As part of Commonwealth Games The Touring Network is bringing performances from Glasgow 2014 to areas across the Highlands and Islands. The prgroamme includes music, comedy, film and children’s theatre from across the globe and there will be something for everyone in a whole host of venues.

Kicking off our Commonwealth Season is award winning writer and comedienne from the East End of Glasgow, Janey Godley, and her daughter, Ashley Storrie. They begin in Oban Public Library on the 30th May, moving onto Dufftown and Elgin, with their Journeys to Glasgow – a playful and interactive comedy show that allows the audience to tell their own stories of Glasgow, in venues not traditionally used for comedy.

Throughout the schedule a variety of musicians are visiting our villages and towns, from traditional Scottish musician Mary Ann Kennedy’s show Aiseag, to Sotho Sounds – the Funky Shepherds from Lesotho playing music on instruments made out of recycled material. Both are touring in July to venues including Drumnadrochit, SEALL, Lismore, Colonsay and Corran, amongst others.

Also touring in July, the three piece female band Pacific Curls, known for their vivacious fiddle playing and evocative Māori instrumentation and lyrics, will begin their tour in Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness, moving onto Lochinver and the renowned Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore. Pacific Curls pioneer a fusion sound that seamlessly blend their indigenous roots of Pacific, Māori and Celtic cultures. Traditional musicians Luke Daniels, Lauren MacColl and Ewan MacPherson, touring their show the New World Drovers, coming to the beautiful islands of Jura and Luing, along with Portree and Knoydart.

Luke Daniels, New World Drovers

Music and comedy are not the limits to our season. In June, the emotive and thought provoking film festival, ‘Sports Stories from around the African Commonwealth’ will be visiting Oban, Coll and Dunoon, each with an individual film screening but all celebrating African cinema and it’s connection to the Commonwealth Games.

Bringing performances to children has always been a focus for The Touring Network, and the Commonwealth Season is no exception, with Grinagog Theatre’s The Pokey Hat visiting Dunollie in late July as part of a children’s event in the grounds of Dunollie House. This piece of children’s theatre takes place in an ice cream van where all children will be issued with a free ice cream, which sounds like a great day out for young families in a beautiful setting.