Life and Arts: What's on today

Published on Monday 16 June 2008 21:14

FESTIVAL: REFUGEE WEEK SCOTLAND

Potential highlights of this year’s community-spirited, campaigning arts festival include Under the Same Sky, a performance by YDance exploring what it means to be a “new Glaswegian”, performed at the Tron in Glasgow today and tomorrow, and the Glasgow Mela, in Kelvingrove Park on Sunday 22 June from noon. There are also events in Edinburgh, St Andrews and Balloch.

• Full programme at www.scottishrefugee council.org.uk

THEATRE: LES PARENTS TERRIBLES

For almost 40 years, between the First World War and the 1950s, Jean Cocteau was one of the leading figures of avant-garde French culture. This 1938 play is one of his less well-known works, but, like much of Cocteau’s writing, it rips the mask from the face of refined bourgeois life to reveal the animal lusts beneath. In this rare Scottish revival, directed by Stewart Laing, Ann Louise Ross plays the woman whose intense relationship with her son leads to tragedy.

• Dundee Rep, 7:45pm, 01382 223530

FILM: IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS

This hipster, low-budget comedy does that rare thing in cinema: it treats romance with the awe and respect it deserves. Set in LA on New Year’s Eve, it throws together an aspiring screenwriter and a wannabe actress, and sends them on a rambling romantic odyssey around a secret Los Angeles.

VISUAL ART: VANITY FAIR PORTRAITS

In the era of Heat magazine, Vanity Fair’s reverential portraits feel a little archaic, in the way they present famous people as icons rather than figures of fun. But there’s no denying the power of these striking images, by everyone from Man Ray to Annie Leibovitz.

• Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 10am to 5pm, 0131-624 6200

THEATRE: EVITA

Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice’s smash-hit musical is back on the road in a new production. If it’s a history lesson you’re after, look elsewhere, but their account of the life and legend of charismatic political leader Eva Peron has plenty of memorable tunes, particularly

• Playhouse, Edinburgh, 7:30pm, 0844 847 1660

MUSIC: PARAGON ENSEMBLE

The Paragon Ensemble presents a free concert of music for tuned percussion and piano, featuring the talented percussionist Heather Corbett. The concert is one of numerous free events in the city’s West End Festival programme.

• Glasgow University Concert Hall, 1pm, 0141-330 4092

THEATRE: SWINDLE AND DEATH

Peter Arnott’s play promises an exploration of national identity, via a story about a theatre company that has been peddling the same tartan nostalgia for years, and a Scottish Arts Council spy called Marjorie, sent to discover how they have survived so long.

• Byre Theatre, St Andrews, 7:30pm, 01334 475000

FILM: GONE BABY GONE

Ben Affleck’s first film as writer-director tells the story of the abduction of a child and the efforts of a private investigator (Casey Affleck) to track her down. Set in the director’s home city of Boston, it has an insider’s sense of place that prevents it from being just another downbeat thriller.

• Cinemas nationwide. Listings, p50

MUSIC: SANDI THOM

The fact that, two years after the blaze of publicity that launched her, Sandi Thom is still playing venues the size of King Tut’s, possibly suggests that rather too much fuss was made about her nostalgic Scotpop, but her second album, The Pink and The Lily, has plenty of good tunes.

• King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, 8:30pm, 0141-221 5279

MUSIC: DEF LEPPARD AND WHITESNAKE

A very different kind of 1980s nostalgia trip to the Here and Now/Retrofest packages that regularly pop up, here’s a chance to catch up with two hard-rocking outfits to see how their power ballads and hairspray are holding up. See the feature on page 44.

• SECC, Glasgow, 6:45 pm, 0141 248 3000