Robin Ince and g-Astronomy join Hebridean Dark Skies Festival programme

As tickets for events across February’s Hebridean Dark Skies Festival go on sale, An Lanntair is today delighted to announce several new programme highlights.

 

Robin Ince is a multiple award-winning comedian best known for co-hosting the international smash hit, Rose D’Or and Sony Award-winning BBC Radio 4 and podcast series, The Infinite Monkey Cage, with Professor Brian Cox, and the acclaimed Book Shambles podcast with Josie Long.

 

Robin will be bringing his Chaos of Delight, ‘a celebration of the human mind, from Bohemians to Black Holes, Dali to DNA’ to the festival on Thursday February 13.

 

The festival will also bring g-Astronomy to Lewis, in which astrophysicist Roberto Trotta will join forces with chefs at An Lanntair and Uig Sands restaurant to present a special interactive culinary experience that translates complex astrophysics into an edible and educational experience for everybody, over the course of a delicious and sociable evening meal.

 

g-Astronomy will be open for bookings very soon – keep an eye on An Lanntair’s website for updates.

 

Finally, the festival is joining forces with Immerse Hebrides for a Night Swim on Wednesday February 12. The ticket price includes head torches, adventure lights, safety tow floats and a guided swim around a loch or easily accessible beach.

 

The events above are the latest addition to a long list of Hebridean Festival highlights, including a new show by Karine Polwart, Sky at Night presenter Chris Lintott teaming up with jazz musician Steve Pretty, arts and astronomy project Creativity and Curiosity. Cosmos Planetarium is returning for a second year, while Dark Skies film programme will bring together four science fiction films - Solaris, Contact, Interstellar and Ad Astra - that explore human connections across the cosmos.

 

Stargazing events across the island presented by Highland Astronomy Tours and Steven Gray from Cosmos Planetarium. To close the festival, a revival of Neosa’s hugely popular production of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds featuring some of the Outer Hebrides’ most talented musicians.Tickets for events all across the festival are now on sale.

 

Now in its second year, the Hebridean Dark Skies Festival – led by An Lanntair in partnership with Stornoway Astronomical Society, Calanais Visitor Centre, Gallan Head Community Trust, Lews Castle College and new partners including Uig Sands - will bring two weeks of arts and astronomy events to the Isle of Lewis.

 

The 2020 festival will run from February 7-22 , with an ambitious and exciting programme spanning theatre, live music, film, visual art, food, astronomy talks, and stargazing.

 

Festival programmer Andrew Eaton-Lewis said: 'We’re delighted to be adding Robin Ince and Roberto Trotta to an already packed programme, providing all the more reason to spend some time on the Isle of Lewis in February.'