Arcadia Scotland

Art and Culture

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Throughout December, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Various times
The full might and magic of the Lyceum's excellent costume and design department gets behind the CS Lewis classic.

Luc Tuymans: Birds of a Feather: Through 19 December, Talbot Rice Gallery
Work by Belgian artist who paints pictures from existing photographs and who, as a result, was bizarrely (and successfully) sued for plagiarism.

Scottish Artists 1750-1900: From Caledonia to the Continent: Throughout December, The Queen's Gallery
A celebration of Scottish art from the Royal Collection, with paintings, drawings and miniatures collected by monarchs from George III to Victoria. With work by both artists who remained in Scotland, such as Alexander Nasmyth, and those who travelled abroad such as Allan Ramsay, there's a special emphasis on those whose work was influenced by the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment.

The Age of Improvement: Throughout December, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Portraits from the century of Scotland's great transformation, 1750–1850, including Nasmyth's deliberately and stylishly unfinished picture of Robert Burns, Danloux's all-action portrait of Admiral Duncan keeping a cool head in the middle of a sea battle, Raeburn's picture of Walter Scott as king of the hill, before bankruptcy forced him to work himself to death, and Richard Dadd's unnerving, hyper-detailed picture of Sir Alexander Morison, the 'alienist' who was consultant to the Bethlem psychiatric hospital where Dadd was confined.

Arthur Melville: Throughout December, Royal Scottish Academy
A comprehensive survey of the work of the Victorian painter (1858–1904), whose work was influenced by his travels in Persia, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire and who went on to be a major influence on the Glasgow Boys.

The Artist and the Sea: Throughout December, City Art Centre
Images of the sea by generations of Scottish artists, drawn from the Centre's collection.

Document Scotland: The Ties that Bind: Throughout December, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Images of Scottish people from the collective founded in 2012, comprising Colin McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Stephen McLaren. The show is timed to take place one year after the referendum on independence, and is designed to reflect the multiplicity of views and challenges associated with the event.

Music, Comedy and Dance

Edinburgh University Music Society Orchestras: Christmas Concert: 7 December, Reid Concert Hall, 8pm
The orchestras of the EUMS give a concert of seasonal favourites.

Harps of Gold Christmas Concert: 13 December, The Queen's Hall, 2:30pm
The Clarsach Society presents an afternoon of festive carols and readings.

Rudsambee: An Evening of Christmas Celebration: 13 December, St Giles Cathedral, 6pm
Annual Christmas concert with songs from around the world sung by this 19-strong ensemble.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves: Throughout December, Kings Theatre, Various times
Panto veterans Grant Stott, Andy Gray and Allan Stewart take to the stage to present Snow White complete with plenty of comedy and extravagant costumes.

So this is Christmas: 10 December, Edinburgh Playhouse, 7:30pm
New live show in all its festive splendour.

The RSNO Christmas Concert: The Snowman: 20 December, Usher Hall, 3pm
A family-friendly concert of carols and seasonal tunes, including the now annual screening of the 1982 film The Snowman, with live musical accompaniment.

Lectures, Sports and Local Festivals

Edinburgh's Christmas: Throughout December, City Centre
Six weeks of winter wonderland in Edinburgh, with the east side of Princes Street transformed by a fairground, a host of colourful lights and the fabled German Christmas market with dozens of stalls selling traditional trinkets and crafts as well as delicious Teutonic treats (and, of course, glühwein).

Edinburgh's Hogmanay: 30 and 31 December, Various sites and times
New Year is such a big deal in Scotland we even have our own name for it: that’s Hogmanay, for anyone not familiar with the local parlance. For proof of just how sacred a ritual sending off the old and welcoming in the new is here, look no further than Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, which from ad hoc roots a couple of decades back, has grown into a party of dizzying scale and organisation, attended by around 100,000 people. Official celebrations fan out across three days, traditionally beginning with a Torchlight Procession and culminating in New Year’s Day events such as the Loony Dook swim.

100 Years Young: The RIAS and The Festival of Architecture 2016: 14 December, National Museum of Scotland, 6pm
Lecture by Neil Baxter, Hon Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. The RIAS is preparing a special event to celebrate its centenary in 2016.