Listing Mon 24 Feb – Sun 2 Mar 2025
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week
It’s a relatively sedate week on the stages this one, with only four productions of note – although they do include the great Toyah as guest star at the Playhouse.
First though, it is a relief to see a play at the Traverse for more than a two nights outside August. Glad that audiences have remembered the way to its front door for Irish company Fishamble’s Heaven (ends Sat: tickets) which is returns only.
Scottish Opera’s The Makropulos Affair at the Festival Theatre with Orla Boylan (centre) as Emilia Marty. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
The students of the EUTC are staging Road at the Bedlam (ends Sat: tickets), Jim Cartwright’s powerful snapshot of life in northern England and a searing indictment of Thatcher’s England, where jobs and hope are scarce. (As scarce as heat in the theatre: wrap up warm!)
Our reviewer Hugh Simpson enjoyed the production (see his review here), although he thought it rather long, with scene changes not as slick as might be. The pre-show and interval elements were also not as good as intended, but he said: “the play itself is done with the maximum of sincerity and considerable bravado. All of the faults are down to over-ambition, and those are the faults that can most readily be excused.”
Toyah
And so to Toyah Wilcox, who is the guest star in the Edinburgh leg of NOW: That’s What I Call A Musical at the Playhouse (ends Sat: tickets). Craig Revel Horwood choreographs and directs: the former with panache, the latter with less pace that might be hoped for. Still, a great night out of 80s nostalgia!
Our Sophie Good was on the hot seats for this one (see her review here) and thought the songs and performances were fine enough – with Toyah doing her hit I Want To Be Free a particular standout.
bona-fide big treat
And finally, opera fans have a bona-fide big treat at the Festival Theatre with Scottish Opera’s The Makropulos Affair (Thurs, Sat: tickets). This award wining production of Janáček’s “mature masterpiece” looks sumptuous in its telling of a Emilia Marty, a stylish, enigmatic diva with a secret.
For over three centuries, she has lived many lives, in a quest to become a great opera singer, captivating minds and hearts along her journey through time and across Europe.
Her existence raises questions of science and nature, reality and fantasy, and life and death. But as the elixir she was given begins to lose its power, she can no longer escape from these essential human tensions…
Listing
Click on the name of the show or the Book here link to go to its ticketing site.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
Road (EUTC)
Tue 25 Feb – Sat 1 March 2025
Evenings: 7pm.
Æ review: ★★★★☆ Emotionally resonant
Jim Cartwright’s seminal 1986 work on hardship, loss, and togetherness. Local guide Scullery leads you through a series of fleeting vignettes, glimpses into the life of the road. A gritty yet heartwarming reflection on communities during the turbulent 1980’s. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
The Makropulos Affair (Scottish Opera)
Thurs 27 Feb, Sat 1 Mar 2025
Thurs, Sat only: 7.15pm.
Emilia Marty is a stylish, enigmatic diva with a secret. For over three centuries, she has lived many lives, in a quest to become a great opera singer. Hailed as an ‘unmissable triumph’ (The Telegraph) and nominated for a 2022 Southbank Sky Arts Award, this co-production of Janáček’s mature masterpiece returns to Scottish Opera in its first full staging since 1993. Book here.
Leith Depot
138-142 Leith Walk, EH6 5DT
Scratch Night (_ And Friends Edinburgh)
Mon 24 Feb 2025
Evening: 7pm.
A night of new performance curated by _and friends Artistic Producers Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir and Marion Geoffray. With PROM(ise) by Marion Geoffray + Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir; r/Conspiracy by Ella Hällgren; The Measure of Beauty by Thabo Mokolabate; and Rowan Jam by Jen McGregor. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
NOW That’s What I Call A Musical
Tue 25 Feb – Sat 1 Mar 2025.
Evenings: 7.30pm; Weds, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Æ review: ★★★☆☆ Mixed bag nostalgia
Celebrate 40 years of the iconic and chart-topping compilations brand NOW That’s What I Call Music. Written by award-winning comedian Pippa Evans, and directed and choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing legend Craig Revel Horwood, this heart-warming and funny story takes us on an uplifting journey down memory lane. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Heaven (Fishamble)
By Eugene O’Brien.
Tue 25 Feb – Sat 1 Mar 2025
Evening: 8pm, Sat mat: 2pm (Trav 2).
Set in the Irish midlands, during the weekend of a local wedding. Mairead and Mal are struggling to keep their marriage together. Perhaps attending a wedding will help, or it might raise questions that are difficult to answer. Book here.
*NB: This is intended to be a complete listing of all public theatrical productions on in Edinburgh. If you are staging a show which is not listed, or a listing is inaccurate, please get in touch through the contact page, here.
