The Independent Recommends

Film Ryan Gilbey

IT WOULD be unwise for you to arrive at Gang Related (left) being too familiar with the plot - what pleasures it offers are largely derived from the assorted U-turns and blind alleys it takes. But as a corrupt cop (James Belushi) struggles to frame a vagrant (Dennis Quaid) for a murder which he committed, the film gathers real comic momentum and escalates into an underworld farce.

On general release

Majorettes in Space: Five Gay Tales from France features some wonderful work, the best of it from Francois Ozon, a truly exciting young writer- director. His short films La Petite Mort (The Little Death) and Une Robe d'Ete (A Summer Dress) can give you butterflies. He taps into the enigmatic sensuality of cinema, and isn't afraid to drench you in it.

ICA Cinema, The Mall, London SW1 (0171-930 3647) 5pm, 7pm, 9pm

Theatre Dominic Cavendish

PRINCESS SHARON, Scarlet Theatre's admirably visual staging of Witold Gombrowicz's fairytale satire Ivona, Princess of Burgundia is making a welcome appearance at the Traverse. Polish director Katarzyna Deszcz, a pupil of Tadeusz Kantor, never overstates the work's rather obvious point: namely, that the doltish Sharon, with whom the prince falls in love, much to the dismay of the court, is wisely opting out of a society powered by insincerity.

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (0131-228 1404) 3pm

This afternoon sees the European premiere of Samuel Beckett's (right) 1964 text All Strange Away by Asylum Theatre Company - the first time any work by Beckett has been premiered in Edinburgh. It contains sexually explicit material, apparently. Oh happy day.

Pleasance Theatre (venue 33), Edinburgh (0131-556 6550) 1pm

Pop Tim Perry

EDINBURGH'S Flux festival gets off to a dream-like start with two shows by those blissed-out psychedelic wonders Spiritualized (right) whose live outings have simply become must-see events for the amazing light shows. The festival continues through to the end of the month with evening shows by Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, John Zorn, Jesus and Mary Chain, and others.

Queens Hall, Edinburgh (0131-668 2019) today and Sat, 8pm, pounds 12.50

If the weather plays its part, then the Beach Festival could well be this summer's perfect event. Those festival favourites and party animals Bentley Rhythm Ace headline today, while Asian Dub Foundation and the Levellers top the bill on Saturday and Sunday. The Megadog Stage offers Basement Jaxx, Eat Static, Laurent Garnier and many others.

Carlyon Bay, St Austell, Cornwall (01736 350 984) to Sun, pounds 60 (no tickets on sale on site)

Literature Judith Palmer

FRESH FROM his farm in Oregon, Ken Kesey (below), author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, makes his first trip to Britain since the Beatles asked him over in the Sixties. He'll be chewing over old hippy times with Merry Prankster Ken Babbs (the man who lifted the fences at Woodstock, making it a free festival). The old cultsters also crank up archive reels of their psychedelic days on the bus-ride round the US preaching the acid gospel, which Tom Wolfe immortalised in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, London EC2 (0171-638 8891) today and Sat, 8.30pm, pounds 10-pounds 15

Fiona Shaw talks about her title role in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the latest CelebriTea event at the National Theatre. Questions and chat over tea and scones - la creme tea de la creme tea, maybe.

National Theatre Terrace Cafe, London SE1 (0171-452 3000) today, 2.30pm, pounds 7