Author: Hugh Simpson
Tam O’Shanter, Tales and Whisky
★★★★☆ Charming
Tam O’Shanter, Tales and Whisky, Stolen Elephant’s Burns Night presentation at the Traverse, is an accomplished and enticing celebration of the poet.
Burns
★★☆☆☆ Messy
That a world premiere should take place at the Playhouse is not the oddest thing about the long, over 30-year gestation of Burns – and, sadly, not the most inexplicable thing about the end result.
The Fed-Up Christmas Fairy
★★★☆☆ Likeable
The Fed-Up Christmas Fairy, Saughtonhall’s post-Christmas entertainment, is a short and unassuming piece that carries considerable charm.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
★★★★☆ Reassuringly funny
The ‘King’s pantomime’ may have moved across to the Festival Theatre this year, but little else has changed in this year’s offering of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Nativity! The Musical
★★★★☆ Sparkly and shining
Nativity! The Musical, Captivate Theatre’s seasonal offering at Fettes, is ideal Christmas fare. Full of joy and melody, it sometimes lacks polish, but never lacks heart.
Babes in the Wood
★★★★☆ Fantastic fun
If you are hankering for a proper family panto after missing out in recent years, you could hardly do better than Edinburgh People’s Theatre’s Babes in the Wood, at the Church Hill until Sunday 18th December.
Beauty & the Beast: The Panto
★★★☆☆ Charming
Beauty & the Beast: The Panto, the Christmas offering from Forth Children’s Theatre, has the appeal of a traditional pantomime. Like many pantos, it lacks a little in subtlety and smoothness, but makes up for it in determination and pizzazz.
Spiderman: Into the Pantoverse
★★★☆☆ Cheerful
Complicated plot twists and uncomplicated fun collide in Spiderman: Into the Pantoverse, EUTC’s unruly but heartfelt pantomime which plays at the Bedlam to Saturday.
Cinderella The Panto
★★★★☆ Melodious
Balerno Theatre Company’s Christmas show at the Church Hill is a treat for all ages. Cinderella The Panto is stuffed full of tunes, features some pleasingly old-school pantomime business and is performed with a great deal of heart.
An Edinburgh Christmas Carol
★★★★☆ Timely
There is so much to commend in the return of An Edinburgh Christmas Carol to the Lyceum, where it runs through until December 31.
