What's On Scotland: EIF

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.

1. EIF: monumental
Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh. 8-9 Aug, 8pm

If you didn’t get tickets to Ediburgh International Festival’s opener Deep Time, console yourself today by checking out monumental, an unsettling and exhilarating piece of physical theatre from Montreal art-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Vancouver dance company The Holy Body Tattoo. If you like scaring yourself silly with dystopian art and dark catharsis, this’ll be right up your street. Image: Yannick Gradmont

2. Foxdog Studios
Laughing Horse @ The Cellar Monkey, Edinburgh. 4-28 Aug, 11.15pm

In the same way that Snapchat re-purposes highly sophisticated face recognition technology for the purpose of turning its users into face-swapped, rainbow-vomming vermin, 'IT Consultants'Foxdog Studios use their IT smarts for the sake of gigantic lols. Bring a smartphone to their shows and you'll be taken on an interactive carousel of absurdity, novelty and deliriously dry wit. Nerdy glee aplenty.

Advertisement | Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival
The Assembly Rooms, 4-28 August

Join EDEF on 4 Aug for their opening weekend. Friday’s cinema line-up features a screening of Berberian Sound Studio (starring Toby Jones as a sound engineer working on an Italian thriller) with New Media Scotland's Atmosphere. The twist? You’ll watch a team of foley artists recreate the film’s sound effects live.

Stage-to-screen highlights include Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet, the iconic gender-swapped Swan Lake and Mike Leigh’s Pirates of Penzance. Families, don’t miss a Frozen sing-along on Saturday. Try on a headset in the Virtual Reality Studio, program a robot in a Lego workshop, or test out Tilt Brush by Google in the Tech Hub.

3. Kelvingrove Summer Nights: Idlewild + C Duncan
Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow. 5 Aug, 6.30pm

So here's a lovely treat for Glasgow-dwellers who haven't dropped everything to sprint to the Fringe this weekend; how's about Kelvingrove's Summer Night series at the bandstand? Idlewild are due to strum up a set on 5 Aug, with support from the ever-beguiling C Duncan, who we've got a feeling might be showing off a shiny new song or two. How very pleasant. Image: Mihaela Bodlovic

4. In Fidelity
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 4-28 Aug (not Mon), times vary

Fancy finding yourself a Fringe fling (or 'Flinge', if you will)? Well, get your whimsical self down toIn Fidelity at The Trav, Rob Drummond's follow-up to Bullet Catch and Quiz Show. Each show will feature a live blind date between two audience members, woven into a wider narrative about evolution, monogamy and Rob's own story. Read what happened when the Deviance section tried to find love with In Fidelity here. Image: Eoin Carey

5. EAF: Art Lates
Tour starts at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. 11 Aug, 8pm

Next up; a corker of an eve at Art Lates, a series of four weekly art-marathons organised by Edinburgh Art Festival. We’re giddy at tonight’s itinerary: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ft. Siân Robinson Davies’ amusing exhibition Conversations; Ciara Phillips’ Dazzle Ship, Rhubaba, a look at Inverleith House’s 30th anniversary exhibition, Helen Mcrorie’s The Clock in Commune at The Glasite Meeting House AND music from our pop-punk heroes The Spook School. Woah. Image: Tim Dodds, courtesy of Rhubaba

6. Merchant City Festival
Merchant City, Glasgow. 30 Jul-7 Aug, times and prices vary

Fringetide might well have rolled into Edinburgh, but Glasgow's not about to let the capital get all the limelight just yet. Glasgow's MCF returns once more, with all manner of street performance, cross-platform entertainment, activities, delicacies, and, indeed, merchants. We're particularly stoked about MCF's vintage strand, featuring brunches, tea dances and car boot sales to, er, boot.

7. Optimo: Rave Against Racism
Sub Club, Glasgow. 5 Aug, 11pm

Put the righteous rage you're feeling post-EU ref to good use; party your way to an improved world with Rave Against Racism at Subbie. Optimo bosses JD Twitch and JG Wilkes will play all night long, allowing you to rave 'til the early hours with like-minded lovelies. Proceeds will go to Glasgow’s Coalition For Racial Equality & Rights and unemployed folk get a hefty discount too. Image: David Moffat

8. French Institute: Vive La Fringe
French Institute, Edinburgh. Dates, times and prices vary

The French Institute's summer programme Vive La Fringe is pretty slick this year, appealing to ever-so-serious adults and joyful children alike, despite hosting only a handful of shows. Serious adults, go and see Gaël Le Cornec's The Other, a darkly comic tale based on the stories of refugees. And for the joyful children? Get 'em involved with Chiffonade, a choreographic delight for tender young minds.

9. SMD Boat Party & After Party: Late Nite Tuff Guy
Riverside Museum, Glasgow. 6 Aug, 6.30pm

Glasgow-based boat party SMD return this weekend with a gargantuan eight-hour party marathon led by Australian disco king Late Nite Tuff Guy. He’ll kick off with a four-hour show, setting sail from Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, where Craig McHugh and Don’t Drop will also be on hand for seafaring tunes, before heading to the after party at Admiral Bar where LNTG, Vilmos and Gary Hunter will be keeping the good times flowing. Ahoy indeed.

10. Pooch Parade
Dog House Bar, Glasgow. 6 Aug, 3.30pm

Feel like your life's a little devoid of furriness and fun at the minute? Got a hankering to hang out with some hounds? Think your mood might benefit from the sight of hunners of mutts wearing vintage clothing? Luckily for you, Merchant City Festival (the gift which evidently keeps on giving) is hosting a costume Pooch Parade this weekend, followed by a dug-friendly drinks reception at Dog House featuring real-life doggie beer (the world's gone mad etc. etc.). Image: David Anderson

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