ceilidh  {Scots gaelic, "Kay-Lee" , kʲʰeːli} 

A community gathering and sharing event, often accompanied by music, dancing and storytelling

Put your dancing shoes on and dance the night away at our ceilidh, brought to you by the brilliant Science Ceilidh Band.

The Science Ceilidh Band is formed from the team of Lewis Hou (fiddle, calling), Lewis Williamson (fiddle), Gary Rafferty (guitar) and Helen Le-Mar (flute, calling). 

The band have played their high energy take on traditional Scottish music around Europe, incorporating elements from continental balfolk, quebecois and nordic traditions with a cheeky dash of techno and geek culture for good measure into their ceilidhs for festivals, events, weddings and conferences. Highlights have included TEDxGlasgow, the Royal Society, Physiological Society Conference, Big Bang Bash at National Museum Scotland, Green Man Festival (Einstein's Garden), headlining Solarsphere in Wales, Mugstock Festival and weddings in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Ireland. 

P. S. We love a good excuse to dress up so fancy dress/cosplay is encouraged!

Dancing time: 2.5 hours

Tickets: £10/ £8 concession

Venue: Quaker Hall

Scotland 2019. Student Kim Seeberg has compiled a book from translated letters depicting the brutality of the Norwegian witch trials on the arctic island of Vardø over three hundred years ago. 

Is Kim hearing voices, or are the stories of these lost women and girls the true account of those persecuted during The Witch Panic in Norway in 1662?

Vardø 1663. Ingeborg Iversdatter fights to save herself and her little sister from the stake. But Maren Olufsdatter is proud of the dark power she has inherited from her mother – at last, in a world ruled by men, Maren can have vengeance on all those who branded her a witch's get.

Written by Noelle Harrison and Becky Sweeney. Based on the novel Where the Ice Burns by Noelle Harrison, this 55-minute physical theatre show blends spoken word, film projection, music, and movement.

Throughout history, many women accused of witchcraft, accused of being in league with the Devil, have been silenced, subjugated, threatened and killed. The fear and horror surrounding witch panics created a terror with violent results.  The heritage of sensationalising women accused of witchcraft permeates through time, all the way to this day. Witch hunts still exist! The line between fantasy and truth is blurred. Did the accused really have access to magical powers? Where does the true horror in this story lie?

 About Aurora Writers

 Aurora Writers was reborn in 2016 in Edinburgh with the intention of running writing retreats and workshops in collaboration with other writers and creatives. Its previous incarnation was Aurora Theatre Company, based in Dublin in Ireland in the 1990s and founded by Noelle Harrison and Donna Ansley. During that time, the company produced four plays all of which focused on women’s stories: Northern Landscapes, Black Virgin, Runaway Wife and The Good Sister.

 For Witches’ Gets, women of different generations collaborate through storytelling, performance, dance, song, animation and film-making to raise the voices of some of the women who society believed were candidates for the stake.

Running time: 70 minutes

Tickets: £10/ £8 concession

Venue: Lomond Room