Arts & Ents

• Sleeping Beauty Insomnia, Oran Mor, Glasgow

  The penultimate offering in the National Theatre of Scotland/A Play, A Pie and A Pint mini-season of work looking at the Arab world is a black comedy by Lebanese playwright Abdelrahim Alawji.

• ShangHi, Theatre Royal, Glasgow

  In the fantasy realms of today's animal-free circus, the thrills of traditional skills – aerial flying, acrobatics, juggling – come dressed up with a hint of a storyline, a slinky cling of much-sequinned Lycra and tightly choreographed routines that add their own dramatic flourish to impressive feats of strength and split-second brinkmanship.

• The Wake, A Light Far Out (LTM)

  Almost as if hermetically sealed in their own rarified environment (although I confess not to have made direct sonic comparison with their earlier Factory label recordings), some 15 years since their last work, The Wake return.

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  Back on the road

  Conversations with Elvis, experimenting with the Art of Noise and admiring the Black Keys: chatting to Duane Eddy is a musical history tour, with one of the original guitar heroes as your guide.

• Gossip, A joyful Noise (Columbia)

  I had this dream where Girls Aloud reformed but Beth Ditto had taken Cheryl Cole's place in the line-up.

• The Temper Trap, 02 ABC, Glasgow

  There's a nifty video for the Temper Trap's last single, Need This Love, which pays loving homage to the Karate Kid.

• French Wives, Dream of The Inbetween (Electric Honey)

  Frightened Rabbit laid the groundwork for the blossoming of indie-folk music in Scotland, but it's the bands who followed who stopped the scene from stagnating by branching off in so many different directions.

• Anderson McGinty Webster, Ward & Fisher (Two Thumbs)

  And it came to pass that a quintet of Dundonians looked over the Tay to Fife and thought they would like a fondly regarded musicians' collective on their side of the Fence.