King’s
Sunshine on Leith
★★★☆☆ Sunshine and showers
With the Edinburgh King’s set to bring down the curtain for a refurbishment, what could be better than a good old Sunshine on Leith singsong to send it on its way?
Wuthering Heights
★★★☆☆ Overstretched
Emma Rice’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights for Wise Children with the UK National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal is full of energy and ideas. Indeed, too full for its own good at times.
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.
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.
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World
★★★★★ Find your joy
With a title like Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, it’s unsurprising that the first night King’s audience for this touring production was mainly female.
Orphans
★★★☆☆ Raucous
Full of comic bravado, the National Theatre of Scotland’s long-delayed musical adaptation of Orphans at the King’s is an attractive but unwieldy beast.
The Da Vinci Code
★★★☆☆ Visually arresting
The big budget obviously afforded to the adaptation of The Da Vinci Code is put to good use in a stunningly designed and consistently well acted production that bowls along merrily without ever quite coming together as a dramatic narrative.
Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show
★★★★☆ Welcome
Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show, revived for one more time at the King’s, is reliably funny and tuneful; on this occasion, it is also oddly affecting.
The Pirates of Penzance
★★★★☆ Beyond duty
The Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society bring a production of The Pirates of Penzance to the King’s which goes beyond the call of duty, being packed with high points – and no low ones to speak of.
Shrek the Musical
★★★☆☆ Swamptastic
Just 904 days after its first rehearsal, the Bohemians Lyric Opera Company’s production of Shrek the Musical arrives on the King’s stage, battered by Covid in more ways than one, but brave and unbowed none-the-less.
