Stand UHA comedy improv

SHETLAND Arts has unveiled its programme of events for Up Helly Aa next month, with its daytime Fiery Sessions music concerts followed by a night of standup comedy including the work of a new local improv group.

Vair – who are playing at Celtic Connections in Glasgow earlier in the month – will showcase some of the best of Shetland’s traditional music scene as part of the Fiery Sessions on Tuesday 26 January.

Also featuring will be the isles’ fiddle and guitar duo Maggie Adamson and Brian Nicholson, who released their latest album Here n’ Now in Noveber, and students from High Level Music.

At night, Stand Up Helly Aa will follow a slightly different format to previous years. It will be hosted by regular comic Sandy Nelson and will feature a slot from Scottish comedian Bruce Fummey, as well as improv and stand-up from local comedian Marjolein Robertson and The Imposters.

Robertson recently established the group after taking part in an intensive improvisation workshop in New York. Stand Up Helly Aa will be the group’s first time performing at Mareel, and audiences are promised “madcap humour and plenty of belly laughs”.

Fummey, meanwhile, has performed numerous runs at the Edinburgh Fringe. A semi finalist in Channel 4’s ‘So You Think You’re Funny” back in 2004, in 2014 he was named Scottish comedian of the year.

• Tickets for the Fiery Sessions are on sale now, and Stand Up Helly Aa tickets go on sale from Shetland Box Office on Friday 18 December.