Listings: Mon 12 – Sun 18 Jan 2025
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
Not a lot, it must be said. Just the four bona fide pieces of theatre for your delectation over this seven days. Two only on for one day. The mid-January doldrums really have been reached.
However the two bookends to the week are well worth heralding. The first, on Monday, is PenPals Productions’ bimonthly Drama @ the Depot (Leith Depot: tickets) on the theme of Resolution. The second is Citadel Arts Group’s In a Class of their Own at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (Sunday: tickets).
Then the EUTC have a Beckettian showcase Box of Beckett at Bedlam (Fri/Sat: tickets) and The Burns Project returns to The Georgian House (Sat 17 – Sun 25: tickets).
Penpal Productions’ Resolution playwrights. Top: Jill Franklin, Jane Sunderland and Sophie Good; Bottom Olivia Fischer, Hannah McGregor and Rachel Hamada
It’s always good to get a chance to big up local grassroots companies and both of these should be sung about more than they are.
Drama @ the Depot is the bimonthly event staged by PenPals Productions, itself something of an off-shoot of the Village Pub Theatre. Every two months, half a dozen playwrights are give a prompt for a ten minute piece of theatre.
These are then performed, script in hand, at the Leith Depot. Each having had an hour’s work with a professional director and small cast of three or four professional actors joining the playwright to read-through, block and rehearse the script.
Resolution
The prompt for this month’s event is a topical “Resolution”, and the six playwrights involved include newcomer Rachel Hamada, who dedicated news hounds will know as chair of investigative journalism co-operative The Ferret.
Joining her are returning playwrights Jane Sunderland, Olivia Fischer and Hannah McGregor who will be joining Penpals co-founders Jill Franklin and Sophie Good on the resolute writing duties.
In a link up with colleagues from Dumfries and Galloway, the plays will be directed by Ellie Jay Stevens and performed by Helen Fox and Codge Crawford, who all bide in D&G. They are joined by Edinburgh-based regular actors Lorna Panton and Tiger Mitchel.
This tends to sell out, so getting tickets in advance is recommended. As is arriving early for a pint at the bar and taste of the home baking that is something of a PenPals signature.
PenPals Productions Resolution actors. Top: Tiger Mitchell, Lorna Panton and Codge Crawford. Below Helen Fox with director Ellie Jay Stevens.
At the other end of the week Citadel Theatre Company is taking In A Class of Their Own for two performances on Sunday at the Scottish Storytelling Centre where the company made its debut in 1995.
The play is an adaptation by 93 year old playwright, San Cassimally, of the first novel by Citadel co-founder, Millie Gray. The story is set against the stresses and shortages of World War II and is based on Gray’s own wartime experiences.
It introduces the struggling Campbell family. The mother, Rachel (played by Ashley Barlow), virtually a single parent, is determined to see her twin children Carrie and Sam (Chelsea Grace and Conrad Williamson), succeed in life despite the odds.
well-loved storyteller
Gray was a well-loved storyteller, novelist, playwright and champion of older people. She wrote the novel when she was 75 and went on to write nine more until her death in 2023.
Direction will be by Liz Hare who also directed Millie’s first play 30 years ago. That was, It Helps if You Understand the Lingo which had been seen at the Bedlam Theatre in 1994 by Donald Smith, director of the then Netherbow Centre, who invited it to the Netherbow the following year.
Besides the novels and several more darkly comic plays Gray also became a well-loved storyteller and often regaled audiences at the Storytelling Centre with her stories of old Leith.
Rachel (Ashley Barlow) and Carrie (Chelsea Grace) in Citadel Arts Group’s In a Class of Their Own at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Sunday.
Donald Smith, now director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, says: “Millie Gray is the outstanding chronicler of Leith. She experienced its highs and lows personally and captured them in ten novels beginning with In a Class of Their Own.
“Millie never lost her own zest for life, her down-to-earth humour, and a love for people and their stories – all learned in Leith! She was a joy to know.”
While Gray went from strength to strength as a popular novelist, Citadel Arts Group also developed to become what Scotsman theatre critic Joyce McMillan called “one of the best known community theatre companies in Scotland.”
Artistic Director Liz Hare says: “I hope we have remained true to Millie Gray’s vision: to give a voice to older people, collecting their stories and performing their plays in the community.”
The Burns Project
Writer and performer James Clements has worked with the National Trust for Scotland to create The Burns Project, an intimate production he performs at a specially created dinner table, for an audience of only 21, accompanied by instrumentalist Lisa Rigby.
The piece, directed by Cora Bissett, sees Clements piece together rarely-before-seen writings and recently digitised archival material belonging to The Bard to conjure a complex, irreverent, and honest portrait of Scotland’s most lauded literary figure.
Lisa Rigby and James Clements in The Burns Project. Pic: Kat Gollock.
Seeking to refresh and expand on existing personifications and representations of the poet, The Burns Project reveals a man full of complexities and contradictions, capable of both deep love and callousness, of great progressiveness and political inconsistencies.
And finally the EUTC have their Beckettian evening A Box of Beckett for two nights only at the Bedlam. It’s a collection of smaller works: Breath, Come and Go, Rough for Theatre 1, What Where, Catastrophe, Not I and Krapp’s Last Tape. That is over half dozen pieces to crack open and examine the entrails.
comedy
These are not the only events on Edinburgh’s stages, it must be admitted. There is also a certain amount of comedy at the Playhouse and the Lyceum.
At the Playhouse there are a scattering of solo tickets to see Rob Beckett: Giraffe, postponed from last June (Thurs: tickets), and rather more for Al Murray: All You Need is Guv, (Sat: tickets), mostly in the Balcony.
The Lyceum, however, is completely sold out for both Connor Burns: GALLUS (Sat: details) and Mike Wozniac – The Bench (Sun: details).
Listings for the week: Mon 12 – Sun 18 January 2026:
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.
Box of Beckett (EUTC)
Fri 16/Sat 17 Jan 2026
Evenings: 7.30pm.
A Beckettian showcase, with seven fragmentary pieces. Some better known than others: Breath, Come and Go, Rough for Theatre 1, What Where, Catastrophe and Krapp’s Last Tape. Book here.
Georgian House
7 Charlotte Square EH2 4DR.
The Burns Project
Sat 17 – Sun 25 Jan 2026
Sats 17 & 24, Sun 18: 3.30pm & 7.30pm. Sun 18: also 12.30pm. Mon, Thurs & Fri: 7.30pm. Sun 25: 2.30pm only.
Burns’ letters, poems and music are masterfully brought to life by James Clements and Lisa Rigby, laying bare a complicated and contradictory icon. Set around an immaculately designed dinner table, the play brings audiences into close proximity to the man himself, as the set comes alive with hidden voices, music and secrets – titillating, shameful and surprising in equal measure. Book here.
Leith Depot
138-142 Leith Walk EH6 5DT.
Resolution (Drama @ The Depot)
Mon 12 Jan 2026
One performance: 8pm.
PenPal Productions with their latest bimonthly six-pack of pint-size plays. The prompt is “Resolution” and playwrights include Rachel Hamada, Hannah McGregor and Olivia Fischer. In a tie up with Dumfries & Galloway, the director will be Ellie Jay Stevens with actors Helen Fox and Codge Crawford as well as local performer Lorna Panton. Be early as it sells out. Home baking available! Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Connor Burns: GALLUS
Sat 17 Jan 2026
Two shows: 5pm & 8pm.
The all-new show from Scotland’s hilarious new international breakthrough stand-up star. Connor’s previous show 1994 also sold 10,000+ tickets in Edinburgh, and toured 100 dates around UK and Australia. He’s supported Daniel Sloss in three continents and his debut comedy special gets its world-wide release this summer. Sold Out.
Mike Wozniac – The Bench
Sun 18 Jan 2026
Evening: 7.30pm.
New stand-up tour show from Mike Wozniak in which a story about a bench will be prominent. Previous experience of or strong opinions about benches not required. Let Mike worry about that. Sold Out.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Rob Beckett: Giraffe
Thurs 15 Jan 2026
Evening: 8pm (show postponed from June)
Yes! Bobby Beckles is back on tour. Smashing the life out of the M25, M1, M5 and any other road that’s in his way. From Bromley to Brisbane, Rob Beckett’s new show Giraffe is going worldwide. Expectations on Rob: put on 3 stone from takeaways and post-show drinking. Expectations of you: leave the gig happier than when you arrived. Book here.
Al Murray: All You Need is Guv
Sat 17 Jan 2026
One performance: 7.30pm.
There’s no denying the world’s a mess daddio, but there is a glimmer of hope as the globe’s favourite Pub Landlord returns with a much-needed truth tonic for these whacked out and troubled times. With a fresh and frothing pint to hand, a barrel of laughs to pour from, and a flower in his heart, Guv is all you need. Book here.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, EH1 1SR. Phone booking: 0131 556 9579.
In a Class of their Own (Citadel Arts Group)
Sun 18 Jan.
Two prefs: 2.30pm & 7pm.
San Cassimally’s adaptation of Citadel Arts Group co-founder Millie Gray’s first novel. Based on Millie’s real-life wartime experiences, the play recreates the atmosphere of her time with all its hardships as well as fun, warmth and humour. Book here.
