Listings Mon 10 – Sun 16 June 2019
On Edinburgh’s stages this week:
If its an 80s Jukebox Musical, a steampunk opera or a couple of modern riffs on The Tempest you are hankering after, then this is the week for you.
Elsewhere, Edinburgh’s stages have a big mix of one-off events, intriguing local stories, youth companies and writing so sparkly new it hasn’t even had its dramaturgy yet.
Emily Tierney in Club Tropicana.
The biggest hair in town is at the Playhouse, where X Factor winner and Dream Coat wearer Joe McElderry, EastEnders‘ Neil McDermott, Dinnerladies‘ Kate Robbins, Emily Tierney (last seen in Wicked) and – making her musical theatre debut – former Sugababe Amelle Berrabah are getting down to Club Tropicana.
Over at the Festival Theatre, Scottish Opera has three more performances of its glorious Steampunk take on The Magic Flute. It’s a hugely comic affair which just about makes sense of the plot but really excels when it comes to the singing. Well worth catching if you can.
If modern takes on the Bard are more your thing, then there are two updates on The Tempest to whet your Shakespearean whistle.
Up at the Storytelling Centre, Timesync, Jen McGregor’s take for the Edinburgh Acting School, has the time bubble containing Prospero, the wronged Duke of Milan, collapsing. But at last his enemies’ descendants are within his reach and it’s time for an ancient wrong to be put right…
Down at the Arthur Street Theatre, Edinburgh Little Theatre have got their dance shoes on and are getting down to Return to the Forbidden Planet.
Elsewhere there’s work in progress from Gary McNair at the Trav, a clutch of new plays inspired by the songs of Kate Bush at the Rose and at the Assembly Roxy, new work from the Tandem Writing Collective and the first puppetry scratch night.
Not quite so as-yet unformed, but still shiny new, there’s Strange Town’s double bill of new work at the Trav, Little Boxes and Stolen Futures. While down in the Leith Dockers Club, the ever reliable Citadel Arts Group has Sea Changes, a new play by Jim Brown based on the true histories of those who sailed on Leith’s SS Explorer.
Listings Mon 10 – Sun 16 June 2019
Arthur Street Theatre
19 Arthur Street, EH6 5DA
Return to the Forbidden Planet
Wed 12 – Sat 15 June 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm; Mat Sat: 2.30pm.
Bob Carlton’s smash hit West End musical takes the 1956 film, with plot taken from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, raids the Bard’s other plays at will and sets it to a score of great pop hits from the 1960s and 70s including: Heard it Through the Grapevine, Young Girl, Good Vibrations and Gloria. Book here.
Assembly Roxy
Assembly Roxy, 2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU. Phone booking: 0131 623 3030.
Tandem Writing Collective
Fri 14 June 2019
Evening: 7.30pm.
Established and run by playwrights, Amy Hawes, Jennifer Adam and Mhairi Quinn, Tandem features tasters of topical new scripts by the three writers, performed script in hand by the best local actors and featuring talented new directors. Book here.
Puppetry Scratch Night
Fri 14 June 2019
Evening: 8pm.
Five companies with five new pieces, workshopped with support from puppetry expert Gavin Glover and director Nikki Kalkman. These are presented in a wonderful evening of 15 minute bite-sized puppetry antics – never before seen in front of a live (or even puppet) audience. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Scottish Opera: The Magic Flute
Tue 11, Thu 13 & Sat 15 June 2019
Evenings: 7.15pm.
Set in a spectacular world inspired by the Victorian futurism of HG Wells and Jules Verne, this Magic Flute balances the opera’s beguiling mix of comedy, fantasy and pantomime with a profound story of the search for wisdom, love and truth. Book here.
King’s Theatre
2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors
Thurs 13 – Sun 16 June 2019.
Thurs 10.30am, Fri 7pm, Sat 2.30pm, Sun 11am
Horrible Histories: Awful Egyptians
Thurs 13 – Sun 16 June 2019.
Thurs 1.30pm; Fri 10.30am; Sat 7pm: Sun 3pm.
History – with the gory bits left in. Brought to the stage with actors and 3D special effects historical figures and events come alive and hover at your fingertips… Book here.
Leith Dockers Club
17–17a Academy Street, EH6 7EE
Sea Changes
Wed 12 – Fri 14 June 2019
Wed/Thurs: 7.30pm; Fri: 2pm.
Part of Leith Festival. Citadel Arts Group present Jim Brown’s play inspired by stories and memories of the scientists, officers, cook and crew who worked on board Leith’s SS Explorer. Young Sean, fresh out of Craig Inches jail, can finish his sentence as a crew member. But life on the Explorer proves as challenging as prison. Tickets £9/£7 from ftennick@hotmail.com.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Knives in Hens
Tue 11 June 2019
Evening: 7.30pm
See preview: Pauline Knowles Remembered.
This unique performed reading reunites many of the original team from the play’s first production at the Traverse in 1995, in tribute to the late Pauline Knowles, who famously created the lead role of the Young Woman, and who passed away last year. More than twenty-five actors will share the archetypal role of the Young Woman in varying combinations and accumulations, in a new approach to this famous contemporary classic. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Club Tropicana
Tue 11 Jun – Sat 15 June 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinee Weds, Sat: 2.30pm.
Welcome to the vibrant Club Tropicana Hotel – the 1980’s answer to Love Island, where the drinks are free and the whole family is invited to join the ultimate holiday musical, celebrating a time when hair was big, shoulders were padded and mobiles weighed a tonne… Book now.
Rose Theatre
The Gilded Balloon Basement, 204 Rose Street, EH2 4AZ.
Six Plays Inspired by the Songs of Kate Bush
Wed 12 June 2019
Evening: 8pm
Short Attention Span Theatre with half a dozen plays inspired by the songs of Kate Bush.
The Man With The Child In His Eyes by Ian Low; Under Ice by John Wilde; Wow by Carl Pickard; King of the Mountain by Alex Cox; Houdini by Felix O’Brien and The Man With The Child In His Eyes by Tom Murray
Book here.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Netherbow Theatre, 43-45 High Street, EH1 1SR Box Office: 0131 556 9579
Timesync
Fri 14/Sat 15 June 2019
Evening: 7.30pm
Four hundred years is a long time to wait for revenge, but Prospero, the wronged Duke of Milan, has infinite patience… Adapted specially for the students of Edinburgh Acting School, Timesync blends Shakespeare’s The Tempest with brand new text from award-winning writer Jen McGregor. Book here.
Traverse Theatre
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Gary McNair: Work in Progress
Thurs 13 – Fri 14 June 2019
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Award-winning writer, performer and Traverse Associate Artist Gary McNair returns with two scratch performances where he explores new material in his own unmissable style. Gary’s previous work includes: Locker Room Talk, Square Go, After the Cuts, McGonagall’s Chronicles (Which Will Be Remembered For A Very Long Time), Letters to Morrissey and A Gambler’s Guide to Dying. Book here.
Little Boxes
Fri 14 – Sat 15 June 2019
Evening: 7pm.
It’s not easy being a teenager – but is it getting harder? Sarah and Claire think so. Watching as their generation suffers in silence. Will they see each other and know that they aren’t alone? Can they break out of their little box? Strange Town with Catherine Exposito’s exploration of mental health and societal pressure on young people today. Book here.
Stolen Futures
Fri 14 – Sat 15 June 2019
Evening: 8.30pm.
Strange Town with James Beagon’s Stolen Futures. Is survival enough? Struggling to live in a post-apocalyptic world, Becky had never seen a plane until the strangers landed, offering a better future. Book here.
ENDS
