Following on from our success in 2024, we’ll be back at Edinburgh Fringe with our venue, The Speakeasy, again in 2025. Located in the basement of the Royal Scots Club, The Speakeasy offers a diverse programme of music, theatre, events and lectures.
We will also be producing a range of in-house events including The Underground Lectures and Murder at the Speakeasy II.
In-House Programme:
THE UNDERGROUND LECTURES
Ignite your curiosity with this series of fascinating talks. From tinned foods to 17th-century banking and sex history to illicit whisky, our eclectic line-up of experts will provide intrigue, insights and the occasional innuendo. Tickets available here, please ensure that you have selected the correct date for the lecture that you wish to attend.
Wednesday 6 August, 6pm
Sex Sells: The Dirty History of Musical Instrument Advertising
Dr Sarah Deters, Curator, St Cecilia’s Hall
Sex sells, or so the saying goes, but when did it start selling musical instruments? The use of beautiful women, suggestive product placement and sexual undertones have long been used in advertising. Musical instruments, with their sensuous shapes, ‘dangerous curves’ and association with pop culture, are no strangers when it comes to using this marketing technique. From the demure housewife to the scantily clad guitar ‘girl’, images collected from advertisements, articles and trade publications from the 19th century to today reflect these trends in marketing and the wider influences of societal change.
Thursday 7 August, 6pm
Bookshop Theatre: The Literary Roots of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Dr Martin Belk, Edinburgh Napier University
From the stone-walled basement of Jim Haynes’s 1950s Paperback bookshop in Edinburgh, to Godwin’s Better Books, London and Ferlinghetti’s City Lights, San Francisco, book retailing played a key role in the emergence of Fringe theatre. With connections to Beckett, Ginsberg and David Hume‚ come and discover how notoriously bad coffee, book stacks and a Glasgow group were ignitors of today’s Edinburgh Fringe and International Book Festivals.
Friday 8 August, 6pm
Illicit Spirits: How Prohibition Impacted the Scotch Whisky Industry
Siobhan Sellers, Freelance Whisky Consultant
Step into the world of speakeasies with Siobhan Sellers, whisky expert, as she takes us on a journey through the Prohibition era. From bootlegging and smuggling to just what the doctor ordered. We’ll hear how scotch whisky producers managed to navigate a time when alcohol was off the table, and how this pivotal period in history might have played a role in making scotch whisky the global success it is today.
Wednesday 13 August, 6pm
No Sex Please, We’re Professionals: Career Depictions in Spicy Novels
Hannah Forsyth (Barrister), Rachel Shwenn-Harrison (Teacher) and Kate Stephenson (Historian)
Ever wondered if the brooding barrister, the tweed-clad historian, or the passionate teacher in your favourite spicy novel actually resemble their real-life counterparts? In this lively and revealing discussion, let us dissect how accurately these professions are portrayed in romance and erotica. Is there really time for torrid affairs between lectures, court cases, and marking papers and how hard is it to have sex in a historic house, supply closet or robing room? What practical realities do authors overlook and which depictions get surprisingly close to the truth?
Thursday 14 August, 6pm
The Healing Power of Alchemy
Daisy Cunynghame, Heritage Manager & Librarian, Royal College of Physicians
Alchemy was magic, and it was science. It combined laboratory chemistry with mythical creatures like dragons, mermaids and the phoenix. Some alchemists aimed to change metals into pure gold and so obtain massive wealth. Others wanted to create a health potion which offered eternal youth. Scotland was immersed in alchemy – from its scientists to its kings, everyone was searching for the answer to the great alchemical mysteries. This talk will explore the history of alchemy, its role in medicine and Scotland’s place in the development of this mystical science.
Friday 15 August, 6pm
Trouble in the Tin: Victorian Tinned Foods, Scandal, and Sales-tactics
Dr Lindsay Middleton, University of Glasgow
Whether it’s fish, tomatoes or beans, tinned foods are a now a mainstay of day-to-day eating – a safe option to fall back on when the fridge is empty, but long before tinned foods were common, consumers questioned their safety and appeal. Beginning with the establishment of tinned foods in the 1810s, food historian Dr Lindsay Middleton, explores why the 19th-century reception of tinned foods was tainted by worries about poisoning, foreignness, and taste. Emphasising the language used in excerpts of recipes, cookbooks and press coverage, it will show how scandals and popular debates were enlisted by producers and consumers to sell or demonise tins. To many Victorians, the tin was trouble.
Wednesday 20 August, 6pm
Ruth Boreham, Tour Guide and Historian
More details to follow soon…
Thursday 21 August, 6pm
Adventures in Banking: The Turbulent Tales of the Original Bank of Scotland Investors
Gillian Paterson, Museum Engagement Officer, Museum on The Mound
When Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695, 172 of the richest members of society invested their money into the fledgling organisation. The stories of the investors, or adventurers as they were known, are filled with intrigue, conflict, and scandal, and many have been left untold for decades. Join us as we unpack the tales behind the names on the list, and the impact – for better or worse – that they left behind them.
Friday 22 August, 6pm
Sex and the Second World War
Dr Kate Stephenson, Freelance Historian
Sex and war might seem like unlikely allies, but in the chaos of the Second World War, desire, duty, and danger collided. During the conflict, the government found themselves responsible for sex in a myriad of new ways. From managing the sexual desires and activities of men and women in the armed forces and other support organisations, to the recruitment of sex workers for intelligence-gathering in the event of an invasion, their involvement in people’s private lives penetrated further than ever before. Join us to find out what really went on in the blackouts and how the war impacted relationships and sexual freedoms during the 1940s.
MURDER AT THE SPEAKEASY II
9 and 16 August, 7.30pm
The 2024 sell-out returns with a brand-new interactive murder mystery event. 1927, prohibition is in full swing, but you can still get a drink if you know where to look. Join the party at illegal speakeasy, The Snapper, run by notorious British duo the Fisher sisters. Meet their rag-tag collection of staff and performers while witnessing fights, rivalries and wrong-doings aplenty. When the inevitable happens, follow the clues and interrogate the suspects to work out whodunnit. A glamourous and immersive evening of suspense and sleuthing with 1920s dress encouraged.
Tickets available here