Life&Arts: What's on today

Published on Monday 1 December 2008 18:41

COMEDY: STEVE COOGAN

Whatever his real motives are for embarking on his first tour in ten years, Steve Coogan seems to have a success on his hands, with initial mixed reviews giving way to mostly fulsome praise. It's a show of two halves – the first featuring his "less successful characters", such as Tommy Saxondale and Pauline Calf, the second thrown over to Alan Partridge, who is now a motivational speaker.

&#149 AECC, Aberdeen, 08444 77 9000

THEATRE: MARY POPPINS

Final week in Scotland for Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular stage version of PL Travers's famous story. Superbly slick, it's a Mary Poppins for the 21st century, directed by Richard Eyre and choreographed by Matthew Bourne to include elements of the grotesque that were dropped from the Disney film, while paying enough homage to delight audience members who were raised on Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

&#149 Playhouse, Edinburgh, 7:30pm, 0870 606 3424

MUSIC: KATHERINE JENKINS

The Welsh mezzo-soprano tours her latest album, Sacred Arias, fresh from signing what is reportedly the biggest ever recording deal for a classical star. Which is impressive or depressing, depending on what you think of Jenkins's "crossover" music.

&#149 SECC, Glasgow, 7pm, 0844 395 4000

MUSIC: THIN LIZZY

The boys are back in town, again, over 20 years after the death of Phil Lynott. John Sykes, who joined the band for their final album and tour in 1983, is now frontman, and describes the current show as a tribute to Thin Lizzy. Expect a greatest hits set, peppered with Sykes's contributions.

&#149 Ironworks, Inverness, 7pm, 0871 789 4173

MUSIC: RUNRIG

The veteran folk-rock band continue their winter tour, which travels on to Perth tomorrow, with two dates at Glasgow Barrowland on Thursday and Friday (the first of which is sold out). Tickets are also on sale now for the band's concert at Scone Palace next August, for the Year of Homecoming.

&#149 Aberdeen Music Hall, 7pm, 01224 641122

FILM: BODY OF LIES

Ridley Scott's latest film manages to say a few things about the world "war on terror" without compromising the excitement. It's a taut, hi-tech thriller starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio as CIA agents working at opposite ends of the spectrum to snare an al-Qaeda operative responsible for several bombings.

&#149 Cinemas nationwide, Listings, p50

THEATRE: BABES IN THE WOOD

A panto, a pie and a pint as Oran Mor hands over its lunchtime slot to Dave Anderson and David MacLennan, who will bring 30 years of theatre experience to this affectionate send-up of Christmas shows, which continues throughout December.

&#149 Oran Mor, Glasgow, 1pm, 0141-357 6200

MUSIC: THE STEREOPHONICS

The Welsh rockers have a greatest hits album, Decade in the Sun, out just in time for Christmas, so here's the greatest hits tour, taking in everything from Local Boy In The Photograph to Mama Told Me Not To Come, with a lighters in the air moment during Handbags and Gladrags.

&#149 SECC, Glasgow, 6:30pm, 0844 395 4000

THEATRE: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Dundee Rep's production of Proclaimers musical Sunshine on Leith is now on tour, freeing up the venue for this new family Christmas show. Jemima Levick directs a production that promises lavish costumes, lots of songs and a fresh take on a traditional yet subversive tale.

&#149 Dundee Rep, 7:15pm, 01382 223530

VISUAL ART: CHARLES AVERY

Charles Avery has spent the past four years making work about a place he simply calls the Island – he has mapped its topography, drawn its inhabitants and created models of its creatures. You can see what he calls "the defining project of my life" at this new solo exhibition.

&#149 Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 10am-5pm, 0131-624 6200