Listings: Mon 3 – Sun 9 March 2025
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week
It’s all about the Traverse this week, although the shows are so strong and the runs so short, you might have to join the returns queue if you want a seat.
The big news is the opening on Thursday of new musical Wild Rose at the Lyceum for previews (tickets). This Country music, Glasgow-set tale opens fully on Friday 14; these preview nights are a great opportunity to get reduced price tickets.
Dawn Sievewright and Blythe Duff in rehearsal for Wild Rose. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic.
At the Pleasance, the Edinburgh Studio Opera are staging Massenet’s Cendrillon (Wed, Thurs: tickets), based on Perrault’s version of the Cinderella fairy tale.
There are a fair number of seats at the Playhouse for Abba tribute act Voulez Vous (Sat: tickets), but very few for An Evening with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart at the Festival Theatre (Fri/Sat: tickets).
As for the Traverse: the Spring lunchtime theatre season opens with Dookin Oot (ends Sat: tickets). This week is now returns only and a word to the wise: future weeks are selling well.
Otherwise, best opportunity is James Rowland’s storytelling show Piece of Work (Sat: tickets). Intriguing tale of brothers, Driftwood (Wed: tickets) is selling fast, and Dogstar’s version of James Robertson’s novel The Testament of Gideon Mack (ends Sat: tickets) is returns only.
Listings
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
An Evening with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart
Fri 7, Sat 8 March 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm.
An evening with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart performing with their stellar international band, playing songs from their new album Looking For The Thread and from across their catalogues. Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Wild Rose (previews)
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Caledonia Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions
Thurs 6 Mar – Sat 19 Apr 2025
Previews 6 – 13 Mar
Daily (not Sun/Mon): 7.30pm. Wed, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
There is only one thing in Rose-Lynn’s life that has ever made sense: country music. Fresh out of jail for past mistakes, and bursting with incredible raw talent, charisma and cheek, the free-spirited Rose-Lynn dreams of escaping Glasgow to make it as a singer in Nashville. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Voulez Vous – The Music of ABBA
Sat 8 Mar 2025
One show: 7.30pm
This exciting show promises a memorable night of ABBA’s chart-topping classics for audiences of all ages. Over the course of two hours, you’ll be captivated by exceptional musicians and vocalists who have graced stages worldwide for over 20 years, performing the songs we all know and love. Book here.
Pleasance Theatre
60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ.
Cendrillon (Edinburgh Studio Opera)
Mon 3, Wed 5/Thurs 6 March 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Iona Boyd directs the ESO in Jules Massenet opera in four acts, based on Perrault’s version of the Cinderella fairy tale in his 1697 collection Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Kristine Donnan is on MD duties. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Dookin’ Oot (PPP)
By Éimi Quinn.
Tue 4 – Sat 8 March 2025
Lunchtime: 1pm (Trav 2).
From her Easterhouse cooncil flat, terminally ill Diane dreams of a peaceful end in the hills of snowy Switzerland, but her state pension just won’t cover it. A riotous black comedy about a wild money-making scheme in an Easterhouse cooncil flat and going out wi’ a bang!. Book here.
Driftwood (Thickskin & Pentabus)
By Tim Foley.
Tue 4/Wed 5 Mar 2025
Evening: 7.30pm (Trav 1).
Two brothers on a beach need to figure out what to do with their dad – but the sea has other ideas. Mark and Tiny walk the shore of Seaton Carew in the North East. Their dad is dying, and their town is crumbling. Family rifts and political divides try to pull them apart, while a figure made of driftwood stalks the shore at night. Book here.
The Testament of Gideon Mack (Dogstar Theatre Company)
By James Robertson, adapted for the stage by Matthew Zajac.
Thurs 6 – Sat 8 Mar 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 1).
Dogstar’s vibrant new stage version of James Robertson’s acclaimed novel tells a story of grief and the crisis of faith in our society, channelled through the story of one generous, energetic, perceptive, ashamed and very Presbyterian individual, the Reverend Gideon Mack of Monimaskit. A story of late 20th century Scotland, a story of a minister who doesn’t believe in God. Then he meets the Devil. Book here.
Piece of Work
By James Rowland.
Sat 8 Mar 2025
Two shows: 5pm & 8pm (Trav 2).
James has been touring his storytelling theatre shows for half his adult life. This year was different though. Returning home after his first stint away, he received a letter that exploded his life, and the tour became a search: for the person who sent it, for a sense of home, and to maybe save a life. Book here.
