Great things to do: Spamalot, The History Boys, and Nina Conti

Our entertainment highlights for the week ahead.

Nina Conti: In Your Face Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed and Thurs

Ground-breaking ventriloquist, BAFTA-nominated filmmaker and British Comedy Award winner Nina Conti welcomes you into her workshop for an evening of discovery and play.

Following her smash-hit UK tour, Dolly Mixtures, the star of Live at the Apollo, Sunday Night at the Palladium, Russell Howard’s Good News and QI brings her new show to the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Tom Conti’s daughter won the British Comedy Award for Best Female in 2013.

Aled Jones Empire Theatre, Inverness; Motherwell Concert Hall; Dunfermline Alhambra Theatre. Monday to Wednesday

Singer, actor, author, broadcaster, presenter and musical theatre performer, Aled Jones is accompanied by world-class musicians as he performs an eclectic mix of songs and stories from his time in the public eye.

Originally loved by the nation as the angelic choirboy who sang the song from The Snowman, Aled has been a household name for 27 years and has 29 albums to his name, selling seven million to date.

The Gunman At cinemas from Friday

With Sean Penn and Mark Rylance in the cast, you know this is no ordinary action movie and that is a problem.

Based on a French novel, The Prone Gunman, Penn plays Jim Terrier, an ex-serviceman-turned-government contractor who is betrayed and forced to go on the run.

So far so good, but the film plays more like a group of thespians (Idris Elba and Ray Winstone are also involved) trying to show they’ve got other strings to their bow. Give me an ordinary action movie any day.

Monty Python’s Spamalot Edinburgh Playhouse, Monday to Saturday

Monty Python’s Spamalot gallops back out on tour to bring the West End production to Scotland’s capital.

Lovingly ripped-off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Spamalot is a “kind-of” new musical with a book by Eric Idle and a (mostly) new score, created by Idle and John Du Prez.

The latest tour, which is directed by Christopher Luscombe, follows hard on the heels of the recent Monty Python Reunion at the O2.

Crazy For You King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Wed to Sat

The Lyric Club returns to the King’s with Crazy For You, the story of Bobby Child, a well-to-do 1930s playboy whose dream in life is to dance.

And despite the serious efforts of his mother and soon-to-be ex-fiance, Bobby achieves his dream.

This Gershwin extravaganza is a high-energy comedy that includes mistaken identity, plot twists, fabulous dance numbers and classic tunes like I Can’t Be Bothered Now, I Got Rhythm and Someone To Watch Over Me.

Paras Over The Barras Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wednesday until March 28

James Barclay’s much-loved tale of wartime Scotland is back on the stage, performed by The Guizards, and capturing the wit and spirit of city life in the 1940s.

There is a war on and for Glasgow that means air raids, blackouts, food rationing, barrage balloons and the pain of parting as husbands and fathers go off to fight.

For the McSorleys and their neighbours in the East End tenements, it’s a case of making the best of what life has to offer.

Home At cinemas from Friday

After accusations of being too clever for their own good and alienating their core audience with Dr Peabody and Sherman, it’s no surprise DreamWorks returned to Home comforts for their next animation.

A race of inept aliens called the Boov invade Earth to hide from their mortal enemy, carting humans off to a desert planet. A resourceful teenager (voiced by Rihanna) manages to avoid capture and is accompanied on the run by a banished accident-prone Boov named Oh (The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons).

The History Boys King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue to Sat

Winner of more than 30 major awards including the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play.

Set in the 1980s, Alan Bennett’s comic masterpiece is the story of a group of bright, funny and unruly sixth-formers in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university.

Their maverick English teacher is at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher, whilst their headmaster is obsessed with results and league tables. The History Boys is a funny and moving play about the true purpose of education.

Joan Armatrading Webster Theatre, Arbroath; Music Hall, Aberdeen; Queens Hall, Edinburgh; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Tue to Fri

In 42 years of touring Joan has never flown solo, so for her last major tour she decided the time had come. Accompanying herself on guitar and piano, Joan performs songs spanning her career, including Love and Affection, Drop the Pilot and Me, Myself, I.

Supporting the three-time Grammy-nominated and Ivor Novello winner at each of her dates north of the border will be Scottish singer-songwriter Adriana Spina.