Listings Mon 12 – Sun 18 Feb 2024
What is on Edinburgh’s stages this week…
There’s a full card of productions on this half term week, with nearly all of Edinburgh’s major stages in use at some point or other and a quite eclectic mix of productions to choose from.
Starting with the home-grown shows, for the students, the EUTC have Things I Know to be True at the Bedlam (Wed – Sat: tickets). Andrew Bovell’s charged play about the duality of love: at the same time destructive and beautiful, follows the Price family over a year of change.
The Vivienne in Wizard of Oz at the Playhouse. Pic: Marc Brenner.
The EU Footlights follow Nathan Detroit annd his mission to find the perfect spot for his legendary craps game in Guys and Dolls at the Pleasance (Tue – Sat: tickets). A young Brunton company take on 13! the Musical at the Loretto school (Thurs – Sat: tickets)
For the professional companies, the Lyceum open David Grieg’s new play Two Sisters (run ends March 2: tickets). The story takes place over a single weekend as sisters Emma and Amy return to their childhood ‘paradise’, a seaside caravan park. Yet, the park has changed, and their childhood now seems a blurred memory as they delve into ‘adult things’; career anxieties and romantic complications.
The biggest show in town, however, has to be the touring production of Wizard of Oz the Musical, at the Playhouse (Tue – Sat: tickets). You’ll need to be quick to get decent seats, as an astonishing 21,000 have already been sold for this week’s eight performances.
Best availability
Best availability for decent seats in the stalls is on Wednesday (maybe it isn’t such a good Valentines treat). Otherwise it is mostly balcony seats, where there is good availability except for Saturday, when both performances are all-but sold out.
With Gary Wilmot reprising his London Palladium role as The Wizard, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne giving their show-stopping Wicked Witch of the West and the glorious vocals of Aviva Tulley as Dorothy, this should be a real treat.
The Travers has Vigil (Thurs – Sat: tickets) in which one human attempts to perform 26,000 other species in the space of an hour. Blending projection design from Limbic Cinema, movement, clowning, poetry, and a stunning soundscape, Vigil is a “wildly playful, tragicomic exploration of life in an age of extinction”.
Dance fans have are real treat at the Festival Theatre with On Before from Carlos Acosta (Fri/Sat: tickets). This tells of a doomed relationship between a man and a woman, set to a diverse musical repertoire ranging from Handel to Cuban contemporary composer Omar Puente and culminating in a moving finale featuring a live choir performing Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium.
Listings
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.
Things I Know to be True (EUTC)
Wed 14 – Sat 17 Feb 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Andrew Bovell’s play is at its heart a show about the duality of love: at the same time destructive and beautiful. As it follows the Price family over a year of change, it is at times heart-warming and at times devastating as it explores every aspect of love and the grief that must come with it. Book here.
The Brunton @ Loretto School
Loretto School Theatre, Millhill, Musselburgh. Phone booking: 0131 665 2240
13! A new musical
Thurs 15 – Sat 17 Feb 2024.
Evening: 7.30pm. (Loretto School Theatre).
The Brunton in Association with David Ross
Geek. Poser. Jock. Beauty Queen. Wannabe. These are the labels that can last a lifetime. With an unforgettable rock score from Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, 13 is a musical about fitting in – and standing out! A community show with a professional production team.. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
On Before (Carlos Acosta)
Fri 16/Sat 17 Feb 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm.
In a framework created by Carlos, On Beforetells the story of a doomed relationship between a man and a woman, set to a diverse musical repertoire ranging from Handel to Cuban contemporary composer Omar Puente and culminating in a moving finale featuring a live choir performing Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium. Book here.
Rob Brydon
Sun 17 Feb 2024
Evening: 7.30pm.
After a sell-out UK & Australian Tour, Rob Brydon is back in Edinburgh with his critically acclaimed show A Night of Songs & Laughter, featuring a 9-piece orchestra as Rob shares his personal musical journey from South Wales to Hollywood and back. Book here.
Leith Depot
138-142 Leith Walk EH6 5DT
Dram-a at the Depot (PenPals Theatre)
Mon 12 Feb 2024
Evening: 8pm.
Pint sized plays about tainted love. Beat the Winter Blues with PenPals Theatre’s first selection of short plays specially chosen for Leith Depot audiences. Performed by actors, script in hand, for you, the audience, drink in hand. All welcome, including any theatre loving furry friends. As if that wasn’t enough, there will also be cake! Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Two Sisters
By David Greig.
Sat 10 Feb – Sat 2 March 2024
Tue – Sat: 7pm; Mats Weds & Sat: 2pm.
The story takes place over a single weekend as sisters Emma and Amy return to their childhood ‘paradise’, a seaside caravan park. Yet, the park has changed, and their childhood now seems a blurred memory as they delve into ‘adult things’; career anxieties and romantic complications. Lance, the DJ from back in the day, resurfaces teenage memories and reminds them how far, or not so far, they have come from their teenage selves. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014
The Wizard of Oz – The Musical
Tue 13 – Sat 17 February 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm; Wed, Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
Hot from a summer season at the London Palladium, this Leicester Curve production includes all the numbers from the iconic MGM film soundtrack, with new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Book here.
Pleasance Theatre
60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ.
Guys and Dolls (EU Footlights)
Tue 13 – Sat 17 Feb 2024..
Evenings: 7.30pm, Sat Mat: 2.30pm.
Small-time gambler Nathan Detroit is on a mission to find the perfect spot for his legendary craps game. That’s where a bet with the smooth Sky Masterson comes in. Sky’s challenge? To sweep Sarah Brown, a straight-laced missionary, off her feet for a dinner date in bustling Havana. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
Vigil
Thurs 15 – Sat 17 Feb 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 2)
“Dusky Seaside Sparrow, Cinnamon-coloured Cryptic Tree Hunter, Problematic Flasher, Fire Millipede From Hell…” One human attempts to perform 26,000 other species in the space of an hour. Blending projection design from Limbic Cinema, movement, clowning, poetry, and a stunning soundscape, Vigil is a wildly playful, tragicomic exploration of life in an age of extinction. Book here.
ENDS
