Shakespeare
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
★★★☆☆ Clear
New grassroots company Gutter Theatre give a commendably solid showing for their inaugural production: Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, playing upstairs at Assembly Roxy to Saturday.
The Fairy Queen
★★★☆☆ Dreamlike
Edinburgh Studio Opera’s production of The Fairy Queen, at the Pleasance until Thursday, takes on the many challenges of Henry Purcell’s much-adapted augmentation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Romeo and Juliet
★★★☆☆ Expansive
Romeo and Juliet, from the Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company at the Pleasance, is a production on a grand scale. There is much about it that is praiseworthy, but in the end its ambition does prove a disadvantage.
Pantomeo and Juliet
★★★☆☆ Star-cross’d
Pig’s Ear Productions, the group responsible for last year’s Panto Macbeth are back with another heavily abridged and somewhat embroidered Shakespeare in Pantomeo and Juliet, at Riddles Court for the last week of the Fringe.
King Lear
★★★★★ Unmissable
Pip Utton is back for a thirty-first year at the Fringe with his new monodrama King Lear, at the Pleasance Courtyard for the final two weeks of the fringe only.
A Pound of Flesh
★★★☆☆ Unjustified
Arbery Theatre brings A Pound of Flesh, a reimagining of a Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, to theSpace on the Mile for a full run of the Fringe in a production that asks: What if Portia never came to Venice?
Necessary Cat’s Double Bill
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: ★★★☆☆ Funny
Julius Caesar: ★★★★☆ Relevant
This year’s double bill from Necessary Cat, playing Hill Street for the last fortnight of the Fringe, brings together comedy and tragedy in the form of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar.
Juliet and Romeo
★★★★☆ Strong
Edinburgh Youth Theatre tackles arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play this Fringe, rising to the challenge with Juliet and Romeo, a reimagined take on the tragedy of love, loss, and senseless violence.
Hamlet – Wakefulness
★★★☆☆ Keyed up
Hamlet – Wakefulness, at Summerhall for the Fringe’s first two weeks, is an undoubtedly powerful affair, whose eventual effect is decidedly mixed.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
★★★★☆ Dreamy
Arkle’s presentation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Scots Club for the Fringe’s second week is an extremely impressive, thoroughly enjoyable affair.
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