Plenty of events to take your mind off you-know-what today! Follow our Election coverage from EICC later today here.
The Wee One: writer/performer Philip Rainford’s first full length stage play focuses on an older couple, Marie and John, and their grown up son Danny, who persists in living with them. ‘A heartwarming and original story about the tragi-comic circumstances of their situation’. Director Alan Tomkins and a cast of five talented local performers have come on board to stage the play’s premiere performance in Edinburgh’s newest licensed studio theatre. 7.30pm (box office opens 7pm), DISCOVER 21, St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road. Tickets cost £5 per person and may be purchased in advance from Brown Paper Tickets here (transaction fee applies), or on the night (sta). Also at same time on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th May 2015.
The Play Talk Read Bus is in Edinburgh this week: enjoyable learning and fun for pre-school children and their parents and carers. There are games and activities downstairs and a Bookbug session upstairs, all facilitated by friendly Play Leaders. Today the bus will be at Newington Library, Fountainhall Road 10am-1pm and 2-4pm. It’s free and all are welcome.
The Big Scream: special screenings exclusively for parents/carers and their babies under the age of 12 months. Membership of the Big Scream Club costs £5 and lasts until your baby’s first birthday: it enables you to buy tickets at Picturehouse members’ prices (your baby is admitted free). Today’s film is Far From the Madding Crowd (12A), the new adaptation of Hardy’s famous novel, starring Carey Mulligan. 10.30am, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling the Box Office on 0871 902 5723.
The Scotland-Russia Forum: sparkling Russian/English conversation over tea and cakes. Open to all; no need to book, just turn up – you will be warmly welcomed. 11am, Summerhall Cafe, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Free: the only cost will be for any drinks or food you wish to purchase from the cafe. For more information please contact info@scotlandrussiaforum.org or call 0131 560 1486.
Leith School of Art Open Days: visit the school to hear about its courses and see the students in action. Short presentations will be given by course leaders and there will be a chance to ask questions. Today’s presentations will be on Art & Spirituality (1pm) and One Day Painting Courses (1.30pm), both at the North Junction Street Campus, and Foundation Course (1.30pm) at the St James Campus, and both campuses will be open to visitors 10am-3pm. Leith School of Art, 25 North Junction Street. The School has independent status; its courses are structured around set projects and personal work, with a high staff: student ratio. If you would like to arrange a portfolio review with a tutor, please contact the school in advance on 0131 554 5761. Also on Friday 8th May 2015 (with different presentations each day).
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Presents Neil Broadfoot’s The Storm. After his editor is murdered in front of him, crime reporter Doug McGregor’s world falls apart. As prime witness, he’s not allowed to investigate the case – and on top of that, his friendship with police contact DS Susie Drummond seems to be in a weird place. Doug leaps at the chance to take some time out with his old friend on Skye, but when another savage murder occurs, he realises that he is in the very eye of the storm.  6.30-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free tickets may be obtained from the shop’s front desk, by calling 0131 622 8218, emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk or via eventbrite here. Read The Edinburgh Reporter’s article on the launch of Neil’s first novel Falling Fast, which was shortlisted for the Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2014, here.
Making Tracks: a solo exhibition by Crieff-based artist Janet Melrose RSW. Preview 6-8pm tonight, then 10.30am-6pm Tuesday to Friday, 10.30am-5.30pm Saturdays, 12 noon-6pm Sundays, Union Gallery, 45 Broughton Street. Ends 7th June 2015.
Community Renewal Job Search Tool Kit Information Session: come and find out more about how and where to look for jobs, how to prepare a CV and how to write both covering and speculative letters to employers. 12 noon-3pm, Muirhouse Library, 15 Pennywell Court. Free but please drop into the library in advance to register your interest or call Community Renewal on 0131 332 8773.
Edinburgh Reads: Jeffery Deaver in conversation with Ian Rankin. The best-selling American crime writer talks with Ian Rankin about his latest book Solitude Creek, the fourth in the Kathryn Dance series. 7-8pm, Central Library, George IV Bridge. Free but booking is required via eventbrite here.
Lunchtime Concert: Ohio University Choral Scholars from Athens, Ohio. 12.15pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Free.
Possibilities of the Object Descriptive Tour: a tour of the current exhibition for visitors with a visual impairment. 6.30-8pm, Fruitmarket Gallery, 45 Market Street. Free but booking is required: please call the gallery on 0131 225 2383 or email info@fruitmarket.co.uk.
Hot Tub Astronaut Launch: Hot Tub Astronaut publishes contemporary words, images and sounds, and is now expanding into other media, including photography, drawing and sound. This launch is to gather creative and art-minded people together to foster a community of artistic making and sharing in Edinburgh. There will be readings by Claire Askew and Colin McGuire and a live sound performance of ambient drone and jazz drumming by Brian Pokora and Chet King. The event is designed to get this relatively new forum known by people who would be keen to contribute and find a home for their work. 7pm, Sneaky Pete’s, 73 Cowgate. Tickets cost £2 and may be purchased online via eventbrite here (transaction fee applies) or on the door (sta).
Books In Focus: Kokoschka’s Die traumenden Knaben. The Books In Focus series focuses on artists’ books held in the special collections of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; today’s session will consider a key publication designed by Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka as a young man in 1908 and later published by Kurt Wolff in 1917. ‘The dreaming boys’ tells the story of Kokoschka’s unrequited love for a fellow student, illustrated with jewel-like colours. 11.30am-12.30pm, Reading Room, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art TWO, Belford Road. Free but booking is required as places are limited: please call 0131 624 6268 or email gmainfo@nationalgalleries.org.
Folk Film Gathering: the world’s first folk film festival concludes today. The inaugural programme explores the use of folk tale and storytelling in film, rhapsodic mixes of cinema and song and a particular focus on women’s stories and perspectives. Each feature will be preceded by a related short by a contemporary Scottish filmmaker. Today’s film is Letter from My Village (12A) (in Serere and French with English subtitles): focusing on the daily lives of community members from director Safi Faye’s home town Fad’jal, this first feature by a Sub-Saharan African woman to gain international distribution mounts a powerful critique on colonial administration, looking outwards from individual lives and livelihoods in Fad’jal to the wider issues which overshadow them. Plus short No Hope for Men Below by Adam Stafford: a powerful docudrama about the Redding pit disaster. 5.45pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688.
Swedish Poetry: a translation workshop with Swedish writer and Scottish Poetry Library administrator Jessica Johannessen Gaitan. Jessica will share three short poems in Swedish with literal translations; participants will then (with Jessica’s help) work – individually or in pairs – on English translations, which will then be shared and discussed. The poets studied will be Tomas Transtromer, Jenny Wrangborg and Jessica herself. No previous knowledge of Swedish or translation experience required, although those who have either of these will be very welcome. 6.30-8.30pm, Looking Glass Books, 36 Simpson’s Loan, Quartermile (please note change of venue owing to building works at SPL). Tickets cost £5/£4 and may be booked via eventbrite here.
Nothing Ever Happens Here Presents Randolph’s Leap + The Son(s) + Book Group. Glasgow-based musical project Randolph’s Leap have been hailed as ‘the next generation of witty Scottish indie pop’ (The Quietus); they are supported by Edinburgh acts The Son(s) and Book Group. Over 18s only. 8pm-1am, Dissection Room, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets cost £10 and may be booked here.
Special Screening: Bypass (15): Tim (George MacKay, Pride, Sunshine on Leith) is a young man pushed into responsibility after his older brother is sent to jail. With an absent father, a surly young sister and a pregnant girlfriend, Tim finds himself being dragged deep into the criminal underground in order to try to keep the pieces of his fragmented life together. Director Duane Hopkins ‘transcends the cliches often associated with social realism, bringing a number of effective stylistic touches to this portrait of a generation without hope’. The screening will be followed by a Q & A with producer Samm Haillay. 6pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688.
