Going out

CIRCUS

Cirque du Soleil brings its critically acclaimed production Alegria to the UK for the first time this week. More than 10 million people worldwide have seen the show, but this Wednesday audiences at Glasgow’s SECC will be the first Scots to be dazzled by it. Expect spectacular acrobatics, fire dancing and hidden trampolines. Tickets are on sale for £50 and the circus will be in town until next Sunday. www.secc.co.uk

MUSIC

Emeli Sandé was one of last year’s big breakout success stories. The Aberdeenshire-raised singer-songwriter has penned tracks for the likes of Cheryl Cole, Susan Boyle and Professor Green, and has even been named as Simon Cowell’s favourite songwriter of the moment. Now a recognisable singing talent in her own right, thanks to a Mobo best newcomer nomination, a Critics’ Choice gong at the Brits and a UK number one debut album, Our Version Of Events, she plays Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket on Tuesday.

www.glasgowconcerthalls.com

COMEDY

Award-winning comedian Robin Ince and psychologist Robin Dunbar team up for the Edinburgh International Science Festival to ask: what’s so funny about laughter? Join them at The Jam House on Wednesday to find out more. Engaging psychologist and entertainer Richard Wiseman will be on hand to ask the questions. Not one for the kids.

www.sciencefestival.co.uk

DANCE

For Scottish Ballet’s latest production, choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and director Nancy Meckler faced the immense challenge of putting one of Tennessee Williams’ most intimate and intense dramas on stage without a single spoken word. To translate the piece for a purely physical medium, the team behind A Streetcar Named Desire have crafted an introductory backstory for the fragile character of Blanche DuBois. The show opens at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow on Wednesday, before touring Scotland.