Preview and listings: Mon 18 – Sun 24 Nov 2024
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
It’s a something for everyone week, as the King’s Panto (at the Festival Theatre) opens for previews, Faye Tozer is at the Playhouse and local amateurs are at both the Church Hill and the Siegfried room at Napier Uni.
The big tourer is 101 Dalmations at the Playhouse (Tue-Sat: tickets), with Faye Toza as fashionista Cruella de Vil putting the lives of very many, very cute, puppy puppets in the deepest of jeopardies. Note the early (7pm) start!
Still showing: Sweet FA is at Tynecastle Park. Pic: Robin Mitchell
The usual King’s Panto gang open Cinderella for previews on Saturday at the Festival Theatre (ends 31 Dec: tickets). We’ll be putting on the glass slippers and having a ball at the press night next Tuesday, (Oh yes we will!) so a full report then.
After Theatre Paradok’s short run of their The End of the Line at Augustines United Church finishes on Monday (tickets) there are a couple of classic works being staged by local amateurs.
The big one is Leitheatre at the Church Hill Theatre with Dancing at Lugnhasa, Brian Friel’s multi-award-winning play about five impoverished spinster sisters in a remote part of County Donegal in 1936, (Wed – Sat: tickets). It’s a great play and we are expecting something pretty special here.
fascinating choice
The second sees newcomers The Forth Act take on Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit at the Craiglockhart Campus of Napier university (Thurs – Sun: tickets). This is a fascinating choice of venue – the intimate Siegfried room is perfect to create an immersive feel to this drawing room comedy.
There is still a chance to catch both of Two Halves Productions’ five star shows at Tynecastle Park. A War of Two Halves (tickets) and Sweet FA (tickets) both end on Thursday and both are thoroughly recommended for all. Not just football fans – or Hearts fans for that matter.
Elsewhere, James Rowland is bringing Piece of Work his latest storytelling theatre shows to the Traverse (Thurs – Sat: tickets); local prestidigitateur Kevin Quantum has his Edinburgh Magic in the Versailles Suite of the Caledonian Hotel (Fri/Sat: tickets); and, for the spookily-inclined, there is a new horror musical, Amanda, by Joseph Helsing and Matt Walker at the Banshee Labyrinth (Sat/Sun: tickets).
And, finally, Scottish Opera is at the Usher Hall with The Puccini Collection on Friday only (tickets). The concert marks the centenary of the great composer’s death with favourite arias and extended excerpts from Giacomo Puccini’s varied and vibrant career.
Listings for the week to Sunday 24 November 2024:
Click on the name of the show or the Book here link to go to its ticketing site.
Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL
The End of the Line (Theatre Paradok)
Fri 15 – Mon 18 November 2024.
Fri, Sun, Mon: 7.30pm.
Æ review: ★★★☆☆ Light-hearted
A politician and a psychic walk into a… train. No, it’s not the start of a bad joke but it is the beginning of the end. Of the world. Six almost strangers stuck on the tube with an incoming ballistic missile. Sounds like a laugh right? A play full of old loves, last wishes and surreal 80s dance sequences. Well, there’s only one of them. It’s basically a ‘how to guide’ to living in the face of death. How topical! Book here.
The Banshee Labyrinth
29-35 Niddry St, EH1 1LG.
Amanda: A New Horror Musical (Shock Horror)
Sat 23/Sun 24 Nov 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
A new series of horror musicals written by Joseph Helsing and Matt Walker that tap into our deepest, darkest fears and desires. Amanda is a very strange and, some would say twisted girl. She’s lived what one might call a “colourful” life. But now she’s gone and got herself kidnapped in the middle of the night by a demented serial killer known as “The Creep”. This promises to be a night neither of them will ever forget. Book here.
The Caledonian Hotel
Princes Street, EH1 2AB.
Edinburgh Magic (Kevin Quantum)
Fri 22 Sat 23 Nov 2024;
Two shows each day: 6pm & 8.30pm (Versailles Suite).
Æ Review: ★★★★☆ Rosy
Kevin Quantum performs an hour of magic that’s fooled some of the most brilliant and creative people ever to have lived, often times with strong links to Edinburgh and Scotland. An elegant, intimate and quite astonishing evening of magic, mystery and wonder in one of Edinburgh’s most historic and enchanting hotels. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Dancing at Lugnhasa (Leitheatre)
Wed 20 – Sat 23 November 2024.
Wed – Fri: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Leitheatre with Brian Friel’s multi-award-winning play about five impoverished spinster sisters in a remote part of County Donegal in 1936. With them live seven year-old Michael their older brother, Jack a missionary priest newly returned from Africa. Events of that summer are recalled by the adult Michael, unfolding a tender study of these women’s lives. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Cinderella
Sat 23 Nov – Tue 31 Dec 2024
Tue – Sat: 2pm &7pm; Sun: 1pm & 5pm.
Join returning panto favourites Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and Jordan Young with a new magical pantomime for all the family. Packed with all of the traditional pantomime ingredients, Cinderella features laugh-out-loud comedy, stunning scenery, beautiful costumes and plenty of boos and hisses as Cinders goes from rags to riches, outwits her very wicked sisters and meets her Prince Charming. Book here.
Napier University
The Siegfried Room, Craiglockhart Campus, 219 Colinton Road, EH14 1DJ
Blithe Spirit (The Forth Act)
Thur 21 – Sun 24 November 2024.
Thur – Sat: 7pm; Sat/Sun mat: 2pm.
The Forth Act will be delighted to invite you into Mr Charles Condomine’s drawing room to observe psychical phenomena with the wonderful Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit. Be excited by the arrival of Elvira and the amazement of the assembled diners as the story unfolds! Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
101 Dalmatians
Tue 19 – Sat 23 Nov 2024
Evenings: 7pm; Wed, Sat: 2pm.
When fashionista Cruella de Vil plots to swipe all the Dalmatian puppies in town to create her fabulous new fur coat, there’s trouble ahead for Pongo and Perdi and their litter of adorable, tail-wagging young pups. Book here.
Jason Manford – A Manford All Seasons
Sun 24 Nov 2024
Evening: 7.30pm.
Jason’s been busy since his last smash-hit stand up show but fans of his Absolute Radio show will know this nationally acclaimed comedian hasn’t changed a bit. A Manford All Seasons is Jason’s latest comic offering set to hit the road, and is sure to be ‘expert observational comedy’ (The Guardian) mixed with ‘comic gold’ (Mail on Sunday). Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Piece of Work (Attic Theatre Company)
By James Rowland.
Thur 21- Sat 23 Nov 2024
Evening: 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.
Felicity Ward: I’m exhausting (Live Nation)
By Felicity Ward.
Sat 23 Nov 2024
Evening: 7.30pm (Trav 1).
In a two hour laugh out loud extravaganza, Felicity Ward talks about something that no one has ever done before – she had a baby. The show is about pregnancy, and not getting pregnant, and birth, and post-natal depression, and motherhood, and identity, and sexuality, and the disintegration of how things were, and missing home, and quorn, and transition lenses, and fingering. All the big things. All of them. Book here.
Tynecastle Park
Gorgie Road, EH11 2NL
A War of Two Halves (Two Halves Productions)
Mon 18 – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
Mon, Thurs: 6pm; Mon, Wed: 8.15pm.
Æ review: ★★★★★ Heart-rending
The poignant and powerful tale of the Heart of Midlothian players who, in 1915, showed tremendous courage and team spirit to volunteer en masse for McCrae’s Battalion (16th Battalion, Royal Scots). More remarkable, is that at the time they were the best team in Scotland and were well on their way to being crowned league champions. Book here.
Sweet FA (Two Halves Productions)
Tue 19 – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
Tue, Wed: 6pm; Tue, Thurs: 8.15pm
Æ Review: ★★★★★ Earthy
2024 marks 50 years since the lifting of the ban on Women playing football in Scotland. Remarkable given that, before the ban was introduced in 1921, Women’s football was increasingly becoming more popular than the men’s game. This vibrant musical play tells the inspiring tale of an Edinburgh factory team in 1915, united by their passion for the beautiful game and their unwavering support and love for one another. Book here.
Usher Hall
Lothian Road, EH1 2EA.
The Puccini Collection (Scottish Opera)
Fri 22 Nov 2024.
Evening: 7.30pm.
To mark the centenary of the great composer’s death, the concert features favourite arias and extended excerpts from Giacomo Puccini’s varied and vibrant career. From rare earlier works Le villi and Edgar to glorious highlights from masterpieces such as Tosca, La fanciulla del West and La bohème, it celebrates one of the most popular and beloved opera composers. Book here.
*NB: This is intended to be a complete listing of all public theatrical productions on in Edinburgh. If you are staging a show which is not listed, or a listing is inaccurate, please get in touch through the contact page, here.
