Listings Mon 8 – Sun 14 April

Apr 7 2019 | By More

What’s on Edinburgh’s Stages this week…

Edinburgh schools have broken up for the Easter Holidays, and there is plenty for them to see over the next couple of weeks, as well as some strong material for an adult audience.

First mention must go to the Science Festival, which has its own listing here: Theatrical Frontiers at Science Fest. This just looks at one facet of the festival, however, and there is always plenty to do for a family audience.

Aliens Love Underpants

The big mention at the Science Festival is for Melody and Sam, Record Breakers. This show, for over fives, is devised by Caitlin Skinner (director) and performers Alice Mary Cooper and Ben Winger, with design by Mamoru Iriguchi. All are capable of creating work that is a little bit special, so this is one to look forward to.

On a completely different tip for the young, the adaptation of Claire Freedman and Ben Cort’s picture book, Aliens Love Underpants, arrives at the King’s on Friday for the weekend. One for the over threes.

Also worth mentioning is Matlida The Musical, which our reviewer loved and is thoroughly recommended for over eights. It is splendid storytelling, which fits with Dahl’s original and should entertain an adult audience as much as the youngsters.

On the musical front Local Hero is still going strong and, while our reviewer was not as enamoured of it as some, has been picking up very strong notices, and not just from the local press.

a strong constitution

There is a big amateur showing this week with four productions on the go. In terms of straight theatre and for a decidedly adult audience (18+) and those of a strong constitution, EGTG is staging Hand to God at Assembly Roxy. The Makars have Norman Robbins tight thriller Prescription for Murder at the Church Hill from Thursday.

On a musicals tip, and probably with an appeal to a very wide age range, Forth Children’s Theatre’s Spring show is Whistle Down the Wind at the Edinburgh Accademy from Wednesday. While MAMA’s annual musical is Lionel Bart’s Blitz! at the Brunton from Thursday.


Don’t overlook the Traverse’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint season, which kicks off on Tuesday lunchtime with the revival of Chic Murray – a Funny Place for a Window and continues for six weeks with a different play each week.

Dance fans will be looking to the Festival Theatre where Victoria, Northern Ballet’s new biopic, brings the sensational story of Queen Victoria to life in dance.

There is a pretty special one-off treat on Sunday night at St Andrews & St George’s West, where a scratch team of singers are staging The Tumbling Lassie and Fergus of Galloway, a double bill of operettas by Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham.

Listings

Click on the name of the show to go to its ticketing site.

Assembly Roxy
Assembly Roxy, 2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU. Phone booking: 0131 623 3030
IN PROGRESS: Chasm
Sunday 7/Monday 8 April 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm (Downstairs).
Taking as its focal point the 2014 bin lorry crash in George Square, Claire McCracken’s new play, delves into the lives of three women in Glasgow over the course of two days: Before and After. It explores how people are both brought together and pulled apart in times of crisis, and asks whether it’s possible to change ourselves, or if we are only ever changed by the things that happen to us. Previewed at the Traverse Theatre last year as part of Wildfire Theatre’s Project #1. Book here.
Hand to God
Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 April 2019
Tue – Thurs, Sat: 8pm (no show Fri 12).
EGTG with Robert Askins’ very adult comedy that explores the startling fragile nature of faith, morality, and familial ties that bind. Mild-mannered, shy Jason has sought solace in his mother’s Christian puppet ministry after the death of his father. In the basement of a conservative church in Cypress, Texas, Jason discovers a blossoming talent for puppetry and thinks that things might just turn out okay. Book here.

The Brunton
Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA. Phone booking: 0131 665 2240
Blitz!
Thursday 11 – Saturday 13 April 2019.
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinee Sat: 2pm.
MAMA take on Lionel Bart’s follow-up musical to Oliver! Set predominantly in London’s East End during World War II, this moving musical evokes the highs and lows and the struggles and spirit of Londoners during the Blitz. Book Here.

Church Hill Theatre
33a Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Prescription for Murder
Thursday 11 – Saturday 13 April 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm.
In the seemingly quiet town of Bere Knighton there is never a dull moment for Dr. Richard Forth. Not only does he have a hectic work schedule and an awkward friendship with his ex-girlfriend, but his wife, Barbara, is constantly ill and nobody knows what is wrong with her. The Makars stage Norman Robbins tight thriller. Book here.

Edinburgh Academy
42 Henderson Row, EH3 5BL
Whistle Down The Wind
Wednesday 10 – Saturday 13 April 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinee, Sat: 2.30pm.
Ben King directs Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of the 1961 film, set in America’s Deep South in the late fifties. Swallow, struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother, discovers a mysterious stranger whom she believes is Jesus. In a town where a miracle is long overdue, the children fight to protect him from an adult world determined to find an escaped convict hiding in their midst. Book here.

Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Northern Ballet: Victoria
Wed 10 – Sat 13 April 2019
Evenings 7.30pm; Matinees Thu & Sat 2.30pm.
Northern Ballet’s new biopic brings the sensational story of Queen Victoria to life in dance. Choreographed by Cathy Marston, creator of the Northern Ballet’s acclaimed Jane Eyre. Book here.

King’s Theatre
2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Aliens Love Underpants
Fri 12 Apr to Sun 14 Apr 2019
Fri: 1.30pm; Sat/Sun: 11am & 2pm.
This zany and hilarious tale based on the best-selling children’s book is brought to life on stage for the very first time. With stunning effects, madcap action, original music (and lots of aliens of course!) this fantastically fresh and funny production will delight the whole family. Book here.

Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848
Local Hero
Thurs 14 March – Sat 4 May 2019
Evenings Tue – Sat: 7.30pm; Matinees Weds, Sat: 2pm.
A wry comedy about a man who sets out to buy a beach, but ends up losing his heart to a village, Bill Forsyth’s magical Local Hero takes to the stage with new music and songs by the legendary Mark Knopfler.
A co-production with The Old Vic. Book here.

Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Matilda The Musical 
Tuesday 2 – Saturday 27 April 2019
Evenings (not Suns): 7.30pm; Matinee Weds, Sat: 2.30pm.
With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, this Royal Shakespeare Company production is the story inspired by the book by Roald Dahl.of an extraordinary little girl who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny. Book now.

Pleasance Theatre
Pleasance Courtyard, 60 Pleasance EH8 9TJ.
Melody and Sam: Record Breakers
Thursday 11 — Saturday 13 April 2019
11am & 1.30pm: Quaker Studio, Pleasance
Science Festival Show: Sam and Melody want to break a world record. They train every day. They want to be the best, the fastest, the strongest, the largest, the longest – anything so long as they get their names in the big record book. Their official record attempt is just around the corner, when a message brings news that will possibly break up the team forever and take them on a journey across the seas, through the waves and into the deep. Book here.

St Andrews & St George’s West
13 George Street, EH2 2PA
The Tumbling Lassie and Fergus of Galloway
Sunday 14 April 2019
Evening: 7.30pm
A double bill of operettas by Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham – one operetta telling the story of one of the earliest known works in Scottish literature, the romance of Fergus of Galloway, and the other bringing to life the true tale of The Tumbling Lassie, a drama of slavery in Scotland in 1687 which still resonates today. See EdFringe 2018 review: ★★★★☆ Jaunty.  Book here.

Traverse Theatre
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
PPP: Chic Murray – A Funny Place for a Window
Tue 9 – Sat 13 Apr 2019
Lunchtimes Tue – Sat: 1pm; Fri evening: 7pm (Trav 2). 
The “Comedian’s Comedian” Chic Murray passed away in Edinburgh in 1985. On his last day on this earth, Chic takes a musical look back at the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies of a glittering, but tragically flawed career that took him from an engineer’s apprenticeship in Kincaid’s Shipyard, Greenock, to the top of the bill at The London Palladium. Book here.

dressed. 
Thurs 11 – Sat 13 Apr 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 1) 
Multi-award-winning ThisEgg combine choreography, live sewing, comedy and original music to celebrate the power clothes have to define us, to liberate us, to hide us and to embellish us. Book here.

ENDS

Tags: , , , ,

Comments are closed.