What's On Scotland 10-17 Aug: Fringe Benefits

We're not even a week into the Fringe and it's already taken its toll on The Skinny team – pots of coffee and bacon rolls from Snax are all that's keeping us functioning at the minute. The upside of being six days into the world's largest arts festival is that the reviews have begun to roll in, meaning you can start to be less scattershot with your ticket purchases.

Our Theatre team (and pretty much everyone at this year's Fringe) has been raving about the National Theatre of Scotland's Adam, the knockout true story of a young trans man from Egypt who seeks asylum in Scotland – our reviewers said this exploration of transgender identity "overflows with personality and warmth". Our Theatre team was also bowled over by Douglas Maxwell's explosive new play The Whip Hand, which we called "an insightful critique of power, obligation, and the lies we tell each other to bury the past." Snap up tickets for both while you can!

Our crack team of Comedy reviewers, meanwhile, are already 60 reviews in and counting. Best in show so far has been Sarah Kendall's new standup hour One-Seventeen ("a bravura performance, smooth and sophisticated"), but our critics have also bust a gut laughing at new sets from Evelyn Mok, Kat Bond,Sara Pascoe, Lauren Pattison, Ed Night, Sarah Bennetto, John Kearns and Fern Brady to name a few of the comics who've made it on to our Best of the Fest roundup. Read the full list here.

Riot Jazz Brass Band
La Belle Angèle, Edinburgh, 13 Aug
This Manchester nine-piece – made up of trumpets, trombones, sousaphone, drums and an MC – play a twisted mix of funk, soul, hip-hop, re-interpreted dubstep, drum’n’bass and dancefloor bangers, including a killer version of Britney Spears’ Toxic. What's not to love?

NEHH presents... Hinds
Summerhall, Edinburgh, 16 Aug
Slacker-rockers Hinds are hitting the Fringe as part of Nothing Ever Happens Here's stellar line-up and we can't contain ourselves. If you're unacquainted, have a listen to their 2016 record Leave Me Alone: you'll be hooked for the summer.

Awesome Tapes from Africa
Summerhall, Edinburgh, 10 Aug | The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, 11 Aug
Brian Shimkovitz started his Awesome Tapes from Africa blog back in 2006 as a way to share the unique cassette tapes he unearthed while studying and travelling in West Africa. As Awesome Tapes from Africa, Shimkovitz performs DJ sets around the globe, playing a mix of African disco, Ghanaian hip-hop, South African electro and everything in-between, via two tape decks and a whole lotta cassettes.

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Vegan Connections
Glasgow, various venues, 11-12 Aug
This noble celebration of all things planty returns to a selection of Glasgow's most herbivore-friendly venues (The Flying Duck, Stereo, MONO, The Briggait, The Old Hairdressers and Bloc+) for what is quite frankly a marvellous line-up of live music. With tonnes of foodie traders, along with performances from Pinact, Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff (pictured), American Clay, Life Model and many more besides on hand, the whole affair is a well due reward for living a life less cheesy.

ADVERTISEMENT | Assembly Festival's Best of the Fest
This weekend don’t miss Fringe favourites at Assembly Festival’s line-up shows
For laughs and giggles check out Best of the Fest. The line-up for this weekend includes among other Angela Barnes, Simon Evans, Nath Valvo, and Charlie Baker. For the night owls, Assembly's late-night cabaret extravaganza Supper Club brings you the best cabaret stars from across the Fringe. For the daytime crowd, meanwhile, Best Of The Fest Daytime showcases the finest entertainment across the festival including Casus, Jamie Wood, Patti Plinko, Modern Maori Quartet and Juan Vesuvius. Check out the full line-ups here.

Something Wild (on 35mm)
Glasgow Film Theatre, 13 & 15 Aug
When American film director Jonathan Demme died earlier this year, cinema lost one of its funkiest and most compassionate voices. All this month GFT are celebrating Demme's work, and the jewel in the programme is this 35mm screening of his sexy screwball-thriller Something Wild, in which an uptight yuppie is swept up on a weekend adventure by a bad girl in a Louise Brooks bob. The Skinny's Film editor, Jamie Dunn, introduces the 13 Aug screening. Win tickets on Twitter

Carnival 56
Camperdown Park, Dundee, 12-13 Aug, 12pm
Dundee lands itself a major new festival this week with the inaugural Carnival 56. The two-day music event bring some hit-makers to town, with the likes of Mark Ronson, Rudimental and Basement Jaxx appearing alongside a banging selection of up-and-comers, including Elle Exxe (pictured), The Cuban Brothers, WHITE, Sasha and James Zabiela. Good work, Dundee.

Arab Strap
Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, 8pm
The mighty Summer Nights series comes to a close with another fine night of music in the form of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton's Arab Strap – it may not be the first big weekend of the summer, but you can certainly pretend it is! 

Each week The Skinny team hand pick a selection of 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 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.

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Read more news from across the Northwest cultural scene at theskinny.co.uk/news
Find out how you could win some lovely prizes at theskinny.co.uk/competitions

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