Preview and listings: Mon 11 – Sun 17 Nov 2024
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
There’s something of a collective intake of breath this week, as theatres prepare for the Panto season, although there are some particularly intriguing shows on offer.
Top billing goes to the non-panto production of Cinderella –
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway version – from braw local amateurs Threepenny Theatricals on their first musical offering, at the Church Hill Theatre (Wed – Sat tickets).
Rebekah Lansley and Greg McCafferty Thomson as Ella and Prince Topher in Threepenny Theatricals’ Cinderella at the Church Hill. Pic: Andrew Morris Photography
At the Playhouse, the Romeo-free & Juliet (ends Sat: tickets) will delight all musical fans, but particularly a younger audience. And opera fans have two offerings from Scottish Opera at the Festival Theatre: Albert Herring (Wed: tickets) and Don Pasquale (Sat: tickets).
Theatre wise, the hot tickets are at Tynecastle Park, where Two Halves Productions bring back their hit shows Sweet FA (ends Thurs 21: tickets) about the rise of women’s football in WW1 and A War of Two Halves (ends Thurs 21: tickets) about the Hearts team which led the recruitment of volunteers in WW1.
At the Traverse, Dogstar’s The Tailor of Inverness (ends Sat: tickets) has a few tickets left, but Harry Mould’s lauded The Brenda Line (ends Sat: tickets) is returns only.
experimental
There is experimental stuff from the student companies. The often pleasing Theatre Paradok are at the Augustine United Church, with The End of the Line (Fri – Mon: tickets). While the EUTC is at home in the Bedlam with a re-imagined take on Shaw’s Pygmalion (Thurs – Sat: tickets).
There are a couple of wee festivals happening which have theatrical offerings imbedded in them.
Men Don’t Talk (Sat/Sun: tickets) from the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is at the Storytelling Centre. And the first bona fide panto of the year: McScrooge (Thurs: tickets) from Citadel plays at the Assembly Roxy for one performance only as part of the Scottish Dementia Arts Festival before setting off on tour round various of Edinburgh’s day centres and primary schools.
Listing
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
Scottish Dementia Arts Festival 2024
Mon 11 – Thurs 14 Nov 2024
Various times.(Central).
Four day festival celebrating the very best creative minds. Every performance, act and song is written, directed and performed by people living with dementia. Tickets are free, to register interest please contact – dawn@deepnessdementiaradio.com. Full listing.
Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL
The End of the Line (Theatre Paradok)
Fri 15 – Mon 18 November 2024.
Fri, Sun, Mon: 7.30pm.
A politician and a psychic walk into a… train. No, it’s not the start of a bad joke but it is the beginning of the end. Of the world. Six almost strangers stuck on the tube with an incoming ballistic missile. Sounds like a laugh right? A play full of old loves, last wishes and surreal 80s dance sequences. Well, there’s only one of them. It’s basically a ‘how to guide’ to living in the face of death. How topical! Book here.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
Pygmalion (EUTC)
Thurs 14 – Sat 16 November 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
IN this new take on Shaw’s classic, haughty Business and Economics student, Henry, agrees to a bet that his new app PYGMALION can successfully transform Irish Biology student Eliza into a private school ‘trust fund baby’ in time for the Races. Book here.
Church Hill Theatre
33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway Cinderella (Threepenny Theatricals)
Wed 13 – Sat 16 November 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Based on the original French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, this romantic musical adaptation has all the ingredients of the spellbinding story we love: A pumpkin coach, glass slippers, a fairy godmother, a masked ball, and much more, all bound together by the glorious music and lyrics of Rodgers and Hammerstein and lashings of magic, glitter and sparkle. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Don Pasquale (Scottish Opera)
Fri 8, Sun 10, Sat 16 Nov 2024
Fri 8, Sat 16: 7.15pm; Sun 10: 3pm.
Don Pasquale runs a crumbling boarding house in Rome with a chain-smoking chambermaid, an ancient porter, and a greasy cook for company. Determined to keep his fortune to himself, Pasquale decides to marry, spiting his nephew Ernesto. But, when he finds a bride, he discovers that married life is not as simple as he expected. Book here.
Albert Herring (Scottish Opera)
Wed 13 Nov 2025
Evening: 7.15pm.
One of the 20th century’s most beloved operatic comedies, ‘Albert Herring’ is Britten’s loose adaptation of a Guy de Maupassant short story, full of quirky yet loveable characters and 1990s nostalgia. Book here.
Access Opera – Don Pasqualie (Scottish Opera)
Fri 15 Nov 2024
One performance: 3pm.
Scottish Opera’s accessible afternoon performances make coming to a favourite opera as easy and stress-free as possible – keeping the drama on stage where it belongs! With Dementia Friendly values at their core, these shortened performances are open to all. Book here.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014.
& Juliet
Tue 12 – Sat 16 Nov 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm; Wed, Sat: 2.30pm.
Æ review: ★★★★☆ No woe
The most famous love story of all time. Remixed. What if Juliet’s famous ending was really just her beginning? What if she decided to choose her own fate? Join Juliet on a journey of self-discovery and second chances. Book here.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, EH1 1SR. Phone booking: 0131 556 9579
Men Don’t Talk (SMHAF)
Part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2024
Sat 16/Sun 17 Nov 2024.
Sat: 7.30pm; Sun: 2.30pm.
Three men find banter, bird boxes and biscuits in a fictional shed. Clare Prenton’s poignant, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking play explores the myth that ‘men don’t talk’, celebrating companionship, camaraderie and custard creams. Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
The Brenda Line (Pitlochry Festival Theatre)
By Harry Mould.
Wed 13 – Sat 16 Nov 2024
Evening: 8pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm (Trav 2).
It’s early evening in a middle–of–nowhere town when Karen walks into a call centre to begin her first night shift as the youngest Samaritan in the country. She’s decided she needs to help people, and maybe write a best-selling novel in the process, but what she hadn’t expected was Anne – her elderly shift partner, and the evening’s resident ‘Brenda’… Book here.
The Tailor of Inverness (Dogstar)
By Matthew Zajac.
Thur 14 – Sat 16 Nov 2024
Evening: 7.30pm (Trav 1).
A rare chance to see Matthew Zajac’s international hit show about his Polish-Ukrainian father. This unforgettable and moving story of displacement and survival in war-torn Europe, a powerful allegory for all victims of war, is more relevant than ever; particularly in light of the current war in Ukraine. Book here.
Tynecastle Park
Gorgie Road, EH11 2NL
Sweet FA (Two Halves Productions)
Mon 11 – Sat 16 Nov 2024
Mon, Wed, Sat: 8.15pm; Wed, Fri: 6pm; Sat Mat: 3.45pm
Æ Review: ★★★★★ Earthy
2024 marks 50 years since the lifting of the ban on Women playing football in Scotland. Remarkable given that, before the ban was introduced in 1921, Women’s football was increasingly becoming more popular than the men’s game. This vibrant musical play tells the inspiring tale of an Edinburgh factory team in 1915, united by their passion for the beautiful game and their unwavering support and love for one another. Book here.
A War of Two Halves (Two Halves Productions)
Tue 12 – Sat 16 Nov 2024
Tue, Thurs, Fri: 8.15pm; Tue, Thurs, Sat: 6pm; Sat Mat: 1.15pm
Æ review: ★★★★★ Heart-rending
The poignant and powerful tale of the Heart of Midlothian players who, in 1915, showed tremendous courage and team spirit to volunteer en masse for McCrae’s Battalion (16th Battalion, Royal Scots). More remarkable, is that at the time they were the best team in Scotland and were well on their way to being crowned league champions. Book here.
ENDS
