Top things to do in Edinburgh — week of 13 April

So. Edinburgh in mid-April. The city is doing what it does best — being beautiful, slightly empty, and the venues are running things at a tenth of August prices. This is the secret season.

I keep my running list on the Edinburgh this-week page on Rifio because I am tired of opening five tabs.

Monday: Pleasance bar, recovery

The Pleasance bar in mid-April is a wholly different organism from August. It is empty. There are seats. The pints are not £8. Sit there with a book and rejoice.

If you actually need an event, the free Edinburgh meetups list has a Monday community thing in Stockbridge that is gentle enough for a Monday.

Tuesday: Summerhall jazz

The Anatomy Lecture Theatre is a strange room for a jazz gig, in a good way. The lights are too bright, the seats are wrong, and somehow it works. £12, two sets, decent bar.

This Tuesday is a piano trio I have not seen before but the Traverse line-up suggests they are quietly very good.

Wednesday: Pleasance quiz

£3 entry, four rounds, prizes are mostly bottles of wine of dubious vintage. The crowd is two-thirds drama students, one-third Fringe regulars who never left.

I have won twice in two years and I am not bragging because the rounds are easy if you read the books.

Thursday: Underbelly bar talk

Underbelly does a Thursday talk series in their Cowgate bar — short talks, free entry, Q&A. This week is two writers and a comedian discussing what makes a Fringe show fail. Genuinely useful if you are workshoping anything for August.

Friday: Traverse new play

Two-hander, eighty minutes, no interval. £22 a ticket. The Traverse runs the only theatre I will reliably defend in this city, and the writing on this one is the kind that ends in slightly awkward post-show drinks because nobody knows what to say.

I have been twice now and will probably go a third time.

Saturday: Assembly stand-up bill

Assembly does a Saturday stand-up bill — three acts, mid-tier touring circuit, £18. Two of the three were on telly last year, the third is the one to watch. The room has a strange acoustic but the comedy survives it.

Sunday: Long walk, Arthur's Seat, somewhere good for lunch

Walk Arthur's Seat. Lunch at the Sheep Heid in Duddingston, which has been a pub since 1360 and the roast is reliably excellent. £19 for a roast that justifies the walk back into town.

If you really must have an event, Summerhall does a Sunday afternoon film thing for £6 that is alot more interesting than it sounds.

That is the week. Two theatre nights, one jazz gig, one pub quiz, two long walks, one Sunday roast in a pub that pre-dates almost everything. Save what you fancy on Rifio — the Edinburgh-tagged search is the only one that bothers with all the small Southside venues, which is exactly where the good stuff is.