Pauline Mclean

Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall is returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe nearly 30 years after her first appearance to provide music for The Singer, a new production about a deaf musician and a struggling Glasgow busker. Theatre-maker Cora Bissett developed the show with deaf performer Jamie Rea, alongside Aberdeen Performing Arts, Dundee Rep and Solar Bear. Inspired partly by Tunstall's deaf brother and her own hearing loss, the production combines music, British Sign Language, vibration technology and lighting cues to create an experience accessible to deaf and hearing audiences. The project is being presented as a significant step for inclusive Scottish theatre and showcases performers trained through the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's BSL and English programme.

Amanda Knox has defended her sold-out solo show Cartwheel, due to run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, after a petition calling for its cancellation gathered nearly 5,000 signatures. Stephanie Kercher, sister of murdered student Meredith Kercher, said the show could normalise or trivialise violence against women and cause further pain to the family. Knox says the performance is a sensitive exploration of motherhood, trauma and raising a daughter in an unsafe and unfair world, rather than a minimisation of the case. Fringe Society director Tony Lankester defended the festival's commitment to free speech, saying intervention would be reserved for unlawful content such as incitement or hate speech.

Prominent Scottish musicians, including Midge Ure, Lulu and Jim Kerr, are backing a proposal by the group ScotsRock to take over Glasgow’s closed Centre for Contemporary Arts and transform it into a Scottish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The plan includes exhibitions, a live venue, education programmes and support for emerging creative businesses. Creative Scotland, which owns the building, has not committed to any proposal but will soon seek formal expressions of interest. Other arts groups have also shown interest in repurposing the space as a cultural hub.

Prominent Scottish musicians including Midge Ure, Lulu and Jim Kerr are backing ScotsRock’s proposal to take over Glasgow’s closed Centre for Contemporary Arts and transform it into a Scottish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Plans include exhibitions, a live venue, industry support programmes and heritage facilities aimed at celebrating Scotland’s musical legacy while supporting future artists. Creative Scotland, which owns the building, will open a formal process for expressions of interest as multiple cultural groups signal competing visions for the site.

Leith Theatre has been removed from the UK’s Theatres at Risk Register after securing major funding and long-term leasing arrangements that support its restoration. The change follows grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Edinburgh’s tourist levy, alongside strong community and campaign support. Other Scottish venues, including those in Motherwell, Musselburgh and Dundee, remain at risk, with two facing demolition due to structural issues involving RAAC. Advocates emphasise both the cultural value of these buildings and the necessity of community engagement and future audience support to secure their viability amid economic challenges.

A sister painting to Sir Edwin Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen, titled Scene in Braemar, sold at Sotheby’s in London for £5.9m, far exceeding its estimate and setting a record for the artist. Commissioned by industrialist Edward Betts and significantly larger than its famous counterpart, the artwork was praised for its dramatic depiction of the Highlands. Last sold in 1994, it has since appeared in several public exhibitions and continues to be regarded as a major work of Victorian art.