Reviews

Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet

Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet

★★★★☆ Innovative dynamism

Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet, at the Festival Theatre until Saturday, is no mere exercise in nostalgia, but a highly successful piece of dance.

Jun 11 2025 | By More
Cutler tribute, McDermid play at BookFest 25

Cutler tribute, McDermid play at BookFest 25

Hamish Hawk, Vanessa Redgrave at Edinburgh Futures Institute

The 2025 Edinburgh Book Festival – in its second year at Edinburgh Futures Institute – will feature the normal mix of theatre-adjacent events and other enticing attractions in its two week programme from Sat 9 to Sun 24 August.

Jun 10 2025 | By More
Restless Natives: The Musical

Restless Natives: The Musical

★★★☆☆ Mixed bag

Restless Natives: The Musical, arriving at Leith Theatre, is decidedly mixed and often meandering. There is much to enjoy about a production that has considerable joy to it, but there are also long stretches that are far less convincing.

Jun 8 2025 | By More
Lear

Lear

★★★★★ Magnificent

Lear by Ramesh Meyyappan at the Traverse is a stunning piece of work – raw and delicate, disciplined and chaotic, frightening and beautiful.

Jun 6 2025 | By More
The Mountaintop

The Mountaintop

★★★★☆ Vital

The Lyceum’s production of The Mountaintop is an enthralling, beautifully performed examination of history and humanity.

Jun 5 2025 | By More
Scottish Opera Double Bill

Scottish Opera Double Bill

Trial by Jury – ★★★★☆     Absurd
A Matter of Misconduct! – ★★★★☆     Shrewd

Scottish Opera and the D’Oyly Carte Opera celebrate the 150th anniversary Gilbert & Sullivan’s partnership by pairing Trial By Jury with A Matter of Misconduct!, a new operetta commissioned in response to it.

Jun 4 2025 | By More
The Merry Widow

The Merry Widow

★★★★★ Scintillating

Scottish Opera presents a scintillating new adaptation of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow at the Festival Theatre, bringing its setting into the twentieth century, and its sensibilities into the twenty-first.

Jun 1 2025 | By More
They Came From Mars…

They Came From Mars…

★★★☆☆ Enjoyable

They Came From Mars and Landed Outside the Farndale Avenue Church Hall In Time for the Townswomen’s Guild’s Coffee Morning, performed by the St Serf’s Players at Inverleith St Serf’s, is a ludicrous and charming piece, even if it does not always completely come off.

May 30 2025 | By More
The Watsons

The Watsons

★★★★☆ Intriguing

The Watsons, from Edinburgh People’s Theatre at the Church Hill, is an attractive production of a clever (if distinctly odd) literary adaptation.

May 29 2025 | By More
Grown Ups

Grown Ups

★★★★★ Silly

The Edinburgh International Children’s Festival opened at the Traverse with a very silly show indeed: Grown Ups, which is a primarily non verbal piece about what grown ups do when children aren’t around.

May 27 2025 | By More