Jonathan Trew: Unlikely tall tales will be spun by talented tellers

The month-long Ceilidh Culture festival is getting its jig on in Edinburgh.

This weekend there is a family ceilidh at St Bride’s Community Centre this evening while songwriter Kim Edgar will tickle the ivories and launch her new album, Ornate Lies, at the St Mark’s artSpace, also this evening. Tomorrow sees influences from further afield with a Klezmer Ceilidh at The Drill Hall and, for lovers of English folk, the Queen’s Hall will ring to the sound of The Albion Band, whose members had a hand in outfits such as Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention.

Fib fans should head to the Scottish Storytelling Centre tonight for Tall Tales, unlikely stories being spun by talented tellers. The audience decide which yarn-spinner is named Oscar the Leprechaun.

There is space here for a cheap gag about politicians but, if you want old jokes, I would rather point you towards one of the oldest: Mr Punch. As part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Punch, Judy, the crocodile, the policeman and some sausages will be at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre this afternoon.

Whenever a contemporary comedian is pilloried for transgressing boundaries, it is always worth remembering that Punch has been beating his wife and hanging coppers in the name of family entertainment for some 350 years. “That’s the way to do it,” he might be tempted to tell modern-day rulers of misrule such as Mssrs Boyle, Brand and Carr.

Still with rule-breakers, Martin Messier is at The Arches tomorrow for the Behaviour festival. He will perform with his Sewing Machine Orchestra, a fleet of 1940s sewing machines whose noise is amplified and processed by computers. This is the sort of idea that tempts or terrifies potential audience members, a la Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No 2, to be performed by The Smith Quartet tomorrow at the City Halls. Part of the Minimal season, Feldman’s piece is rarely performed live; mainly on account of its six-hour playing time.

www.ceilidhculture.co.uk; www.glasgowcomedy festival.com; www.thearches.co.uk; www.glasgow concerthalls.com