Amadeus
★★★★☆ Impressive
Pianodrome Bruntsfield: Wed 6 – Sun 10 May 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Amadeus from Strawmoddie is a powerful production, showing off the Pianodrome in its new Bruntsfield home to great advantage.
Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play is probably best known as the basis for the Oscar-winning movie, but has been a huge success in its own right. The narrative structure of the play is often different from the film, but it tells the same story of the composer Salieri’s jealousy of his more talented (if less polite) rival Mozart, and his part in the latter’s downfall.
Caitlin Carter and Amélie Berry. Pic: Andrew Morris.
As well as playing fast and loose with the historical record, the play is wedded to some notions about creativity and the nature of ‘genius’. It is also longer than it needs to be, especially when you are sitting on the Pianodrome’s benches (even with the thoughtfully provided cushions).
It is a compelling drama, however, especially when told with as much vigour as it is here. Director Matthew Jeffery makes excellent use of the confined in-the-round space of the Pianodrome, fashioning an intimate production that draws the audience in completely.
magnetic
Ben Blow’s Salieri is magnetic, his blustering self-justification filling the acting space. The contrast between Blow and Caitlin Carter’s Mozart is marked in every way; physically, vocally, and in manner.
Carter’s inappropriate laughter, frivolity, and bewilderment that everyone else doesn’t recognise genius when they see it, are beautiful counterparts to the bellowing self-obsession of Blow’s Salieri.
There is also real energy to both performances, which is readily transmitted to the audience. Amélie Berry, meanwhile, brings similar qualities to Mozart’s wife Constanze, in a portrayal of sympathy and depth.
Ben Blow. Pic: Andrew Morris.
Elsewhere, there are performances which reflect the setting and its courtly concerns; heightened and mannered, but not absurdly so, and pitched just right to fill the space. There is an appropriate breeziness to Salieri’s ‘venticelli’, the scandal-mongers and chorus figures who are played by Sinclair Davis and Alan Sunter as gleefully full of life and gossip.
Jonathan Whiteside’s Emperor Joseph II is a glorious fool, while his more starched courtiers are played with care by Ray Finlayson, Nicholas Thorne, Angela Milton and Chris Pearson. Amber Lipman displays considerable musicianship as Salieri’s student Katherina.
Throughout, there is great care taken with expression and gesture; just enough to fill the space, and occasionally just a little more, with great effect.
sets the atmosphere quite brilliantly
Alice Pelan’s design is minimalist – a piano, an ink well, the occasional prop – and works very well. Indeed, the acting space itself, with its reconstructed pianos, becomes part of the design.
Dug Campbell’s sound design is exceptionally strong. Once again, it is excellently tailored to the space, and in its use of music and other sounds is highly effective. Particularly impressive is the way that it uses the in-the-round setting. The opening, where a dying Salieri starts to address his culpability, features whispering from the cast from outside the seating areas, which sets the atmosphere quite brilliantly.
Chris Pearson and Amber Lipman. Pic: Andrew Morris.
Jeffery’s direction also uses the space intelligently. Problems that can arise in such a setting – actors masking others, dialogue becoming lost – are solved with economy, and characters are constantly on the move without it seeming gimmicky.
The choice to use an area outside the immediate acting space is not quite such a good one. While it works to have the representation of the Don Giovanni statue up in the gallery, putting Mozart up there is not so effective. By definition, anything outside an in-the-round space will be directly behind a large section of the audience and therefore invisible to them.
clever
Most of the visual impact is far more successful. The costumes (courtesy of Aimee Whyte, Kate Duffield, Jon Best, Chris Allan and Hilary Davies) are simply wonderful, while Beatrice Nicol’s lighting makes clever use of lamps as well as the expected theatre lights.
At times it does threaten to become a shade slow, with some gaps between scenes seeming drawn out and the pace occasionally approaching the reverentially stately. Overall, however, this is a production of intelligence and vitality.
Running time: Three hours (including one interval).
Pianodrome Bruntsfield, St Oswald’s Centre, 41 Montpelier Park, EH10 4NB
Wednesday 6 – Sunday 10 May 2026
Wed – Sat at 7.30 pm; Sun at 2.30 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
Strawmoddie website: strawmoddietheatre.company
Facebook: @strawmoddie
Instagram: @strawmoddie
A scene from Amadeus in the Pianodrome Bruntsfield. Pic: Andrew Morris.
NB: These images were taken by Andrew Morris Photography during the production’s dress rehearsal, so do not show the audience.
The Cast of Amadeus in the Pianodrome Bruntsfield. Pic: Andrew Morris
ENDS
