Running from 1 to 3 Dec, local company Tweed Theatre makes a triumphant return to the panto stage with its spin on the classic story of Cinderella, complete with the requisite ugly sisters, fairies, princesses, dancing horses and plenty of bad jokes.

The following week (8 Dec), there’s not a dragon in sight as Games of Thrones’ Emilia Clark makes her West End debut in Anya Reiss’ 21st century retelling of The Seagull – Chekhov’s devastating tale of love and loneliness.

Filmed live on stage, the play is set in an isolated home in the countryside, where artistic conflicts abound, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed and hearts are well and truly broken.

It’s then back to Christmas tradition and cheer when acclaimed tribute band Buddy Holly and the Cricketers herald in the yuletide festivities in perfect style on 14 Dec. A mix of Holly’s hits, other contemporary classics plus some rip-roaring Christmas crackers are all wrapped up in a fast-paced and riotously funny performance.

And it just wouldn’t be a proper Christmas without the Downright Homespun Radio Company House Band and Royal Company of Radio Actors bringing their brand of irreverent humour and foot-tappin’ music to the Eastgate (15 to 17 Dec) as they dissect the year’s key events and happenings – all with a local twist.

Tickets for all performances are available from Box Office on 01721 725777 or online at eastgatearts.com

This year he shows once more that he is equally at home on stage, with his return as everyman Bob Cunninghame in Fair Pley’s latest production, Time’s Plague, a fine showcase of his versatility. Having planned to walk the West Highland Way with his pals, Bob instead finds himself stuck in a hospital bed, about to undergo a risky operation that he is convinced will see him off. So, he walks the fabled route in his mind, ranting about the injustice and state of the world as he goes. Charming and cantankerous in equal measure, he really has just one wish: for his voice to be heard. David Hayman appears in Time’s Plague at the Eastgate Theatre, Peebles – 7.30pm, Thurs 8 Sept.

Almost three years since they last toured, The Unthanks – Tyneside sisters Rachel and Becky together with their band – return to Peebles on 7 July with a new record and a stunning back catalogue of tracks.

It’s traditional folk music, but not really; the arrangements and writing of composer, pianist and producer Adrian McNally switch and flow effortlessly to encompass jazz, classical, ambient and post-rock. As Elvis Costello once commented, “They run from the very root of folk music to the very tip of the branch”.

The same could perhaps also be said of James Yorkston, a master musician who will both perform and present his latest Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer club night on 24 July.

The Eastgate is one of only four venues in the country selected for this latest Tae Sup. And the line-up is as imaginative as ever with music from Brìghde Chaimbeul and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, plus poetry and more from renowned performance poet Salena Godden.

“With Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer, I just try and mix things up, keeping the line-ups interesting, not one particular genre or theme to a night,” explained Yorkston. “A lot of the people I ask to play are friends who I’ve known for years, or just people I’ve met on the road whose music has taken to me. When programming Tae Sup, I just think ‘who would I like to see?’ and work from there.”

The stellar trio of performances is topped off by Ralph Fiennes who leads an exceptional cast in the National Theatre’s Straight Line Crazy (15 July), directed by Nicholas Hytner. The play is a blazing portrait of Robert Moses, a visionary but aggressive urban planner whose hand shaped much of metropolitan New York.

For 40 uninterrupted years, he was the most powerful man in the city, manipulating those elected to office through a mix of guile, charm and intimidation. It is both an intriguing true story and an electrifying deconstruction of the nature of power and democracy.

For tickets for The Unthanks, Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer, Straight Line Crazy and many other performances in July, call Box Office on 01721 725777, or go online at eastgatearts.com

First to appear are Flook, an Anglo-Irish four-piece who, pre-pandemic, made a tour de force return to recording following almost a decade and a half out of the studio. The band first rose to stardom in the early 2000s and then, following their recording hiatus, returned with a triumphant new album in 2019.

With the flutes and whistles of Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen, the guitar of Ed Boyd and the bodhran of John Joe Kelly, this iconic band weaves and spins traditionally rooted tunes into an enthralling sound – with agile but tight rhythms and virtuoso improvisation.

“Way back in 2005, when we released our third studio album, little did we know that it would be our last for almost a decade and a half,” said Finnegan. “We took a break but when Flook came calling again the voltage returned and, like all deep friendships, it felt like we’d never been apart.

“Part of the decision to re-group was the understanding that we had much left to say as a band, and a certain responsibility to our loyal fans, old and new, to create Flook music of the present, rich in both past and future.”

Different again are the soulful, stirring performances of Penicuik-born Siobhan Miller, who returns to the Eastgate as a multiple winner of Scots Singer of the Year at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.

Alongside her solo ventures, Siobhan’s exquisite, velvety-smooth vocal style has been honed during extensive tours with her own band, as well as guest appearances with the National Theatre of Scotland, a season on Broadway and on US/UK TV drama Outlander.

Now based in Glasgow, she is a regular at the city’s Celtic Connections festival and returned as part of a star-studded Transatlantic Sessions line up earlier this year.

Flook play the Eastgate Theatre at 7.30pm on Sat 30 April, while Siobhan Miller appears at 7.30pm on Wed 11 May. Tickets available from Box Office on 01721 725777 or online at eastgatearts.com

Shown on the big screen at the Eastgate Theatre on Fri 1 April, The Book of Dust is set 12 years before Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

And this gripping adaptation is no less epic as it revisits a fantastical word in which waters are rising and storms are brewing. At its centre are two young people and their dæmons who harbour a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua – little more than a newborn but who nonetheless holds the future of the world in her hands.

As the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.

Adapted for the stage by Bryony Lavery and directed Nicholas Hytner, this remarkable production features spectacular staging, costumes and exquisite dæmon puppetry – from kingfishers to badgers, lemurs and more.

The Book of Dust screens 7pm, Fri 1 April. Tickets £17, £10, available from Box Office on 01721 725777 or online.