Coffee-Table Notes

Summerhall, Edinburgh 3 stars How would Scotland's capital city cope if it went into lockdown after an all consuming plague ran amock through the city? How would the survivors react if they were forced to decide on a course of action which may or may not save them? And what if the plague in question was a horde of flesh-eating zombies infected with a killer virus? All these questions and more are asked in this promenade performance devised by the London-based LAStheatre, who have presented similar perambulations through the Old Vic Tunnels. As the 200-strong audience queue outside the film-set like maze of the former Royal Dick Vet School, they are scrutinised by men in uniform checking for signs of infection. Once inside, a general in command barks out orders while chaos reigns. We will be broken up into six groups, we're told, and led through the building where we'll be introduced to assorted real life scientists who will help us decide what action to take; qu

There's a story Terre Thaemlitz, aka DJ Sprinkles, tells in a footnote to an address given at Tate Modern a few weeks ago, and which is now published on Thaemlitz's website. It tells how, while DJ-ing a deep house set at the closing party of the event – a queer and trans-gender cultural symposium - Thaermlitz was approached by a blonde-haired woman who requested something be played by Madonna. When Thaemlitz declined to play anything by her or any of the woman's other requests, she turned nasty, and started calling Thaemlitz a faggot before staff moved her away from the DJ booth. Such an ugly incident speaks volumes about how deep-rooted homophobia remains in society. The fact that this was a queer and trans-gender event makes the incident even worse. This is just one of the concerns which may be raised in 'Episode 5: Hidden in Plain Sight', Episode 5 of Instal and Kill Yr Timid Notion festival founders Arika's latest line of inquiry, which gives as much

4 stars Eclectica abounds on on this four-band snapshot compendium of dispatches from some of the country's more gloriously, and at times wilfully off-piste musical glories, who provide two songs apiece to this limited edition vinyl, alongside more of the same to be downloaded on purchase of an equally limited pack of customised beer. Plastic Animals kick things off with 'Sheltered,' a piece of sci-fi grunge that counterpoints urgent guitars and manic synth squiggles with laid-back stoner vocals. On side two, the band's second piece, 'Floating,' is jauntier, leaning here to more hypnotically voguish dream-pop stylings Magic Eye sound beamed in from behind a shoe-gazer's fringe, so beguilingly lovely are the swooping female vocals and echo-box filtered guitar patterns on 'Flamin' Teenage', which leaves plenty of swoonsome space to breathe. 'Japan' drifts off into similarly exotic waters, guitars pinging out oriental melodi

Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh Wed March 20th 2013 Edinburgh scene super-groups don't come along every day, yet the arrival of Et tu Brutus opening a four-band House of Crust bill headlined by Californian punks, Fracas, is a tantalising prospect. Initiated by Edinburgh School For the Deaf/St Judes Infirmary/Young Spooks/Naked auteur Grant Campbell and The Leg's Dan Mutch as a studio project, the pair have drafted in a rhythm section of Leg drummer Alun Thomas and former Sara and the Snakes guitarist Andy Brown to put flesh on the skinny-assed bones of Campbell and Mutch's avant-garage hardcore template. With Campbell wielding a microphone/intercom set-up that looks and sounds like it was looted from a 1950s black cab, the muffled fuzz gives the words he reads from A4 sheets of paper a rawness that's accentuated by the band's wilfully no-fi sound helmed by Mutch's guitar, which is played relentlessly, veering off into all kinds of odd angles bef

4 stars The Sound of Young Scotland continuum runs on apace with plenty of bounce on this debut mini album by a quartet led by former Bricolage and some-time Sexual Object Graham Wann. Instrumental jangularity abounds, but so does a dance-floor glam joie de vivre that's as infectious as it is deliciously calculated. Nouveau serious fun starts here. The List, April 2013 ends

3 stars Former uncle John and Whitelock stalwart David Philp is the crooning mastermind behind this seven song set of post-modern Palm Court swing awash with fiddle, accordion and acoustic guitar, which sounds at times not unlike The Monochrome Set gone retro zydeco. As wryly jaunty as all this sounds, there's a doleful melancholy to Philp's delivery, which nevertheless retains a trad warmth worth waltzing to. The List, April 2013 ends

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 3 stars Secrets, lies and scandal are at the heart of Zinnie Harris' Edwardian update of Henrik Ibsen's proto-feminist classic, directed here by Graham McLaren for this National Theatre of Scotland/Royal Lyceum co-production. By setting this tale of one woman's emancipation from the male world that controls her among the political classes, Harris gives an even sharper edge to the public consequences of private actions. Amy Manson's Nora is here the trophy wife of Thomas Vaughan, a newly appointed cabinet minister who Nora nursed through a six month depression. As the pair move into the house that comes with Thomas' job, Nora is haunted by the figure of Neil Kelman, Thomas' predecessor, who left his post under a cloud, and who illegally loaned Nora money to survive during Thomas' illness. As Nora spends much of the play trying to keep the truth from Thomas, it's clear that she is no little girl, but an intelligen