Reviews
Hay Fever
★★★☆☆ Lightly hilarious
Every family has their foibles, but the Bliss family are next-level eccentric in Noel Coward’s delicious comedy Hay Fever – brought to the Assembly Roxy by EGTG for four performances only.
Birdboy
★★★★☆ Iridescent dance
Birdboy, at the Traverse as part of Imaginate for just three days, sets out as hilarious a piece of physical dance theatre as you might want. But by its end, it has caught its audience with an altogether more thoughtful edge.
Anything Goes
★★★★★ Just go!
The West End hits central Edinburgh this week, as Cole Porter’s seaborne musical Anything Goes sails into the Festival Theatre for a very limited run until this Sunday.
Cluedo
★★★☆☆ Absurd
The touring Cluedo at the King’s is billed as a ‘brand new play’ and ‘an exciting comedy thriller’. It is certainly possible to quibble with those descriptions as there is little excitement, few thrills and nothing new. However, it does have considerable comic value.
The Importance of Being Earnest
★★★☆☆ Perspicacious
The Edinburgh Makars return to the Church Hill theatre with a bounce in their step for three performances of a nicely juicy production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Red Ellen
★★★☆☆ Diffuse
Red Ellen, at the Lyceum, co-produced with the Nottingham Playhouse and Northern Stage, suffers from many of the faults that affect biographical drama, and is far too long for its own good. Nevertheless, it has an abundance of compassion, and an excellent central performance from Bettrys Jones.
A Murder is Announced
★★★☆☆ Dependable
The queen of crime returns to Edinburgh in Middle Ground Theatre Company’s long-running revival of Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, which returns to the King’s until Saturday.
Derren Brown: Showman
★★★★★ Personal
Derren Brown is at the Playhouse all week with Showman, his first new show for six years and, without doubt, a different show to the one he might have been planning on staging before Covid.
The Sound of Music
★★★★☆ Melodic
The steeply-raked seats of the Brunton are alive with the Sound of Music this week as Musselburgh Amateur Musicals Association bring the singing Von Trapp family to Musselburgh.
Singin’ in the Rain
★★★★★ Gloriously ebullient
They have turned the tap full on at the Festival Theatre this week, for the return of Jonathan Church’s phenomenal production of Singin’ in the Rain, adapted from the classic MGM movie.
