Hamlet is perhaps the most quoted, but least understood of all of Shakespeare's plays in which the Prince of Denmark's world comes crashing down. His father the King is dead, murdered by his uncle Claudius. His mother, the Queen marries Claudius and Hamlet must now avenge his father's death.

Top female comic Zoe Lyons is the headline act at the Laughter Lounge in the Róisín Dubh tonight, Wednesday 3 February where she’ll be joined by Simon O'Keeffe, MC Karl Spain and Johnny Graham A rising star on the UK comedy circuit over the last few years, Zoe burst onto the comedy circuit in 2004 when she won the prestigious Funny Women competition and reached the final of Channel 4's 'So You Think You're Funny'.

Comedy improv makes a welcome return to a Galway next Wednesday, 10 February when Irish and UK comics Ian Coppinger, Joe Rooney, Paul Tylak and Stephen Frost take to the stage in The Laughter Lounge. The four brave performers will arrive with no script and not the faintest idea of what will happen.

Wednesday 3 February
Where: Fibber Magees
What: Resident DJ
Time: 9.30pm

Internationally celebrated British pianist James Lisney is returning to Galway for a three-day-residency in the Aula Maxima from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 February coinciding with NUI Galway's Arts Festival Muscailt. Praised by The Telegraph as 'someone who can really give the mechanical box of wires and wood a singing soul'.

Best known for her much loved hits such as 'From A Distance', Grammy award winning music legend Nanci Griffith plays the Town Hall Theatre on Tuesday 16 February. Whether performing her own poetically evocative material or the compositions of her influences, friends, and peers, Nanci Griffith possesses a powerful gift for inhabiting the songs she sings and for communicating unspoken intimacy and heartache through her tender voice and lilting, delicate phrasing.

Limerick-based independent label Out On A Limb Records are on a mini tour of the country this week and the purveyors of the finest rock/indie grooves make their way to Strange Brew in the Róisín Dubh this Thursday, 4 February.

Linking modal jazz to traditional music from across Europe, Francesco Turrisi's wonderful Tarab Ensemble bring the Irish tour of Quatrain - A project in four parts - to Galway this week. Lauded in The Irish Times for their 'enchanting music', Tarab's special guest artist on the evening will be Iranian tombak drum master Pedram Khavar-Zamini.

Galway's own good time crew Timbertramps kick off a new monthly 'First Friday' residency upstairs in Monroe's Live with a show this Friday, 5 February while top rock and pop covers band Electric Lemon thrill the crowd on Saturday 6 February at Galway's newest live venue. Doors 11pm til late both nights.

There's a great value night out for a very worthy cause next Wednesday, 10 February when six Galway based acts - three singer songwriters and three bands of varying styles – come together for a fundraiser in Kelly's. All money raised from the event, titled Mixed Grill, will go towards the charity Clic Sargent, which helps children who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.