Preview and listings: Mon 17 – Sun 23 March 2025
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
It’s all about the Lyceum this week, where the first reviews are in for Wild Rose – and the news is that the show is a five star corker which uses country music to its best advantage in what is essentially a high-grade juke-box musical (ends April 19: tickets)
Not only that, but the theatre has just announced that it has the only Scottish date on the limited 2026 tour of Prima Facie, (Feb 3-7 2026: tickets from March 25) with Jodie Comer reprising her award-winning role as lawyer Tessa. Full details in our news story here.
The Death of A Salesman cast. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
Back on planet now, David Hayman stars in Andy Arnold’s production of the great Death of a Salesman at the Festival Theatre (Wed – Sat: tickets). A big, powerful performance in a similar play, by all accounts.
Local amateurs EPT are at the Church Hill this week, with Simon Gray’s delicate, moving and yet consistently funny play Quartermain’s Terms (Wed – Sat: tickets), which won him the Cheltenham Prize in 1982. It’s a “★★★★☆ Considered” production according to our review here.
Lunchtime theatre continues at the Traverse, where Lana Pheutan’s Skye-set Eilidh Eilidh Eilidh (Tue – Sat: tickets) is “accomplished and engrossing to the end” according to our reviewer Hugh Simpson who gave it four stars in his review here.
There is a welcome return from Sauchtonhall Drama Group who have a double bill of comedy (Tue – Sat: tickets) at Saughtonhall United Church, featuring a pair of pieces that are favourites of the SCDA one-act theatre festival. Heavens Above by Diana Raffle and CCTV by Derek Webb.
script-in-hand
Elsewhere, the students of the Scottish Institute are at Assembly Roxy with A Monster Calls (Wed/Thurs: tickets); and Erin Boulter is giving a script-in-hand, read-through rehearsal of their new script Play On at the Nicholson Square Venues (Tue, Thurs/Fri: tickets) ahead of a Fringe run in August.
Junior dance fans can revel in Northern Ballet’s take on Hansel & Gretel at the Festival Theatre (Sun: tickets); and older comedy fans can chortle at Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd at the Playhouse (Sat: tickets) with a live take of their podcast Here Comes the Guillotine.
Listings
Click on the name of the show or the Book here link to go to its ticketing site.
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
A Monster Calls (Scottish Institute)
Wed 19/Thurs 20 Mar 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm (Upstairs).
“Stories are wild creatures,” the monster said. “When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?” Thirteen-year-old Conor has been managing since his dad left. But now, his mum is sick, and nothing seems to help. His grandmother’s constant interference and the silent stares of classmates only make things harder. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Quartermaine’s Terms (EPT)
Wed 19 – Sat 22 March 2025.
Wed-Fri: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Æ Review: ★★★★☆ Considered.
Cambridge, the 1960s. Seven teachers gravitate between classes to the staff-room of their small British school for foreign students. St John Quartermaine is a permanent fixture in the room, always on hand to hear about his colleague’s many private dramas. Quartermaine himself doesn’t have a private life. The school is his world and has been for as long as he can remember. But does the school need him as much as he needs the school? Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Death of a Salesman
Wed 19 – Sat 22 Mar 2025
Evenings: 7.30pm; Mats: Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
One of the greatest plays of the twentieth century explodes onto the stage in Andy Arnold’s fresh new production staring David Hayman. This timeless, powerful story takes you on a thrilling journey through the final 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life, filled with his memories, dreams, and struggles and pitting a father’s expectations against his sons realities. Book here.
Hansel & Gretel (Northern Ballet)
Sun 23 March 2025
Two shows: 1.30pm & 3.30pm.
In Northern Ballet reimagined children’s ballet, Hansel and Gretel take a walk through the woods, unaware of the damage they leave behind. But when they get lost, they meet a host of spirited friends who teach them how we can all better look after the planet – and have some fun along the way. Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Wild Rose
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Caledonia Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions
Ends: Sat 19 Apr 2025
Daily (not Sun/Mon): 7.30pm. Wed, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Æ Review: ★★★★★ Triumphant.
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.
Nicholson Square Venues
25 Nicolson Square, EH8 9BX
Play On (Read-through rehearsal)
Tue 18 – Fri 21 Mar 2025
Tue, Thurs/Fri: 6pm.
Two estranged siblings are stuck in an escape room looking for their mother’s will in this dark comedy with a Shakespearian twist by Erin Boulter. This script-in-hand reading is a preview for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe run at Paradise in the Vault. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Here Comes the Guillotine – Live
Sat 22 Mar 2025
One show: 7.30pm.
Join Frankie Boyle; Susie McCabe and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd; for an evening of live comedy ramblings. Whether you are a former Bible John suspect; a connoisseur of the film career of Sammo Hung, or a retired member of the Provisional IRA, this show has something for everyone. Book here.
Saughtonhall United Reform Church
85-87 Saughtonhall Drive, EH12 5TR.
A Double Bill of Comedy (Saughtonhall Drama Group)
Tue 18 – Sat 22 March 2025
Tue – Fri: 7.30pm; Sat: 2.30pm only.
Comedy double bill. Heavens Above by Diana Raffle concerns Sally, who is dead, or so she has been informed by the officious celestial administrator covering for St Peter, who is busy dealing with a rush in Bognor. And CCTV by Derek Webb set in the security control room of The Oaks shopping centre on what seems a ordinary evening – until the arrival of Keith, a robber of quite breathtaking incompetence... Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Eilidh Eilidh Eilidh (PPP)
By Lana Pheutan.
Tue 18 – Sat 22 March 2025
Lunchtime: 1pm (Trav 1).
Æ Review: ★★★★☆ Accomplished
When cousins Eilidh and Eilidh Bheag drunkenly stumble out of a Skye pub, they are met with absolute quiet. No passing cars to take them home, no parties to crash, no place to call their own… just empty ‘homes’. They decide enough is enough and break into one of the houses to stage a protest. In the morning, as the cousins sober up and work out what on earth they’ve done, they hear a pair of footsteps on the stairs and realise they’ve got it all wrong. Book here.
ENDS
