Citizens Theatre
Book Festival Round-Up – The Second Half
Farewell to Art College and Nick Barley
The 40th anniversary Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the last of Nick Barley’s 14 years as director, concluded with its usual intriguing mix of one-off events, writes Hugh Simpson.
Disappearing Act
Scottish producing theatre in existential danger
Scotland’s producing theatre sector, which includes the Traverse and the Lyceum, is in imminent danger of collapse unless it can take collective action on a number of different fronts, according to a major new report.
Moonset
★★★☆☆ Brave
Moonset, Maryam Hamidi’s coming-of-age story from the Citizens Theatre at the Traverse, is full of fire and anger. Its wilful refusal to settle down proves both a strength and a weakness.
On Stage Mon 13 – Sun 19 Feb 2023
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week…
It’s a big musicals week for Edinburgh’s amateur theatre companies with no less than three big musicals hitting the stage this week, along with touring theatre from the Citizens.
The Macbeths
★★★★☆ Bloody good
The Macbeths, the Citizens’ concentrated revision of Macbeth, supplies a charge that is so often missing in versions of the play.
Fibres
★★★★☆ Emotive
Fibres, the online filmed version of the 2019 Citizens and Stellar Quines co-production, offers humour, emotion and political impact.
#TakeASeat
★★★★★ Necessary mementos:
Theatre, as we knew it, might not have made a return to the Lyceum just yet, but there is enough drama in the #TakeASeat exhibition, viewable in the foyer until October 3, to engage as performance.
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti
★★☆☆☆ Flat:
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti at the Lyceum is full of energy and has no shortage of comic potential. However, the end result is puzzlingly uninvolving.
![The Duchess [of Malfi]](http://www.alledinburghtheatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2.-Angus-Miller-as-Ferdinand-and-Kirsty-Stuart-as-The-Duchess.-Photo-credit-Mihaela-Bodlovic-190x127.jpg "The Duchess [of Malfi]")
The Duchess [of Malfi]
★★★★☆ Necessarily nightmarish:
The blood-soaked events of The Duchess [of Malfi], a co-production between the Lyceum and the Citizens Theatre, are almost unwatchably intense at times. As a depiction of timeless and timely considerations, however, this production is hard to beat.
The Dark Carnival
★★★☆☆ Striking:
In The Dark Carnival, Vanishing Point has crafted a strangely fascinating but oddly frustrating entertainment – theatre-cum-gig-cum-cabaret that impresses in fits and starts.
