lose it. I wasn’t aware of the path until I started this company. And then suddenly it’s like, wow, this just opens up so many doors.’
Though the environmental bene ts of ditching petrol for e-bikes is clear, Ross is the rst to admit that heavy-duty cargo vehicles don’t come without problems of their own. ‘Our bikes are big, so we tell the gardeners to go slow, basically to almost stop if you’re passing kids and dogs. But there is just the slight worry about these bike paths being adopted by businesses ying up and down with heavy cargo bikes; we totally respect the fact that there could be conversations about the use of these paths going forward.’
With an increasing number of tradespeople turning to bikes (Ross says he’s aware of a local plumber operating on two wheels), he believes solidarity is key to securing a future for organisations like his. ‘I’m keen to set up a cargo bike trade co-op; a group of us to get together to discuss issues as trade people,’ Ross explains. ‘Because you’ll de nitely see more of that soon. There’s going to be a lot more people jumping on cargo bikes.’
cyclinggardeners.co.uk; savetheroseburnpath.com
Afreka Thomson talks to Steven McCluskey about his charity which helps refugees get around our cities and makes them feel part of a kinder community
Nearly a decade ago, a gi ed second-hand bicycle helped change Yaman’s life. Newly arrived in Edinburgh a er eeing Syria, he met Leith local Steven McCluskey, who took him to repair his broken bike at Pedal Forth Bikes. The damage was terminal but the shop kindly gi ed Yaman a refurbished bicycle instead. Suddenly, the city opened up. The tangle of unfamiliar streets slowly started to make sense and a degree of independence was now in reach.
Inspired by Yaman’s experience, McCluskey founded Bikes For Refugees in 2016. Almost a decade on, the organisation has now reached a major milestone: gi ing its 4000th bike to a New Scot. With no right to work and just over £7 a day to cover essentials, many asylum seekers are forced to make impossible choices. ‘Families are having to decide between eating and paying expensive public transport costs to access essential services,’ says McCluskey. Bikes mean free travel, but there’s more. ‘They make it easier to travel to places like college and volunteering,’ explains Mehdi an Iranian New Scot. ‘For those that are alone and have lost their families, they help people meet new friends and feel part of a community.’
In the early days, Bikes For Refugees operated out of borrowed workshop space, relying on volunteers who xed donated bikes in shipping containers and squeezed them into the backs of campervans to transport across Scotland. Since then, the charity has given bicycles to thousands of New Scots across Edinburgh and Glasgow, helping in ways that go beyond travelling from A to B. ‘Many New Scots have experienced trauma, loss, separation and extreme stress,’ McCluskey explains. ‘Being active and outdoors helps their mental health and wellbeing.’ What began with one donated bike has grown into a grassroots network built on solidarity and community. Steven McCluskey and his team are xing holes in a tired system, puncture repair kit in hand.
bikesforrefugees.scot
Can Kevin Fullerton complete a simple game of padel without inflicting grievous bodily harm on himself and others? Apparently not. We sent him to the courts, along with his balletic opponent Eve Johnston, to try the game that’s grown a loyal fanbase
My hands were drenched in blood within minutes of entering the padel court. The injury (the rst of many) happened when I opened a pressurised tin of tennis balls and grazed my nger lightly on the serrated edge of the metal lid, slicing a cut that burst forth an estuary of gore across the luminescent yellow of our balls. Was it an omen of the hour-long session to come? A sign of the apocalypse? Birds have been known to y into the glass screens surrounding a padel court, a deathly felling of animals that could have been ripped from the Book Of Revelation. I imagined blood spraying from my nger in sprinkler-system streams while hundreds of pigeons cratered their skulls into our glass enclosure. Was this the fate that lay waiting for us? Probably not, since, as my editor had warned me at length, this is a lifestyle piece about trying a new sport and I need to ‘stop heralding the end times in copy’. And it became clear that I’ve got form for this sort of thing. ‘Only you could turn padel into a blood sport,’ my padel partner-in-crime Eve Johnston said to me with the air of a patient but ultimately disappointed teacher.
Padel is part of a new wave of sporting ‘fun’ in which two already extant activities are smooshed together with the zeal of a ye olde worldy alchemist. In this case the back-and-forth of tennis with the wall-hitting carnage of squash and tiny, lightweight rackets that resemble oversized ping pong paddles. It was invented in Mexico in 1969 and has grown steadily in popularity, but only relatively recently has it dug its ball-thwacking tenterhooks into the British populace.
The intention of the game is to serve a ball at waist level, which both Eve and I found almost impossible given the incredible power of a padel paddle, instinctively volleying our serves skyward like we were attempting to down passing airliners. On numerous occasions we managed to lob our balls above the glass barriers of the court, watching them roll into the grass beyond. One of our misplaced shots landed next to a large gym-dude who looked as though he regularly fell asleep to Joe Rogan’s podcast and had multiple revenue streams in cryptocurrency. ‘Sorry about that, mate,’ I amiably shouted at him as I leaned down to take the ball resting against his right foot. ‘Not good enough,’ he replied, tutting and wandering to the other side of the court.
I grew determined to impress the bigger boys of the padel province (incessant blood loss be damned), and so Eve and I upped our game. Within 20 minutes, we had grown accustomed to the seismic impact that even a flick of our wrists could have on the ball, slowing games down to account for the ruleset. But still the men on the opposite court glanced unimpressed at us, perhaps because of the blooddrenched tissue I was clutching during play.
Improving in parity, Eve and I developed from ‘incredibly poor’ to ‘poor-tomediocre’ in the space of an hour, though we remained unsure of the game’s finer strategies. Our time almost up, we played a deciding match, or what’s known in padel as the ‘golden point moment’. This was a winner-takes-all situation, a clincher that would determine who takes home the blood-soaked tennis ball as a trophy (side note: if more trophies had a clear and obvious DNA source, we’d have cracked cloning by now). I served fitfully and Eve sprinted towards the ball with balletic grace, shooting it towards my throat and knocking me in the Adam’s apple. I doubled over and coughed for a few seconds. ‘You win,’ I heaved. Had we played padel? In a manner of speaking, yes. In a manner of competence, not even slightly. Nonetheless, my padel pal enjoyed her time on the courts. ‘I had a good time,’ she told me. ‘At first, it was a struggle to get into, but it’s good fun if you don’t take it too seriously. I’d do it again.’ Injury-free, she wandered into the greying evening while I hopped on a bus to A&E for a blood transfusion.
Whether you’re running, cycling, swimming, hiking, camping, playing padel or doing a spot of gardening, Isy Santini offers some recommendations on the best gear to pop on
As the lightest padel racket on the market, this gives players speed and control, its light frame allowing for quick reactions while optimised balance ensures accurate shot placement. It can be purchased online or in-person at Gannon Sports, a family-run racket sports specialist with shops across the central belt. n Various locations; gannonsports.co.uk
Warmth is key for the adventurer but it can often come at a hefty price. Trespass is the place to go if you’re a beginner or simply looking for high-quality budget options. This fleece, for example, uses airtrap technology to provide insulation on chillier days as well as antipilling fabric for longer lasting use.
n Various locations; trespass.com
The sun is shining, the water is glistening: it’s the perfect time for some wild swimming. Alpkit’s wetsuit is great for the summer months, with a mixture of recycled nylon and neoprene providing warmth where you need it while still allowing you to feel connected to the water. Alpkit also boasts a repair station in-store, so you can be sure your gear will last.
Outdoor adventuring can require a fair amount of supplies, but that’s no problem for DD Hammocks’ new sling bag. Designed to carry up to 28 litres without slowing you down, this bag is durable, secure and easy to access with organised storage and pockets. Beyond bags, DD Hammocks is the place to go for hammock camping supplies.
n 7 Quayside Street, Edinburgh; ddhammocks.com
n 56 Causewayside, Edinburgh; alpkit.com
Meander Apparel designs clothing with versatility at its core. Whether you’re off cycling, mountaineering or walking, this lightweight jacket is fully waterproof and breathable, not to mention easy to pack if you’re heading out for a camping break. Like many other Meander products, it’s made entirely from recycled materials.
n 22 North West Circus Place, Edinburgh; meanderapparel.com
Moggans’ socks are designed, tested and made in Scotland, making them ideal for anything our wilderness can throw at a hiker. The Merino blend manages moisture, temperature and odour to allow for repeated all-seasons use. Available from the Moggans website or a range of stockists. n moggans.com
With summer on the horizon, now’s the time to get out and beautify your garden. These gloves from the Royal Horticultural Society blend beauty and utility, featuring their lovely British Meadow design as well as cushioned palms for comfort and protection, and gathered wrists to block encroaching debris. Available at a Dobbies near you. n Various locations; dobbies.com
This Nike running top from Achilles Heel was designed based on feedback from real runners and the result promises speed, breathability and comfort. Achilles Heel has been serving runners in Glasgow for 25 years and, in addition to offering running kit from top brands, it also offers a sports injury clinic, gait analysis and expert knowledge.
n 593 Great Western Road, Glasgow; achillesheel.co.uk
The world of outdoor clothing can be daunting for a beginner, but Tog24 offers great basics that can be used for a wide range of activities. These leggings come with a waistband that will stay put no matter what, quick-drying material, comfort seams and even pockets (yes, pockets!), all at a price that won’t break the bank.
n Unit 19, XSite Braehead, King’s Inch Road, Renfrew; tog24.com
I‘Another feast of contemporary art has been laid on for this year’s Glasgow International. Greg Thomas kicks off our coverage by chatting to Joanna Piotrowska, a collage photographer whose work has moved from the allegorical to the ambiguous
rst used collage in 2022 and since then I’ve been drawn to the juxtaposition of di erent realities that it makes possible.’ The photographer Joanna Piotrowska is giving me the lowdown on her Common Guild show, a Glasgow International exhibition which unfolds through to mid July. Polish-born and London-based, she established her pro le with sombrely gripping, staged domestic scenes, in which women’s bodies seem subtly contorted or con ned. But she has recently been turning to a time-worn trope in modernist and surrealist photography: collage.
One landmark project of Piotrowska’s is Stable Vices, an exhibition which began at Kunsthalle Basel in 2019 with an accompanying photobook that launched in 2021. It included, among other sequences, images of women in postures from self-defence manuals; arms and faces were gripped, in some cases, by invisible male hands. This evocation of structural misogyny was accompanied by shots of dens and shelters which the artist asked people to build in their houses and gardens; there were rings of sofa cushions and a blanket draped over a writing desk. For an artist born during communist rule in Poland, a country scarred in recent years by rising Christian nationalism, the idea of seeking a shelter deeper and more hidden than that a orded by your own home struck a quiet but unmistakeable polemical note.
Perhaps Piotrowska has projects such as Stable Vices in mind when she says that, ‘in most of my earlier shows, I wanted to create a conversation between new and older works’. But with the turn to collage, something has shifted. Her Common Guild display, A Moment Of Darkness At Noon, will mainly feature pieces in this new format. ‘I feel I am entering a new chapter, presenting works that are more ambiguous and difficult to contextualise. They are like dreams. They aren’t what they show; they represent emotional states.’
The change in mood from allegory to ambiguity means the work must stand alone. It also correlates with a new-found interest in Jungian psychoanalysis, in which ‘dreams hold a significant place. In dreams, there are no linear perspectives; geographies, objects and faces blur into one another.’ Piotrowska explains she was ‘in a state of mind resembling dreaming’ while preparing the collection, ‘relying heavily on coincidence and intuition’. This is appropriate for a medium (photographic collage) which has its roots in female surrealist pioneers such as Dora Maar, their work steeped in theories of the unconscious. In the same vein, bricolage elements added to the works, like ‘little glass pieces and other accessories’, are ‘recreations of objects from the past that evoke an uncanny feeling in me’.
The works included here speak to the feelings of uncanny coincidence, of trusting to chance and a sense of flow that the artist describes. Enlarged images of women’s heads feature strongly, often placed against backdrops showing interiors or textured landscapes. At the same time, we can spot motifs of bodily contact and control carried over from her earlier practice: hands grasping one another or a face cradled too tightly in a pair of arms. The artist has worked with The Common Guild’s space to create an atmosphere redolent of both dreaming and, perhaps, the acting out of Jungian archetypes. Walls are covered in dark soft textiles, the room intended to give the sense of a stage, but scattered and fragmented.
For Piotrowska herself, an artist entering her 40s, the theme of ageing is very much to the fore with an elderly female head looming large in one image. ‘Perhaps the most important idea I have taken from my interest in Jungian psychoanalysis is the notion of liminality, crossing from one state to another.’ This is connected to the feeling of being in midlife transition en route to an unknown destination: ‘perhaps that’s where I am now’.
Returning to her first love of painting, Tahliah Simumba finds art to be both cathartic and a space to explore identity. She tells Claire Sawers that her debut collection aims to be glamorous and unbound
Many know Taahliah for her live, high energy, euphoric appearances at queer clubs such as Glasgow’s Shoot Your Shot, or her pop-infused, confessional, dance music releases. Her debut album Gramarye was shortlisted for 2025’s Scottish Album Of The Year Award and she’s shared stages with Sophie, Eris Drew, Loraine James and London Contemporary Orchestra among others. But things will come full circle when the DJ and producer, real name Tahliah Simumba, makes her visual art debut with a solo exhibition during Glasgow International. ‘Not many people realise that I was a painter rst,’ she says over Zoom from her studio in London. ‘Growing up as a working-class kid in Kilmarnock, I was always arts and cra sy. I won a bunch of awards for my oil paintings: I was a child star! Painting was such a cathartic process; it helped me understand my identity and my race. I’d paint these gorgeous feminine portraits as a child and teenager before studying painting at Glasgow School Of Art.’
Although GSA allowed for artistic experimentation, that phase wasn’t entirely comfortable. ‘I wasn’t prepared for the level of critique that art school subjects you to. Also, my tutors didn’t look the way that I looked. I was beginning to transition around that time. I was going through a lot and my instinct was to rebel; my act of rebellion was making music.’ Her career snowballed rapidly with live sets at Glastonbury, Sonar and Fabric, plus a viral Boiler Room performance, but Simumba felt exhausted a er extensive touring. ‘I don’t like to feel constricted creatively; my practice is multi-disciplinary. I hadn’t painted for a few years so I was nervous, but I’m excited to return to it.’
Her debut exhibition, A Star That Burns Forever Is A Star That Burns In Me, brings together a series of spotlit oil paintings accompanied by a durational sound installation. The title comes from an academic essay by Marquis Bey, a professor of black feminist theory and transgender studies at Northwestern University, Illinois. ‘I remember reading this really wonderful thing in “The Trans*-ness Of Blackness, The Blackness Of Trans*-ness” comparing transness to a strange, primordial, almost celestial force. It said, “in the beginning stars oating without laws set in motion that originary trans*-ness, the fundamental openness of our world”. I just thought that was a really nice way of thinking. Also, my show is full of stars, as in celebrities, icons, artistic gures in culture.’
TV personality Pete Burns, hyperpop producer Sophie, trans activist Marsha P Johnson, and Warhol muse and actress Candy Darling all appear in Simumba’s collection which explores transness ‘not as a xed taxonomy but as something glamorous, generative and unbound, operating through resonance rather than strict de nition’. Like Simumba’s own identity and creative focus, she hopes this work explores the complex evolution and uidity of the transfeminised image.
Tahliah Simumba:
This June, embark on an unforgettable flavour journey at The Johnnie Walker Experience with one of three exceptional luxury whisky tastings, each offering access to rare expressions and sought-after releases.
Before or after your tasting, explore the immersive retail space, where you can create a lasting memento by filling your own bottle or engraving a personalised whisky glass. Plus, enjoy 10% off products and merchandise throughout the store with every experience booking.
Complete your visit at 1820 Rooftop Bar, where expertly-crafted cocktails, seasonal sharing plates and sweeping panoramic views across Edinburgh including breathtaking views of Edinburgh Castle, provide the perfect finishing touch to an unforgettable day.
An exclusive invitation to experience some of Lagavulin’s most exceptional whiskies.
Enjoy an intimate, guided tasting celebrating one of Islay’s most revered distilleries, featuring an extraordinary line-up of coveted expressions including the Lagavulin 25 Year Old, released to mark the distillery’s 200th anniversary, and the exceptional Lagavulin 31 Year Old Fèis Ìle 2026. Alongside the newly released Fèis Ìle 2026 expressions, this is a rare opportunity to sample some of Lagavulin’s most sought-after liquids with priority access to purchase selected festival releases.
An unmissable experience for collectors and peat lovers alike.
A new legend has arrived at the Fill Your Own bottle experience: the Johnnie Walker Legend Series. Inspired by a 1940s Johnnie Walker campaign ‘Time Marches On’, the Legend Series is a tribute to the strides that shape our story and the progress that never stops. Clive Uptton’s striding man illustration bridges the old world and the new, respecting the past but always looking forward.
Exclusive to The Johnnie Walker Experience, fill yours now in the retail space.
Designed to elevate the senses, this indulgent tasting pairs the complex character of premium Johnnie Walker whiskies with handcrafted chocolates from an award-winning Scottish chocolatier.
Your experience begins with a warm welcome and a signature Johnnie Walker cocktail, followed by a guided tasting of four prestigious Johnnie Walker blends. Each whisky is expertly paired with an artisanal chocolate, celebrating craftsmanship, flavour and local pride.
Step into the Luxury Cask Draw Tasting at The Johnnie Walker Experience, where tradition and innovation come together to blend an unforgettable whisky journey.
Held in the underground cellar and created for true whisky enthusiasts, this immersive experience offers a deeper exploration of the craftsmanship and heritage behind Scotch whisky. Sample four premium cask-strength whiskies, available exclusively at The Johnnie Walker Experience, before concluding with a truly special moment: a bespoke whisky blended before your eyes by one of the venue’s expert whisky specialists.
Book experiences and The 1820 Rooftop Bar now at Johnniewalker.com Please Drink Responsibly
Here we bring together further highlights from this year’s Glasgow International, taking in subjects such as parenthood, meaning, climate change and grief
This Welsh Ghanaian artist utilises craft practices she learned as a child such as rug making and hand embroidery in order to create large-scale portraits. In The Delight Of Walking Alone, carvings, wood sculptures and masks all come into play as she interrogates the labour of working-class women.
n Burns Street Studios, Friday 5–Sunday 21 June.
Scottish Pakistani interdisciplinary artist Arif brings us Beneath The Ivory Is Molten Brown, a work that combines the moving image, installation and textile prints to find resonance between Greco-Roman and South Asian mythologies.
n Street Level Photoworks, Friday 5–Sunday 21 June.
Conceptual artist Bettina Grossman worked in New York’s Chelsea Hotel from 1972 until her death in 2021, and this debut UK exhibition, Finite Structures, takes in photography, film, animation, painting and textiles.
n Cento, Friday 5–Sunday 21 June.
This solo exhibition by the late artist and activist features photography, writing, moving image and paintings made throughout the 1980s and early 1990s until his sad passing from AIDS-related illness. It marks the inaugural show at The Modern Institute’s Carlton Place gallery.
n The Modern Institute, Friday 5 June–Friday 28 August.
In her immersive installation Screen Bodies, this Netherlandsbased artist examines the intersections between parenthood, knowledge and technology, exploring how intimacy and imagination are often reshaped.
n The Black Box, Kelvin Hall, Friday 5–Sunday 21 June.
NAEEM MOHAIEMEN
London-born and Dhaka-raised, this artist is known for using film, photography, installation and essays to research South Asia’s postcolonial markers. For his exhibition here, Through A Mirror, Darkly, he takes us back to 1970 when US students protesting war and racism were met by brutal state-sanctioned violence. The piece explores how memorials can be a focal point for both individual and collective grief.
n The Hunterian, Friday 5 June–Sunday 11 October.
PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I KNOW
This group exhibition features the work of Jill Westwood, Sohrab Hura and Adam Lewis Jacob whose project is shaped by the fluidity of meaning and how images shift through time. As we all know by now, meaning is no longer a fixed concept and the works here blur authorship and intention.
n David Dale Gallery, Friday 5–Sunday 21 June.
THE OCEAN’S EDGE
Inspired by the environmentalist Rachel Carson, Glasgowbased Barbadian Scot Alberta Whittle joins Brazilian artists Letícia Ramos and Licida Vidal for a screening of their works. In conversation with Alice Sharp of Invisible Dust, the artists speak of how they weave together poetry, climate change and marine science.
n Kelvin Hall Cinema, Friday 5 June.
long lunches, chilled drinks, sunny corners
38 charlotte square kimptoncharlottesquare
17-26 2026 JULY
JOOLS HOLLAND
| FERGUS McCREADIE |
DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS
| SULTAN STEVENSON |
TUBA SKINNY | JERRON PAXTON | IMMANUEL WILKINS |
SOWETO KINCH | THE BAD PLUS
James Aikman and Katie Messer took the reins at Stockbridge basement bar Skua late last year. A recent refresh and redesign at the Michelin Bib Gourmand winner retains the signature charcoal-black palette and sultry, shadowy atmosphere, while the dining room now feels more spacious. Diners are met with a billow of smoke from the open kitchen as stacks of homemade brioche bread glistens in the low light. Sharing plates of spicy steak tartare and the pinkest seared pigeon breast around prove they haven’t dropped the ball on quality. Thankfully, smoky and crunchy eel on toast is still on the menu alongside the exceptional wine list. (Suzy Pope) n 49 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh; skua.scot
The passionate team behind hit Edinburgh food podcast Eating And Waiting To Eat talk to Jo Laidlaw about peeking behind the scenes of the city’s restaurant industry and building an online community of foodie fanatics
Ashared accent and a love of lamination led to Carlos Miranda and Kevin Rivers meeting in the queue at Lannan bakery in Stockbridge (surely the meet-cute de nos jours). From this chance encounter, and a mutual love of food and hospitality, sprang Eating And Waiting To Eat, the podcast that took Edinburgh’s diners and hospitality community by storm last year. As the American duo prepare to launch their second series, with a starry roll call of chefs and restaurateurs queuing up to tell their story, what was the inspiration? ‘We love being regulars at restaurants,’ says Rivers, ‘and after a few glasses of wine one night we said, “oh, what if we just started a podcast that gives people an opportunity to tell their own stories?”’ Miranda adds, somewhat drily, ‘let’s not forget that what the world really needed was two more middle-aged dudes talking into a microphone . . . we just started asking people and everybody said yes. Before we knew it, we kind of had a show.’
Rivers says the duo wanted an opportunity to tell chefs’ stories. ‘But never did we think that they’d peel back the curtain to show us the difficulties they’re facing in running a restaurant in addition to what they love about it,’ he says. And indeed, it’s the honesty that Rivers
and Miranda’s laid-back lines of questioning evoke in their guests that has hooked so many listeners. That, and feeling you really are eavesdropping into a conversation at the table next to you, which was a very deliberate choice from Rivers, a former sound engineer who records and edits the podcast. ‘That is what we were going for. A lot of it comes from the preparation we do. We spend hours preparing because we want to go in with an idea of the story that we want to tell. We want to cultivate a feeling that we know each other and that there’s a purpose to the conversation.’
Alongside hospitality folk and tourists preparing to eat their way around the city, their main audience is hyper-local. It’s this concept of community that underpins their approach, alongside the pair’s undoubted enthusiasm. ‘We’re not reviewing restaurants; we just geek out about places that we love,’ states Miranda. ‘We’re like, “what’s the story of this restaurant? Wouldn’t it be awesome to know?’”
So there are no plans for world domination, or at least a second location? Rivers is honest. ‘When we first started the show, we thought, “oh, we can do season one in Edinburgh and then branch out”. But as we’ve gotten into it we realised there’s still so much that
we want to hit in Edinburgh. It’s about the places that we love eating in; the places that we feel are a part of our community. Really what we’re trying to do is build community and I don’t think we’re through with that mission yet.’
That’s not to say they’re standing still. Season two will include interviews with the likes of Stuart Ralston (Lyla/Tipo/Noto), rising star Barry Bryson of Barry Fish, and Jo Radford of the venerable Timberyard, alongside short features (Side Quests) led by nonrestaurateurs. But the duo are also keen to reach beyond the mic, with a return of their popular supper clubs and some other, currently top secret, face-to-face events in the pipeline.
Ultimately though, it’s their geek-out enthusiasm that delights listeners and Miranda remains quietly thrilled at their reaction. ‘I’m just excited that someone other than my mom listens to it. I was expecting it would just be this fun little thing, but it has very much turned into something. And that’s pretty cool.’
Eating And Waiting To Eat is available wherever you get your podcasts; instagram.com/eatingandwaitingtoeat
Among this month’s new openings, Suzy Pope finds big names, Italian favourites and plenty of pastries
In Edinburgh, Ottolenghi is the name on everyone’s lips as chef and deli magnate Yotam Ottolenghi prepares to open his first restaurant in Scotland on George Street. Expect aubergine drizzled with olive oil and Levantine flavours in small-plate form. For further upscale casual dining, Ash Bairstow (formerly of Herringbone) has turned a 250-yearold building on Victoria Street into Whirlybird. The all-day spot serves pastries and coffee at sun-up, with nightcaps and a Scottish produce-led menu at sundown. And chef Julie Lin is set to join the ranks at Bonnie & Wild in St James Quarter with her new venture Tacos Lah.
After their previous home was sold, no doubt Glasgow will welcome back Celentano’s with open arms as the acclaimed Italian restaurant takes its seasonal menus and hand-cut pasta to the Arthouse hotel on Bath Street. Over in the West End, a couple of cheap’n’cheerful Italian spots have cropped up: Pappa’s Pasta Bar on Great Western Road and Neapolitan-style pizza at SpaccaNapoli on Byres Road. The people behind Kelvingrove Café are adding a little Basque flavour to Finnieston with Dani, a bar and grill with a focus on wine and vermouth, just across the road from the café itself.
Finally, if you’re looking for even more info, recommendations and general tea on Edinburgh’s amazing food and drink scene, may we guide your hungry eyes towards our brand-new edition of Eat & Drink 365 Edinburgh? Fully revised for 2026, it aims to answer all your burning questions, like where are the best noodles in town and where’s good for a pint before the theatre? Find it wherever you get your copy of The List
Paying £59 for three courses is entirely reasonable these days although there are myriad ways that the bill can rise at Brett, be it snacks, extra courses, wine-matching or caviar add-ons. It’s worth it though; seven years after opening and fresh from a refit in March, Brett has evolved from wine bar to open-fire restaurant and is as good as ever. Quiet anticipation builds as checks go in and are called out (whispered actually) to the team in full view of diners. ‘That’s ours coming now’, you’ll find yourself whispering in response.
A chicken wing is a snack in name only, the fatty crispness giving way to a deep, enriching mousseline of haggis, while an elderflower jelly adds just enough brightness at the end. A coil of wheaty, chewy linguine is topped with a fat anchovy in a bed of 24 month-aged parmesan foam that does everything parmesan ought to in the airiest way imaginable, so all three components get their moment. It’s bold and delicious. Monkfish, another rockstar ingredient, comes in a sweet, earthy broth where brown butter and Jerusalem artichoke interplay, but it’s a leftfield spike of finger lime that really makes things soar.
Everything sounds exciting on the page, in a ‘how is that going to work?’ sort of way. Jersey royals, peas and broad beans always get on well, but Brett takes them from garden to sea in perhaps the best dish of all, via a masterfully thin hollandaise with pepper dulse and celeriac. The refresh has made it a more pleasant space to dine, with everything (especially the seats) at a better level. The palette is softer and the kitchen is now the focal point for food underpinned by precision, purpose and cooking that’s as full-blooded as it is elegant. (David Kirkwood) n 321 Great Western Road, Glasgow; brettrestaurant.co.uk; average price £59 for three courses.
Good pub, good beer, good food: it should be a simple formula, yet it’s surprisingly rare to find all three done well. Too often, decent kitchens are paired with dull, predictable beer lists or menus slide into freezer-tofryer territory. So, when a brewery takes over a pub it’s worth paying attention. Earlier this year, Leith stalwart Nobles was taken over by Bellfield Brewery in a welcome expansion from their Stanley Place taproom. The refresh is subtle: the décor has been stripped back, keeping the grand stained glass and dark polished wood, but the eclectic art has left the building. In its place, a chalkboard lists a rotating line-up of Bellfield beers, typically 14 kegs and two casks alongside a few well-chosen guests. Nondrinkers are well served too, with a delicious draft 0.5% Fire Island IPA.
In the kitchen, chef Hugh Brown (formerly of The Palmerston, Fin & Grape and Mirin) delivers a menu driven by local produce, changing at least twice weekly depending on what’s best from suppliers. Meat from The Free Company shines in the Bellfield burger: two juicy, medium-rare patties stacked with cheese and pickles, excellent with a side of skin-on chips. Fish, from Fife’s David Lowrie, is equally strong: full marks for the tender hake with cider-spiked creamed leeks. Vegetables star mostly in the starters: asparagus with crunchy almonds and ajo blanco, and chilli-crisp tempura broccoli are both excellent. This is a pub that understands the balance between pint and plate, happily hitting the mark by keeping dishes simple and hearty yet full of flavour and interest. (Ailsa Sheldon)
n 44a Constitution Street, Edinburgh; bellfieldbrewery. com/pages/nobles; average price £22 for two courses.
Got a food dilemma? Need a killer rec to seal the deal? Or just want the inside track on Glasgow and Edinburgh’s eating and drinking scene? Then why not ask EADith, our Eat & Drink team’s helpful agony aunt. This month, EADith finds a brass neck that’s worth polishing up
Dear EADith
I’m always a bit wary of restaurants where the chef-owner has their name in letters over the door. Is there any chef in Glasgow who is gallus enough to do this and, more importantly, who you’d still recommend?
Dear NigelNoName
NigelNoName
I know what you mean. I admire the cheffy chutzpah, I do, but I fear they’re setting themselves up for a fall. Saying that, Glasgow has some notable restaurants whose chef-patrons justify the brass neck to display their names. There’s Unalome By Graeme Cheevers, holder of a Michelin star and a place of culinary brilliance, or the more budget-friendly Kinara By Shabu Natarajan, whose chef has picked up deserved awards.
Both are well worth a visit but my recommendation is Angeethi By Sagar Massey, recent winner of a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Massey probably trumps Cheevers and Natarajan on the fame front, thanks to making the final of MasterChef: The Professionals in 2022. More recently, he had his name up at Strathblane’s Kirkhouse Inn, before heading into the city (well, Cardonald) to open this contemporary first-floor corner spot named after the traditional Indian stove.
No wonder the Michelin folk took notice: the dining experience is exceptional, helped by staff who are informative and clearly enthusiastic. I recommend starting with an Indian-inspired cocktail like a spicy Fire & Root Old Fashioned made with Indian whisky, ginger and chilli bitters. Food-wise, much is familiar to Glasgow’s curry fans, yet it’s all wonderfully elevated. The usual complimentary poppadums, for example, are replaced by a tapioca version and a traditional wheat cracker called a khakhra. The bondi raita, topped with crispy gram flour balls, is the best I’ve ever had.
Starters include chaat: try the crushed samosa version, hidden under yoghurt, tamarind and green chutney. Tandoor treats include addictively spicy lamb chops, beautifully tender with blackened edges, or the folded flaky lachha naan, doused in masala butter. Murgh makhani, aka butter chicken, is a bona fide classic yet rarely better than Massey’s flavourlayered version, with tender tandoori chicken pieces in a rich, creamy tomato sauce with notes of fenugreek. Even though it’s above the door, this is a name worth knowing. (As told to Jay Thundercliffe) n Angeethi By Sagar Massey, 1835 Paisley Road West, Glasgow; angeethi.co.uk; £28 for two courses.
Creative folks reveal their top watering hole COMEDIAN MATTHEW GALLAGHER
The pub I’ve chosen is The Lismore in Partick because it’s built for every possible occasion. First things first: it pours the crispest pint of Tennent’s known to mankind. You can wander in solo, hide away in a dark wee corner and pretend you’re a tortured writer, or arrive with a massive group ready to sample enough whisky to make your memories non-existent. Outside, you can sit and observe the wonder of Partick locals in their natural habitat (ideally narrated in full Attenborough voice). The toilets are tiny, especially the cubicles, but I simply choose to imagine I’m doing my business at 30,000 feet on a budget airline, so it adds to the adventure. Summer or winter, celebrations or heartbreak, pre-drinks or nightcaps, The Lismore always delivers. And to top it all off, they serve the glorious and universally adored 35ml measure. Honestly, it’s Partick hospitality at its absolute finest.
n Matthew Gallagher hosts Mon In, Monday 22 June; his work-in-progress is on Saturday 18 July; both shows at The Stand, Glasgow.
At Café Andaluz, meals are shared. Tapas bring everyone together to relax, connect and enjoy a little taste of everything
From sunny breakfasts to cosy evenings, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy delicious dishes, sip sangria, and soak up the warm, welcoming atmosphere loved by locals and visitors alike.
Our TipLists suggest the places worth knowing about in different themes, categories and locations. This month, we revisit one of the hottest, bubbliest, crustiest topics around: who makes the best pizza in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
PAESANO PIZZA
77a George Street; paesanopizza.co.uk
Glasgow’s cult Neapolitan pizzeria brings its high-energy charm to Edinburgh, now with bookings alongside walk-ins. Expect slow-risen dough, quickly blistered in searing ovens, and a tight menu of classic pizzas plus rotating specials. It’s a huge space so good for groups and fun for a crowd.
PATATINO
5–21 Grosvenor Street; thehoxton.com/edinburgh/patatino
In The Hoxton hotel, this modern trattoria has bright, colourful décor and brings some of the warmth of southern Italy to Haymarket. The sourdough pizza menu is short but fun: try Highland bresaola with fior di latte and spinach. If your weekend plans include brunch, experiment with a haggis, bacon and brown sauce sugo breakfast pizza.
PIZZA GEEKS
Multiple locations; pizzageeks.co.uk
A trio of lively pizzerias (Haymarket, Leith, Easter Road) with a playful, sci-fi twist and a social conscience (check out their Pizza For The People programme). Expect Neapolitan-style dough, carefully proved and bubbly crusted, topped with classic combinations and inventive specials, served with come-as-you-are charm.
RAZZO PIZZA NAPOLETANA
59 Great Junction Street; razzopizza.co.uk
Razzo is the pizza connoisseur’s choice. Melanzane with fior di latte and pecorino is a show-stealer, and the Napoletana is hard to beat. Delivery drivers buzz in and out but when the pizza’s this good, you honestly won’t care. Now also at Edinburgh Street Food.
SAN CIRO’S
148 Leith Walk; sanciros.com
Napoli rules at San Ciro’s: it’s clear on the menus, in the Maradona-themed décor and the warm chatty welcome. Come for the Neapolitan-style pizzas with classic toppings (or a more out-there special) and share hot arancini or crisp calamari while you wait. (Ailsa Sheldon)
ANXIOUS PETE’S
25 Kent Street; instagram.com/anxiouspetes
This no-frills slice shop in the middle of the Barras area does marvellous NY-style pizza. The dough is pre-fermented, giving a moreish depth: charred, chewy, perfectly sitting between crisp and foldable, finished with fresh parmesan. Play Mortal Kombat on the retro arcade machine while you wait.
CAESAR’S SOCIAL
2 Clarkston Road; caesarssocial.com
Neapolitan-ish pizza in a neighborhood spot where plants, candles and mismatched furniture mingle with the smell of baking dough. Toppings embrace both Scottish and Italian ingredients: we’re talking the likes of ndjua sausage, pickled chillis, roast pineapple and Cora Linn cheese.
ERROL’S HOT PIZZA
379 Victoria Road; instagram.com/ errolshotpizzashop
In this town, Errol’s is the benchmark for thin and crispy. Vigorously seasoned pizza stamps all over your tastebuds in the best way possible. The White Pie, with mild gorgonzola, chestnut mushrooms, chives and cream, or good old Italian sausage, is a very worthy consideration. BYOB too.
SEAR’S PIZZA
8 Chancellor Street, 4 John Street & 5 Skirving Street; searspizza.com
The balance of bendable slice/classic flavour combos/excellent prices means Sear’s is the closest thing you’ll get to a classic NY slice shop in Glasgow (they’re also in Edinburgh). Two modern classics from the Big Apple are the standouts: mushroom and smoked mozzarella, and the Sears which features vodka sauce and pesto.
SUB ROSA
Unit 34, 147 Drakemire Drive & Inn Deep, 445 Great Western Road; subrosapizza.co.uk
It’s worth making the trip to the original spot in a Castlemilk industrial estate for this Detroit-style pizza with a majestic cheese climb and a unique sesame crust. But Sub Rosa are also at Inn Deep, doing New Haven-style pizza with appropriately burnt-yet-bubbly edges and flavour combos like birria beef with caramelised onion. (David Kirkwood)
Aperitivo and pizza go together like strong espresso and early mornings.
Hendrick’s Brand Ambassador Calum Fraser picks out his top spots for Italian food and drink
CIVERINOS
Multiple locations in Glasgow and Edinburgh; civerinos.com
Loved by diners on both the east and west coast, Civerinos is now ten years old and has racked up slew of awards along the way. Each venue has its own, individual drinks offering so check before you leave, but they all focus on casual sips that won’t break the bank.
EUSEBI DELI
152 Park Road, Glasgow; eusebideli.com
If you’ve ever passed Eusebi’s on a sunny afternoon, you’ll have undoubtedly been envious of the lucky folk sitting around the outside tables at one of Glasgow’s best food spots. On the fringes of Kelvingrove Park and open early to late, Eusebi’s does everything with excellence, whether it be coffee, food, or its wonderful spritz menu.
28–32 Deanhaugh Street, Edinburgh; sottoedinburgh.com
Sotto describes itself as an enoteca and trattoria, highlighting its dedication to traditional Italian food and excellent wine. But look beyond the extensive wine list and you’ll find one of the best Negronis in Edinburgh. Look beyond that and you’ll find Italian classics with Mediterranean twists in a classy venue that feels designed for aperitivo and antipasti.
Originally the final installation in a series of ‘guerilla stores’ from clothing brand Comme Des Garçons and Scottish fashion figure David Mullane, W2 has evolved into a contemporary menswear store with a curation of brands that look away from the mainstream, focusing instead on unique style. From a quaint yet chic Victorian cow shed on Ruthven Lane, W2 now offers books, fragrances, footwear and accessories in addition to their core menswear range. Though it has an eye towards growth, the store’s main aim is to retain its impeccable reputation for personal service alongside in-depth fashion and product knowledge. (Isy Santini) n 10 Ruthven Lane, Glasgow; w2store.co.uk; instagram.com/w2_store
Danny Munro embraces the vibrant southern Italian city of Naples and its love of Maradona, pizza and making a big old noise
Arriving in the bustling central neighbourhood of Montesanto late on a Saturday evening feels like quite the baptism of fire for anyone new to Naples. Emerging from the metro station, we’re met by the frenzied cacophony of screeching mopeds and impassioned raised voices that seem to soundtrack the city, no matter the time of day. Sandwiched between the lively Spanish Quarter and the city’s largest public square, Piazza Dante, Montesanto plays host to screeds of tourists and a core population of working families who have lived along these cobbled streets for generations, with walls adorned by liturgical murals and washing lines strewn across narrow roads.
Famously the birthplace of the Neapolitan pizza, it feels actively difficult to come across a restaurant in which you won’t receive a meal you would describe as ‘life changing’ had you eaten it in Scotland. The standard of the local speciality is so good that you don’t need to adventure too far beyond a margherita, which shouldn’t set you back much more than €6 in most establishments.
Once satisfied with your pizza and tiramisu intake, head to the Spanish Quarter where bars back on to bars that back on to bars, and every inch of street is taken up by outdoor seating. The particular hole in the wall we find ourselves in serves a rather potent Aperol Spritz, while
blaring reggaeton at a volume that would invoke swift intervention from most city councils back home. Beyond the cheap orange alcohol, the area also plays host to the Diego Maradona mural. Most football supporters know how popular the late maverick Argentinian is in his beloved Naples, but it’s hard to fathom just how many times you’ll see his face on the streets of the city until you get here. Standing beneath an enormous, foreboding painting of Diego in his iconic sky-blue Napoli kit, we ogle at the shrine where fans from every corner of the globe have come to lay their own team’s shirt as a mark of respect, with some even leaving local currency.
Loaded up on Maradona souvenirs (a magnet with a photo of his ‘hand of god’ moment now has pride of place on my dad’s fridge), we make our way to the Montesanto Funicular. A smooth operation that runs every ten minutes or so (though check ahead as it’s scheduled to close for an overhaul during much of 2026), the funicular catapults us up to Castel Sant’Elmo, from where we are generously offered a panoramic view of the city. For a place so vibrant and chaotic at ground level, the altitude removes any semblance of noise pollution, making it a fitting spot to reflect on a successful weekend in Italy’s most vibrant city.
visitnaples.eu
Singer-songwriter Eleni Drake recalls a Hawaiian adventure where the chilled-out lifestyle left its mark
My favourite holiday has to be O’ahu. I’d seen it in films and documentaries but somehow it was even more beautiful in real life, as if someone had turned the saturation all the way up on the world itself. The sea danced in various shades of blue, the mountains stood towering and grand, and streets seemed to bloom with life.
The hikes were unreal. Lush green forests wrapped around trails, waterfalls singing through the trees, paths full of stories. Even the suburban streets were lined with frangipani trees, their sweet scent hanging in the air. I also loved visiting places like the Bishop Museum and Honolulu Museum Of Art, which helped me get a small insight into the rich culture and history of the islands. Surf culture was everywhere and I absolutely loved it. I’m terrible at surfing, genuinely awful, but there’s something addictive about paddling out into those waves anyway, sitting on a board and watching the sun fall into the horizon.
What sat with me most, though, was the lifestyle. People woke up early, swam in the sea, spent time with friends and family, went to work, and then chilled again at the beach to eat together at sunset. It felt like life was meant to be lived, not rushed through. Happiness there seemed tied to community, nature, balance and presence, not constant pressure and stress in a rat race.
Eleni Drake plays The Hug And Pint, Glasgow, Tuesday 9 June.
Isy Santini straps in for thrills and spills with her pick of central Scotland’s amusement parks
M&D’S: SCOTLAND’S THEME PARK
M&D’s is the place to go for the classic amusement park experience, with rollercoasters, a fun house, dodgems and more. The Motherwell venue also celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with brand new rides such as the Wild Mouse rollercoaster and the Freak Out pendulum ride, a visit from Bonnie Brontosaurus (Europe’s largest dinosaur) and performances from the Road Runner. n scotlandsthemepark.com
LANDMARK FOREST ADVENTURE PARK
With 22 attractions, Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge has a little bit of everything. Daredevils can slide down the near-vertical 50ft raft ride The Falcon, or leap into the air with the Skydive parachute simulation. Meanwhile, there’s plenty for families and young children from adventure playground Ant City to the Dinosaur Kingdom, where you can meet the terrifying T-Rex or dig for fossils. n landmarkpark.co.uk
Named by Time Out as one of the best waterparks in the UK, The Time Capsule in Coatbridge boasts a wave pool, rapids, a giant tipping bucket and twisting ten metreshigh twin flumes, the Storm Chasers. Best of all is the three-storey Tornado Tantrum, one of the only waterslides of its kind in Europe, where up to four people can shoot down at once. n activenl.co.uk/time-capsule
M&D’s
Saying farewell to Stockbridge after a quarter century selling Mexican-themed gifts, Steven and Corinna Collier are forging new friends at Caoba’s Leith store and getting involved in the local community, says Evie Glen
At the corner of Anderson Place, by the Water Of Leith, trails of papel picado bunting cast polka dots of sun over shelves stacked with Talavera tiles, silver jewellery, sacred hearts and rows of sauces. Caoba is a Mexican gift shop originally founded by Steven and Corinna Collier 25 years ago in Stockbridge. But with their lease coming to an end, the couple recently decided to move the entire business to their other store in Leith.
With bigger premises, the couple have expanded their stock of art, home décor and food supplies sourced from across Mexico and Central America. After a trip to Mexico in the early noughties, they ‘simply fell in love’ with the region’s handmade folk art. Everything they source is done so ethically and fairly, direct from local artisans who they have forged relationships with over their years travelling around Mexico by bus. That connection to the local stretches back across the Atlantic, with Stockbridge residents mourning the loss of a shop that had been a mainstay on their high street since 2001. Thankfully, the Leith store is just a scenic walk along the river or short bus trip away. Looking brightly to the future, the Colliers say in a joint statement that ‘the Leith shop allows us to be more creative with our art, to display work and makes the store more of a destination.’ Eager to expand their community of friends and customers in a new part of the city, Caoba was a sponsor of Leith’s recent Fiends In The Furrows folk horror festival. It was a fitting collaboration for the store, which is teeming with tarot cards and Day Of The Dead skulls staring out through an incense haze.
20 Anderson Place, Edinburgh; caoba.co.uk; instagram.com/caobamexicanshop
THORNE RECORDS
Since opening in 2022, Thorne Records has become an integral part of the Bruntsfield community. Owner Mark Thorne is determined to put people first, offering recycling services for vinyl shrink wrap, a store credit on all purchases and donating a percentage of every sale to MS Society Scotland. Not to mention, of course, the shop’s excellent range of indie records. n 125 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh; thornerecords.com; instagram.com/ thornerecords
LE FREAK VINYL
Step into the quirkiest record store in Dundee. Le Freak Vinyl’s walls are bathed in a myriad of colours, its ceiling dotted with
With the vinyl revival showing no sign of abating, Isy Santini rounds up some great record shops to boost your collection
vinyl and hanging CD decorations. Beyond its bright aesthetic, Le Freak houses a great collection of new and used records across many genres. They also regularly open their doors for live performances.
n 159 Perth Road, Dundee; lefreakrecords. co.uk; instagram.com/le_freak_records
STRIP JOINT RECORDS
Strip Joint is more than just a place to shop for records. Here, you can grab a cold beer and a piping hot pizza with all the toppings, and browse their small but well-curated vinyl selection. They specialise in new releases as well as classic sealed records.
n 956 Argyle Street, Glasgow; stripjointglasgow.co.uk; instagram.com/ stripjointrecords
Cello Classics
Wed 10 Jun The Webster Memorial Theatre, Arbroath
Thu 11 Jun Greyhope School and Community Hub, Torry
Fri 12 Jun United Reformed Church, Fraserburgh
Sat 13 Jun Community & Arts Centre, Nairn
Duruflé Requiem
Fri 19 Jun Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh
Sat 20 Jun Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews
Summer Classics
Wed 24 Jun Corran Halls, Oban
Thu 25 Jun Callander Kirk
Fri 26 Jun Badenoch Centre, Kingussie
Sat 27 Jun Deeside Community Theatre, Aboyne
Highland Classics
Wed 1 Jul Eden Court, Inverness
Thu 2 Jul Universal Hall, Findhorn
Fri 3 Jul Blair Castle, Blair Atholl
East Neuk Festival
Sun 5 Jul The Bowhouse, St Monans
Wed 29 Jul Barony Hall, Cumnock
Thu 30 Jul Cochran Hall, Kirkcudbright
Fri 31 Jul Academy Theatre, Annan
Sat 1 Aug Tait Hall, Kelso
Thu 6 Aug Stirling Castle
Fri 7 Aug Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock
Sat 8 Aug Reid Hall, Forfar
Edinburgh International Festival
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Sun 16 Aug Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Maxim & SCO Wind Soloists
Fri 21 Aug The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
Autumn Classics
Fri 11 Sep St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow
Sat 12 Sep Holy Trinity Church St Andrews
For those who still think that Hidden Door is a music festival, it’s time to get with the programme (especially the parts that cover visual art, dance and spoken word). Yes, there will be great gig performances from the likes of Jenny Hval, Valtos, Azamiah, Cowboy Hunters, Ichi and Evie Waddell but allow yourself time to experience other genres. There’s sculptor Emma Macleod’s hybrid beings (pictured), Lothian Youth Dance Company, and live poetry from Iona Lee and Sean Wai Keung. (Brian Donaldson) n The Paper Factory, Edinburgh, Wednesday 3–Sunday 7 June.
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Jodie Foster has a career that spans six decades. Starting out as a child actor, she grabbed attention in Taxi Driver before becoming a bona fide Hollywood star as an adult in movies such as The Accused and Nell. In her latest role, Foster appears in French mystery thriller A Private Life, playing a psychiatrist who suspects her patient’s suicide may actually have been murder. She chats to James Mottram about her personal approach to acting, working with Scorsese and rediscovering how scary The Silence Of The Lambs really is
What drew you to A Private Life? I like a story and it’s rare to get something that has such good architecture. I like different layers of meaning. The first thing that I think of is the character. Sometimes I’ll read the script and I’ll be like: ‘Oh, what can I play? Probably that! I can do that!’ For me, everything is really about the story and how I can serve the story. So I really responded to that. And then, of course, I’ve been wanting to do another movie in French for a long time.
With speaking so much French in the movie, how did you adjust to that? I had a great dialect coach . . . who wasn’t available for the shoot. Then she said: ‘You know what? My daughter’s bilingual, so she can come.’ And that was perfect. She wasn’t on top of me or anything, but just enough to say, ‘the meaning of this is . . . ’ or ‘this is plural’ or ‘you forgot the word “de”.’ But it was actually the perfect amount of overseeing.
As a French speaker, do you watch a lot of French cinema and TV shows? I wish I did. I almost never do. I used to when I was young, but we just don’t get as much anymore. We don’t get it in the States. I have to come to France to spend a few weeks just going to movie after movie.
You play Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist who believes one of her patients has been murdered. How did you find your way into the character? Gosh, I don’t know! It’s all there. I feel that about every movie that I make. I feel like it’s all there and it’s just up to me to uncover it. The characters are already there before I got there.
How do you like to approach acting? Is it instinct or are you theoretical? I like the juggle of the two. I like the two sides, for example, of intention and then freedom. We’re always playing with those two things. The director, of course, comes to the table with all of this intention: ‘I want this to be this way and I want that to be this way, and these are the circumstances that I’m going to create.’ But then somebody says ‘action!’ and you’re suddenly collaborating with human beings, and it doesn’t look like it looked in the storyboard. Not only do you have to be ok with that, but you have to enjoy juggling these two things.
You started acting so young. Was it always your ambition to act? I never thought I would be an actor when I grew up. My mom would say: ‘Are you going to be a lawyer? Are you gonna be a doctor?’ It was never assumed that I was going to be an actor when I grew up. And I’m always surprised that I’m still doing the same job that I did when I was three years old. So even though it’s been incredibly rewarding and I’m so grateful for everything it’s given me, I have to continually try to go out and do other things.
You recently contributed to Mr Scorsese, the superb documentary by Rebecca Miller Rebecca and I went to college together! We were in the same year, same class; my Freud/Lacan class was with her. She speaks French better than I do.
How do you look back on your time working with Scorsese? It was the greatest honour of my life. I don’t know how I got so lucky that, for some reason, at nine or ten years old, he decided to put me in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore; it changed my life. At the time, that was only the third film he had done after Boxcar Bertha and Mean Streets. I had seen Mean Streets with my mom a couple of times.
Talking of looking back, do you ever revisit The Silence Of The Lambs? I saw it again about eight years ago, because my kids had never seen it. I never showed it to them because it’s scary. Somebody said that it was on at the cinema so I was like, ‘ok, this is great, we’re gonna actually be able to see it in the movie theatre.’ I’d forgotten that it was so scary!
A Private Life is in cinemas from Friday 26 June.
‘Our band members first met on the road during the 2024 Fèis Rois Ceilidh Trail, a national touring opportunity for emerging young musicians in the Scottish traditional music scene,’ says Meallan’s clarsach player Catriona Kane. The six-piece clicked instantly and officially formed as a band in 2025.
The line-up includes guitarist Anja Maclennan and two fiddlers, Kirsty Harrison and Ruby Smith, both exponents of the Orcadian and English traditions.
‘Our keyboardist Matthew Duncan grew up near Glasgow and brings tunes from all over, with strong jazz influences,’ adds Kane. ‘We have all spent time studying in Edinburgh or Glasgow where our music has been further shaped by the vibrant session scenes in those cities.’
With varied inspirations, it was perhaps inevitable that the Gaelic tradition would be integrated into their sound, too. ‘Our singer Eòin [Cumming] grew up with Gaelic as his first language. Others in the band were exposed to the culture much later through working with Fèis Rois. Keen learners of the language, they love to learn where a song has come from and what its meaning is.’
Meallan recently released their debut EP, a mixture of self-written and traditional tunes, while being on tour has its own creative impetus. ‘We’ll continue to write some new music ahead of our gigs this summer and constantly take inspiration from our surroundings, landscapes and other performances.’
(Marcas Mac an Tuairneir)
n The Record Factory, Glasgow, Tuesday 9 June.
“One day you’re performing in a village hall in the Highlands, the next you’re on a plane to China
As Scottish Dance Theatre chalks up 40 years, artistic director Joan Clevillé reflects on its humble origins and tells Kelly Apter that connecting to communities and people remain core to its identity
Joan Clevillé was just seven years old when Scottish Dance Theatre came into being. Back then, in his Barcelona home, he could scarcely have imagined how a tiny out t in the Scottish city of Dundee would eventually play such a pivotal role in his life. Clevillé joined the company as a dancer in 2009, becoming artistic director ten years later, and is currently steering SDT through its 40th anniversary celebrations. It’s a success story for sure, but then again, that’s exactly what this organisation was set up to do: create opportunities and transform lives. In 1986, when Royston Maldoom rst hatched a plan to form Dundee Rep Dance Company, it was to satiate the appetite of young dancers hungry for work. ‘Royston had done a lot of groundwork, running community dance programmes,’ explains Clevillé. ‘These young dancers were getting really good, but didn’t have a company to aspire to. Nobody could have anticipated what Dundee Rep Dance Company would become, though. When I introduce the company to people in other countries, I have to explain that it wasn’t planned this way. It wasn’t like someone said: “Let’s create a agship national dance company for Scotland”. It very much came from the grassroots.’
With just four performers at the start, who rehearsed in schools, church halls and anywhere else they could nd, today’s dancers now spend their days in a £1m studio opened in 2004. Housed within Dundee Rep, it helped make SDT an increasingly viable option to outsiders. Dancers, teachers, choreographers and designers, hitherto unaware of the company, began to sit up and take notice of this ambitious group punching above its weight.
Several artistic directors can take credit for the incremental blossoming that has taken place over the past four decades; in particular, Janet Smith whose 15-year tenure saw SDT attract innovative dancemakers from around the world. ‘With the arrival of Janet in 1997, it became an international repertory dance company,’ says Clevillé. ‘But there’s something at the core which has stayed in the DNA of the company and that’s how it connects in a really genuine way to communities and people.’
In keeping with its twin commitments to work with global dance pioneers and take care of local audiences, SDT’s 40th year involves a healthy mix of both. Its Scottish Roots tour earlier this year took work inspired by Scotland to smaller, rural locations. This summer, the RECollect project will feature a new work created with local communities. And their anniversary double-bill has been choreographed by US-born/Sweden-based Emilie Leriche and Edouard Hue from Switzerland.
‘I’m very excited about this programme,’ says Clevillé. ‘In particular, I’m excited about the contrast between their two choreographic signatures, which are very distinct. Emilie’s piece, Rotten Work, has an almost lyrical quality; it’s poignant and thoughtful in a way that I don’t think anything else in our repertoire is. And with Edouard, there’s a much more urban, messy quality to his work, The Game Of Life. It’s more raw and visceral, but also very playful.’
Clevillé’s approach to commissioning, hiring and programming is resolutely outward looking and forward thinking. As the only SDT dancer who has gone on to be its artistic director, he knows what ts but is also aware how important it is to keep moving forward. ‘The fact I was a dancer here meant I knew the heartbeat of the company. One day you’re performing for 35 people in a village hall in the Highlands, the next you’re on a plane to China. I also arrived at a time when the company was doing a lot of work around disability, equality, equity and diversity. I hadn’t been exposed to any of that in my previous dance company and it had a strong impact on me.’
Describing his leadership at SDT as ‘building on what was already there’, Clevillé has ensured Maldoom’s original vision is alive and well. Except now, dancers from far and wide want to be a part of it. ‘When we held our last auditions in May 2025, we had almost 800 applications from dancers based in the UK, all over Europe and beyond. So people de nitely know about this company that started in a small city as a kind of community initiative, with four dancers and no studio. It’s quite a remarkable story and one that I think everyone should be really proud of.’
Scottish Dance Theatre: Rotten Work & The Game of Life, Friday 19 & Saturday 20 June; RECollect, Friday 26 & Saturday 27 June; all performances at Dundee Rep.
Kanpur: 1857 takes us back in time to 19th-century India, where a storyteller shackled to a cannon, on the brink of execution, is locked in a life-or-death interrogation with a British officer. Written by critically acclaimed Scottish-Indian storyteller Niall Moorjani and co-directed by award-winning comedy director Jonathan Oldfield, the play is based on true events and retells a grave moment in time with a humorous outlook.
Galvanised by our modern social landscape, Moorjani was influenced by both history and their own contemporary view. ‘It was inspired by Scotland’s colonial role in India, particularly the India monument outside Edinburgh Castle, the historical events at Kanpur themselves and the current occupation in Gaza,’ states Moorjani. ‘It’s a show that couldn’t be more relevant despite being set 169 years ago.’
Moorjani and Oldfield’s performances won over critics and they received a Fringe First, thanks to their confronting illustration of artistry, resistance, gender and systemic dominance. But despite expressing difficult issues, at its heart the play also carries a touching message. ‘Historical and modern resistance movements are complex, multifaceted things,’ insists Moorjani. ‘To blend storytelling, theatre and live music was a really big challenge and I grew so much as an artist from doing it. But it is also a show about love: it’s got a trans love story at its core.’ And with the play returning to Scottish stages, there’s still a chance to experience an unforgettable history lesson that will pose questions which feel as significant today as they were in 1857. (Rachel Morrell) n Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Saturday 27 June; Scottish Storytelling Centre,
BBC broadcaster, author, actor, musician and DJ, Mr Galloway flicks through some music listings to choose top June gigs in variously sized rooms and across different genres
aughter of Sex Pistol Paul Cook, tropical-pop princess Hollie Cook up quality for 20 years, initially as part of a reformed Slits, and then by perfecting her own take on Lovers Rock across a series of five super-catchy, melancholic reggae albums. Showing her pedigree, she’s supported The Stone Roses and also worked with luminaries such as Dennis Bovell, Youth and Jah Wobble. Cook joins the bill at the inaugural Scottish edition of Womad in early July, but you can swoon to her dreamy vocals this month at Glasgow’s King Tut’s (Friday 5 June), getting up close and personal with a rare talent.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary as the chaos-instigating originators of the London scene, punk pensioners The Damned show up at Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow (Sunday 7 June) to no doubt showcase their legacy of psychedelia, goth, pop and breakneck rock’n’roll over a career-spanning set. In their finest 1980s line-up, forever youthful frontman Dave Vanian stalks the stage like a lustful vampire, flanked by wildman guitarist Captain Sensible and Rickenbacker bass legend Paul Gray as thunderous powerhouse Rat Scabies keeps the beat at the back. Catch these true survivors and one of the UK’s truly iconic bands while you still can. It would be remiss of me not to highlight a few nuggets at TRNSMT, Scotland’s biggest and merriest festival which takes place on Glasgow Green (Friday 19–Sunday 21 June). Away from lighters-in-the-air headliners, there’s a treasure trove of gems across the weekend. Recently reformed super-Fifers The Beta Band are sure to initiate a baggy shuffle and good vibes; Falkirk tearaways Brògeal have a nice line in Celtic rabble-rousing anthems; and guitar-toting Glasgow young teams Sister Madds and Soapbox should get the blood pumping. If, however, you want a corner of calm within the maelstrom, award-winning singer-songwriters Jacob Alon and Alice Faye have you covered for more pensive and soulful sounds. Or why not get an old-skool techno fix and hoist those glow-sticks aloft for homegrown heroes Slam and Neil Landstrumm? There’s something for all the family it seems . . . n Listen to Vic Galloway every Monday night on BBC Radio Scotland, or anytime on BBC Sounds; his Vitamin C night next pops up at Futtle in St Monans on Saturday 4 July.
“ There’s still a fight to be fought
They were crowned winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2022 and came runner-up in last year’s Celebrity Big Brother. As they prepare to headline Dundee Pride, Danny Beard talks to Lucy Ribchester about the importance of queer communities and being recognised in B&M
It doesn’t take long for a conversation with Danny Beard to become derailed. First there’s the matter of their gorgeous glasses (£40 from Firmoo: they own around 30 pairs). Then Izzy the Lhasa Apso makes an appearance on the Zoom call (Fanny the hairless chihuahua remains upstairs ‘under the covers’). Half an hour with Beard makes you feel like you have a new bestie, who is just a little bit (well, significantly) cooler than you in a variety of ways.
Beard is headlining Dundee Pride this year but can’t actually remember whether they have been to the city before (surely the sign of an excellent Dundee night out). ‘I feel like I've done a club event there,’ they say. ‘I remember it because Ellie Diamond from Drag Race is from there.’ It’s a coup for the city to have pulled such a starry name. After winning the fourth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Beard’s profile has risen exponentially, culminating in coming second on Celebrity Big Brother last year.
A ‘super special project’ will be announced soon (about which they are remaining tight-lipped) and they’ve had to cope with being recognised in B&M while browsing the cleaning products. Their look has evolved too, progressing through a more mainstream ‘super femme’ stage before pulling back closer to the Club Kids aesthetic with which they won Drag Race. ‘Madonna has had 100 million different faces and looks and eras,’ they say. ‘Any artist, whatever your art is, goes on a journey and your style changes and evolves.’
Beard has also witnessed the hot-and-cold trajectory of the mainstream’s relationship with LGBTQ+ culture. ‘It’s not like it was ten years ago in drag; we’re almost on the other side of a drag boom,’ they say. ‘It’s hard to shift tickets and it’s hard to get people out.’ With this in mind, appearances at Pride
events such as Dundee remain special for Beard. ‘More important to me than making a paycheck is being able to be part of an event, and especially Pride ones. It’s often lots of young LGBTQ+ people’s first experience of going to an event where they are safe and seen and happy and proud. I’m proud to be part of that.’
The rainbow-printed wave of mainstream support for queer communities may have waned, but more worrying, Beard says, is the continuing toxicity of public debate surrounding LGBTQ+ lives. ‘The truth is there’s still a fight to be fought, and weirdly we’re seeing lots of gay people align themselves with majorly right-wing parties. We’re seeing famous Scottish writers really attack our community. Realistically, minorities are people that just want to piss in peace and just want to live their lives and not be bothered, and it feels like queer people’s lives (and I use that term broadly about the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum) are always up for a debate; or we’re the ones they bring in when they need an enemy. And the truth is gay people, queer people, trans people, bi people, pan people: we’re not the enemy. We are a massive part of this world and society.’
In this sense, drag (an intersection of many creative forms: dance, music, comedy, visual art, MC-ing) can become both a salve and a form of activism. ‘Honey, we’re going to make a good show in Dundee,’ Beard says, ‘And we’re gonna try and forget that for five minutes and live our lives and have a good time.’ What can we expect from that show? Beard laughs. ‘Chaos, with a capital K . . . I’m dyslexic.’
Danny Beard, Slessor Gardens, Dundee, Saturday 27 June.
One thing Scotland isn’t lacking is the ability to lay on excellent and occasionally idiosyncratic literary gatherings. Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Melrose may appear to hog the limelight in this regard, but Dundee Book Festival (various venues, Friday 19–Sunday 21 June) is doing itself proud once again. Among those appearing this time around are Nicola Sturgeon, Debi Gliori, Graeme Armstrong, Zoe Venditozzi, Doug Johnstone and Jenni Fagan, while there’s also a celebration of 75 mischievous years of Dennis The Menace who first lived up to his name in The Beano back in 1951. Talking of mischief, albeit of a more sedate brand, here comes Austentatious (Whitehall Theatre, Monday 29 June), a set of dashing gents and bold ladies who bring the works of Jane Austen back to life with their keen improvisational ways. Among the revolving cast are Joseph Morpurgo, Rachel Parris, Cariad Lloyd and Graham Dickson. If you are feeling sinister, go off and see a minister. Or, alternatively, relive the delicate mid 90s majesty of the first two Belle And Sebastian albums (Caird Hall, Saturday 20 June) as the band perform them in full: namely, Tigermilk and the one alluded to in the previous sentence. (Brian Donaldson)
Our column celebrating new music to watch continues with James Emmanuel. As his latest EP is released, the Edinburgh-based soul singer talks to Fiona Shepherd about the power of positive male role models, being inclusive, and gearing up for TRNSMT
James Emmanuel has a recipe for success: ‘Sunny side up, a little bit runny, with a lot of herbs and seasoning to give it that oomph.’ That’s the recipe for getting his son to eat eggs. The recipe for recognition as a singer is more of a slow cook, as outlined in recent single ‘Time’ which features the lyric: ‘The clock is not my enemy/It’s a friend in disguise’. ‘That’s my life,’ he says, ‘speci cally in Edinburgh, trying to chase this dream when you’re 30 years old and you’re trying to do soul music.’
Emmanuel has walked a long road to reach this point: signing to Decca, releasing two EPs and winning the Spotlight Award for emerging artists at the 2025 Scottish Music Awards. This son of a preacher man discovered his voice by accident when he joined the church choir as a way of keeping out of trouble. Following the death of his father, singing was sidelined when he le his native Nigeria with a plan to provide for his family. He pitched up in Edinburgh 15 years ago, working as a cleaner and catering assistant while exploring his voice through the city’s karaoke nights and open mics. Eventually, he was encouraged to start writing his own songs, scored a residency at the Jazz Bar and scraped together the money to record a high-quality calling card, ‘Lonesome Man’.
The unhurried approach has started to pay dividends for this old-school soul man. ‘This has been the best year I’ve had as a songwriter,’ he says before going on to outline some of his freshly minted songs around the theme of manhood and fatherhood. The title track of his current EP Good Man is modelled on his own father. ‘Why can’t we say, “my dad was great”?’ he asks. ‘What about the good men? They tell you all the time you need to be tough but being tough doesn’t necessarily make you a great man. The older I get the more I realise that being subtle and gentle is more powerful than trying to overcompensate all the time. When I’m at home, I want to be goofy, let my guard down and exist.’
Another contender for inclusion on his debut album, which he hopes to release later this year, is ‘Who We Hating Today?’, written a er witnessing the homophobic treatment of a colleague. ‘This is another thing I’ve learned in Scotland: we’re either going to stand for everybody or we stand for nobody. I want to go to my show and see all kinds of people there and it doesn’t matter what the back story is; they just feel accepted.’
His next opportunity to spread the word is a slot on the River Stage at TRNSMT. ‘They’re throwing me in at the deep end! I remember when Capaldi played it a couple of years back and I was thinking, “one day, hopefully”. I can’t wait to get onstage this year. I’m ready to go.’
When jazz pianist Keith Jarrett performed in Cologne in 1975, the result was a legendary moment in music. The acclaimed gig was recorded and released as The Köln Concert, a landmark work that became the bestselling solo jazz album in history. New movie Köln 75 documents that show, as seen through the eyes of Vera Brandes, the teenage German go-getter who organised the entire concert.
Playing Jarrett is John Magaro, the American indie stalwart famed for roles in First Cow, Past Lives and September 5. During prep, he learned how Jarrett would change his set every night, improvising at the piano. ‘It’s bold,’ says Magaro. ‘For him, it was an experiment though he didn’t continue to do that throughout his career; he went back to more traditional jazz after that, but this was a unique moment in time for jazz, and I respect his courage in doing that.’
Co-starring with Mala Emde, who plays Brandes, Magaro worked with award-winning pianist Scott Gentile to perfect his ivory-tinkling skills. ‘So much more than that was learning the mannerisms of Keith,’ says Magaro. ‘He has a very specific way of playing, which could become a parody if you don’t really dissect it in the right way. And a big part of my time with Scott was dissecting the way he played and why he did what he did. That was months of work to figure that out.’ It’s been a creatively stimulating experience for Magaro, not least the added pleasure of spending time with hardcore Jarrett aficionados. ‘If you’re a fan of Keith Jarrett, you’re a fan of Keith Jarrett,’ he says. ‘You know everything and you really love him. So it’s been fascinating to have those conversations with his true fans.’
(James Mottram)
n In cinemas from Friday 5 June.
Being born in the 60s and growing up in the 70s and 80s, I had a lot of classic comedy heroes like Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, Bill Hicks, Billy Connolly, Sid James, Warren Mitchell and more. Being asked to choose one comedy hero, I had two on the table: Dave Allen and Tommy Tiernan. Both Irish and both storytellers. The fact that I am half Irish and a storyteller doesn’t have anything to do with it, I swear!
I picked Dave Allen (sorry Tommy) as I never missed an episode of The Dave Allen Show and Dave Allen At Large, and I could watch them all again today. I would get excited as soon as the theme tune would start. Most of the time he would be seated on a high stool with a drink and a cigarette, and I was fascinated by his half finger and all the different stories he told on how he lost it. I loved his relaxed style of storytelling and black humour; he was casual, sincere and funny with taboo subjects at the time, like politics, the Catholic church and death, which got him banned on Irish television back in the day.
Although seated, his storytelling had so much expression. What I really looked forward to were his ghostly stories, usually at the end of an episode. The lights would dim and he would begin a spooky tale, which would normally end with an anticlimactic or humorous punchline instead of the expected jump scare. I still remember his end of show catchphrase: ‘Goodnight, thank you, and may your god go with you.’
n Josephine Lacey: Autism Mama, Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Friday 26 June.
Get yourself away from the central belt and out into various parts of Scotland where the cultural landscape is just as rich and varied. Among the upcoming highlights this month are a festival incorporating opera and poetry, an artistic celebration of wildlife, a ropy psychic, a very welcome return to the comedy stage, and a multi-sensory experience
ABERDEEN
MATT FORDE
Getting back to the stage after serious health concerns, the political commentator (and impersonator extraordinaire) seeks to find positivity anywhere he can. Given everything that’s going on that would be an admirable feat.
n Lemon Tree, Thursday 18 June.
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY ARTS FESTIVAL
Wigtown, Stranraer and Castle Douglas are among the locations hosting festival events which include Scottish Opera’s Pop-Up Opera, Firelight Trio and the Loud Poets Slam.
n Various venues, until Sunday 14 June.
DUNFERMLINE
CLINTON BAPTISTE
From the mind of Alex Lowe has sprung this hapless clairvoyant, medium and psychic who first came to our attention messing things right up on Phoenix Nights
n Alhambra Theatre, Saturday 6 June.
FALKIRK
A WALK IN THE PARK
Local artist Joy Bain’s exhibition of screen prints and oil paintings celebrate Callendar Park and some of the wildlife that inhabits the area.
n Callendar House, until Sunday 16 August.
DARREN MCGARVEY
Storytelling, wellbeing and social change converge in the Orwell Prize-winning author and documentary maker’s new multimedia live show, Trauma Industrial Complex n Eden Court, Thursday 11 June.
KILLIN
KILLIN MUSIC FESTIVAL
This festival weekender is split between a Saturday of gigs (featuring the likes of Cammy Barnes, Beth Malcolm and Project Smok) and a community Sunday with a pipe band parade, a Gaelic choir and shinty match.
n Various venues, Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June.
ELAINE C SMITH & ARABELLA WEIR
In conversation with former occupant of 10 Downing Street, Sarah Brown, are two comedians and actresses who will have plenty insights and stories to share in this Festival Of Ideas event.
n Adam Smith Theatre, Saturday 6 June.
THE ONLY WAY OUT IS IN
From Sharron Devine comes this live multi-sensory one-on-one experience in three acts exploring themes of nature, control, risk, trust and choice.
n Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Explorers Garden, Wednesday 17–Sunday 21, Wednesday 24–Sunday 28 June.
ST ANDREWS
SCO: DURUFLÉ REQUIEM
An evening of depth and beauty awaits with works by Philip Glass and James MacMillan joining the titular requiem which blends Gregorian chants with glorious harmonies.
n Byre Theatre, Saturday 20 June.
A starry Danish cast and madcap script create hilarious and touching results in The Last Viking, says Emma Simmonds
Some of Denmark’s most internationally recognisable actors assemble for an extraordinarily silly and often screamingly funny dramedy. This imaginatively conceived effort brings together armed robbery, mental illness, Vikings and Beatlemania in a (somehow coherent) story about sibling responsibility and self-acceptance.
The Last Viking is the reliably bonkers brainchild of Anders Thomas Jensen, who was a 1998 Oscar winner for his short Election Night, assembling a number of the filmmaker’s previous collaborators, including Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and The Killing star and knitwear queen Sofie Gråbøl. The film introduces us to armed robber Anker (Kaas) who is arrested at the outset. Before being captured, Anker entrusts his mentally fragile brother Manfred (Mikkelsen) with the key to a locker containing 20 million krone, asking him to retrieve the money and bury it near their childhood home.
After his release 15 years later, Anker learns that Manfred’s mental health has deteriorated; he has developed a habit of stealing dogs and has started to identify as deceased Beatles legend John Lennon. Following a pair of spectacularly abrupt suicide attempts, Manfred is admitted to a secure unit where he’s diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Realising that Manfred may not be able to lead him to the loot in his current condition, Anker despairs.
However, after a night partying with psychiatrist Lothar (Lars Brygmann), it’s suggested that by altering reality to match Manfred’s delusion he might well be reached. He manages to track down a patient at another facility who believes he is Ringo Starr, and one in Sweden (Kardo Razzazi’s Hamdan) who alternates between the personalities of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, alongside 40 others (including Heinrich Himmler, Iron Man and Björn from ABBA).
And so they get the band back together, after a fashion, at Anker and Manfred’s former family home, now rented out by bickering couple Margrethe and Werner (Gråbøl and Søren Malling). Complicating matters, the place holds traumatic memories relating to the siblings’ abusive father. They are also being pursued by Flemming, a former criminal associate of Anker’s (played by another regular
Jensen collaborator, Nicolas Bro, who makes a genuinely menacing bad guy).
Mikkelsen is among the finest actors of his generation (highlights include his Cannes-winning performance in The Hunt and Baftanominated turn in Another Round, while he’s also appeared in both the MCU and Wizarding World). His ongoing collaborations with Jensen have continued to delight by delivering heartily on the fun factor. This is their sixth film together (following Riders Of Justice, Men & Chicken, Adam’s Apples, The Green Butchers and Flickering Lights), with Mikkelsen previously assuming the roles of vengeful soldier, chronic masturbator, priest, cannibal butcher and small-time gangster.
As you can probably tell, The Last Viking is not an especially sensitive film about mental illness, taking as it does a blackly comic, frequently bad taste and exuberantly eccentric approach to much of what unfolds (the slapstick nature of Manfred’s suicide attempts, for instance). Beyond the delightfully deranged premise and cast of quirky characters, it is chock full of fantastic lines, whether it’s Lothar wondering ‘how can a mute snore like that?’ or describing how Hamdan’s Himmler persona ‘got them in trouble on the ferry’.
And yet, for all its hilarity, this is a story underpinned by real emotion as the brothers confront their past while their obligations toward each other are explored. Jeppe Kaas’ score, too, is elegant and elevating, and there are a pair of sincere, wholly convincing performances at the film’s heart. Nikolaj Lie Kaas (best known for the Department Q Danish film series) somehow manages to turn his traditional granite-faced bemusement up to 11, while Mikkelsen conveys Manfred’s internal anguish in beautifully subtle fashion.
And the film is bookended by suitably batshit, amusingly animated sequences which affirm its message of equality and evoke Danish mythology, but with a typically Jensen-ian twist. The Last Viking is a story about the suffocating bonds of family and the multitudinous nature of identity, and how this can be shaped by the perception of others. It is also, in its own way, a celebration of difference and of finding the courage to be yourself, whatever magnificent madness that entails.
The Last Viking is in cinemas from Friday 26 June.
For the past 20 years, Swedish photographer Åsa Johannesson has been documenting experiences of queer life. Beginning in the 1990s with portraits of friends on dancefloors in King’s Cross and Soho, her work developed as a PhD study into queer identity and photographic representation, and eventually into a wider body of work interrogating the history of portraiture itself. At Stills, The Queering Of Photography gathers a decade of this output.
Using a large-format plate camera and the language of classical studio portraiture, Johannesson’s photographs initially resemble traditional black and white studies. But the longer you look, the more they begin to unravel. Some are upside down. Some are posed like Roman statues. Some literally are Roman statues. All of the portraits are strangely confronting, communicating an unease that usually lives in real life: awkward moments, hesitation, disassociation and confusion. One of the most compelling works is ‘Skins’, a framed display of distorted instant film which from afar could be anything from sweetie wrappers to condoms. Originally test shots for another series, the warped emulsions have become strange sculptural objects in their own right, twisted to both obscure and reveal the portrait within.
What makes The Queering Of Photography so effective is its refusal of easy conclusions. The research and academic grounding behind the work is clear: every inch of space feels intentional, presenting queerness as something continually unfolding. The exhibition is more reflective than rousing; it’s academic and measured. But this restraint only sharpens the meaning behind each queerly perfect portrait. (Afreka Thomson) n Stills, Edinburgh, until Saturday 27 June.
When the Tron Theatre standing ovation starts, it feels like Glaswegian culture is having another moment. There have been a few recently, from the premiere of Poor Things, based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, to the release of Everybody To Kenmure Street, a documentary which celebrated the community protests that thwarted immigration enforcement in Pollokshields. For all its well-documented problems, this is a city that shows up for itself and tells its own stories in autonomous and uplifting ways. Yes, this one happened in Greenock (where the tour fittingly closes), but the complex socioeconomic history of that town is inextricably entwined with that of its larger neighbour.
The Lee Jeans protest is one of the more feted episodes in the recent history of industrial action in Scotland. And writer Frances Poet’s retelling of how 140 garment workers staged a seven-month sit-in that saved their jobs and exposed the management lies which forced them into redundancy has wit, verve and a nice balance of documentary realism and experimental energy. The key characters, like Jo Freer’s Helen Monaghan, an unassuming shop steward with a will of iron, and the Wallace sisters (sensible Cathie and wayward Maggie, brought to life by Hannah Jarrett-Scott and Chiara Sparkes) play earlier versions of themselves. It’s not so much breaking the fourth wall, Brechtian style, as carving a little enclave in it. The characters look back from 2026 on how and why they did what they did, squabbling over details from time to time.
There’s an undertow of sadness to the story which forms a nice contrast with the peppy working men’s club-style band, made up of the cast itself, that soundtracks the whole thing. They play nostalgic tunes, such as Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids In America’, which are subtly redolent of the encroaching, US-dominated capitalist dystopia we now live in. (Greg Thomas)
n Eden Court, Inverness, Tuesday 2 & Wednesday 3 June; Cumbernauld Theatre, Friday 5 & Saturday 6 June; Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Tuesday 9 & Wednesday 10 June; reviewed at Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
Our ScreenList recommends the can’t-miss screenings coming up at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse. This month we’re throwing it back to the 60s and 70s to celebrate the cinema’s reopening anniversary and their inaugural contribution to Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair
Raymah Tariq has worked within film exhibition since 2013 and is currently in post as Programme Manager for Filmhouse, where she especially loves programming noir and anything with a synth soundtrack
On a recent staff day we had the pleasure of watching 2001 on 70mm and I hung around in the Projection box – which both annoyed and pleased our Projection team as they got to show off their prowess on running the show. One of the ultimate sci-fi’s ever made on the ultimate format – not to be missed!
Perhaps an off-piste selection for Bleak Week, this 70s crime drama shows the cyclical struggle that ex-convicts find themselves within despite their desperation to ‘go straight’ in life. An intense performance by Dustin Hoffman with a pitch perfect cast around him (including Harry Dean Stanton whose centenary we are commemorating in our programme throughout the year), this film has lingered with me since I watched it almost three years ago.
With such vibrant hues, Umbrellas is one of the most visually arresting films ever made that you might almostnot realise that our protagonists are really going through it as they sing the high, lows, super lows of romance. An absolute must for any musical lover. (Also very satisfying to say in its French title, Les Parapluies… (I’m in Cannes as I write this, am I insufferable? Maybe!))
In partnership with
Revolution Days recalls the Arab Spring through the eyes of Samira, a Scottish aid worker who refuses to look away. Based on the real life experiences of playwright Mariem Omari, the play was first written to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Middle Eastern uprising. Now reworked to reflect today’s political backdrop, this monologue conveys the horrors of war with candid humour, smart storytelling and startling truth.
We first meet Samira (Olivia Hemmati) in a Jordan airport. Wide eyed and optimistic, the young Arab-Scot has ditched her native Glasgow to work for the United Nations as a humanitarian observer, an opportunity she believes will offer her the chance to make a real difference in the region. When Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation sparks a wave of antigovernment uprisings in neighbouring nations, Samira is thrust into the heartlands of the Middle Eastern protests, growing increasingly disillusioned with the UN’s effectiveness as she witnesses destitute scenes in the West Bank, Iraq and Syria.
Never one to turn down a mission, Samira must deal with the physical and mental consequences of the trauma she bears witness to on a daily basis. Hemmati gives an inspired turn as the onceoptimistic samaritan, converting a palpable feeling of helplessness as Samira’s hair falls out by the clump. That Omari was able to transform several lifetimes’ worth of trauma into an eloquent 70 minute production is testament to her abilities as a writer. That a play first staged five years ago already merits a revamp shows how far the Middle East is from the systemic change that appeared briefly possible in the Arab Spring’s early days. (Danny Munro) n Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wednesday 3 June, touring until Saturday 20 June; reviewed at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.
Taking you on a trip through an eye-popping neon gay-laxy, Lesbian Space Princess is an adorable, absurd and very adult animation from debut writer-directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. This rollicking Aussie adventure features Shabana Azeez as the voice of stressed-out princess Saira who, despite being voted ‘most boring royal’ by the inhabitants of Clitopolis, sets out on an intergalactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel), who is seen dumping her at the outset.
Kiki has been kidnapped by the Straight White Maliens, hilariously voiced by Mark Bonanno, Zachary Ruane and Broden Kelly from surrealist comedy group Aunty Donna. They’re a trio of insecure extraterrestrials, who were formerly the most powerful beings in the universe but have been forgotten (do you see what they did there?).
Assisting on Saira’s quest is musician Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), a serial optimist to Saira’s perpetual pessimist, who keeps the energy up while penning awful songs about their exploits. One of the breakout stars of hit medical drama The Pitt, Azeez is perfectly cast as the epically awkward Saira, whose mission is more about learning to love herself than rescuing her awful ex, and there’s fun work from Richard Roxburgh as a sexist spaceship.
The script is sharp, the jokes more hit than miss, the animation is cute and irresistibly cheeky, and the pop culture references come thick and fast, with nods to the likes of Barbie, Buffy and Blue Is The Warmest Colour. Given how controversial it is in mainstream kids’ animation to even feature a gay character, it’s nice to watch something at the opposite end of the spectrum, where queerness is celebrated via an enjoyably in-your-face, shamelessly pun-heavy style. The whole thing is surprisingly sweet, ejaculating spaceship aside. (Emma Simmonds) n In cinemas from Friday 19 June.
Kraftwerk feel as fresh and vital in 2026 as they did back in their electro futuristic pomp. Gary Sullivan joins the good robots for a night which proves that, for now, humans are still the masters of technology
Glasgow’s love affair with the septuagenarian renaissance continues tonight as Kraftwerk visit the Royal Concert Hall after a decade’s hiatus.
Following on from Martin O’Neill’s recent doublewinning heroics, 79-year-old Ralf Hütter plugs Düsseldorf’s famed techno four-piece into the city’s matrix, wrestling control away from AI slop and putting LLM music back in its box.
Billed as the Multimedia Tour, those iconic lecterns sit in front of a giant video wall as caustic yellow Tetris glyphs tease the band’s entrance, a nod to the 50th anniversary reissue of album RadioActivity. What follows is two hours of relentless exposure to the charged particles of electronic music, with the audience begging for a full dose. Taking their cue from Jeff Bridges’ light-up suit in Tron, the band blur the boundaries of immersive performance. Opening with a long stem from Computer World, that album’s futuristic synth figures seem to envelop the band within the staging, yellow and green neon pulsing in, around and through the performance space. It’s a hypnotic starting point, yet Kraftwerk are merely warming their batteries.
‘Home Computer’ boots the room up fully, dropping the kind of motorik beats that set pulses racing from Heidelberg to The Haçienda, pushing the Concert Hall’s top-notch sound system to the edge of its operational limits. ‘Tango’, the obscure 90s techno workout, cranks the BPM further, posing the question: should Hi-NRG music be absorbed in a sedentary position? Judging by
the patrons nearby, the answer is resoundingly no, with people undulating in their seats as though they’ve been hooked up to the national grid.
Kraftwerk’s current line-up employs two live video technicians (Falk Grieffenhagen and Georg Bongartz) who subtly tap and prod at their consoles, creating startling visual effects that match the music with cine-film newsreels or blinding stabs of electric waveforms. Industrial typeface and a De Stijl-inspired palette of red, black and white accompany the digital bleeps and Hütter’s vocoder vocals on ‘The Man Machine’, while angular Bauhaus geometries invade grainy archive footage in a pulsing Tour De France section.
Classics such as ‘The Model’ feel as fresh and essential today as they ever have and it’s startling how utterly contemporary Kraftwerk’s sound still feels. Not content with inspiring everyone from The Chemical Brothers to DJ Shadow and Aphex Twin, it’s obvious Hütter is locked into every trend in the current electronic landscape. The closing section of ‘Boing Boom Tschak’/‘Musique Non Stop’ could be dropped into a peak-time set at Berghain tomorrow and the sweat would be dripping from the ceiling. Encoring with a head-wobbling version of ‘The Robots’ reinforces the cast-iron truth: music is a human endeavour. Machines are but a tool to enhance our creativity into genius. And Kraftwerk do that better than anyone.
Kraftwerk reviewed at Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow.
The Royal Scottish Academy celebrated a major milestone in May, marking 200 years of supporting art and architecture in Scotland. Back in 1826, one of the founders’ aims was to showcase artists of merit through an annual exhibition. In this year’s show, curated by exhibition convenor Annie Cattrell with assistance from architecture convenor Fergus Purdie, an architectural sketch responds to the theme of ‘Beginning(s)’ as Richard Murphy audaciously imagines what a glossy, modern RSA building on Princes Street might look like, across the road from the historic landmark’s current home on The Mound.
Elsewhere, the tricentenary of the birth of Edinburgh-born geologist James Hutton is marked with the theme ‘In Time’. Glorious, curvaceous and also angular cuboid works in pink granite, limestone, marble and metadolerite are presented by Angela Palmer and Jake Harvey, among others. Architectural drawings of Martin Creed’s marble ‘Work No 1059: The Scotsman Steps’ from 2010 seem to unintentionally straddle both themes. Alongside the deep time complexities of igneous rocks, human time is considered through Christine Roychowdhury’s moving ‘Hospitalised’, a harrowing oil painting of her mother, drawing attention to the dehumanising treatment of the elderly. There are also visceral, silky ripples in Allyson Keehan’s ‘Of My Flesh: Birth Mess’ and fleshy, sanguinary folds in Louise Gibson’s ‘Atrophy (The Shark)’.
Hundreds of paintings, photos, tapestries and sculptures chosen from online submissions by artists at all stages of their careers are on show. Handily, the entire collection can also be browsed online. Highlights to seek out are Jim Lambie’s muted sunglass-lens mandala ‘Star Dancing’; Joseph DeLappe’s tiny but triumphant ‘Trump Is A Cunt: Janey Godley Monument’; the clean lines of Toby Paterson’s warming ‘Breakfast In Madrid’; and Mella Shaw’s eco-alarmed response to deep seabed mining in ‘Rare Earth Rising’. (Claire Sawers) n Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, until Sunday 14 June.
When The Stand moved to its new venue in a former church last autumn, it resurrected its Sunday Service shows, with a more relaxed energy than you’ll find on Fridays and Saturdays. Even on a bank holiday weekend, host Jojo Sutherland doesn’t try whipping the crowd up, instead finding empathy for her grumbling dissatisfaction at hitting 60 and getting creative on dating apps, her sardonic misanthropy setting the mood amusingly. By contrast, opener Liam Farrelly is still in the weeds of parenting, scrambling around as a 26-year-old father with a young daughter, his slightly feckless persona befuddled by life. Yet the Paisley native knows a strong premise and how to eke plentiful laughs from it, with his routines about misogynist graffiti and owning troubled guinea pigs tightly crafted, even if he fudges some of the timings.
Relative newcomer Gita Blaze is a card, a Latvian who grew up in the Soviet Union, whose faux-naif immigrant comprehension of Scotland and efforts to convey her culture are very much a work-in-progress, with slightly laboured writing. But alongside some rudimentary props, she carries her mushroomheavy set with considerable charm. Usually geniality personified, headliner Ray Bradshaw was replacing Larry Dean at short notice and suggested scurrilous rumours of the SNL UK star. Taking caustic swipes at the US, he was happy to catch a Uruguayan in the crowd as collateral damage. Bradshaw’s casual, unhurried delivery segues smoothly between joy and tribulations as he discusses his mild dyspepsia, exacerbated for him as a hardcore football fan by missing the World Cup due to his second child’s imminent birth. (Jay Richardson)
n The Sunday Service takes place, unsurprisingly, every Sunday at The Stand, Glasgow.
The Table (and bottom from
If you fancy getting out and about this month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as a dance triple bill, the latest intergalactic adventures of a classic superheroine, a solid collection of jazz warriors and a fitting celebration of a beloved Scottish poet
ART
CARVED, WOVEN, FIRED
Partnering with Craft Scotland, 20 of the member makers at Garvald Edinburgh will showcase furniture, baskets, kitchenware, flowerpots, vases, woven scarves and blankets.
n Garvald Makers, Edinburgh, Friday 12–Saturday 20 June.
DANCE
COMMON GROUND
Presented by Traditional Dance Forum Of Scotland, this triple bill is part of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games Festival and aims to portray memory, joy and resilience.
n Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Thursday 25 June.
FILM
THE FALL OF SIR DOUGLAS
WEATHERFORD
The peerless Peter Mullan stars in this quirky dark comedy set in the fictional town of Aberloch about a historian who becomes obsessed with his unscrupulous ancestor. Also in there are Gayle Rankin and Lewis MacDougall.
n In cinemas from Friday 12 June.
SUPERGIRL
Milly Alcock gets the role of a lifetime as Supergirl reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion for a spot of interstellar vengeance and justice. Jason Momoa, Emily Beecham and David Corenswet also do their thing here.
n In cinemas from Friday 26 June.
KIDS
GLASGOW SCIENCE FESTIVAL
Cocktail classes, a sustainably powered music festival with a ceilidh and a reflection on how much Glasgow has contributed to scientific research (spoiler: it’s a lot) are all celebrated here.
n Various venues, Glasgow, Thursday 4–Sunday 14 June
MUSIC
AROOJ AFTAB
Accompanied by London Contemporary Orchestra, the Grammy-winning composer and singer beguiles audiences once again with an uncanny blend of minimalism, jazz and South Asian traditional sounds.
n Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Wednesday 24 June.
GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL
Almost 40 years on from the first jazz festival in Glasgow, over 170 musicians will descend upon the city across five days. Among the class acts are Kai Reesu, Gaïa, Audrey Powne, Unoma Okudo, Courtney Pine and Martin Taylor.
n Various venues, Glasgow, Wednesday 10–Sunday 14 June.
TALKS
MISCHIEF NIGHT
A celebration of the late poet Roddy Lumdsen who would have been 60 this year, with the evening including DJs picking tunes from his own collection.
n Waverley Bar, Edinburgh, Friday 12 June.
THE TABLE
A collaboration between Lung Ha, Curious Seed and Lyra has produced this piece which blends movement, live music, text and playful imagery, inviting us to think about where we belong and how we show up for one another.
n Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 18–Saturday 20 June.
COMING UP AT PITLOCHRY FESTIVAL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ALAN CUMMING ON THE SHOWS YOU NEED TO SEE
13 JUNE - 4 JULY
´ IT'S GOT JOY, DESPAIR AND ABOVE ALL, HOPE!
A world premiere by the revered Scottish writer Douglas Maxwell, made here in Pitlochry! This is the first thing I ever commissioned as Artistic Director.
It’s a play about missed chances and how your life can change in a second.
FEATURING A BRILLIANT CAST including ADURA ONASHILE and SANDY GRIERSON, and Pitlochry favourite SALLY REID directing.
I CAN DIE TOO
11 JULY - 2 AUGUST
A WHOLE NEW MUSICAL FORM FOR PITLOCHRY!
It’s a play with songs within a play within a play!
The brilliant TONY-WINNING FRANCES RUFFELLE is going to glitter at the centre of this piece. It’s got a BAND, it’s got ROCK, it’s got BALLADS, it’s got COCTEAU, and it will break your heart!
4 JULY - 1 AUGUST THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST PLAYS EVER WRITTEN
in a new version by one of Scotland’s brightest up and coming directors.
It stars a Scots theatrical legend, MAUREEN BEATTIE. Also in the cast is my High Life pal FORBES MASSON and a slew of brilliant young Scottish talent.
This is now a play about a mother and her daughters. The whole dynamic of the piece has changed.
The set design alone will BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!
Known primarily as that guy from The Fly or him from Jurassic Park, the suave, sophisticated and vaguely eccentric Jeff Goldblum has reinvented himself over the past decade as a crooning jazzer with a gaggle of celebrity buddies he can call on to guest on his albums. On his fourth record, Night Blooms, the likes of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (his cast mates from Wicked) plus Scarlett Johansson and Charlie Puth are all on hand to help out. Nice. (Brian Donaldson) n Night Blooms is released by Decca on Friday 5 June; Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra perform at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Monday 1 June.
To mark the centenary of Miles Davis, a new BBC Sounds documentary series adds to the pantheon of cultural artefacts honouring this trumpet legend. Rob Adams analyses a remarkable legacy
When Miles Davis appeared at Glasgow Jazz Festival in 1990, he was the biggest live jazz attraction the event could have presented. Although not universally loved by the jazz audience, Miles (like Louis Armstrong, his first name was all that was needed to identify him) had been in at the birth of innumerable new directions the genre had taken. This music college dropout would go on to be studied on jazz courses internationally and created a finishing school for a veritable cohort of musicians who took his legacy forward.
From the 1940s, when he partnered alto saxophone virtuoso Charlie Parker in the bebop revolution that took jazz out of the dancehalls and into high art, to his ‘retirement’ in the mid1970s, Miles created classic recording after classic recording in a bewildering range of formats and settings. Possibly the only musician who could have been the connection between Birth Of The Cool’s acoustic elegance, Sketches Of Spain’s neo-classicism, ESP’s free-thinking originality and On The Corner’s raw, deep electronic groove, he was a restless seeker of new means of expression.
During that run of albums came the timeless Kind Of Blue in 1959 and another new direction by introducing modal jazz that blended space, emotion and individual virtuosity. It would become the best-selling jazz album of all time as well as the blueprint for ensembles to this day. Ten years later, having put his stamp on orchestral jazz through his collaborations with arranging genius Gil Evans and always aware of developments outside of the form, Miles was ushering in jazz fusion.
A blessing or a curse depending on your viewpoint, electric Miles, like his great quintets that came before, gave a platform to outstanding talents who were as adept at taking the music forward as they often were at returning to the jazz tradition that had nourished them. Miles generally refused to retrace his own steps. On his return in 1981, he gathered a group of young musicians whose energy he fostered and used to propel his ideas. To the list of Miles associates that included John Coltrane (who would also have been 100 this year), Cannonball Adderley, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Dave Holland (the last three thankfully still around to continue his legacy) would be added guitarists John Scofield and Mike Stern, saxophonists Bill Evans and Kenny Garrett, and long-serving drummer Al Foster. These names merely scratch the surface of the list of collaborators that are a crucial part of the remarkable Miles Davis story.
n The Miles Davis Story is available now on BBC Sounds as part of the Legends series.
We’re setting our receivers on the letter S in the latest edition of our alphabet-themed rundown of album recommendations
Black British folk music is an underserved genre, but Angeline Morrison’s The Sorrow Songs (Folk Songs Of Black British Experience) (2022) goes some way to addressing that. With a so beauty, Morrison cra s a tapestry of di erent black perspectives across history, bookending each track with spoken word pieces from prejudiced white people to prove that diversity (and a resistance to it) has existed forever on these isles.
The album that pushed Outkast into the mainstream, Stankonia (2000), remains a hell of a lot of fun, combining Big Boi’s old-school bars and André 3000’s art-school weirdness with a fusion of rap, funk, acid jazz, rave and seemingly anything else that caught their fancy in their newly purchased Stankonia Studios. They made superlative work a erwards, but this is arguably the last album where Outkast were a hivemind rather than a vehicle for 3000 and Boi to indulge their individual whims. And let’s lay our cards on the table: ‘Ms Jackson’ remains the best single of the 2000s. (Kevin Fullerton)
n Other S albums: Switcheroo by Gelli Haha (2025), Songs To Learn & Sing by Echo & The Bunnymen (1985), Strictly Personal by Captain Bee eart (1968).
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In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut novelists. This month we feature Séamas O’Reilly, author of Prestige Drama, a comedy about dramatising tragedy in which a famous American actress, who arrives in Derry to star in a Troubles-set series, goes missing
What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? I have extraordinarily strong memories of reading Funnybones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Any time I read it to my own kids, I experience a genuine Proustian rush, right down to remembering the feel of the cold, dappled, false-marble tabletop in my childhood kitchen where I sat and read it, my hair still wet and ngers still pruned from a swimming lesson.
What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer? The rst proper, seismic leap in my recalibration of what a book could be, and experience of knowing I wanted to do the miraculous things its writer did, was The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien. I read it when I was 12 and it blew my head open. All the rules and constructs of ction that I’d read up to that point were utterly discarded and I knew I wanted to do whatever it was he was doing. I have not yet proved successful.
Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? Arthur Mathews’ Well-Remembered Days is probably the single funniest book I have ever read and one of the most joyously re-readable. Where other books o er a sensible chuckle every chapter or two, this pummels you with exquisite gags at a rate that makes you realise you’ve been short-changed by ‘funny’ books your entire life.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? Literally anything other than writing. The one good thing about writing days is that, all of a sudden, every tedious admin task in your calendar suddenly holds an unbreakable appeal. Ninety-nine per cent
of all meetings I’ve scheduled, magazine pitches I’ve made, invoices I’ve chased and tax forms I’ve led, have been in those rst few blissful hours of avoidance that precede my writing days like a stalking horse.
What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? I go for a run so I can untangle the horror and dross of a bad day, or ruminate pleasantly on a good one. I tend to overthink, so invariably by the time I’ve stopped running, I’ll have convinced myself my bad day was actually a session of unmitigated genius, and my good day was an insult to literature that will have the book police abseiling down the side of my house and through my window to cart me o to prison.
In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrannical leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? 12 Rules For Life by Jordan Peterson, or any other book that passes inane life lessons and reactionary conservatism o as a revolutionary manifesto.
What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? If you’re writing anything over 2000 words long, read your work aloud, preferably into a microphone. You’ll catch false notes, crunching sentences, clanging dialogue and repetitive descriptions. It’s the best way I know of improving the stu on the page you can no longer see because you’ve gone snowblind. It doesn’t involve showing it to anyone else and it’s gloriously, blissfully free.
Prestige Drama is out now published by Fleet.
There’s no shortage of games built around nostalgia. Gone Home, one of the earliest ‘walking simulators’, followed a young woman uncovering secrets during a return to her family home in 1995; Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture transformed a deserted 80s English village into a melancholic John Wyndham-esque mystery; Lake cast players as a middle-aged woman escaping corporate burnout by delivering post in her sleepy Oregonian hometown in 1986.
Mixtape comfortably belongs in that lineage. Set in a fictional Californian town during the 90s, it blends the coming-of-age intimacy of Life Is Strange with the fragmented storytelling and inventive mini games of What Remains Of Edith Finch. Across the final days of high school, a tight-knit group of teenagers skate, fall in and out of love, and dream of escaping smalltown stagnation. The story unfolds through a series of short vignettes, all tied together by a carefully curated soundtrack featuring artists including The Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead and The Chi-Lites. Songs arrive as stylised needle drops, introduced directly by protagonist Stacy as she breaks the fourth wall.
Mixtape weaves its music through a string of simple but effective mini games, from skateboarding through suburban streets to sharing an awkward first kiss beside a sunset-dappled lake. One sequence sends the characters soaring into the sky, leaning into the heightened dreamlike logic of teenage emotion. The game’s structure appears deliberately lean and tightly paced, more interested in capturing fleeting moments than sprawling drama. Whether it can turn that hazy atmosphere into something more lasting remains to be seen, but its blend of music, melancholy and youthful escapism already feels sharply observed. (Murray Robertson) n Out now on PC, Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
In 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times on Wimbledon Common in broad daylight, while golfers teed off less than 100 yards away. She had been walking with her two-year-old son Alex who became the sole witness to the attack. The man responsible would not be prosecuted for more than 15 years. Netflix is now revisiting the case through two separate but interconnected productions: the documentary The Murder Of Rachel Nickell and the drama The Witness. Together, they examine not only a horrifying act of violence but the institutional chaos and media frenzy that followed it.
Directed by Lucy Bowden, The Murder Of Rachel Nickell approaches the case through previously unseen archive footage of the victim’s family (haunting), interviews (also haunting) and (the nation’s favourite) intense procedural detail. The focus is the investigation’s catastrophic failures, becoming one of Britain’s most infamous miscarriages of justice when Colin Stagg was wrongfully arrested for the murder through an ethically heinous ‘honeytrap’ police operation. The documentary traces how tabloid pressure and public panic led investigators towards obsession rather than evidence.
By contrast, The Witness, written by Rob Williams (whose credits include Killing Eve and Screw) and directed by Alex Winckler, focuses more on the devastating emotional aftermath of the attack. The series follows Nickell’s partner André Hanscombe (jumping between 1992 and 2002) as he attempts to protect his son Alex from any further pain. Dramatising their experience, even sensitively, brings up difficult questions around the handling of childhood trauma in 90s policing.
Both productions attempt to position the case as a reflection of institutional failure: the devastating combination of the British public’s appetite for tragedy and a desperately incompetent police force. All of it is difficult but compelling viewing and certainly offers the big cry you may or may not need right now. (Afreka Thomson) n The Murder Of Rachel Nickell and The Witness are both available on Netflix from Thursday 4 June.
Back with a fresh take on her 2006 debut album, Joan Wasser (aka Joan As Police Woman) talks to Fiona Shepherd about the euphoria of playing live with Iggy Pop and how music has helped her get through life’s biggest challenges
Anyone who has encountered musical auteur Joan Wasser in her imperious Joan As Police Woman guise may nd it hard to credit that this charismatic performer could stand on a stage and not be the centre of attention. But Wasser cut her musical teeth as a trusted player in touring bands, notably for Antony And The Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright, and most recently on keyboards and backing vocals for the formidable Iggy Pop. ‘When you play with Iggy, no one is looking at anyone but Iggy ever,’ she says, ‘but you will see me elated back there. I’m very aware that if you’re playing in Iggy’s band maybe you’re supposed to look tough and stu . Well, I’m just smiling the entire time. I’m getting to play these songs that I consider to be perfect. For me, it is complete euphoria.’
In turn, Iggy appears on Wasser’s new/old Joan As Police Woman album, Real Life Evolution, supplying lead vocals on a version of her track ‘Save Me’. As its title suggests, the album is a re-recording of her 2006 debut Real Life, taking into account the way these songs have morphed over 20 years of live performance. ‘I’ve never been interested in presenting a song identical to the recorded version,’ she says. ‘I really respect the musicians I play with and like to allow them to bring whatever they are feeling to the song; so over time these songs have grown up in a certain way. The originals exist so I just wanted to present the new clothing they have grown into wearing.’
The songs on the album are among the rst Wasser ever wrote, but they were su used with years of experience as an instinctive live player and also a classically trained musician. Prior to becoming New York’s most wanted gun for hire, she’d studied violin at Boston
University. ‘For me it was a great way to learn about a di erent style of discipline which has helped me throughout my life teaching myself other instruments. I know this sounds silly but practice makes you better. You’re not good at this passage? Practice it a lot and you will be.’ Sound advice which she now gives back as a songwriting and production tutor at New York University. Elsewhere, she has applied her production skills in unlikely places, not least on acclaimed Scottish folk trio Lau’s 2015 album The Bell That Never Rang which was inspired by Glasgow’s coat of arms. ‘Those guys are an ultimate crew of people to work with,’ says Wasser, ‘because they are so expansive and creative and so, so talented. I felt like I didn’t have to do anything, even though they would say di erently. The chemistry between the three of them is something that you dream about nding.’
As for her own music, she has started work on a new record while marking the anniversary of her rst. ‘I never cared about being a singer or a songwriter until my late 20s,’ she says. ‘I felt like my entire lived life was in the songs. They take me back to certain places. There’s certainly an innocence that I see now and a person trying to grapple with really big events [not least the accidental death of her ancé Je Buckley in 1997]. Music is the main way that I have learned to handle life and the biggest emotions that go along with that because o en the feelings are so huge that they feel almost amorphous. When I put it into music I feel like I translate it into a language that I can over time digest and understand in a di erent way.’
TMaggie O’Farrell makes us think of the world afresh in her superb new time-hopping book.
Kelly Apter lauds the tragic, cinematic and quietly powerful Land
here is a basic premise underpinning Maggie O’Farrell’s wonderful new book, which holds fast even as the narrative sweeps across centuries, generations and continents: people come and go, but land remains constant, altered only brie y by the humans who inhabit it. Perhaps it’s too much for our brains to compute this notion that other feet, long gone, have traversed the same square inches we now occupy. But O’Farrell forces us to confront this, via an invitation to a small woodland on the west coast of Ireland. Here we meet Tomás, tasked with updating the Ordnance Survey map, aided by his not entirely willing young son Liam. Slowly, our understanding of Tomás pans out to reveal a past steeped in tragedy and a burgeoning family of six drenched in love.
Land, O’Farrell’s tenth novel, begins in 1865, goes back many millennia, then returns to the nal decades of the 19th century. Some characters it into view, gain brief access to our hearts, and are gone again. Others such as an arrogant priest and a kindly neighbouring widow leave a deeper mark. But it’s Tomás’ family we hold dear, regardless of their geographical status. So, whether we’re spending time with them on a rural peninsula or inside a cruel workhouse, the cramped multiple-occupancy rooms of inner city Dublin or the shores of Quebec swollen with new arrivals from around the globe, our rooting for them is strong.
Although much of Land is set a decade a er the Great Hunger, this tragic period in Ireland’s history is omnipresent. Locked in the dark memories of those who witnessed it but survived, it casts a shadow over much of the story. O’Farrell’s depiction of the famine is never gratuitous, sentimental or even overtly political. Instead, with a few sparing words, she conveys the horror of hearing your child die of hunger and makes it clear how the the colonial powers could have prevented the whole thing.
In our digital age, where ‘mapping’ means following the small blue triangle on Google, us to think again. For these important illustrations not only chart the contours and waterways of a country, they’re an indication of power and ownership, of who got to decide the language of place names. O’Farrell’s writing is, as always, evocative. We can almost hear the wind blowing in from the wild Atlantic Ocean, feel the sodden moss and bog beneath feet, smell smoke from the burning peat swirl through the air. The characters, lovingly shaped and matured across 400-plus pages, jump up with such threedimensional vibrancy that you can almost hear Chloé Zhao shouting ‘cut!’. For surely Land, like destined for the cinematic viewing it deserves.
Land encourages Hamnet before it, is
Land is published by Tinder Press on Tuesday 2 June; Maggie O’Farrell talks about the book at Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh (Toppings event), Sunday 7 June; Glasgow University Union (Waterstones event), Monday 8 June.
Swedish producer DJ Seinfeld is back with his first LP in five years, following the 2021 release of critically acclaimed second album, Mirrors. In the years since, Seinfeld (real name Armand Jakobsson) has established himself as a regular at iconic Ibiza nightclub DC10 and played coveted festival slots everywhere from Coachella to Glastonbury. On album number three, we hear the same electronic melancholy present in earlier work, delivered with the confidence of a DJ who is increasingly used to playing big sets on huge stages.
Jakobsson released music prolifically in the early stages of his career, routinely finding time in a busy gigging diary to churn out multiple EPs per year. His more recent composition process has been significantly more staggered, however, with the DJ first laying down the foundations of this project in the days following album two’s release. If This Is It opens on a gentle note through ‘U Can’t Come Home’, on which the softly spoken TS Graye hums the track’s title over a series of glistening synths. The tempo proceeds to pick up on the dancefloor-ready ‘Quakin’’, before in-demand Aussie duo Confidence Man turn the dial up to 11 on ‘The Right’, a track that will surely ring out from industrial-sized speakers at every DJ Seinfeld gig this summer.
Like his previous work, this record sees Jakobsson ricocheting between moods and sounds, with every moment of exuberance propped up by an undercurrent of despondency. Now older, wiser and blessed with a larger budget, he has firmly established himself as one of the premier producers in contemporary dance, capable of producing multi-faceted tracks that appeal to an extensive range of electronic music fans. Given the five-year wait between projects, Jakobsson might have been expected to take this album in a more adventurous direction, though the new material will undoubtedly keep crowds swaying at glamorous gigs he’s set to play this summer in Ibiza, Paris and Miami. (Danny Munro)
n Released on Friday 5 June.
The Dark Pictures Anthology has always flirted with the territory of interactive cinema, and that’s no bad thing. Each entry tells a selfcontained horror story, from Man Of Medan’s ghost-ship mystery to The Devil In Me, where Jessie Buckley’s character attempts to survive a sprawling ‘murder castle’. Nearly four years on from that last instalment (and following a reportedly troubled development), Directive 8020 proves well worth the wait.
Set aboard the spaceship Cassiopeia, the game follows a crew seeking refuge from a dying Earth. Their destination is a distant planet, reached months ahead of a second vessel, Andromeda. But disaster strikes when an asteroid collision unleashes a terrifying organism. Two crew members are awoken from hyper sleep to investigate in opening scenes that deliberately echo the eerie stillness of Alien. Elsewhere, the game wears its inspirations proudly, drawing on everything from The Thing to Event Horizon and Prometheus.
Compared with earlier Dark Pictures titles, gameplay feels noticeably freer, with expanded exploration and greater camera control. Alien: Isolation is clearly a major influence, especially during tense hideand-seek encounters that, while not quite reaching the heights of that classic, are consistently effective. Grotesque body horror is mixed with several expertly timed jump scares while a new ‘turning points’ system lets players revisit pivotal moments to alter decisions or retry failed sequences. Combined with a strong cast led by Lashana Lynch, a sharp script makes Directive 8020 all the more compelling to replay in pursuit of the best possible outcome. (Murray Robertson) n Out now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
An Eraser And A Maze (Glacial Pace Recordings/Virgin) lllll
Oregon oracles Modest Mouse return with their first album in five years following a period of personal and personnel upheaval dominated by the passing of drumming mainstay Jeremiah Green in 2022. Along with frontman Isaac Brock, he was the longest-serving band member and following his death it’s all change, with new guitarist Simon O’Connor, drummer Damon Cox and keyboard player Keith Karman appearing on their first Modest Mouse release.
Thirty years into their lifespan, An Eraser And A Maze is a pretty good introduction to the band for any new, inquiring Mousers. It captures the eclecticism of their career in under 50 minutes, from the Arcade Fire-style exultation of opener ‘Picking Dragon’s Pockets’ via the rhythmic brawn and gothic guitar wrangling of ‘Rotten Fruit’ to the fidgety electro-rock mantra ‘Song About Nothing’. At times, the album feels like it’s been sequenced for maximum dynamic impact. ‘Dogbed In Heaven’ is a back-porch bluegrass lament followed by a twinkling instrumental interlude and then the foreboding throbbing beat of ‘I Can’t Talk Right Now’.
All that really matters though is whether the band can deliver more of their classic tuneage. ‘Speak ’N Spell (Or Not)’ features a rousing, rising chorus and ‘Third Side Of The Moon’ keeps it lean and raspy, with shades of Joe Strummer in Brock’s delivery as the song builds to a heavier, more rugged conclusion. But ‘Absolutely Necessary Never’ is the banger, driven by an arresting synth pop melody before bowing out on a compelling rumbling bassline. (Fiona Shepherd)
n Released on Friday 5 June.
‘Pemi Aguda’s debut novel is so tricky to categorise that bookshops might need to create a special section for it. There’s body horror, folklore, eco-fiction and more. After a prologue climaxes with an event that shocks like the force of whiplash, we meet 23-year-old Yosoye as she arrives in Lagos. She takes up a coveted intern position with a top architecture firm, working on a huge high-end development to be built on land reclaimed from the ocean. As she adapts to her new life in the big city, disturbing stories begin to emerge of expectant mothers taking their lives by drowning.
Then, after a one-night stand, Yosoye discovers she herself is pregnant and those dead women begin to appear in her dreams. She also slowly comes to understand the grubby methods by which the land for Omi City has been obtained. Only a select coterie will ever be permitted to live in this gated enclave, a dream she is complicit in selling. Messages and metaphors come thick and fast. The grime and sweat of city life background explorations of inequality and capitalism: the rich get richer and the poor are left powerless, disenfranchised collateral damage in their wake. Aguda sensitively interrogates the complexities of mother/ daughter relationships, loneliness and whether motherhood can make a woman feel whole.
As the body count climbs, Yosoye seems to enter a liminal state, questioning if she’s witnessing an inexplicable tragedy or some otherworldly process where the women find comfort in surrendering to the ocean. After all, perhaps one day the waters will reclaim all of us. Aguda’s skilful prose hurtles along and the intrigue of what lies behind the drownings is gripping. But as the story ramps up to its conclusion, the open-ended treatment of this central question leaves a lingering sense of frustration. (Paul McLean) n Out now.
Claire Sawers gets her eyes on another bunch of telly shows that have just been launched, including an iconic pop princess, some quality rural rutting, an unlikely clerical love affair and the twisty tale of an impulsive soccer mom
Kylie Minogue has made more hits than the ma a, plus she happens to be the artist behind the rst single purchased by one Claire Sawers (aged seven), so it’s no surprise that Kylie (Net ix) turns out to be three episodes of shiny, stretchy TV gold. Beginning with her megastar stint on Neighbours, followed by formative love a airs with PWL labelmate Jason Donovan and the magnetic Michael Hutchence, via her creatively powerful, chiaroscuro relationship with Nick Cave, her story is a fascinating one. Add in her breast cancer diagnosis aged 36, plus confessing that she is still searching for the love she had with Hutchence and would have loved to be a mum, and you have a ‘joy machine’ of pop, rattling along an emotional rollercoaster. For a very private artist who has regularly taken ak for her ultra-glossy, manufactured pop persona, director Michael Harte teases out real honesty. Nostalgic, blissful, goddess-tier entertainment.
Falling (Channel 4) imagines the forbidden romance between a nun and a priest. In Adolescence writer Jack Thorne’s rst love story, Anna (Keeley Hawes) is a timid, yearning, perimenopausal Catholic, questioning her devotion and no longer feeling ful lled from tending the abbey’s cabbages. While it’s maybe a leap of faith for viewers to imagine Anna blowing up her entire life and breaking her celibacy vow a er just one conversation with visiting priest David (Paapa Essiedu), the six-part drama wrestles well with knotty themes of forgiveness, kindness, duty, desire and the church’s practical role in modern society. Although the main plot is about two awed and frustrated do-gooders nding each other through shared altruism, the sub-plots add extra depth, including an incorrigible domestic abuser, a bishop who favours shaming over real compassion, and an adoptive sister guiding her brother sagely when he struggles to guide his ock. Things are simultaneously messy and incredibly beautiful in this diocese, as in life.
Speaking of messy, the late Jilly Cooper found much delight in the bed-hopping, double-crossing behaviour of Rutshire’s ctional residents, and Rivals (Disney+) returned with plenty more preposterous, fabulous, hairsprayed and nicotine-stained thrills. There’s a whi of pure French farce in one OTT scene with people hiding in pantries, and much rutting and rubbing all over staircases, swimming pools and antique furniture. The high camp fun is as delicious as the Birds Eye Potato Wa e that Freddie (Danny Dyer) snatches in a clandestine tryst with Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson) but there are proper characters to care about too, amid all the soap opera shagging and backstabbing. Dyer and Parkinson’s adulterous dilemma is torturously magical to behold, as they complete one another in a way that their spouses cannot, and we can’t help but feel for Maud (Victoria Smur t), struggling with feelings of missing the boat in her acting career a er supporting her TV host husband played by Aidan Turner.
In Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Apple TV), Paula is going through a di cult divorce with her controlling ex, while the very real danger exists that she will lose custody of her daughter due to her husband’s aggressive lawyer and his slippery new lover. Paula’s boss is a bully and her o ce buddies can’t be trusted either. Who can blame her, then, for nding comfort with a very handsome camboy who also seems to be her only real friend, keeping her a oat when she’s drowning in anxiety and a midlife identity crisis. Tatiana Maslany is relatable as the chaotic, kind-hearted soccer mom, truthful to a fault and recklessly impulsive. A forensic murder mystery gets wrapped up in this very bingeable, original, twisted comedy tale about dysfunctional adult life.
SAWERS ALSO SAW . . .
Amandaland on BBC iPlayer: ‘Excellent follow-up for the farcical Senuous influencer and her friends’
James Dean: The Emotional Man on Now: ‘Cinephile documentary on the three-movie legend and his nuanced portrayals of masculinity’ Ponies on Now: ‘Stylish 1970s-set Russian espionage drama about two widows investigating their husbands’ deaths’
It seems entirely appropriate that there’s a backstory of many years behind the creation of Cécile McLorin Salvant’s first orchestral album. The ten songs that make up With Every Breath I Take all sing with histories of their own: most of them have been in the repertoires of singers for decades. Salvant’s own ‘Left Over’ is the exception, although her singing of it with Darcy James Argue’s superb arranging for the Metropole Orkest puts it on the same level as the others in terms of lived experience.
Salvant’s background (she’s classically trained but has immersed herself in the jazz, blues and folk traditions) has given her the equipment to interpret songs fearlessly and with apparently limitless personality; you might wonder if we really need another version of ‘Send In The Clowns’ until you hear this one. From its murmured, scene-setting brass chorale and Salvant’s whispered intoning of the familiar ‘isn’t it rich?’ intro, this is a movie in sound, with the redoubtable Sullivan Fortner’s beautifully judged piano solo earning a co-starring role.
Similarly with the title track, where Salvant informs the object of her affection ‘there’s not a morning that I open up my eyes and find I didn’t dream of you’, there’s no doubting that she means it. Just occasionally, such wholeheartedness can put the listener slightly on edge. There’s so much about this album, however, that’s rather glorious: the vocal glissandi on Buddy Johnson’s ‘Ever Since The One I Love’s Been Gone’; the drama that infuses ‘Barbara Song’ from The Threepenny Opera; the conspiratorial twinning of voice and piano on ‘Lush Life’. It’s quite a trip. (Rob Adams) n Released on Friday 26 June.
It’s a sign of our stretched lifestyles that the book club podcast format has taken off. Don’t have an hour to spend in the living room of your colleague, bitching about the latest buzzy blockbuster? You can hack book club life by tuning into a podcast, absorbing lit chat while hiking/ cleaning/watching the kids go endlessly down the slide at the park (that last one is a lie: you’ll be summoned to catch them every ten seconds). In the case of Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club, now in its fifth series, you get to eavesdrop on chat that is both funny and erudite from comedians Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd. Once you’re over the frustration of not being able to join in, and attuned to the slightly rambling nature of the conversations, it becomes a stimulating and sparky way to spend a multi-tasking hour.
There are two formats to the show. In some episodes, the pair interview an author and in others they discuss a classic text with a guest. The Kae Tempest episode is excellent. Tempest is a gorgeous interviewee: humble, sharp and poetic, honest when he feels a question is beyond him and never assuming the listener’s prior knowledge of literature. You can feel Lloyd and Pascoe’s engagement and curiosity in their questions and they put their guests at ease. Less focused is the Frankenstein discussion with Vanessa Hammick which jumps around text, history and cultural legacy like a grasshopper on speed. Still, at least you can rewind the bits you might have missed. (Lucy Ribchester) n New episodes available every Tuesday.
A packed month of things to do indoors or consume on your travels include a remastered batch of cult B-sides, a Hitchcockian thriller in print form, a podcast about a notorious train robber narrated by a class actor, the fresh remake of a genre-defining RPG, and the final order of a stirring award-winning kitchen comedy (though it’s a drama, really)
MARIAM WALLENTIN
Alongside her West Norwegian Jazz Ensemble, Mariam Wallentin’s Spring Flood was inspired by some days spent near the Rhine and then hammered out across just two sessions in the studio.
n Hubro, Friday 12 June.
PIXIES
A remastered reissue of the Complete B-Sides (plus six bonus live tracks) and available on vinyl for the first time, this archive from 1988–97 captures an iconic band in full flow. n 4AD, Friday 26 June.
ROBERT J HARRIS
1950s Tinseltown is brought to vivid life in Crescendo. A struggling writer is hired by Alfred Hitchcock to pen his next classic movie, but it soon becomes clear that someone is willing to kill in order to stop it being made.
n Polygon, Thursday 4 June.
ABIR MUKHERJEE
Dubbed ‘The White Lotus meets The White Tiger’, this writer of historical series gives us The Pinnacle, a contemporary thriller in which a Bollywood star is found dead in an exclusive skyscraper where everyone might be a suspect.
n Harvill, Thursday 18 June.
GAMES
GOTHIC: REMAKE
Here comes a rebuilt remake of the 2001 genredefining RPG. Explore a hand-crafted, organic open world that reacts dynamically to your actions.
n THQ Nordic, Friday 5 June.
GANGSTER PRESENTS: THE STORY OF RONNIE BIGGS
The always excellent Daniel Mays narrates this six-parter which explains how a gangland tea boy became a Brazilian playboy and one of the most notorious fugitives in British criminal history.
n BBC Sounds, all episodes available now.
Alan Cumming has been very quiet recently so it’s good he’s back in the public eye, this time in Russell T Davies’ new suburban thriller alongside old pal David Morrissey.
n Channel 4, Sundays.
KEVIN BRIDGES: IN SEARCH OF THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
Here is our sole concession in this mag to mentioning the chaps’ World Cup as the Clydebank comic hangs out with Cafu, John McGinn and some Brazilian ultras.
n BBC One, Sunday 7 June.
Whatever you think of The Bear (is it as good as it once was? Maybe not. Is it even a comedy? Course not), it was a very bright star in the streaming firmament when it first arrived. What will become of Carmy and the gang as we approach the very end?
n Disney+, Friday 26 June.
You may recognise Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland alumnus Brian Vernel from such screen work as Slow Horses, Gangs Of London, The Tunnel and something called Star Wars. His next role is another tough one, playing serial killer Peter Manuel in the Citizens Theatre production of Denise Mina’s acclaimed true crime book, The Long Drop. Here he tackles our Q&A and chats cats, karts, cards, crosswords and Kwik Save
Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Who do you think the casting people would choose? No idea. Happy to help with the casting process
What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? I’ve always been very competitive. I won a go-kart in Kwik Save when I was ve.
though! joke?
What’s the punchline to your favourite No. But he’s on his nal warning!
If you were to return in a future life as an Probably a cat. A
Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? My name was too short for a nickname, unfortunately!
If you were playing in an escape room name two other people (well-known or otherwise) you’d recruit to help you Any of the people on my pub quiz
animal, what would it be? well-to-do, pampered one. get out? team.
When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? People ask if I’m in Game Of a lot. But I’m not sure who they would be mistaking
If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to and what would it be called? No idea. I wouldn’t be much use in a band.
When were you most recently astonished by something? Scott McTominay against Denmark.
What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? ‘Blue Monday’ probably.
Thrones me for.
Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Rick Stein.
What’s the best cover version ever? Blink 182 covering The Cure’s ‘A Letter To Elise’.
Whose speaking voice soothes your ears?
Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in The Traitors
As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? My niece hits out with a lot of profound stu .
Tell us something about yourself that would surprise people? I love snooker and cryptic crosswords.
What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? Gaming PC.
What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? Card magic.
life?
Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Movie night and some wine at home.
If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? Too many to name.
By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? My house is a kind of mezzanine type deal. So, destroying one room would destroy it all!
If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Monaco.
The Long Drop, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Friday 5–Saturday 20 June.
2 3
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First there was the doll, then came the song by Aqua, and most recently we had the Greta Gerwig film. Now Barbie gets her very own Glasgow exhibition (Kelvingrove Art Gallery, 13 June–18 October) in a show which traces the evolution of the Mattel icon from her debut in 1959 to the present day, including all the reinventions.
‘The world’s first half-horse, half-human singer-songwriter, DJ and producer’ (not our words), Horsegiirl launches debut album Nature Is Healing (5 June) in order to remind us that humans are not separate from the world. Expectations are high from her devoted fanbase (Farmies) but we’re confident that Horsegiirl will hoof it out the park.
You could argue that ex-Spice Girl Melanie ‘Sporty’ C has had the highest profile solo career of the fab five, and with her ninth album, Sweat, she returns to her first love of 90s rave. Ms C will be back playing live in these parts come the autumn but for now soak yourself in a collection fuelled by ‘movement, joy and community’.
1 AUG 2026
WED 5 AUG 2026
PERFORM IF YOU’RE FEELING SINISTER
THURS 6 AUG 2026
MARIBOU STATE SAT 8 AUG 2026
RUDIMENTAL (DJ SET) • KOOL & THE GANG • LEVI.SCT • CAPERCAILLIE
ERLAND COOPER • TINDERBOX ORCHESTRA WITH SPECIAL GUEST KATHRYN JOSEPH • RIANNE DOWNEY AUNTIE FLO (A STATE OF FLO) + DJ SET • PLANTS CAN DANCE
COLONEL MUSTARD & THE DIJON 5 • BOMBSKARE • BIG TOP CEILIDH WITH THE JACOBITES • BAY CITY ROLLERS
SEABASS VINYL LISTENING PARTY • DAVE KELLY & PAUL JONES • ALI AFFLECK AND THE QUEENS OF SWING
HAMISH MACGREGOR & THE JAZZMEN • VOICES & SISTER SISTER CHOIRS • PHILIP CONTINI
LOUIS THEROUX • IAN HISLOP • BEN FOGLE • MICHELLE OGUNDEHIN • DAVID OLUSOGA OFF AIR WITH JANE & FI & JAN RAVENS
FRED MACAULAY & GREIG LAIDLAW • HANNAH LAVERY & MICHAEL PEDERSEN • SARRA HOY & KYLIE REID
JOSEPH COELHO • MAGGIE O’FARRELL • JENNI FAGAN • DOUG JOHNSTONE
RUSSELL HOWARD • MARJOLEIN ROBERTSON • CORBETT’S COMEDY CABARET
GREG HEMPHILL • FLOP! THE BEST SONGS FROM THE WORST MUSICALS
CIRCOBELLO • THE BLACK BLUES BROTHERS • MASSAOKE • KEVIN QUANTUM
SCOTTISH SEABIRD CENTRE NATURE DAY • THE FLOCK • ARTIE’S SINGING KETTLE • HANSEL & GRETEL • FISCHY MUSIC MUSICAL MILL PRESENTS ‘ANNIE JR’ • FREEDOM & FORM • COMEDY CLUB 4 KIDS • THE MILL YOUTH THEATRE MONSKI MOUSE BABY DISCO DANCE HALL • YOYO & THE LITTLE AUK • MR BOOM • ALASTAIR CHISHOLM • MORAG HOOD
PAULINE BLACK: A 2 TONE STORY • TEENAGE SUPERSTARS/GRANT MCPHEE/RADHIKA
RAVE CULTURE: A NEW ERA • I WAS A TEENAGE SEX PISTOL • BELLE & SEBASTIAN ON FILM DREXLER • UNFORESEEN • THE HERRING QUEEN - EILIDH MUNRO & ADRIAN LEUNG
Over 300 music, comedy, book, film and family events over 10 days. Free to enter Hub plus wellbeing, workshops and new restaurant Còmhla by the Sea
