Blindness, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, June 29-July 3
Scotland’s theatres are gradually opening up and one of the first major shows is this production from London’s Donmar Warehouse (above), an adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago’s dystopian novel. Audiences wear headphones for a performance narrated by Juliet Stevenson in immersive binaural sound. Tickets are £22.50.
Call 0131 529 6000 or visit capitaltheatres.com
Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Edinburgh, May 25-June 6
The bulk of the annual festival is online but the opening and closing weekends see a series of pop-up outdoors events – or “site-specific encounters” if you prefer – in the Royal Botanic Garden and at venues in Granton and Craigmillar.
Visit imaginate.org.uk
Party At The Park, South Inch Park, Perth, August 21-22
As things stand, the plan is for the festival to go ahead as planned with headliners The Charlatans and Kaiser Chiefs joined by Embrace, Ash and Fun Lovin’ Criminals among others. There’s also a silent disco, a funfair and a children’s area.
Visit partyatthepark.scot
Falstaff, Edington Street Car Park, Glasgow, July
Following September’s outdoor production of La Boheme (above), Scottish Opera returns in July with Falstaff, designed and directed by Sir David McVicar and with a cast including baritone Roland Wood and soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn. From June the company is also running Pop-Up Opera, a series of 25 minute productions, at various venues across Scotland.
Call 0141 248 4567 or visit scottishopera.org
Out East, Gosford House, East Lothian, August 6-7
This new family-orientated festival based in the grounds of neoclassical Gosford House features a DJ set from Clean Bandit and a performance by orchestra Ministry Of Sound, who play dance music classics. There’s also a Kids’ Stage, a woodland trail, a wellbeing area and all manner of goodies to eat. Oh, and you can camp overnight. Prices starts at £30.50 but children under 10 go free.
Visit outeast.co.uk
The Slam Tent, Edinburgh
This three-day dance music festival takes one of the highlights of the T In The Park festival and plonks it down, well, somewhere in the capital – date and location are currently unconfirmed. Either way it promises “one of the greatest dance floors Scotland has ever seen” and will host 5000 people a night.
Euro 2020, Hampden Park, Glasgow, June 11-July 11
Just in case you had forgotten, there’s the small matter of the Euro 2020 football championships to contend with this summer. Fans have been given the green light to attend and Scotland play at the national stadium on June 14 and 22. There will also be a knockout match there on June 29.
Visit hampdenpark.co.uk
Edinburgh Summer Sessions, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, August 6-15
The capital’s Summer Sessions programme of live outdoor concerts returns with a stellar line-up featuring Tom Jones, Aussie rockers DMA’s, homegrown heroes Travis and Simple Minds, 2020 Mercury Prize winner, Michael Kiwanuka and pop starlet Anne-Marie (pictured above). She’ll be partying like it’s 2002, though most people would settle for 2019, right?
Visit smmrsessions.com
TRNSMT, Glasgow Green, Glasgow, September 10-12
Glasgow’s much-loved music festival returns across three stages with a line-up featuring headliners Primal Scream, Ian Brown (let’s hope he’s had his jab), Liam Gallagher and The Chemical Brothers alongside rising stars such as Holly Humberstone and The Murder Capital. Tickets start at £62.50.
Visit trnsmtfest.com
Signal-On-Sea, Irvine Beach, July 16-25
Dutch audio gurus Jeroen Strijbos and Rob Van Rijswijk hook up with Glasgow-based creatives Cryptic to mount a large-scale environmental sound installation on the town beach. Blending snatches of voices with soundscapes and using 24 special speakers, the free event is part of the Year Of Coasts And Waters.
Visit cryptic.org.uk
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