Listings: Mon 23 – Sun 29 May 2022
What’s on Edinburgh’s Stages this week?
It’s a big week for Edinburgh’s amateur companies, with four different productions being staged around the city and the inaugural StagEHd festival coming to the Ross Bandstand over the coming weekend.
There is also the not inconsequential matter of Emma Rice’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights at the King’s Theatre and Scottish Ballet’s quite remarkable new production of The Scandal at Mayerling at the Festival Theatre – which is as brilliant an examination of entitlement and self-destruction as it is entertaining piece of dance.
Principal Bethany Kingsley-Garner as Mitzi Caspar in Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s The Scandal at Mayerling. Pic: Andy Ross
First, however, our commiserations go to all at Leitheatre, who had been poised to stage Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple at the Studio Theatre. Sadly, due to Covid cases in the company, they production has had to be withdrawn.
However, EPT has stepped in and said that anyone who has bought tickets for The Odd Couple can now use them to get into its show, A Tomb With A View, which is running on the same dates and times up at the Church Hill Theatre. Details of the offer are here: A Room With A Couple and a preview for the EPT show is here: Tomb Hopping.
That still leaves another two amateur productions and the StagEHd festival which is at the Ross Bandstand over the weekend.. So there is plenty else to grab those with a particularly local interest. Not to forget the launch of new company Untie My Tongue at the Roxy, with Wooded.
At the Brunton, musical theatre and Proclaimers fans can get down and grooving to an amateur production of Sunshine on Leith produced by the Brunton itself with Tommie Travers and the show’s director David Ross. Musical direction is from Julie Robinson and the cast includes a strong mix of students and local amateur musical regulars.
In North Edinburgh, St Serf’s Players are staging Wife After Death, a comedy from Rising Damp writer Eric Chappell, at Inverlieth St Serf’s Church Centre. Comedian and national treasure Dave Thursby has died – and at his funeral the revelations keep on coming. The script was first staged in Brighton in 2010 with Tom Conti as David’s writer, Harvey.
Listings
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
Wooded
Fri 27/Sat 28 May 2022
Evening : 7.30pm (Roxy Upstairs).
Untie My Tongue Theatre launch with this piece set in the quiet woods at night. Unaware of each others’ presence, seven people bring their own agenda in between the trees, and are faced with some of the hardest decisions they will ever have to make. Book here.
Comedy of Errors
Sat 28 – Sun 29 May 2022
Afternoons: 2pm (Roxy Central).
QMU drama lecturer and director, Kate Nelson’s surrealist version of Shakespeare’s most farcical of comedies literally turns the play on its head – the sky becomes the floor and vice versa, girls and boys dress as their opposite gender, and four sets of twins create a series of hysterical scenarios resulting in multiple identity confusion. Book here.
Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL
The Brunton
Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA. Phone booking: 0131 665 2240
Sunshine On Leith
Wed 25 – Sat 28 May 2022
Evenings: 7.30pm; Sat matinee: 2pm (Theatre)
New amateur production from the Brunton, in association with David Ross and Tommie Travers, of the Proclaimers jukebox musical, with book by Stephen Greenhorn. A funny, uplifting story of family, friendship and love, set in and around Leith and Edinburgh. Book here.
The Matt Monro Story 2022
Sat 28 May 2022
Evening: 7.30pm (Venue 1)
Celebrating the life and music of the legendary Matt Monro in an inspired and unforgettable show. A unique evening of music, warth and love, keeping the memory of his music alive, from Born Free to Walk Away to Portrait of my Love.The show is enhanced by audio visual and narration. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Tomb With A View (EPT)
Wed 25 – Sat 28 May 2022.
Wed – Fri: 7.30pm; Sat mat only: 2.30pm.
See preview: Tomb Hopping.
Norman Robbins’ comedy thriller is set in a sinister old library where a dusty lawyer is reading the multimillion-pound will of the late departed Septimus Tomb. The eccentric Tombs are seething. They want to know – who is Miss Ash? Why has she been left a fortune? And why is everybody mysteriously dying…Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
The Scandal at Mayerling
Thurs 25 – Sat 28 May 2022
Evenings: 7.30, Sat Mat: 2.30pm.
Scottish Ballet, re-imagine MacMillan’s iconic ballet. The year is 1889 and, in the woods outside Vienna, the Empire must hide a terrible secret. At the royal Mayerling hunting lodge, Crown Prince Rudolf is found shot dead alongside his teenage mistress. Book here.
Strictly Come Dancing – The Professionals
Sun 29 May 2022
Two shows: 2.30pm & 7.30pm.
Direct from BBC One’s award-winning prime time TV show Strictly Come Dancing, this glamorous production will bring together some of the much-loved Strictly Professional dancers as they take to the stage to dazzle with their dance prowess. Book here.
Inverlieth St Serf’s Church Centre
1a Clark Road, EH5 3BD.
Wife After Death (St Serf’s Players)
Thurs 26 – Sat 28 May 2022.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Comedian and national treasure Dave Thursby has died. Friends and colleagues gather beside his coffin to pay their last respects. There’s his writer Harvey and agent Kevin, both with their wives. Dave’s glamorous widow Laura has arranged a funeral to remember… Comedy from Rising Damp writer Eric Chappell. Book here.
King’s Theatre
2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Wuthering Heights
Tue 24 – Sat 28 May 2022
Evenings: 7.30pm, Mats Weds, Sat: 2.30pm
Emma Rice’s adaptation of Emily Bronte. Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights. He finds a kindred spirit in Catherine Earnshaw and a fierce love ignites. When forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed that will haunt generations to come. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Brydon, Mack & Mitchell: Town To Town
Mon 23/Tue 24 May 2022.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Rob Brydon, Lee Mack and David Mitchell with “an evening of chat, comedy, and general messing about” as the Would I lie to You? trio take their off-the-cuff camaraderie off the telly and out on tour. Book here.
Bill Bailey: En Route to Normal
Wed 25 May 2022.
Evening: 8pm.
How did we get here? How do we find our way through this? And exactly who are we again? In this new show, Bill ponders these and other questions that this moment in history has thrown up and tries to see a way through the weird unreality of our new world. Book here.
Strategem with Alan Partridge Live
Thurs 26 May 2022
Evening: 8pm.
Date sold out
Menopause The Musical 2
Fri 27 May 2022.
Evening: 7.30pm.
Cruising Through Menopause, the hysterical sequel to the smash-hit show Menopause The Musical, fast forwards five years to catch up with the same four ladies as they set off on the high seas for tales of their lives, loves and losses. A trip of self-discovery, love and friendship all backed by a soundtrack of toe-tapping parodied hits. Book here.
Katherine Ryan – Missus
Sat 28 May 2022.
Evening: 8pm.
See preview: Ryan’s Back.
Creator and Star of Netflix smash hit The Duchess (along with two global Netflix comedy specials: In Trouble and Glitter Room) comedian and TV’s Katherine Ryan makes a hugely welcome return to the stage with her brand-new live show, Missus.. Book here.
Ross Bandstand
4Princes Street Gardens
StagEHd Festival
Sat 28/Sun 29 May 2022
Both Days: 10am – 6pm.
The inaugural StagEHd Festival sees two days of free theatre from Edinburgh companies at the Ross Bandstand. The five shows on Saturday kick off with children’s puppet show, A Girl Called Grace (10am) and The Mirror of Stage with the myth of Wawel Dragon (11.30am), ending with and Musical Mania (5pm), a cabaret of Musical Theatre. Sunday’s four shows start with The Wishing Well at 10am, include new writing from EGTG in The Rock at 2pm and concludes with KATABASIS: an underworld opera (5pm). Book free tickets here.
Studio Theatre
The Studio, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
The Odd Couple
Wed 25 – Sat 28 May 2022
Wed – Fri: 7.30pm; Sat: 2.30pm.
Production cancelled due to Covid in the company.
Leitheatre has had to withdraw the production due to Covid in the company However, EPT has offered seats to A Tomb With A View – which is on at the same time up at the Church Hill Theatre – to everyone who has already bought tickets for The Odd Couple. See news story A Room With A Couple, for details.
ENDS
