Andrew Rothney
Book Festival 2025 – the final round-up
McDermid play and other performances
The final few days of the Book Festival featured several more theatre-adjacent events, with one of the most eagerly anticipated being And Midnight Never Come, Val McDermid’s play about Christopher Marlowe, which was given a script-in-hand performance in conjunction with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, directed by Philip Howard.
Blinded by the Light
★★★★☆ Heartfelt
Blinded by the Light, which stopped off at the Traverse for one night only as part of a tour, is a deeply felt and very well performed piece with clear links to the community that inspired it.
Grain In The Blood
★★★☆☆ Well performed:
Strong performances and notably high production values distinguish Grain In The Blood at the Traverse, but an initially chilling ambience is not sustained.
Rothney subbed in James plays
James II actor will not return this week:
Andrew Rothney, the actor playing James II who sustained an onstage football-related injury on Saturday, has been sidelined for the remaining Edinburgh performances of the James Plays.
The James Plays
The James Plays Trilogy: ★★★★☆
Eighteen months after their first outing, the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of the James Plays trilogy remains a theatrical event worth anybody’s time and money.
Football injury hits NTS James II
Onstage incident puts actor in hospital:
The actor playing the title role in James II in the National Theatre of Scotland’s James Plays trilogy was rushed to hospital on Saturday, following an incident during an on-stage football game.
James II: Day of the Innocents
★★★☆☆ Chilling
There’s a chilling tone to much of James II: Day of The Innocents. Quieter and more brooding than the plays which bookend it, it provides a necessary contrast, but is the least impressive of the three on its own terms.
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