What's On Scotland 6-12 Aug: Edinburgh International Festival & more

There’s something very chic about the world premiere of an opera, like being in 18th-century Vienna. Except The Galloping Cure, a bold new work bursting onto the stage at Edinburgh International Festival, is a distinctly modern take on the traditional genre, in which a town beset by chronic pain becomes an allegory for the crumbling structures of contemporary society.

The festival that began it all, the Edinburgh International Festival kicks off this week, running the whole month from 7-30 August. It is a packed programme, full of the usual world class calibre of performers, musicians and theatremakers that put Edinburgh on the map. Browse the full programme here.

FORIEGNER
Summerhall, Edinburgh. 6-31 Aug (not 18, 25), 9pm
FORIEGNER (typo intentional!) brings together ideas of identity, belonging and immigration in a chaotic clown show. Iranian asylum seeker and professional clown Sohrab Haghverdi isn’t interested in wading into the political debate: he needs his show to get him a visa. Image: Darien Griffin.

Piping Live
Various venues, Glasgow. 9-14 Aug
Reclaim the bagpipes from the tourists with Piping Live, a music festival dedicated to all things pipe (musical), now returning for its 23rd year. The programme is full of unique experimentations, including performances of Philip Glass and an immersive 20 Breton pipe piece. Image: Christophe Raynaud de Lage.

⤹ AD
Acid's Reign
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh. 5-31 Aug, 3:45pm

2019: A new drag supergroup bursts onto the scene, intent on challenging climate change.

Present day: Interest wanes. Climate funding falters. When commercial opportunity knocks, the company faces a reckoning: stay radical or stay visible?

A riotous queer musical with a live band and powerhouse vocals from drag superstars including Victoria Scone, Scarlett Harlett and Gigi Zahir (fresh from supporting Chappell Roan) about activism, community and the power of performance.

★★★★ The Stage

Isabella Strange
The Glad Cafe, Glasgow. 8 Aug, 7:30pm
Scottish band Isabella Strange specialise in anxious, spiky and ethereal punk music with gorgeous layered textures. In celebration of their debut EP slick git, they play The Glad Cafe this week, alongside support from Glasgow art punkers Duncecap and rockers Radio Banter. Image: Aidan Duckworth.

Brit Barron: CHURCH
Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh, 5-30 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 12:40pm
If there’s one thing megachurch pastors know how to do, it's to hold a crowd’s attention. Which is why this solo comedy show – staged like a church service – by stand-up comedian and former megachurch pastor Brit Barron is set to be a transcendental experience. Image: Sami Lane.

↪ Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
RSA: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. 8 Aug-1 Nov
Nearly 80 portraits by major American photographer Catherine Opie are brought together in this first major museum exhibition of her work in the UK, exploring themes of queerness, subversion and community. Image: Courtesy the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles,  Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul, and Thomas Dane Gallery.

→ grind provisions x Stereo: Asphodèle
Stereo, Glasgow. 8 Aug, 11pm
Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist, DJ, and producer Asphodèle comes to Stereo for grind provisions, a new club night dedicated to underground club music from the Black diaspora, playing across hard drum, gqom, bass, batida, juke and drum 'n' bass.

→ Hot Mess
Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh. 7 Aug, 11pm
Sexy queer club night Hot Mess returns to Sneaky Pete's this weekend with a special festival 5am closing time: except the usual sleazy and sweaty disco and house and trance-y techno from beloved Glasgow-based DJ Simonotron.