Edinburgh Culture Minute 🪩 7 - 14 October 2026
An Evening with The Fast Show, Underground Solution's 30th party, Arab Strap, Breabach, Michael Palin, David Shrigley + Fun Lovin' Criminal Huey Morgan
👋 Welcome to the 145th weekly Culture Minute: a round-up of Edinburgh’s local creative news, events, jobs and opportunities. The daily newsletter has covered most of this week's big local culture news, so I won't bore you with those details again. Today's edition is mostly focused on live events and good things happening in the city this week. It aims to inspire you to get out there and support local creatives and venues while we still have them, as I know many of you love to do. If I’ve missed anything please get in touch. Thanks to all the good folks who contribute, and to you for subscribing. Let's jump in...
👀 Most-viewed links from the previous Edinburgh Culture Minute:
- 🎨 Thousands back petition: 'Save the Craft and Design Courses at Edinburgh College of Art'.
- 🖼️ National Galleries of Scotland's 2027 exhibition programme.
- 🌴 New autumn events in the Botanics' Palm Houses.
- 🎟️ Minute exclusive just for you: get 25% off Gilded Saloon's comedy show (USING PROMO CODE: MINUTE75).
📆 Breaking news this afternoon: Organisers of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are surveying participants about changing the dates to align the event with school holidays. - Exclusive by Brian Ferguson in The Herald.
Brian Ferguson
🎭 Just announced: An Evening with The Fast Show at the Playhouse on Sunday 14 Feb 2027, featuring cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir. - Tickets on sale on Friday at midday.
🇫🇷 One of the hottest tickets in town is 'award-deserving deadpan Frenchman' Marcel Lucont' with his Whine List show at Monkey Barrel Comedy next week. Tuesday is sold out but there are still some tickets for Monday. - Tickets.
🎸 Blaze Bayley, the lead singer of Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999, is at Bannerman's tonight.
⚡️ High voltage Japanese rock trio Electric Eel Shock are at Bannerman's on Thursday. - Tickets.
🖼️ Artist David Shrigley will be at the Traverse Theatre for a special evening celebrating his new book, Creative Writing, on Thursday. Tickets for An Evening with David Shrigley, in conversation with Michael Pedersen, are via The Portobello Bookshop.
🎼 At The Queen's Hall this week: Thursday: SCO 26/27: Beethoven Piano Concertos by Sunwook Kim, Friday: Breabach, Sunday: award-winning Palestinian singer, composer, and flutist Nai Barghouti, Monday: Michael Palin - In The Philippines, Tuesday: Between The Covers Live: Celebrating Agatha Christie, hosted by Amanda Ross, with Ben Miller and Lucy Foley, and special guests James Prichard & Rob Rinder.
🎼 At the Usher Hall this week: Friday: RSNO Season 26-27: West Side Story, Sunday: African Soul Rebels featuring Les Amazones d’Afrique & Gasper Nali, Saturday 17th: Starsailor with strings.
🔊 Edinburgh Dub Club and Messenger join forces again for the 6th Grand Reggae Ball at Portobello Town Hall on Saturday night. - Tickets.
🎹 Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton bring Arab Strap to the Liquid Room on Sunday evening. - Tickets here.
🇮🇪 'Dundalk’s finest' The Mary Wallopers return to Edinburgh to showcase their third album Paddywhackery on the band’s biggest headline tour to date. Tuesday at the Corn Exchange. - Tickets.
🪩 Having sold over 10 million records, the original and former Fun Lovin' Criminals frontman Huey Morgan plays La Belle Angele on Wednesday 14 October. He promises a mixture of classics such as The Fun Lovin Criminals, Scooby Snacks, King of New York, Big Night Out, Love Unlimited, Loco, Couldn’t Get it Right and more. - Tickets.
📲 What happens when a historic building goes viral? A panel of local experts will discuss this next Wednesday (14th) at the first of a new lecture series, Heritage in Evolution, hosted by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust. On the panel: councillor Finlay McFarlane, historian Andy Arthur and tour guide & influencer Ben Tisdale. - More details and tickets are here.
🍰 Bake Off wooden-spoon-wielding telly funnyman Tom Allen has announced he'll be at the Playhouse on 11 May. - Tickets.
🎵 Underground Solution celebrates 30 years at the heart of Edinburgh’s record-loving community on Saturday with a night of live electronica, DJs and pals across two venues with special guests from 7-10pm at The Mash House, then from 11pm till 3am at La Belle Angele. - The line-up includes Linkwood, Neil Landstrumm, Rebecca Vasmant and Eclair Fifi.
👍 Thanks to the folks at Gilded Balloon, we've got another exclusive ticket discount for Culture Minute subscribers: Every Friday, the Gilded Saloon venue hosts The Comedy Show, a classic night of stand-up comedy showcasing a changing lineup of comedians from across the UK. Expect Scottish favourites, TV legends, future stars and lots of laughs.
Minute subscribers get 25% off tickets (£7.50 + booking fee) with code MINUTE75 at checkout (up to 4 tickets per transaction). Tickets can be bought at: https://tickets.thegildedsaloon.co.uk/
🎟️ Get 25% off tickets for The Comedy Show on Fridays at this link using the code MINUTE75.
🎭 What's on Edinburgh's stages this week?
Here's Thom Dibdin of All Edinburgh Theatre:
It's a glorious mixed bag of theatre and music and flim-flam this week. "Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo?" we hear them crying at both the King's for Tony Roper’s big popular The Steamie and at the Traverse for an under-firing PPP.
The Steamie is one of those bits of theatre you can see many times and it only gets stronger. This latest professional tour at the King's (ends Sat: tickets), is Tony Roper's last as director, and a bona fide five star hit as he brings the best out of a brilliant cast.
And the flim-flam? That's Barnum the Circus Musical at the Festival Theatre (ends Sat: tickets). In fact it's "★★★☆☆ Glitzy flim-flam" according to Rebecca Mahar, who rightly takes issue with a book that has tarnished since the show’s 1980 premiere, but still sees a great night out.
More historical inaccuracies at the Traverse, where Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo? is the lunchtime offering (ends Sat: tickets). "★★☆☆☆ Unsubtle" says Hugh of a play that "has plenty of pace and spirit, but ultimately is an unsatisfactory affair".
Better from Thunder Road at the Trav with The Void (ends tonight: tickets), a piece of horror sci-fi, which Hugh says is "★★★☆☆ Atmospheric".
At the time of writing there were four tickets left tonight for the run of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Lyceum. That's it. Otherwise sold out. You were warned!
The rest of the bag might not be big, but it will surely be bountiful. The EUTC have Red by John Logan at the Bedlam (ends Fri: tickets) about legendary painter Mark Rothko with a couple of their rising stars on stage.
Amidst the furore at plans to gut the soul out of Summerhall, it's good to see some genuinely important theatre there, with Concerned Others from Tortoise in a Nutshell (Fri/Sat: tickets). This piece of verbatim theatre about the friends, relatives and carers of those with addiction issues has a post-show chat on Saturday evening.
Polly Bullock Anderson
Children's theatre legend Andy Cannon is in town with his latest piece, The Last People on Earth at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (Sat: tickets) making the battle of Mons Graupius interesting for all, with a 3pm kick-off.
Leave the weans at home, though, for ThickSkin's It Walks Around The House At Night at the Studio (Sat/Sun: tickets). A proper chiller, this: part ghost story, part psychological thriller.
There's a half-dozen new plays at the Gilded Saloon tonight from Short Attention Span Theatre (Wed: tickets). Don't like what you see? There's another one in ten minutes. And finally, local drag star Cherry West takes to the Church Hill stage (Sat: tickets) with her first solo theatre show: A Star on the Rise.
Next week's early opener is Jersey Boys at the Playhouse (opens Mon: tickets). Full details of this and all future productions are on Æ's listings pages, all linked here.
📌 Edinburgh Culture Minute Community Noticeboard
🏛️ Summerhall Public Consultation: Wed 7th October 15:00-19:00 - 'A public drop-up will unveil project plans on Wed 7th October 2026 15:00-19:00 for the future of the building. If you’ve ever enjoyed a show, exhibition, wedding, gig or pint at Summerhall, come along and give your opinion on the future of the site.' - More details here, shared by a Minute reader.
🏆 Leith Kino wins Film Society of the Year Award 🏆 - 'After only one year of operation Leith Kino has won the Engholm Prize for Film Society of the Year at the Cinema For All Awards 2026. Alongside £150 in cash, Leith Kino will be visited by the Cinema For All team to be presented their award in-person!' - More details here, shared by Morvern Cunningham, Leith Kino team member.
🧙♀️ The Edinburgh Witch Map has arrived - 'A grassroots map highlighting the independent witchy, magical, occult and esoteric businesses in Edinburgh and Leith, and featuring historical sites of interest. Get a physical copy from one of the featured locations, or download a PDF version!' - More details here, shared by Wheel of Fate.
🎃 Illustrated Horror Newsletter for Halloween - 'I'm illustrating and writing a newsletter every other day in October. The posts are about my favourite horror film sequels. So far I've written about Scream 4, Silence of the Lambs, and Doctor Sleep.' - More details here, shared by Tom Humberstone.
📚 Tills Bookshop announces Winner for the first 'Readers of Edinburgh' photography competition - 'Readers of Edinburgh 2026 winners named: Miriam Morris, Elsa van der Wal and Zeynep Özge Özdemir Diler won out of 53 entries, each exploring how and where our city reads. Exhibition at Tills Bookshop, Hope Park Crescent, opens 17 Oct, 6.30–8pm.' - More details here, shared by Cultural Commons CIC.
🎭 FREE theatre show for children and families: 'My Friend Selma'
Fri 09 October - 'The real-life story of one girl's journey from war in Bosnia to safety in the UK, told from the perspective of an 8-year-old whose family lived alongside 50 refugees in an old boarding school, it is a tale of loss, friendship, courage, and conkers.'
3pm to 4pm | Lyra / ArtSpace · Craigmillar & Niddrie | FREE - More details here, shared by Lyra.
🎶 Concert and art auction Fundraiser for EducAid Sierra Leone
Sun 11 October - 'JOIN US for this heart-warming fundraiser featuring LIVE music by Makossa, Anna Vanosi, The Lime and the Coconut PLUS an Art Auction and Sierra Leone clothing, cloth, bags and jewellery for sale. All proceeds to EducAid Sierra Leone.'
6pm to 11pm | Leith Arches · Leith | £5/10 - More details here, shared by a Minute reader.
🖼️ Morven Ferguson - Landmarks: An Exhibition of Prints [Until Sun]
Fri 16 October - 'This is Morven Ferguson's first solo exhibition entitled 'Landmarks'. Morven, an established printmaker was recently part of a highly praised printmaker's exhibition 'Chaos and Control' at the RSA.'
10am to 5pm | Birchwood Art Studio · Slateford | FREE - More details here, shared by a Minute reader.
🐐 The Littlest Yak [Until Mon]
Sat 17 October - 'This musical adaptation of the award-winning children's book will delight audiences young and old with beautiful puppets, catchy tunes and an uplifting tale of self-acceptance for all the family.'
11.30am to 12.30pm | Studio Theatre · Old Town | £16, £12 kids - More details here, shared by a Minute reader.
🧙♀️ THRICE [Until Sat]
Fri 23 October - 'THRICE plays Edinburgh Traverse on 23 and 24 October. It's a visual and physical theatre response to Macbeth, performed by a chorus of nine women, perfect for witchy season.'
7.30pm to 8.30pm | Traverse Theatre · Tollcross - More details here, shared by Al Seed Productions.
🏙️ This City [Until Sun]
Fri 04 December - 'A brand new, Edinburgh-centred play from Dylan Mooney, taking the city away from the tourists hotspots and into the places undeveloped and overlooked. A play about how life keeps going for those forgotten by the city they call home.'
7pm to 8pm | Summerhall · Southside | £13.25 - £18.25 - More details here, shared by Dylan Mooney.
Polly Bullock Anderson
🤝 Below the paywall are this week’s local creative jobs and opportunities. Find your future here...
🖼️ National Galleries of Scotland is hiring a new Digital Asset Management Assistant. Full-time and Fixed Term (to 31 March 2027). Salary: £32,171 - £35,093 per annum. Deadline: Monday 12 October. - Apply here.
📸 Stills: Centre for Photography on Cockburn Street is hiring for this full time role: Duty Manager: Photography Production Facilities. Pay: £30k. Deadline: 19 October. - Apply here.
🟡 Two maternity cover roles with the Edinburgh International Festival:
- Programme Manager - Music (Temporary – maternity cover). Salary: £33,000 - £36,000. Deadline: 19 October. - Apply here.
- Director of Development (maternity cover until end of January 2028). Salary: circa £90,000. Deadline: 22 October. - Apply here.
🎺 Jazz Promotion Network shared this freelance job vacancy: Jazz conference/showcase producer wanted for Edinburgh 2027. Pay: 18 days at £200 per day, £3600 total. Deadline: 25 October. - Apply here.
🔊 Make/Change Collective CIC seeks a Freelance Marketing and Communications Lead. They say: "We’re looking for a freelance creative with a feel for grassroots marketing to help tell Soundwave’s story. This role is about amplifying youth voices, growing our reach and keeping our identity bold, real and community-rooted." Salary: £25/hour. Deadline: 23 October. - Apply here.
🏴 The organisers of Hands Up for Trad are looking for a Scots Language Week Administrative Producer. Pay: £25 per hour. Deadline: 23 November. - Apply here.
🇫🇷 French Film Festival UK is hiring a freelance part-time Marketing & Communications Intern (Oct–Dec). Salary: £13.45 per hour. Deadline: 15 October. - Apply here.
🎭 The Federation of Scottish Theatre needs a new Administration and Finance Assistant. It's part-time, 21 hours per week, worked across three days. Salary: £14,786 (£24,644 FTE). Deadline: 16 October. - Apply here.
🧵 Studio Nine Edinburgh seeks Freelance Sewing Teachers. Pay: £18 per hour. Deadline: 30 November. - Apply here.
🎭 Lung Ha Theatre Company, based on Grindlay Street, seeks a Company Manager to lead support team coordination, safeguarding, operational management and administrative functions. Salary: £30k. Deadline: Monday 2 November. - Apply here.
Rhona Stevens
👍 STILL OPEN ↴
📘 Edinburgh-based publisher Floris Books is hiring a part-time Junior Designer. It's 22.5 hours/3 days per week. Salary: full-time equivalent salary of £27,000, pro-rata at 60%. Deadline: 9 October. - Apply here.
🧪 Edinburgh Science, organisers of the annual Science Festival, are recruiting people to be Workshop Presenters & Performers on its Generation Science educational outreach programme. Pay: £538 – £618 per week. Apply by 11 October at this link.
🎭 Federation of Scottish Theatre, based at the Lyceum, is hiring a new Administration and Finance Assistant. It's part-time, 21hrs, across three days each week. Salary: £14,786 (£24,644 FTE). Deadline: 16 October. - Apply here.
📸 Stills: Centre for Photography on Cockburn Street has two Duty Manager positions: one is for Photography Production Facilities (Full time (35 hours per week), £30k) and the other is for Gallery & Operations (Part-time, 21 hours per week, £30k pro-rata). Deadline: Monday 19 October. - Apply here.
🏥 The Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity is recruiting a 'creative, organised and compassionate Arts Officer to join our Children’s Wellbeing Service'. Pay: £27,750 (FTE). Deadline: 19 October. - Apply here.
💻 Commissions of £8,000–£12,000 are available to around seven people to create 'curious and unexpected work that challenges, complicates and reimagines responsible AI'. Winning works are to be presented at the Edinburgh festivals next year. The commissions are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and delivered by BRAID UK in partnership with Inspace Design Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Deadline: 2 November. - More details here.
👀 Find more local roles on the Creative Edinburgh jobs & opps board.
💌 Thanks to everyone who contributed to the 145th edition of The Edinburgh Culture Minute. Thank you for reading and subscribing.
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