After work events guide

Monday 30 January

Hamlet Machine is a condensing of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, featuring silent actors interacting with puppets, shadow play and disembodied voices – a perfect combination for the supernatural subject material, woven as it is with paranoia and deception. The production is part of the Manipulate Festival, which showcases visual theatre in which puppetry and animation are integrated with performance.

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 7.30-9.30pm, £15 (£11/£6 unemployed), www.traverse.co.uk

Tuesday 31 January

Every Tuesday Sloan’s bar, one of Glasgow’s oldest, screens free movies at its Eat Film events. Watching the movie won’t cost you a penny, but if it seems like a long time since lunch, go for their Mac and a Movie deal, which offers macaroni cheese for two movie-goers for £9.95. This week’s offering is Amelie, that whimsical tale of the eponymous charming Parisian do-gooder. Comfort food and a comfort movie, a combo just made for a mid-week winter night. The formula never strays far from that proviso, with forthcoming screenings including 80s dependables The Lost Boys and Ghostbusters.

Sloan’s, Glasgow, 7pm, www.sloansglasgow.com

Wednesday 1 February

They keep them pretty quiet, but The Stand regularly plays host to the dry runs of big name comedians (the ones with their own DVDs) trying out material for their forthcoming rather pricey and most likely already sold-out arena tours. The material can be hit and miss, but that’s the point; being privy to their process before it hits the SECC in its refined and specific audience-tailored incarnation just makes it all the more interesting. Frankie Boyle is currently warming up for his forthcoming tour, which he claims will be his last, so catch him now in this more intimate venue, warts and all.

Frankie Boyle: Works in progress, The Stand, Glasgow, 6-8pm, 1, 6,8,13,15,20,22 February www.thestand.co.uk

Thursday 2 February

Blues of the World, part of Celtic Connections, is blues as it is lived and sung today, in France, the USA and Brixton. The three are represented respectively by Marseille group Moussu T, who pay homage to the melting pot of their home city; Pura Fé, who is of Native American and Scottish heritage, and John Trudell, known as the “voice of Alcatraz” for his role as spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes’ takeover of the Californian prison in 1969; and Errol Linton, harmonica virtuoso and busker turned international festival stalwart.

O2 ABC, Glasgow, 7pm, www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk

Friday 3 February

Friday night at the movies and if you do care which picture you see, make it Martha Marcy May Marlene. Not just a handy baby name inspiration, the film won Best Drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Elizabeth Olsen takes the title role, a young woman recently escaped from a cult whose grasp of reality becomes ever more tenuous as she struggles to lay the ghosts of her past to rest. Olsen may be a sibling of child actor turned emaciated fashion mogul-twins Mary-Kate and Ashley, but don’t let that put you off, even if you have (inexplicably) seen New York Minute; she has won and been nominated for numerous critics’ awards for her performance and is even Oscar-tipped. Olsen is undoubtedly this year’s one to watch, so decide for yourself early if she’s worth the impending hype.

Martha Marcy May Marlene, released nationwide 3 February