Top things to do this week

Some of the cultural highlights around Scotland this week.

Circus of Horrors

King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tuesday

The show that shocked Britain’s Got Talent is back to mark its 20th Anniversary in spectacular style. Last year saw another giant leap for the show when it began a series of dates in London’s West End.

The latest incarnation, The Night of the Zombie, is set in 2020 and climaxes in a flaming apocalypse. The story twists and turns with some of the greatest and most bizarre circus acts on earth, such as sword swallowers, knife throwers, daredevil balancing acts, astounding aerialists, a demon dwarf, a Guinness World Record holding ‘hairculian’ hair-hanging beauty and fire-limboing acrobats.

RSNO: St Andrew’s Party with Phil and Aly

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Saturday

Scotland’s best known traditional music act remain one of the liveliest and best loved in Scottish live circles. In this special concert to celebrate the country’s national day, Aly and Phil join with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to lead the festivities, as the RSNO conducted by John Logan raise a dram to St Andrew in a night of jigs, reels and Aly and Phil’s inimitable banter. Also appearing in this special concert is singer Barbara Dickson and the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland.

Jeeves & Wooster

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Monday to Saturday

A new play adapted from the works of P.G Wodehouse, the hit West End comedy is now on tour and stars James Lance (Teachers, The Book Group, I’m Alan Partridge) as charmingly incompetent aristocrat Bertie Wooster and John Gordon Sinclair (Gregory’s Girl) as his unflappable and ever well-informed valet Jeeves. When a trip to the countryside takes a turn for the worse, Bertie is called on to play matchmaker and steal a cow creamer from Totleigh Towers. Of course, Jeeves is there to prevent him from making a fool of himself in front of a cast of Wodehouse’s finest characters.

War of the Worlds

Hydro, Glasgow, Saturday

The musical version of The War of The Worlds is making its sixth and final tour of UK arenas.

Conducted by Jeff Wayne, this production features Liam Neeson in 3D holography, Jason Donovan, Westlife’s Brian McFadden, X Factor 2005 winner Shayne Ward, Les Miserables’ Carrie Hope Fletcher, X Factor 2013’s Joseph Whelan, and the 36-piece ULLAdubULLA Strings and the nine-piece Black Smoke Band.

The show features special effects, including the 35-foot-tall Martian Fighting Machine firing real flames into the arena, the incineration of a cast member in front of the audience’s eyes, a ground-breaking levitation effect and much more.

James and the Giant Peach

Dundee Rep, Thursday until Hogmanay

Following the success of The BFG, Dundee Rep Ensemble brings another Roald Dahl classic to life for Christmas. James Henry Trotter lives with his two horrid aunts. One day, as he saves the life of a spider, some magic crocodile tongues come into his possession and it’s not long before a giant peach starts to grow in the garden. Venturing inside the peach, not only does he meet the spider he rescued but a number of new insect friends. Roald Dahl’s story comes to life in this tale of good, evil and above all friendship.

Dancing in the Streets

Aberdeen Music Hall, Dunfermline Alhambra, Caird Hall, Dundee, Thursday to Saturday

Ivor Novello Award-winning director Keith Strachan’s production is a spectacular celebration of classic music from the heart of the Motor City Detroit. Motown was a prominent force in breaking down barriers around the world and for producing some of the world’s most influential and enduring songs of the 20th Century. Dancing in the Streets re-creates the energy, style and music of the stars of the Motown stable, with classic hits including I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Baby Love, My Girl, Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours and Stop In the Name of Love.

Bob Cheevers

Torphichen Inn, West Lothian; Berits and Browns, Airdrie; Greyfriars, Perth, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday

A professional musician since the late sixties during his 25-year pop career, the Memphis singer later became a journeyman writer in Nashville’s country music scene, where Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings recorded his songs. So impressed was Cash that he invited Bob out as the support act for what would become The Man in Black’s final tour. Now living in Austin, Texas, the Emmy Award-winning Cheevers was voted Songwriter of the Year at the Texas Music Awards and is back in the UK playing his first British tour in two years.

Kajaki: The True Story

Out Friday

This Afghan war film tells of one the darkest days in recent British military history, which resulted in the death of Midlothian-born officer Mark Wright. Impeded by not having up-to-date maps, a group of paratroopers on patrol stumble into a minefield, left over from the Soviet invasion of the country in the 1980s. With one soldier seriously injured, the attempt by his colleagues to extract him results in five more serious injuries and the heroic death of George Cross recipient Wright.

The Homesman

Out Friday

You don’t expect a feminist message from a Western but this Tommy Lee Jones-directed movie manages to be traditional to the genre and yet progressive in its outlook. Three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life. The task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) and low-life drifter, George Brigs (Jones). The unlikely pair must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories to reach a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) who have offered to take the women in.