Chris Cotter

HMS Pinafore
★★★★☆ Hits the heights:
There is a strong musicality and big professional polish to EdGAS’s production of H.M.S. Pinafore which is at the King’s Theatre until Saturday.

Elephants
★★★★☆ Accomplished debut:
Some excellent acting distinguishes ‘festive black comedy’ Elephants from new company Threepenny Theatricals upstairs at the Roxy.

Elephants in the Roxy
3T’s debut, Elephants, is Main event:
New Edinburgh amateur company Threepenny Theatricals is staging Rose Heiney’s black comedy Elephants as its debut production at the Assembly Roxy next week, 25 – 27 January 2018.

The Sorcerer
★★★★☆ What larks:
For careful execution and straightforward fun, it is difficult to imagine many recent productions of Gilbert and Sullivan have beaten Cat-Like Tread’s The Sorcerer at Paradise in Augustines.

Ruddygore
★★★☆☆ Precise:
Musically rigorous and staged with clarity, there is a definition to EDGAS’s Ruddygore than compensates for a certain lack of sparkle.

Me and My Girl
★★★★☆ Thoroughly tuneful:
Very fine performances and some chorus numbers of an exceptional standard mark out Me and My Girl, EDGAS’s latest foray into non-G&S material at the Church Hill, to Saturday.

The Gondoliers
★★★★☆ Sugar-coated satire:
Good satire never dies but is endlessly topical, as Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society prove in their production of The Gondoliers at the King’s Theatre this week.

South Pacific
★★★★☆ Slick and sassy:
The vibrant colours of a lush, South Pacific tropical garden, with views to a distant volcanic island, frame Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s offering for this dreich October up at the Church Hill all week.

The Pirates of Penzance
✭✭✭✩✩ Cheerfully direct
Bright and breezy, newly-formed Edinburgh musical theatre company Cat Like Tread trip giddily through The Pirates of Penzance at Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall.