What's On Scotland 21-28 Apr: Restaurant Festival

Every single week The Skinny team choose out a line-up of the top ten events from the Scottish cultural calendar to provide you with this guide to the most exciting goings on in the week ahead. From gigs, plays and free exhibitions to spoken word and pop up cake shops, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee every Thursday morning.

Glasgow Restaurant Festival
Until 4 May, various restaurants across Glasgow

Street food's all well and good, but there's only so many times you can tuck into a pulled-pork-mini-macaroni-cheese-topped-slider without wondering if there's more to life than wooden sporks and paper plates. Turns out, there is more. Now's the time, fair foodie, to rekindle your long lost love for the not-so-humble restaurant, as Glasgow's Restaurant Festival takes over many of the city's watering holes, giving peckish people the opportunity to sample menus at pocket-friendly prices.

Jakil
King Tut's, Glasgow. 22 Apr, 8.30pm

These guys are more than their height-order arrangement skills and pensive stares. In fact, they've got quite the knack for creating pop-rock that'll hook you quicker than an industrial fishing rod. With vocals that swing from raspy lows to Timberlake highs, ear-worm lyrics and tasty guitars, they're a handsome balance between cerebral and catchy. Get your tickets here.

Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair
The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. 23 April, 9.30am-5.30pm & 24 April, 10am-5pm

Hankering for a gorgeous new screenprint or want dibs on a new piece from your fave sculptor? Best get yourself to Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair this week then, hadn't you? GCAF runs from 23-24 Apr, but you can also take advantage of the preview evening on 22 Apr to catch a chinwag with featured artists and scout out your favourites, with price tags ranging from fifty quid to £10k. There’ll be booze and tunes, too! Aren't you lucky.

ADVERTISEMENT | Right Now
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. 19 Apr-7 May, 7.30pm (matinees available)

After a hugely successful run in London and several five star reviews, Right Now has finally arrived in Edinburgh. Written by award-winning Quebecois playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin and directed by former Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Sir Michael Boyd, Right Now is disturbing, dark and sexy. It walks a delicate line between playful laughter and deep trauma, teasing and thrilling audiences from beginning to end. As a reviewer so aptly put it: ‘It’s like watching Pinter drunk and dizzy on red wine. Lots of red wine.’ #RightNowThePlay

World Book Night
Various venues across Scotland, 23 Apr

It seems we're entirely unable to come up with a consensus for when exactly World Book Day should take place, with most of the rest of the world choosing 23 Apr but the pesky UK moving the affair to early March. If you're feeling international, join in with a marathon reading of Spanish classic Don Quixote at Summerhall, complete with tapas and beers. Otherwise, try out a story writing workshop with Catherine Simpson in Oban, or check out Scotland's various ex-police boxes getting all bookish with specially selected literary themes from 23-24 Apr. Illustration: George Morton

Molotov Jukebox
King Tut's Glasgow. 28 Apr, 8.30pm

Hey, look! Nymphadora Tonks off of Harry Potter has her own band! What's more, that band serves up the kind of sunnyside Latino-horn vibes that this week's Scottish sunny afternoons are a-screaming for. They're the kind of tutti-frutti, in-yer-face festival band that will get you thoroughly riled for the summer months. Snap up your tickets here.

This Restless House
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. Until 14 May, times vary

Produced in collaboration with National Theatre of Scotland, This Restless House is Scottish writer Zinnie Harris’s contemporary take on epic Ancient Greek tragedy The Oresteia. Don’t be discouraged by the use of ‘epic’ – the story is carefully portioned into Part 1 and Parts 2 & 3, taking place on various dates and times for the duration of the trilogy’s run.

Subculture's 22nd Birthday
Sub Club, Glasgow. 23 Apr, 11pm

Subbie celebrates 22 years of hosting Glasgow's club scene stalwart Subculture this weekend. Get yourself along and you'll hear from residents Harri and Domenic with a side serving of Telford. There's promise of musical bumps, balloons and bubbles galore, so missing this one's not really an option. Check out our Clubbing Highlights to stay looped into Scotland's after-hours good'uns.

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Richard III
GFT 1, Glasgow. 28 Apr, 7.15pm

Ever wanted to pick the brains of Sir Ian McKellen? Who hasn't, to be honest. Well, tonight's your chance, as Glasgow Film Theatre ups the ante on all other Shakespeare-celebratory events, screening Richard Loncraine's Richard III and looping in McKellen, who famously portrays the Crookback King for a post-movie chit-chat. Not bad, Glasgow. Shakespeare will be grinning in his grave. Get more details in our Film Highlights.

FourByFour: Bart Skils
The Mash House, Edinburgh. 22 Apr, 11pm

FourByFour delivers on the techno front this week, flying in Holland's finest Bart Skils to spin some of the exultant highs and deep, percussive grooves that have made him one of Amsterdam's top names right now. You'll be getting buckets of warm-up bangers for your buck from residents Krowne & Strut, Jack Simon, Chunky Burd and Octo Phant, too. Get all the chat over at Clubbing Highlights.

Outskirts
Platform, Glasgow, 3.30pm

If you like your art genres blurred and your boundaries traversed, make sure to get to Platform for Outskirts on on 23 Apr. SAY award-winnier Kathryn Joseph collaborates with Twilight Sad’s James Graham, Matthew Bourne underscores a fascinating moving images montage, and there’s even talk of aerial performances. Intrigued? Thought so. Photo: Rita Azevedoa

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