Edinburgh International Festival
Mary QoS Ballet for EIF
Scottish Ballet to premiere Mary, Queen of Scots ballet at EIF 2025
Scottish Ballet is adding a new full-length narrative ballet about Mary, Queen of Scots to its repertoire, with a premiere at next summer’s Edinburgh International Festival, followed by a Scottish tour.
The Fifth Step (EIF)
★★★☆☆ Diffuse
The National Theatre of Scotland’s The Fifth Step at the Lyceum as part of the International Festival is a keenly observed and notably well acted piece that nevertheless lacks sustained impact.
The Outrun (EIF)
★★★★☆ Grandeur
The Outrun, from the International Festival and the Lyceum at the Church Hill Theatre for the whole three weeks, is a hugely ambitious, beautifully staged and extremely impressive production.
Please Right Back (EIF)
★★★★☆ Dizzying invention
Kent-based company 1927 use their signature combination of live action and animation to great effect in the International Festival’s Please Right Back at the Studio.
Life is a Dream (EIF)
★★★☆☆ Patchy
Life is a Dream, from Cheek by Jowl at the Lyceum in the International Festival, has moments of beauty and humour but never coheres into the spectacle it promises to be.
Dimanche (EIF)
★★★★☆ Hugely inventive
Dimanche at the Church Hill is a magically inventive display. The International Festival production is a collaboration between two Belgian companies – Focus, who use puppets and miniature objects and Chaliwaté, a physical theatre troupe. Both of these approaches are in evidence in a constantly engaging spectacle.
Thrown (EIF)
★★★★☆ Substantial
The National Theatre of Scotland’s Thrown, at the Traverse as part of the International Festival, is an intelligent and powerful piece of theatre.
EIF Launches 2023 edition
First Benedetti festival asks “Where do we go from here?”
The Edinburgh International Festival has launched its 2023 programme under the title of Where Do We Go From Here? inspired by Martin Luther King Jr’s last book.
The End of Eddy (EIF)
★★★★☆ Enthusiastic
The End of Eddy’s unflinching examination of small-town prejudice is done with verve and humour at the Church Hill Theatre as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
Muster Station: Leith (EIF)
★★★★☆ Chilling
Muster Station: Leith, by immersive theatre specialists Grid Iron for the EIF, uses the halls and corridors of Leith Academy to suggest what it might be like when the climate emergency reaches a crisis point, here, in Edinburgh.
