Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
An exquisite mix of song, poetry and spoken word, Karine Polwart’s show about the Royal Botanic Garden’s iconic palm tree stands tall

If you thought there could not be a more Edinburgh-centric show than James Graham’s Make It Happen , with its appearances from Adam Smith and figures from the city’s once great banks, well think again. In Windblown, Karine Polwart commemorates an Edinburgh institution of similar longevity. And she does it exquisitely.

Her focus is the sabal palm that stood in the Royal Botanic Garden for more than 200 years and, even before that, grew in the original gardens at the top of Leith Walk. It outgrew the original glass house within decades and towered over generations of visitors until, in 2021, this oldest living specimen in the collection had to be chopped down.

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Minerva theatre, Chichester
A stressed out community choir rehearse pop hits ahead of a TV appearance in this uncharacteristically feelgood comedy from the usually hard-hitting Bhatti

Playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti is best known for her Susan Smith Blackburn prize-winning 2005 drama Behzti. Featuring scenes of rape and violence in a Sikh gurdwara, the ambitious state-of-the-nation work stirred huge controversy among religious communities when it premiered, and had its run at the Birmingham Rep cancelled following violent protests.

Bhatti has since gone on to create similarly confronting work, including her recent touring play about prison motherhood, Scenes from Lost Mothers, as well as penning a coercive control storyline for The Archers. But those theatregoers expecting a continuation of this challenging storytelling may be disappointed by her latest work, Choir. Set during rehearsal sessions for a community choir who are preparing for a potential big break on TV, the play is more comic than visceral; more sitcom than Sarah Kane.

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It’s Never Over offers a new look at the short life of the musician and the importance women played in his life

In the years since Jeff Buckley’s shocking death at age 30 in 1997, his estate has sanctioned the release of 10 studio compilations, eight live collections, one box set, eight singles and five video recordings. In addition, there have been a rash of documentaries, produced in various countries around the world, as well as a dramatic depiction of him played by actor Penn Badgley in a movie whose title alludes to his musical father, Greetings from Tim Buckley . Collectively, that places him in the realm of other departed stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Eva Cassidy, whose catalogues have been mined for every ounce of gold they can possibly produce.

In that context, the title of the new Jeff Buckley documentary, It’s Never Over , could easily read like a threat. Luckily, nothing could be further from the truth. The film winds up giving a largely familiar story a holistic reach like no project before it. However picked over the bones of Buckley’s story may be, director Amy Berg has found fresh flesh by emphasizing the crucial role women played in his life starting with his mother, Mary Guibert, and fanning out to various girlfriends, most of whom are fellow artists who sometimes doubled as spiritual collaborators. Together, they show how a female spirit not only shaped Buckley’s early life, it also provided a foundational part of his art. The earliest songs he sang as a kid were voiced by women, from Diana Ross’s yearning reading of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to Judy Garland’s self-immolating take on The Man Who Got Away. “I wanted to be a chanteuse,” Buckley says in a vintage audio interview used in the film. “Secretly, I think I wanted to be Nina Simone.”

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What single film best represents a nation? Here, 12 writers choose the one work they believe most captures their home’s culture and cinema – from a bold cricket musical to a nine-hour documentary, gritty crime dramas to frothy tales of revenge

It is often said that there are two religions in India: cinema and cricket. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India blends the two with such panache that, upon its release, movie theatres became stadiums, with audiences cheering and dancing in their seats when the underdogs (a ragtag team of Indian villagers) defeat their masters (a far superior British team led by a tyrannical racist captain who wants to inflict a ruinous land tax on them).

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Nostalgic social media videos detailing Blair-Brown rivalry elicit cult following among young political fans

This summer, TikTok has been revisiting very public, deeply personal and sometimes toxic feuds from the 1990s.

And it is not just the Gallagher brothers – another psychodrama has taken hold: the rivalry between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

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Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh
Amusing vignettes about arrogant consultants and undignified poos keep things light as Phillips documents a harrowing hospital experience

Expectations and reality don’t always align when it comes to childbirth. Lily Phillips (not that one, she assures us, getting good mileage from her porn star namesake) thought she was well informed. She’d gone through a long process of IVF to get there, attended NCT classes, and, when labour started, she was ready for the if not serene then empowering birthing experience and magical moment of immediate love that would follow.

Instead, she discovered that “birth is barbaric and early motherhood is brutal”. Yet even her NCT WhatsApp group, where she turned after a harrowing hospital experience, requested “no negative birth stories, please”. Crying does a lot to redress the balance and cuts through the “toxic positivity” surrounding childbirth that left Phillips feeling alone.

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Elvis, Grease and Traitors Live are all the rage this summer. But could audiences be tempted to try something a little different?

This is the summer of the live immersive experience – Elvis, Grease, Traitors Live – but the biggest shows are expensive and tickets are already selling out. Never fear: there are plenty of other experiences out there for anyone looking to get immersed on a budget, or to try something a bit different. But what? We had a look at a few we could imagine happily queueing for. Book now, while places remain.

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The actor has a soft spot for Olivia Rodrigo and can’t listen to any of her exes’ music, but which wintry Christmas hit did she sing at a summer karaoke?

The first song I fell in love with
When I was a kid, my mom gave me her iPod, and I fell in love with all her music from the 70s and 80s. I’d sing Call Me by Blondie at the top of my lungs, jumping on the bed. What a great song.

The first single I downloaded
I was in [Disney sitcom] Shake It Up when I started falling in love with hip-hop. I went on a binge and discovered BedRock by Young Money. I was so obsessed that I ended up writing an essay about why I admire Lil Wayne for school.

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