Listings: Mon 4 – Sun 10 April 2022
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week..
Edinburgh’s stages, big and small, regular and irregular, have some excellent pieces of work on them this week. Here’s a wee taste of what you can find…
There are big musicals at the Playhouse (Dreamgirls) and Festival (Beautiful), a popular novel adaptation at the King’s (The Da Vinci Code), football theatre at Easter Road (1902), magic at the Storytelling Centre (The Trick that Fooled) and braw Scottish comedy at the the Brunton (Jack Docherty – Nothing But).
There are also smaller – but no less intriguing – pieces of musical theatre at the Pleasance and Queens Hall, raw new writing at the Wee Red Bar, feminist dance at Assembly Roxy, more works in progress at the Lyceum’s Wonder Festival and the latest piece of lunchtime theatre at the Traverse.
A scene from Dreamgirls at the Playhouse. Pic: Dreamgirls.
Fans of musical theatre have plenty of choice. The big one is probably Dreamgirls, the story of a girl group in the 1960s, which hits the Playhouse for a fortnight, but Beautiful, the Carole King musical, charting her rise to stardom, has equally strong musical production values.
Fans of smaller opera – not to mention the Scotland Street novels – are in for a treat with a double-bill of short operettas by Tom Cunningham and Alexander McCall Smith at the Queens Hall. The Tumbling Lassie is notable for its marking of a turning point in the history of slavery in Scotland and was at the 2018 Fringe (★★★★☆ Jaunty) while Dandie Dinmont is getting its Edinburgh debut.
G&S fans will be happy that the university student company EuSOG is bring the second production of Pirates of Penzance to hit Edinburgh’s stages in three weeks, at the Pleasance.
Full-blown, big scale theatre for its own sake is in short supply, this week, however. The Da Vinci Code is at the King’s and as adaptations go, it has had reasonable notices. Given the book’s huge popularity, it will no doubt attract a large crowd.
There’s a strong attempt to keep it real in the smallest venues. We’ve previewed 1902, which is playing Easter Road for four nights (1902 – returns home and away), while Broadsword Theatre is bringing a new play, Contact, to the Wee Red Bar and Blinded by the Light, a new work by Sylvia Dow, gets a performed reading at the Traverse.
Listings
Click on the name of the show to go to its ticketing site.
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
Remedy for a Memory
Sat 9 April 2022
Evening : 7.30pm (Roxy Central).
A divine feminine fantasy, a dance theatre experience that transcends the boundaries of our reality. Broadcast LIVE from the abstracted realms of a TV talk show, tune in as four women explore healing, cosmic wanderings, corporate wellbeing, desire and discovery. Book here.
The Brunton
Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA. Phone booking: 0131 665 2240
Jack Docherty – Nothing But
Fri 8 April 2022
Evening: 7.30pm (Theatre).
Following rave reviews and a sell-out run at Edinburgh Festival 2021 (we said: ★★★★☆ Oddly serious), Jack Docherty, the BAFTA award-winning star of Scot Squad and Absolutely, and one of Scotland’s favourite comic performers, is taking his critically-acclaimed play out on tour. Book here.
Easter Road Stadium
12 Albion Place, EH7 5QG
1902
Thurs 7 – Sun 10 April 2022
Evening : 7.30pm.
Preview: 1902 Returns – Home and Away
A dark, immersive comedy that delves into the world of Scottish football via the story of Hibernian FC’s victory over Rangers in the 2016 Scottish Cup Final – following a 114 year wait. Four young fans are desperate for tickets… Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Tue 5 – Sat 9 April 2022
Tue – Sat: 7.30pm; Weds, Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
The story of Carole King’s rise to stardom, from hawking her songs at 1650 Broadway, to creating hit songwriting team with Gerry Goffin, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Book here.
King’s Theatre
2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
The Da Vinci Code
Tue 5 – Sat 9 April 2022
Evenings: 7.30. Mats Weds, Sat: 2.30pm.
The curator of the Louvre has been brutally murdered, and alongside his body are a series of baffling codes. Follow the pulse-racing journey leading to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and beyond, deep into the vault of history. Book here.
Iain Stirling: Failing Upwards
Sunday 10 April 2022.
Two shows: 5pm & 7.30pm.
Do you ever wonder how people manage to be normal? Iain does. So much so he’s written a brand new stand-up show about it in which he explores his inability to function in the most basic of public settings, social media’s constant pressure to “live your best life” and that one time a man stole his shoes. Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Wonder Festival of Works in Progress
Mon 28 March – Sat 9 April 2022
Various times.
A series of workshops and works in progress alongside work from the Lyceum’s L20 artists, a diverse group of 21 Edinburgh-based theatre makers that are the first cohort of the Lyceum’s artistic attachment programme created in 2021. They will showcase their creative blueprints, and works in progress each designed to spark conversations and explore the world anew through their artistic inquiries after a time of great change and uncertainty. Further details here.
Online
On a screen in your own home
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
Dreamgirls
Tue 5 – Sat 16 April 2022
Mon – Sat: 7.30; Mats Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
See Æ news: Dreamgirls on Sale.
Meet The Dreams – Effie, Lorrell and Deena – three talented young singers in the turbulent 1960s, a revolutionary time in American music history. Staring Nicole Raquel Dennis as Effie in an extraordinary story with unforgettable, spine-tingling vocals that send audiences wild. Book here.
The Pleasance Theatre
60 Pleasance Rose Stree, EH8 9TJ.
The Pirates of Penzance (EUSOG)
Wed 6 – Fri 8 April 2022
Evenings 7pm.
The Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group with Gilbert and Sullivan’s brilliant early light opera in which Frederik is a slave to duty, indentured to pirates, but able to leave on his 21st birthday. Big tunes and a very silly plot. Book here.
Queens Hall
85-89 Clerk St, EH8 9JG. Phone booking: 0131 668 2019
The Tumbling Lassie & Dandie Dinmont
Sun 10 April 2022
Evening; 7.30pm.
A double-bill of short operettas by Tom Cunningham and Alexander McCall Smith, set in Edinburgh and in the Borders. The Tumbling Lassie tells of a child gymnast freed from exploitation in teh 17th century Scotland, leading to a court ruling that slavery was not legal in Scotland. Dandie Dinmont is the story of the famous Borders farmer of that name in Scott’s Guy Mannering. Book here.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, EH1 1SR. Phone booking: 0131 556 9579
The Funny Punny Magic Show
Sat 9/ 10 April 2022
Sat: 11am, Sun: 11am & 1pm.
Join The Trickster, Bingo the Dog and Sunny the Bunny for a riot of silly stunts and crazy magic in The Funny Punny Magic Show! Four time winner of the Scottish Children’s Entertainer of the Year Award, Tricky Ricky returns to the Scottish Storytelling Centre with his unique brand of magical mayhem for kids age 4 -104! Book here.
The Trick that Fooled
Sat 9/ 10 April 2022
Evenings: 5pm.
Kevin Quantum introduces and performs a set of magic tricks that have fooled some of the most brilliant and creative people ever to have lived – Lincoln, Curie, Einstein and others. Quantum performs the tricks as they would have been performed for these famous people – but will they fool you too? Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
A Play, A Pie And A Pint: Daniel Getting Married
Tue 5 – Sat 9 April 2022
Daily, 1pm (Trav 2)
By JD Stewart. The big day has come, the guests are arriving and Daniel is waiting in the church vestry with his mum for his wedding to Zach to begin. But when his ex turns up with his own proposal, walking down the aisle and saying “I Do” might not be quite as simple as Daniel thought…or it might be easier…maybe…right? Book here.
Our Carnal Hearts
Thurs 7 – Sat 9 April 2022
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 1)
A hilarious dissection of envy by Rachel Mars with music by Louise Mothersole. With a raucous chorus of original music, Our Carnal Hearts is a gleeful, thrilling and murky celebration of envy, competitive spirits and all the times we f*ck each other over. Book here.
Blinded by the Light
Fri 8 April 2022
Evening: 8pm (Trav 2)
By Sylvia Dow. A performed reading. Two parallel and intersecting stories, one set in 1982, when twelve miners had a sit-in 2000 feet under the River Forth protesting against the mine closure, the other story is set in the same mine, 200 years in the future where the descendants of survivors of extreme climate change have been living their lives. Book here.
Wee Red Bar
Lady Lawson Street, EH3 9DF.
Contact (Broadsword Theatre)
Wed 6 – Fri 8 April 2022
Evenings 7.30pm.
Welcome to Pharmtec, the fastest-growing dietary supplement provider in the country! More specifically, welcome to its customer-facing contact centre where a crack team awaits every query and quibble that comes their way. However, when the incoming phone calls start to take a sinister turn, the staff soon have something far worse than irate customers to worry about… Tickets £10 on the door. Further details.
