Fringe Festival favourites and the best months to visit Mykonos

With the listings section growing week-on-week, we've reformatted Sunday Paperweight to make it a little easier to read. You'll find the weekly briefing features first, with everything happening in On the Town a bit further down. This gives us a bit more space to cover more parties, and more exhibitions, in more places.

This week the Fringe is officially in full swing, cities across the UK are bursting with crowds for gigs and festivals, and on Wednesday we will be treated to a solar eclipse. Between 6pm and 8:15pm BST up to 95% of the sun will slowly disappear behind the moon. This is one to catch because the next total eclipse won't take place until 23 September 2090. If you're watching, please make sure that you're wearing some appropriate eclipse glasses. Robert Dyas are selling them nationwide, although you'll also find them in local photographic retailers, and online directly from Bresser.

Here's what's coming up this week:

Darkroom: A dramatic sunrise over Darwen
Out of Town: Why the best time to visit Mykonos is off-season
At Home: A new Paperweight playlist for late-night parties
On the Town: Seven of the best comedy shows at the Fringe

Darkroom

Photograph of the week, as chosen by Paperweight Magazine's picture bureau:

A dramatic red sky over Jubilee Tower in Lancashire at sunrise on Sunday morning. Credit: Shafiq Khan

Out of Town

The latest from Paperweight's Out of Town bureau:

Mykonos has a reputation for being expensive, but it needn't be that way. Off-season can be the best time to visit the island. Our editor shares the best places to go in May and September for a more authentic Cycladian experience:

Greater Things

1001 ways to live your life greater:

This week's Greater Things is all about taking back your attention span with a weekend newspaper:

At Home

The latest from Paperweight's home & lifestyle bureau:

The evenings are beginning to draw in sooner, so make the most of them with Paperweight's playlist for later on in the night:

On the Grapevine

Gossip that we've been told this week:

The family of Meredith Kercher expressed their distaste at the decision to allow Amanda Knox to perform an Edinburgh Fringe show talking about her experience of the overturned conviction. Tony Lankester, the Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, told LBC: "I've seen the petition, and I've been in contact with the organisers and had a dialogue with them. Our position is this: as a parent, I think what happened to Meredith is unbelievably sad, and it's tragic; the pain that they must live with every day is extraordinary.

"That said, the position of The Fringe is that this is an open access platform and just because something is in poor taste… and I'm not saying that this is… but just because someone deems something to be in poor taste, or lacking in judgement, or crass, or whatever the case may be, that's not a reason to cancel something."

While it might be easy to understand their upset, the result of their petition's publicity has had a somewhat unintended effect: All ten dates are now completely sold out.

On the Town

What's happening in town this week:

If you're heading to the Fringe, these are the comedy shows you need to see:

Next week we'll bring you the unexpected delights from the festival.

Here's the rest of the listings from across the United Kingdom this week:

London

Cremer New all-day Hoxton cafe from the Space Talk team, designed as "a home you could spend all day in"; croissants at breakfast, home-style plates at lunch, garden aperitifs backing onto the Museum of the Home, plus cult in-house rice ice-cream. Walk-ins welcome. 1 Geffrye Street, London E2 8JH. Opened in June 2026.

Rosina Trinity's Adam Byatt goes neighbourhood-Italian on Wandsworth Common: cavatelli cacio e pepe (an £8 steal), offal-forward plates and multiple Negronis, named after his chef daughter Rosie. Walk-ins welcome. 35 Bellevue Road, London SW17 7EF. Opened 1st July.

Japanese Women Photographers: From 1950s to Now A major reframing of Japanese photography told through 27 women working from the postwar years to today, spanning intimate domestic scenes to bold conceptual work. Free admission on Friday after 5pm; otherwise ticketed. The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW. Until 27th September 2026.

Anansi the Spider The Unicorn's sold-out retelling of the West African and Caribbean trickster tales moves outdoors to the Open Air Theatre's picnic lawn: bring a blanket and a curious heart. Tickets from £15. Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London NW1 4NU. Opens Saturday 15th August 2026. Until 6th September.

The Gossip The Dyke/FLINTA rave returns to Dalston Superstore's basement, eight DJs deep (Hedda, Frankie Elyse, Mars Montana and more) for a sweaty, unpretentious late one. Tickets from £8. Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2PB. Saturday 15th August 2026, 10pm until 4am.

Soulstice Day-to-Night 2026 Hackney Wick's Colour Factory hands its rooms and garden to Soulstice for a twelve-hour marathon of UK garage, house and bass, Conducta leading a bill that runs to Danielle b2b Jossy Mitsu, Ghoulish and Lu.Re. Tickets from £22. Colour Factory, 8a Queen's Yard, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, London E9 5EN. Saturday 15th August 2026, 4pm until 4am.

Last chance to see:

The Guilty Tickets from £15 (£20 for under-35s). Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX. Until Saturday 15th August 2026.
Hit Machine Tickets from £29. Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE. Until Saturday 15th August 2026.
This Road Tickets via Kiln Theatre. Kiln Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR. Until Saturday 15th August 2026.
Dog Man: The Musical Tickets from £34. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. Until Sunday 16th August 2026.
Here Comes J. Edgar! A Comedy Musical Tickets from £25.50. King's Head Theatre, 116P Upper Street, Islington, London N1 1QP. Until Sunday 16th August 2026.

Manchester

Disc Unknown Manchester-based Joe O'Rourke restages his London solo show in the Castlefield project space: DVD-case paintings blown up against billboards, found text and stray objects (yes, a dead bee) prodding at how meaning gets built in a picture. Free admission. Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester M15 4GB. Until 30th August 2026.

Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai and Hiroshige The Whitworth's first show dedicated to Japanese prints in over a century, tracing the evolution of ukiyo-e woodblock through two of its masters. Free admission. The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER. Until 15th November 2026.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan: The Practice of Liberation A major commission from one of British painting's rising names; folding canvas, ceramics and sound into a single immersive room built around self-transformation and, of course, liberation. Free admission. The Whitworth, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6ER. Until 18th October 2026.

Glasgow

Kaleider: Requiem A monumental, wordless outdoor spectacle in which performers build a giant kinetic structure in front of a gathering crowd, staged as a contemporary requiem for life on the planet and folded into the Govanhill International Festival and Carnival. Free admission. Queen's Park, 520 Langside Road, Glasgow G42 9QL. Sunday 16th August 2026, 3.30pm to 4.45pm.

Rae-Yen Song: TUA MAK Closing this week: the artist floods Tramway's cavernous gallery into a sub-aquatic world drawn from the Song family's own ancestral logic, part spectacle, part memorial, part refuge, built from new sculpture, textiles, sound and moving image. Free admission. Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow G41 2PE. Until 16th August 2026.

King Tut's Summer Nights 2026 The venue's eight-week grassroots showcase of thirty-odd shows of upcoming artists. Individual tickets and an all-access Golden Ticket via kingtuts.co.uk. King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, 272A St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5RL. Until 29th August 2026.

Edinburgh

The Lady Prince Consort, The Queen's Hall A beloved Huangmei Opera classic rarely staged in Europe: a wealthy woman disguises herself as a man, sits the Imperial Examination, wins first place and finds herself betrothed to the Emperor's daughter. Lyrical music, vibrant costumes, sung in Chinese with English surtitles. Tickets from £10.80. The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9JG. Wednesday 12th August 2026, 7.30pm.

The Pitt, Granton A free-to-enter waterfront street food market out on the Granton prom, well away from the Old Town crush. Free admission. The Pitt, 20 West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QD. Open Thursday to Sunday.

Belfast

The Ignorant Art School: Outside the Circle x Belfast Golden Thread's summer show borrows Jacques Rancière by way of the collective imagination, filling both galleries with work made outside the usual art-world circles. Free admission. Golden Thread Gallery, 23-29 Queen Street, Belfast BT1 6EA. Until 29th August 2026.

Birmingham

The Sanctum: Modern Metal Festival A three-day underground metal all-dayer crammed into Digbeth's tiny Dead Wax pub-venue. Tickets from £14. Dead Wax Digbeth, 28 Adderley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B9 4ED. Friday 14th to Sunday 16th August 2026.

A Night with Meow Meow & Ramin Karimloo For one night only, the Sweeney Todd leads reunite for a cabaret-and-showtunes evening (Phantom, Les Mis, plus Meow Meow's own stage-diving repertoire) with a live orchestra, raising money for the Rep's roof. Tickets from £46. Birmingham Rep, 6 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 2EP. Sunday 16th August 2026, 6pm.

Brighton

Into the Blue A summer-long dip into the deep blue of sea and sky, drawn from the museum's fine art collection, a calm counterpoint to the football gallery upstairs. Free with museum admission. Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton BN1 1EE. Until 20th September 2026.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Stand or Fall A brand-new permanent gallery telling the Albion's 125-year story through objects, sound and the fans who saved the club in the 1990s, from pitch invasions to a top-20 chart hit. Free with museum admission. Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton BN1 1EE. Opens Saturday 15th August 2026.

Experimental Life Drawing with Jane Fordham Not your standard life drawing session: Fordham choreographs the whole gallery, moving props and chasing the changing light, with peer support and refreshments. Tickets from £48 for both dates, pre-book by email. Fabrica, 40 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AG. Tuesday 11th August 2026 and Tuesday 25th August 2026.

Not Richard & Her Majesty A free midweek bill at the railway-arch stalwart. Free admission. The Green Door Store, Trafalgar Arches, Lower Goods Yard, Brighton Railway Station, Brighton BN1 4FQ. Thursday 13th August 2026, 7pm.

Bristol

Queer Folk Horror Club A new non-profit community cinema night in the basement of a worker-owned vegan co-op, pairing a secret folk-horror screening with an unhurried natter about hauntology, land memory and queer outsiderdom. Pay what you can. Basement at Cafe Kino, 108 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RU. Pilot screening on Tuesday 11th August 2026, doors 6.30pm, screening 7pm.

SENTIENTS: An Immersive VR and Video Game Exhibition Four artist-made video games and a haptic-vest VR piece that hand you the eyes of a mosquito, an owl or a wolf. Shaped by a group of young Bristol curators. Pay what you can from £5, booking recommended. Undershed, Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TX. Until 13th September 2026.

Besides the Sea Newly opened: Six young Bristol and Weston artists on place, identity and working-class coastal life, developed alongside Polly Braden's Guardian Seascape project. Free admission. Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA. Until 25th October 2026.

Tohé Commaret: Mijitas / Nancy Lupo: Several Chickens Later A twin-bill of new commissions in Spike Island's cavernous warehouse galleries, running through the venue's 50th year. Free admission. Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX. Until 6th September 2026.

The Orchard Closing Party The much-loved Whitehall community cafe throws itself a proper send-off: live music all evening, £4 pints and one last glass raised. Free admission. The Orchard, 20 Clouds Hill Road, Bristol BS5 7LA. Saturday 15th August 2026, 7pm to 1am.

Cardiff

Acquisition Ongoing: Carbon Age Souvenirs, Lu Williams at Chapter A speculative-fiction gift shop of the future, where prints and objects are reframed as cultural artefacts salvaged from our fossil-fuelled present. Free admission. Chapter, Market Road, Canton, Cardiff CF5 1QE. Until 29th August 2026 (Tuesday to Sunday, 12 to 5pm).

Museum Lates: Solar Eclipse at National Museum Cardiff Stay after hours to see Luke Jerram's seven-metre illuminated sun, Helios, lit up, with the café bar pouring drinks, then step out to Alexandra Gardens for the partial solar eclipse (maximum around 7.13pm). Free admission, booking required. National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP. Wednesday 12th August 2026, from 6pm.

Liverpool

Murderball (STASHED) FACT's monthly cult-rediscovery night, curated by a collective of Young Film Programmers, resurrects the Oscar-nominated 2005 wheelchair-rugby documentary for one screening, with a post-film Q&A. Tickets from £5. FACT (The Box), 88 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4DQ. Wednesday 12th August 2026, 7pm.

Debjani Banerjee: Jalsaghar A solo exhibition threading the artist's Bengali heritage through a 1980s upbringing in England, newly opened in the Bluecoat's galleries. Free admission. Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX. Until Sunday 6th September 2026.

Newcastle

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 & Exploring Identity The National Portrait Gallery's 43rd painting competition (with winner Moira Cameron's self-portrait among them) lands at the Laing, paired with Exploring Identity, a companion show pulling Francis Bacon, Norman Cornish and others from the North East collections. Tickets from £11. Laing Art Gallery, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8AG. Until Saturday 5th September 2026.

Chris Killip: The Last Ships A quietly devastating photography display charting the collapse of North East shipbuilding in the 1970s, shown in the Laing's free collection. Free admission. Laing Art Gallery, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8AG. Ongoing permanent display.

Nottingham

NAE Open 2026 at New Art Exchange New Art Exchange hands its walls to more than 40 artists for the sixth edition of its open; a competitive showcase for Nottinghamshire-based and Global Ethnic Majority artists spanning painting, print, video, textiles and sculpture. Faiza Butt and Nottingham's Dan Jamieson are among the names. Free admission. New Art Exchange, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 6BE. Until 12th September 2026.

Sheffield

When The Sky Gets Bright The disabled and neurodivergent collective, Babeworld, take over Sheffield's contemporary art space with a film about being chronically online and chronically ill, plus 18 Agonies, an interactive installation where you pick up a landline to hear awkward questions cribbed from 1990s agony-aunt columns. Free admission. Site Gallery, 1 Brown Street, Sheffield S1 2BS. Until 27th September 2026.

The Football Art Prize The touring prize returns to the city that likes to call itself the cultural home of the modern game, gathering artists' takes on the passion, drama and tribalism of football. Free admission, donations welcome. Millennium Gallery, Arundel Gate, Sheffield S1 2PP. Until 13th September 2026.