Listings Mon 12 – Sun 18 May 2025
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
It’s a busy week on Edinburgh’s stages with no less that two world premieres, a trio of amateur and student theatre, musical theatre and a much anticipated touring show at the Traverse.
Of course there is still the small matter of Moulin Rouge the Musical (ends Sat 14 June: tickets), painting the Playhouse red. Best availability is early in the week – and there are now £15 briefs available up to and including Thursday 22 May.
Phil McKee, Liberty Black and Whitburn Brass Band members in KELI, opening at the Lyceum. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic
The biggy is at the Lyceum, where Martin Green’s tale of a fiery young colliery band member KELI (Tue – Sat: tickets) opens in a full production at last.
We have been championing the show since 2022 when the piece first appeared, first as a live preview (report here) and then as a fully realised event on the Lyceum’s Sound Stage series of online events (★★★★☆ Intense).
For dance lovers, Barrowland Ballet is at the Studio Theatre with Wee Man (Fri/Sat: tickets), by award-winning choreographer Natasha Gilmore.
Barrowland Ballet presents Wee Man by Natasha Gilmore at the Studio Theatre. Pic: Viktoria Begg.
A highly physical and dynamic dance-theatre performance by a cast of men and male teenagers, Wee Man explores the shifting, and unshifting, rules of masculinity across different generations.
Inspired by Gilmore’s experience of being a mother of teenage boys, it uses candid humour to examine the tension that exists within the toxic rulebook of accepted male behaviour, from the seemingly benign to the dangerous.
For the local amateurs, Arkle enter their final year with Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Hill Street Theatre (Wed – Sat: tickets).
Arkle’s input to the local amateur scene will surely by sorely missed, but it is good to see the company going out on what should be a high, with Fo’s great comedy, in which an irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent ‘accidental’ death of a suspect in custody.
absurd corruption
Outwitting his captors, the Maniac dupes them into performing a farcical recreation of the incident, exposing the absurd corruption and terrifying idiocy at the heart of the system.
Leitheatre is addressing a somewhat different level fraudsterism at the Church Hill with Quiz (ends Sat: tickets), James Graham’s play about Army Major Charles Ingram, his wife, and a coughing accomplice who were convicted for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The big tourer is the return of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to the Festival Theatre (Tue – Sat: tickets). This one is pure spectacle, and a real testament to the invention which can go into adapting a book for the stage.
Yolanda Mercy has her Failure Project at the Traverse (Thurs/Fri: tickets). Previously seen at last year’s Fringe, this is a raw, funny, and heartfelt exploration of what it truly means to “fail” — and how we rebuild from it.
joyful sound
A clutch of outliers round things off nicely. Stage Door have Sister Act at Portobello Town Hall (Thurs-Sat: tickets). Surely a joyful sound will be made when Deloris Van Cartier is disguised as a nun after witnessing a murder.
The EU Footlights are creating a Musical in a Day (Sat: tickets) at the Bedlam. That is a new musical. Created from scratch. Every single element of it, from words and music to all the tec of staging.
The EUTC are also at the Bedlam with new play That Will Stain the Marble (Wed – Fri: tickets), which writer and director Catherine Barrie says explores how our history of theft and consumption has left us still greedy for more.
Listings for the week to Sunday 18 May 2025:
Click on the name of the show or the Book here link to go to its ticketing site.
Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL.
Dumbiedykes (Crunch Collective)
By Aric Hanscomb-Ryri
Wed 14 May 2025.
Evening: 7pm.
Derry finds himself thrust into a starkly different way of life after the recent loss of both his parents. At Southside Community Centre, he meets Gazza and Athena—two teenagers who have raised each other in their own unconventional world. Determined to pull Derry into their way of life, they set out to indoctrinate him. But will he follow suit, or challenge their lore with his own bag of tricks? Book here.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
That Will Stain the Marble (EU Footlights)
Wed 14 – Fri 16 May 2025.
Evenings: 8pm.
Agatha loves of all things kimchi, tempeh, and tabbouleh. When husband Ben invites a student from India to work on his anthropology book, Agatha’s love of all things ‘exotic’ is tested, while Ben’s fascination with Asian culture climaxes. A dirty play about clean and healthy eating that explores how our history of theft and consumption has left us still greedy for more. Book here.
Musical in a Day (EU Footlights)
Sat 17 May 2025.
Evening: 9pm.
Join the caffeine and adrenaline fuelled members of Edinburgh University Footlights for the most unpredictable, unexpected and creative performance of the year at this year’s Musical in a Day. Everything you’ll see will have been created within 24 hours: music, lyrics, plot, choreography, tech! Book here.
Central Edinburgh
Walking tour through central Edinburgh.
Monumental (Edinburgh 900)
Sat 17 May 2025.
Two shows each day: 12pm & 3pm.
A new theatrical walking tour that showcases the real ‘herstory’ of Edinburgh. Produced by multi-award-winning Edinburgh-based feminist theatre company F-Bomb Theatre, the experience will take audiences around the city to explore the lives of five women who deeply impacted, lived, and worked in Edinburgh. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Quiz (Leitheatre)
Wed 14 – Sat 17 May 2025.
Mon-Fri: 7.30pm; Sat mat only: 2.30pm.
James Graham’s thrilling play combines the tension of a courtroom with the energy of a game show as a winning contestant on Britain’s Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? stands trial for cheating. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Tue 13 – Sat 17 May 2025
Evening: 7.30pm; Thurs, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Step through the wardrobe into the magic kingdom of Narnia where a world of wonder awaits. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they meet new friends, face dangerous foes and learn the lessons of courage, sacrifice, and the power of love.Book here.
Hill Street Theatre
19 Hill Street EH2 3JP.
Accidental Death of An Anarchist (Arkle)
Wed 14 – Sat 17 May 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm (tbc).
Arkle enter their final year with Dario Fo’s brilliant farce, adapted by Tom Basden and directed by John Lally. An irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent ‘accidental’ death of a suspect in custody. Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
KELI (NTS & Lepus Productions)
Written and composed by Martin Green
Tue 13/Wed 14 (previews), Thurs 15 – Sat 17 May 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Æ report of 2022 Live Preview.
The story of a fiery, sharp-witted teenager in a former mining town. Coal means little to Keli, but the mines left music in the blood of the town. As the best player her brass band has ever had, music is easy. Everything else is a fight. Feeling trapped in small-town life, pressure mounts. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Run ends Sat 14 June 2025
Mon – Sat: 7.30pm; Mats: Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm..
Æ review: ★★★★☆ Can-Can do
The most jukebox of jukebox musicals, Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage with a world of splendour, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur and glory. A world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Book here.
Portobello Town Hall
147-149 Portobello High St, Portobello EH15 1AF.
Sister Act (Stage Door)
Thurs 15 – Sat 17 May 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2pm.
When Deloris Van Cartier is disguised as a nun after witnessing a murder, it’s only a matter of time before her cover is blown. Will the disco diva be able to save herself whilst inspiring a group of nuns and bringing life back into the church? An amateur cast led by professional creatives. Book here.
Studio Theatre
The Studio, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Wee Man (Barrowland Ballet)
Fri 16/Sat 17 May 2025
Evenings: 7pm.
Wee Man celebrates and questions the shifting, and unshifting, rules of masculinity across the different generations. With candid humour, it examines the tension that exists within the toxic rulebook of accepted male behaviour, from the seemingly benign to the dangerous. Performed by a cast of men and male teenagers. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Failure Project (Yolanda Mercy Company)
By Yolanda Mercy and Joseph Barnes Phillips.
Thurs 15/Fri 16 May 2025
Evening: 8pm (Trav 1).
Meet Ade – a writer who seems to have it all. But just when life seems perfect, things start to unravel. A raw, funny, and heartfelt exploration of what it truly means to “fail” – and how we rebuild from it. Ade’s journey is filled with humour, vulnerability, and unexpected twists that will strike a chord with anyone who’s ever hit a setback and found their way through. Book here.
You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here (Live Nation & Calm)
By Benji Waterhouse.
Sat 17 May 2025
Evening: 8pm (Trav 2).
NHS psychiatrist, award-winning comedian, and Sunday Times best-selling author Benji Waterhouse is going on his first book tour. Through a mixture of stand-up and chapter readings he unlocks the doors to the psych ward and answers life’s big questions. 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.
