Joan Eardley: Another Look. Join Stellar Quines and Heroica Theatre Company’s to hear about their work in progress, a play on the life and work of Joan Eardley RA (1921-63), whose painting career was dedicated to portraits of Glasgow street urchins and land and seascapes of Catterline. The hour will include a Q&A session with the play’s writer and director. Heroica Theatre Company champions the achievements of maverick women; ‘The experience of a Heroica production is unique’. 5-6pm, Farmer Suite, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free but places are limited and booking is required: tickets may be obtained from the Information Desk in the Gardens Entrance of the Scottish National Gallery or by calling 0131 624 6560.
National Library of Scotland Map Images Website and Digital Mapping: the map images website includes over 50,000 zoomable images of maps, primarily relating to Scotland over the last four centuries. This workshop in the NLS IT training suite will help you to make best use of the map images website and the related modern digital map resources available at NLS. 2pm, Maps Reading Room, 159 Causewayside. Please book by calling 0131 623 3734 or online here.
Cameo Big Scream: screenings exclusively for parents/carers and their babies under the age of one year. Today’s film is The Misfits (PG) starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, directed by John Huston and written by Arthur Miller. 10.30am, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0871 902 5723 or online here.
Coffee morning: coffee, tea, homebaking and chat. 10.30am-12 noon, Morningside United Church (small hall via side entrance), 15 Chamberlain Road, Holy Corner. All welcome.
Sing and Sign for Babies: a gentle class for babies aged approximately 2-6 months, aiming to build the foundations for good communication. The class is relaxed, gives you lots of face to face time – and cuddle time – with your baby, and is the place to begin your baby signing journey. 2-2.30pm, Stockbridge Library, Hamilton Place. Please book your free introductory session here; a block of 9-10 sessions normally costs £50 and classes are currently offered in Stockbridge, Portobello and Marchmont. If you have any questions about today’s session please call the library on 0131 529 5665. This event is part of Stockfest 2015.
Take One Action! Film Festival: ‘connecting people, world-class cinema and creative action for a better world’. Twelve days of screenings and discussions, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, on issues as diverse as environmental activism, LGBT rights in African countries, the global financial system, cycling, the value (or not) of university degrees, the Arab Spring, literacy, food chains and much more. Today’s film is Shield and Spear (15+), a ‘beautiful, spirited and challenging art-doc…charting the interventions of a whole new generation of black and white South African activist-artists tackling issues of race, human rights and equality through music, photography and dialogue. Plus short: Dis/connect. Novelist and Subversive Festival founder Dr Igor Stiks will join this screening. 8.30pm Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be purchased from the Filmhouse box office in person, by calling 0131 228 2688 or online here; prices vary.
Scottish Art in the Age of Change: 1945-2000. The course of Scottish art 1945-2000 was one of continuous achievement. Bill Hare (Honorary Teaching Fellow in Scottish Art, University of Edinburgh) will look at some of Scotland’s most renowned artists that this period produced, from Alan Davie, Joan Eardley and Eduardo Paolozzi, through Ian Hamilton Finlay and the Boyle Family to Douglas Gordon and Alison Watt; his illustrated talk will trace the development of this most remarkable era from post-war to devolved Scotland. 10.30am, Museum of Edinburgh, Huntly House, 142 Canongate. Tickets cost £5/£3.50 and must be purchased in advance via the Usher Hall Box Office, Lothian Road, in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here.
LGBT Social Circle: a social group for people with learning difficulties or learning disabilities to meet other people, have fun and discuss sexuality and gender identity. Today’s theme is Feeling Good. 2-4pm, Lifecare Centre, 2 Cheyne Street, Stockbridge. For more information please contact George Burrows on 0131 652 3281 or email george@lgbthealth.org.uk.
Easel Sketching in the Gallery – September: led by artist Damian Callan. A different subject each month, sometimes with a model. All materials supplied. 2-4pm, Scottish National Gallery (main floor), The Mound. Free: no booking required. Also at same times on Friday 18th September.
Live Music Now: Andrew Waite and Seth Tinsley. Andrew and Seth have been performing together for 10 years. An accordion and guitar duo, their music explores a vast array of traditional and contemporary folk styles, played with a virtuosity and joyfulness that has captivated audiences across the UK. In this concert, Andrew and Seth perform a mixture of traditional and self-penned songs and tunes. 6-6.30pm, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free.
Odeon Silver Cinema: if you are 55+ these special screenings cost you only £3 (including tea and biscuits before the show). Today’s films are Far From the Madding Crowd (12A) at 11am (doors open 10.15am) and A Royal Night Out (12A) at 2pm. Available at Odeons Lothian Road and Fort Kinnaird; please contact cinemas for full details and to book.
Scotland’s Churches Trust: Professor John Hume, former Chief Inspector for Historic Scotland and a leading expert in Scottish church architecture, will talk on 1,000 Years of Scottish Churches. 7.30pm (doors open 6.30pm), St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road. Free admission; refreshments will be served before the lecture,which will last approximately 40 minutes and be followed by a Q & A session.
Cafe Voices: East Meets West. Storytellers Mio Shapley and Ken Shapley will celebrate the differences and similarities between two sides of our world through story, song and music, plus an open-floor section for storytellers to tell their own tales. 7pm, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43 High Street. Tickets cost £5 and may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0131 556 9579 or online.
Waterstones Presents Catherine Simpson: Truestory. The Edinburgh-based author launches her debut novel, a ‘blackly comic, heart-breaking and heart-warming’ tale of a woman struggling to raise her Aspergic son on a failing and isolated farm that he refuses to leave. ‘Truestory looks at what happens when sacrifice slithers towards martyrdom’; it was included in the Scottish Book Trust’s 21 Scottish Novels to Look Forward to in 2015. 6pm, Waterstones West End, 128 Princes Street. Free tickets may be obtained from the shop or by calling 0131 226 2666.
Ceol Cholasa: your first chance to get out of the city this weekend is a long trip, so start packing… Ceol Cholasa is the tiny Isle of Colonsay’s 8th music festival, and this year it will feature Blazin Fiddles, Breabach, The Mischa MacPherson Trio, Jenn Butterworth & Laura-Beth Salter, Canach, Kris Drever & Ian Carr, Ross Hull & Cameron Grant, plus local acts, workshops and a Saturday night ceilidh. For more information, including tickets, transport advice and accommodation options, please visit the Isle of Colonsay’s website here. Ends Sunday 20th September.
Nothing Ever Happens Here Presents Book Group + Quarterbacks: Scottish four-piece ‘almost rock band’ Book Group perform story-driven songs about friends, escaping the city, and the failures of technology. Quarterbacks from New Paltz, NY are on a UK tour and define their genre as ‘twee punk’. For over 18s only. 8pm-late, The Dissection Room, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets cost £10 and may be purchased from the Summerhall Box Office, in person, by calling 0131 560 1580 or online here.
