Scotsman critics’ choice: Five must-see shows on this week

THE Scotsman’s arts critics round up their must-see films, theatre and concerts for the next week

The Apartment. Picture: The Kobal Collection

VISUAL ART: Modern Scottish Women

If Tyson Fury’s sexist views have created a furore it is chastening to remember that such prejudices were institutionalised not so long ago. The struggle of women artists to overcome them is the story told in the exhibition Modern Scottish Women at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. As the show demonstrates so well, they claimed their place by the sheer quality of what they did (right), and we are all the richer for their doing so. Duncan Macmillan

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, until 26 June

THEATRE: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

There’s a health warning on this show for those with an aversion to sky-high camp; but for everyone else of vaguely adult years, the stage version of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – Stephan Elliott’s cult-hit 1994 film about four drag queens on a life-changing bus trip from Sydney to Alice Springs – is a gorgeously overdressed feast of absurdity-cum-agitprop, with a touching central performances from Jason Donovan as Tick, the drag queen who has a secret wife and son living in Alice. The cast in Edinburgh also includes “Barman Boaby” – Gavin Mitchell – in the key role of Bob the mechanic, and a cameo from Scots comedy heroine Karen Dunbar; so get your glad rags on, and enjoy. Joyce McMillan

Playhouse, Edinburgh, until 2 January, www.atgtickets.com

FILM: The Apartment

There are plenty of classic Christmas movies, but not that many with a New Year theme. The Apartment, covers both. Billy Wilder’s remarkable satire-cum-romance also feels modern and cutting edge. As the put-upon office drone coerced into loaning out his apartment to his company’s adulterous senior executives, Jack Lemon, below, with Shirley Maclaine, allows his irrepressible humanity to shine through in every scene, but it’s Maclaine’s emotionally bruising turn as the independently minded Fran that gives the film its beating heart, as events come to a head on Hogmanay. Alistair Harkness

Glasgow Film Theatre, 29-30 December, 0141-332 6535

POP: Biffy Clyro / Idlewild / Honeyblood

This year’s Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens features a rocking homegrown line-up, headed up by Scotland’s most righteous hard rockers Biffy Clyro plus hefty support from Idlewild in reinvigorated form and rookie duo Honeyblood, spitting relationship invective over bittersweet tunes. Elsewhere in the party zone, energetic indie rockers Maximo Park, mouthy guitar/drums duo Slaves and up-and-coming Glaswegian electro poppers White (see interview, left) whip up a frenzy of their own. Fiona Shepherd

Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, 31 December, www.edinburghshogmanay.com

CLASSICAL: SCO: New Year in Vienna

Joseph Swensen ushers in the New Year Viennese-style with an SCO programme dominated by the music of Johann Strauss II – everything from the Overture from Die Fledermaus to the ‘Thunder and Lightning’, ‘Trisch-Tratsch’ and ‘Pizzicato’ polkas. There’s also musical favourites by Dvorak, Clara Schumann, Rossini and Massenet. Ken Walton

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 1 January, 0131-228 1155; Perth Concert Hall, 3 January, 01738 621031; Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries, 4 January, 01387 253383; Ayr Town Hall, 5 January, 01292 288235