Listings & Preview Mon 4 – Sun 10 March 2024
What’s on Edinburgh’s Stages this week?
It’s a case of little and large this week, with two big sold-out musicals and a host smaller works and one-off performances.
On a local level, the return of Fronteiras Theatre Lab’s La Niña Barro at Assmebly Roxy (Thurs – Sat: tickets) after first appearing at EdFringe 2014 stands out. As does the Bohemians’s Sunshine on Leith at the Church Hill (Tue – Sat: tickets). Although the latter is returns only.
Shaq Taylor as Hamilton and Company. Pic Danny Kaan.
And then there is Hamilton at the Festival Theatre (run ends April 27: tickets). A loud, intelligent and beautifully staged piece of modern musical theatre which tells of the birth of the United States of America in the most unconventional way. And does so with the best staging seen in Edinburgh for many years.
There are single Hamilton tickets still available, dotted around the theatre on most performances. If you really want to see the show (and it gets the five star, must see treatment from us), the top tip is keep looking back that the ticket site.
There are a handful of returns each day, which go on sale as they arrive. Also there are unused Company Holds, which get given back for sale on the day of the performance, usually around lunchtime. Alternatively, turn up at the theatre on the evening of the show and queue for returns. They exist and you might get lucky, but be prepared to spend your evening elsewhere.
There is an intriguing work for lovers of Irish literature at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, with Dublin Theatre Productions’ Nora and Jim (Wed: tickets) that follows Nora Barnacle and James Joyce as they set sail from Dublin on a cold windy October night in 1904 to embark on their intriguing and celebrated literary relationships.
It’s a nicely busy week at the Traverse too, with the next Play Pie and Pint: Bread and Breakfast (Tue – Sat: tickets), the return of Class Act, which see local schools writing scripts that are performed script-in-hand by professional actors (Wed/Thurs: tickets) and A Giant on the Bridge (Fri/Sat: tickets) about piece of gig-theatre returning home from prison and the uncertain future for all concerned.
Listings Mon 4 – Sun 10 March 2024
Click on the name of the show or the Book here link to go to its ticketing site.
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
La Niña Barro (Fronteiras Theatre Lab)
Thurs 7 – Sat 9 March 2024.
Evening: 8pm. (Upstairs)
A woman made of clay who struggles to understand her feelings about herself and the connections she has with earth, nature, life, and love. Combining spoken word, music, and physical theatre, the piece explores different types of femininity, as well as the awareness of one’s own body and vulnerability. Book here.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
Who We Are Now: A Rock Opera in Two Acts (Thaddeus Buttrey)
Mon 4/Tue 5 March 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Buttrey’s original, sung-through rock musical follows the story of young musicians who are shadowed by the physical manifestation of mental illness as they pursue their art. An exploration of mental illness, projected trauma, and learning to be better, Who We Are Now is “a poignant and relatable piece that, much like all of us, is ready to be workshopped into the best version of itself”. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Sunshine on Leith (Bohemians)
Tue 5 – Sat 9 March 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm, Sat mat: 2.30pm.
The Boehemians Lyric Opera Company take on the jubilant, heartfelt musical about the power of home, the hearth, family and love featuring the songs of The Proclaimers. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Hamilton
Wed 28 Feb – Sat 27 April 2024
Mon – Sat: 7.30pm; Matinees Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm (+Tue 3 April)
The story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and helped shape the very foundations of the America we know today. Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
Connor Burns: Vertigo
Sat 9 March 2024
Two shows: 5.30pm & 8.30pm.
VERTIGO is a punchline-packed show featuring submarines, relationships and the inevitable family drama. Hilarious, relatable, a bit rude in places and all-the-while served up with superb material, brilliant delivery and proper belly laughs. Book here.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, EH1 1SR. Phone booking: 0131 556 9579
Nora and Jim
Wed 6 Mar 2026.
Evening: 7.30pm.
“I offer you my heart” says he. “I’ll hold you to that” says she. In the course of one hour that pledge is tested, insight is gained into their hearts, their dreams and their ambitions. James Joyce, eyesight failing, forges on with what will eventually become his best-known work. Meanwhile Nora must hold the family together whilst the map of Europe shifts and changes around them, driving them further into exile. Dublin Theatre Productions for its Scottish premiere tour. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
Bread & Breakfast (PPP)
Tue 5 – Sat 9 Mar 2024
Daily: 1pm (Trav 2).
A B&B in the Highlands has an ordinary day turned upside down when a visitor chokes on his morning toast, in this eventful and farcical play by Kirsty Halliday. Book here.
Class Act Showcase 2024
Wed 6/Thurs 7 Mar 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 1).
This year’s scripts have been created by young people from secondary schools – Firrhill High School, Craigroyston High School, Tynecastle High School, Leith Academy, Trinity High School – and Intercultural Youth Scotland. Each script will be brought to life by a team of professional theatre-makers including directors, actors, filmmakers and musicians. Book here.
A Giant on the Bridge
Fri 8/Sat 9 Mar 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm (Trav 1),
Every year in Scotland 10,000 people return home from prison to an uncertain future. A Giant on the Bridge reveals the intimate human experiences within this prison-homecoming journey, in a compelling narrative-gig which fuses acoustic songwriting, Scottish hip hop & original storytelling. Book here.
ENDS
