FESTIVALS

RETURNING to Glasgow from March 15 to March 25 is Aye-Write, with authors including Robert Peston, Val McDermid, Brett Anderson, AC Grayling, Evan Davis, Shami Chakrabarti, Graeme Obree and Jo Swinson all discussing their latest books. Venues include the Mitchell Library, GFT and the CCA where speakers include the people behind popular music blog Ruth & Martin’s Album Club and a selection of graphic novel and comics events as part of Aye Con including Darryl Cunningham’s Graphic Science and Grace Wilson’s Saving Grace.

www.ayewrite.com

READ MORE: Sarah Watson on the Glasgow International Comedy Festival

The National:

WEE Write! at the Mitchell Library has been postponed, but keep an eye on the ayewrite website as they reschedule. The events aiming to inspire the city’s young people were to include Maz Evans, above, exploring Greek myths and a comic workshop from Dennis The Menace illustrator Jim Glen.

www.ayewrite.com/weewrite

THIS year is the 30th Edinburgh International Science Festival, which takes place between March 31 and April 15. Presenting almost 270 events in more than 30 venues across the city for families, adults and children, the festival explores “life, the universe and everything else you can think of”.

Highlights include Eco2ville, an outdoor exhibition on the Mound, an interactive exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland and Easter Holiday days out for families at City Art Centre and Summerhall. As well as Science For The Sociable’s evening events, the popular Gastrofest returns with highlights including Bake Off finalist Andrew Smyth exploring baking in space.

March 31 March to April 15, various venues, Edinburgh. Full programme and tickets: www.sciencefestival.co.uk

TALKS & EVENTS

AIMED at those working in community based and social service organisations and initiatives, free talk Imagination: A Collaborative Civic Network of Care looks at the changing ethnic and class demographics of our cities and the role of politics in helping to ensure “social justice efforts are the foundation for all city priorities – including the arts”.

March 8, CCA, Glasgow, 7.30pm, free but ticketed. Tel: 0141 352 4900. www.cca-glasgow.com

HELD on various dates between March 11 and May 24, Shonky Art School sessions are intended to inspire young people from age 12 to 16 with the colours, materials and ideas behind the DCA’s forthcoming exhibition Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness, curated by artist John Walters.

Materials provided.

Dundee Contemporary Arts, £5 per session, various dates and times. Tel: 01382 432444. www.dca.org.uk www.johnwalter.net

The National:

COINCIDING with the National Theatre of Scotland’s forthcoming tour of Graham Eatough’s dramatic two-hander How To Act, above, are free symposium events for higher and further education students studying a theatre-related course. Featuring Eatough and specialist NTS practitioners, the day-long event goes to Glasgow’s Scottish Youth Theatre (Mar 19), Edinburgh Lyceum (Mar 16), Inverness Eden Court (Mar 20) and the University of St Andrews (Mar 23).

See bit.ly/HowToActStudentEvents to book. www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

THEATRE

CEILIDH, the new cabaret-style show by Gaelic theatre company Theatre Gu Leor, goes on an extensive tour this month following a three-night run in Glasgow. Starring Muireann Kelly as a flame-haired poet back from the dead, Ceilidh’s dates include Inverness (Mar 15), Aberdeen (Mar 16), Edinburgh (Mar 17) as well as many stop-overs across the Highlands and Islands.

See www.theatreguleor.com for all dates and to book

TRON Theatre Company and Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre present the first out-of-London production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s six-time Tony nominated The Motherf**ker With The Hat. The explosive, expletive-filled play was Guirgis’s Broadway debut in 2011 and for this Scottish premier Francois Pandolfo stars as Jackie, the ex-con struggling to go straight and return to his childhood sweetheart Veronica, played by Alexandria Riley.

Until March 17, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 7.45pm, £9 to £17. Tel: 0141 552 4267.
www.tron.co.uk

The National:

LATER at the Tron this month is Bunny, above, a coming-of-age drama by Jack Thorne whose work includes Skins and This Is England ‘86. Anna Russell-Martin stars as Katie, a young woman involved in a street altercation. Director Paul Brotherston says: “Bunny feels like a play for today, a breathless, knotty story that asks very hard and complicated questions about growing up and having to define your place in modern British society.”

March 28 to April 7, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 7.45pm, £11, £8.50 concs. Tel: 0141 552 4267.
www.tron.co.uk

VISUAL ART

PHOTOGRAPHER Jannica Honey’s exhibition When The Blackbird Sings features her poetic portraits of women and wild flowers, all shot over the cycle of a year, exclusively during the minutes of twilight on every full and new moon. Related events include today’s artist talk at noon which is followed by an afternoon discussion with Herald journalist Vicky Allan and National columnist Vonny Leclerc, below, and live music from acclaimed young singer-songwriter Emme Woods (follow this link for more). On March 8, International Women’s Day, the photographer is joined by body image advocate Danni Gordon for an evening of storytelling inspired by the project.

The National:

More info at bit.ly/BlackbirdWomensDay Until Mar 25 (Sundays by appointment only), Arusha Art Gallery, Edinburgh, 10am to 5pm, free.
www.arushagallery.com
jannicahoney.com

THE spring exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery brings work by American artist Lee Lozano to Edinburgh. A major figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s and early 1970s, Lozano left the art world almost 30 years before her death in 1999 and her vibrant, often transgressive work has become neglected over time. Slip Slide Splice is the first solo exhibition of the conceptual pioneer’s work in Scotland, bringing together paintings – including four vast canvasses from the 1960s – drawings, language pieces and notes on making paintings that have only recently been rediscovered.

From March 10 to June 3, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 10am to 6pm, free.
www.fruitmarket.co.uk

Film

THE 14th Glasgow Film Festival comes to a close this weekend, with highlights of today including a screening of 1990s German classic Run Lola Run at the Art School and the premier of the Josie Long-starring Super November at the GFT, where it screens again tomorrow. Tomorrow’s final day of the GFF includes Peter Mullan’s 1998 directorial debut Orphans, an in-person chat with cult director Ben Wheatley and three concurrent screenings of Nae Pasaran, Felipe Bustos Sierra’s feature-length documentary about the East Kilbride Rolls Royce workers who defied General Pinochet.

Various venues, times and prices.
www.glasgowfilm.org

THE largest competitive short film festival in Scotland, Glasgow Short Film Festival 2018 runs across the city from March 15 to March 18. The CCA hosts three programmes of the work of Kevin Jerome Everson, a strand exploring social unrest called We Need To Disagree, and an overnight screening of 25 short films by Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Various venues, times and prices.
glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-short-film-festival

KNOWN as one of the most beautiful women in the world, Hedy Lamarr, below, was also an inventor and tech innovator, her concept of “frequency hopping” becoming the basis for Bluetooth, GPS and secure WiFi. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story comes to the DCA where a live Q&A with director Alexandra Dean and executive producer Susan Sarandon will follow from the BFI Southbank.

The National:

Mar 8, DCA, Dundee, 6.15pm, £7.50, £5 concs. Tel: 01382 432 444.
www.dca.org.uk

COMEDY

FEATURING more than 500 shows at 54 venues across the city, the Whyte & Mackay Glasgow International Comedy Festival returns for its 16th year from March 8 to March 25. Highlights include shows from household names such as Katherine Ryan (Mar 8), Phill Jupitus (16), Limmy (19 to 22) and David Baddiel (13), the first performances of Bridget Christie’s new UK tour, What Now? (16 and 17) and a feast of top Scottish names such as Darren Connell (9 and 10), Mark Nelson, below, Susie McCabe (9 and 10), Craig Hill (9 and 10) and Ayesha Harazika (11), who plays her home town for the first time. Comedy fans can also catch a show with their lunch at Yesbar or stay up til the wee hours at the festival’s Late Show at Blackfriars in the Merchant City.

The National:

Various venues, times and prices. Tel: 0844 873 7353. www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com

ALL eyes may be on Glasgow for laughs this month, but there’s still some excellent names playing the Edinburgh Stand during March, including fast-rising wisecracker Larry Dean (Mar 13), star of BBC Radio Four’s Guide to 21st Century Sexuality Mae Martin (Mar 14), and Robin Ince (Mar 20), who, instead of taking a well-deservd rest after a record-breaking 70-date tour last year, presents Pragmatic Insanity, his first new show in three years.

Times and prices vary, The Stand, Edinburgh.
www.thestand.co.uk