Listings Mon 20 – Sun 26 March 2023
What’s on Edinburgh’s Stages this week…
There is a somewhat select theatre offering this week, with the biggest name on stage being Paul O’Grady who is staring as Miss Hannigan at the touring production of Annie, at the Playhouse all week.
Behind the scenes, the names don’t come much bigger than Sir David McVicar, who returns to Scottish Opera to direct Puccini’s epic triptych – Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchia – which have two performances at the Festival Theatre on Wednesday and Saturday.
A scene from I Hate It Here, from Sweet Beef, touring to Summerhall. Pic: Alex Brenner.
At the Traverse, the A Play, A Pie and A Pint season continues with a debut script from Aodhan Gallagher, Write Off, which looks at issues of the culture wars through the lens of an embittered old thriller writer, forced to hire a sensitivity reader for his increasingly problematically novels.
The EUTC, on the other hand, go with a much tried and tested script in John Godber and Jane Thornton’s Shakers. Written after Godber’s Bouncers, and in a similar vein, it follows four waitresses in an Eighties cocktail bar, who comment on life around them, conjuring up the characters and laying bare the desperation underneath their cheerful public faces.
intriguing
Finally, in a rare theatre booking at Summerhall, Sweet Beef is staging what is certainly the most intriguing show of the week for two nights only on Tuesday and Wednesday: I Hate it Here is an interactive piece of theatre about zero hours contracts and instability.
“With inflation beating wages at every point in the last year it’s possibly the worst time to be a precarious worker – so let’s talk about it,” say Big Beef of a show where the audience will “participate in game shows, sign up for shifts, and have the chance to win big at Bingo, situating them at the heart of a relentless world we are all a part of.”
Listings
Click on the name of the show to go to its ticketing site.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
Shakers
Tue 21 – Sat 25 March 2023
Evenings: 9pm for 9.30pm start.
The EUTC with John Godber and Jane Thornton’s wickedly funny glimpse of the world of a naff Eighties cocktail bar as seen through the eyes of the four long-suffering waitresses, offering a fascinating view of the reality that lurks behind the neon signs and Negronis. Performed in the Bedlam cafe. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
.Scottish Opera: Il trittico
Thurs 23, Sat 25 March 2023.
Sat, Weds: 6pm.
World-renowned director Sir David McVicar returns to Scottish Opera with Puccini’s epic triptych – Il tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchia – in a first both for him and for the Company. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014
Annie
Tue 21 – Sat 25 March 2023
Tue – Sat: 7.30pm; Wed, Sat mats: 2.30pm.
The hit production returns. Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she’s chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Book here.
Studio Theatre
The Studio, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
Pinoccio
Sat 25 March 2023
11.30am & 1pm.
Steve Tiplady, as Geppetto, uses the objects of a carpenter’s workshop to tell the tale of the puppet that wants to be a real boy, and the puppet-maker who wants to be a real father. Book here.
Summerhall
1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL.
I Hate It Here
Tue 21/Wed 22 March 2023
Evening: 7pm (Red Lecture Theatre).
Sweet Beef Theatre with an interactive devised piece about zero hours contracts and instability. It centers on care worker Plang, nurse Tara, and fast food worker Spud. Join them for their shift, but expect some interruptions from the Big Boss.. (Pic Alex Brenner). Book here.
Unbecoming
Fri 24/Sat 25 March 2023.
Evening: 7pm (The Old Lab).
Company of Wolves presents a solo work by Anna Porubcansky. Using traditional song, soundscape, myth, and movement, Unbecoming is a dreamworld: a rich and sublime space where image, memory, desire and fear all reside. Watch a woman unravel, layer upon layer stripped away; a human, unmasked. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
Write-Off (PPP)
Tue 21 – Sat 25 Mar 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
By Aodhan Gallagher
Freddie is a gay man who writes gritty psychological thrillers and refuses to compromise his storytelling approach for the sake of representation or political correctness. However, due to rising public criticism that his stories are inherently problematic, Freddie cracks under his publisher’s pressure and hires a young sensitivity reader named Ben to keep him in check. Book here.
ENDS
