World City Guide

Culture

In recent years, Glasgow’s rediscovered exuberance has been expressed by a new wave of Scottish writers, an energetic live music scene and the flourishing of contemporary art and design.

Tickets to cultural events are available from the venues or from Ticketmaster (tel: (020) 7316 4709; website: www.scotland.ticketmaster.co.uk). The main guide to cultural events is The List (website: www.list.co.uk).

Music: Glasgow has a healthy popular and independent music scene (see the Nightlife). High culture is also well represented, from September to April, by two symphony orchestras and Scotland’s national opera company. Scottish Opera (tel: (0141) 248 4567; fax: (0141) 221 8812; website: www.scottishopera.org.uk), is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland, performing at the Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street (tel: (0141) 332 9000; fax: (0141) 332 4477; website: www.theatreroyalglasgow.com). The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (tel: (0141) 226 3868; fax: (0141) 221 4317; website: www.rsno.org.uk) is Scotland’s leading symphony orchestra. Its popular Proms concerts take place in June, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street (tel: (0141) 353 8000; fax: (0141) 353 8001; website: www.grch.com). The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (tel: (0141) 338 2606; fax: (0141) 307 4312; website: www.bbc.co.uk/bbcsso) can be seen live at the City Hall, on Candleriggs, in the Merchant City (tel: (0141) 287 5511; fax: (0141) 287 5533). This is also the Glasgow home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (website: www.sco.org.uk). The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), 100 Renfrew Street (tel: (0141) 332 4101; fax: (0141) 332 8901; website: www.rsamd.ac.uk), puts on a wide range of performing arts productions.

Theatre: Glasgow has over a dozen theatres and performance venues showcasing local pieces and a variety of contemporary works as well as old favourites and touring productions. The 600-seat Citizen’s Theatre, 119 Gorbals Street (tel: (0141) 429 0022; fax: (0141) 429 7374; website: www.citz.co.uk), is one of the best places for theatregoers to witness groundbreaking contemporary drama and re-workings of foreign and historical pieces. The Circle and The Stalls are studio venues on the same site. The late-19th-century facade of the King’s Theatre, 297 Bath Street (tel: (0141) 248 5153), belies the lively musicals that are performed inside.

Dance: The Scottish Ballet (tel: (0141) 331 2931; fax: (0141) 331 2629; website: www.scottishballet.co.uk) performs at the Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street (tel: (0141) 332 9000; fax: (0141) 332 4477; website: www.theatreroyalglasgow.com), and is Scotland’s national dance company.

Film: The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT), 12 Rose Street (tel: (0141) 332 8128; website: www.gft.org.uk), an Art Deco landmark, is a repertory cinema with a varied programme of foreign, independent, arthouse, classic and popular films. Mainstream cinemas in the city include a state-of-the-art, 12-screen multiplex off Paisley Road, Odeon at the Quay (tel: (0141) 418 0111 or (0870) 505 0007; website: www.odeon.co.uk) and the new UGC Renfrew Street, 7 Renfrew Street (tel: (0870) 907 0789), near the main shopping precinct.

An increasing number of films are shot and produced in Glasgow each year. Large parts of the hit films, Shallow Grave (1994) and Trainspotting (1996), were filmed here, as was Small Faces (1996), which captures the gang violence on a Glasgow housing estate in 1968. Carla’s Song (1996) and the more recent, My Name is Joe (1998), both directed by Ken Loach, were also filmed and set in Glasgow. The 1999 release, Ratcatcher (1999), is an atmospheric portrayal of the city’s poorer side, seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy in the 1970s.

Cultural events: The Celtic Connections festival is a showcase of all styles of Celtic music, featuring international and local musicians. The concerts take place over two weeks in late January at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and other venues. A traditional ceilidh offers the participants a chance to don the kilt and enjoy a lively evening of Scottish music and dancing. More conservative music can be heard during the World Pipe Band Championships (tel: (0141) 221 5414), in mid-August, on Glasgow Green. The West End Festival (tel: (0141) 341 0844), is held from mid- to late June, featuring the Midsummer Carnival Parade as well as music, theatre and exhibitions. Outside the city, there are a number of annual festivals, including the Bearsden and Milngavie (pronounced ‘Miln-guy’) Highland Games (tel: (0141) 942 5177) and Lanimer Day in Lanark (tel: (01555) 661 661), both in June.

Literary Notes
Traditional Scottish heritage continues to influence the cultural scene in Glasgow and remains a source of intense pride. There is a deep-rooted attachment to Scottish literature and poetry, particularly the works of Robert Burns, celebrated each year on Burns Night (25 January). The Mitchell Library, on North Street, has a large collection of his poetry in its Robert Burns Room.

Glasgow has drawn the praise of a number of literary admirers, including Daniel Defoe, Sir John Betjeman, who described it as the most perfect Victorian city centre in the UK, and Bill Bryson, who voted Glasgow as his favourite city in Britain.

In the past couple of decades, Glasgow has experienced something of a literary renaissance. Lanark (1981), Alisdair Gray’s debut novel, set in a fictional version of Glasgow and combining elements of fantasy, science fiction, autobiography and social realism, has become a cult classic. William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw crime novels are set in Glasgow, as is James Kelman’s Booker Prize-winning How Late It Was, How Late (1994), which traces the life of a down-on-his-luck Glaswegian, through stream-of-consciousness Scots dialect.