Preview & Listing Mon 30 Sept – Sun 6 Oct 2024
What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week?
It’s a slightly calmer week, but there is still plenty going on, even if the only big show in town is Rambert with their dance version of Peaky Blinders at the Festival Theatre (Tue – Sat: tickets).
There are hot happenings at the Traverse, with a Burns-related PPP: Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard (Tue-Sat: tickets), the return of EdFringe-forged Rukus (Tue -Thurs: tickets) and Inua Ellams’ Search Party (Fri: tickets).
A scene from Peaky Blinders. Pic: Johan Persson
For local theatre: down in Leith, Dram-A at the Depot – the successor to Village Pub Theatre – has six wee plays inspired by The Fall (Mon: tickets) and the Bedlam has Victoria Ge’s new play Intoxicated Honeymoon (Thurs/Fri: tickets).
There are some nice wee touring shows: Visible Fictions has UP at Assembly Roxy (Sat: tickets) and the Studio has Vanishing Point’s five star hit Love the Singer (Tue: tickets) and children’s theatre piece: Anna Hibiscus’ Song (Thurs – Sat: tickets).
Finally, the new production of The Baddies is opening for previews at the Lyceum on Friday (ends Sun 20 Oct: tickets).
Love to dance
There is a lot to love about Peaky Blinders, Rambert’s thrilling stage adaptation: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby which our Suzanne O’Brien said was ★★★★☆ Razor sharp in her review of the 2023 tour. She had even more to love in returning fusion of performance poetry, visual theatre and live electronic music that is Love the Sinner from Imogen Stirling and Vanishing Point, which she said was ★★★★★ Masterful at the Traverse in May last year.
The six playwrights providing work inspired by The Fall for Dram-A at the Depot are Amy Rhianne Milton, Catriona Scott, Corinne Salisbury, Sophie Good, Stephen Christopher and Wendy Millar. With performances from Andrea McKenzie, Mark O’Neill, Till Schindler and Torya Hughes, all directed by Garrick Pagel.
Irene Allen and Hilary Maclean with Karen Fishwick in this week’s lunchtime offering at the Traverse: Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard. Pic: PPP.
At the Bedlam, Intoxicated Honeymoon is the first play of the EUTC season, written by EngLit student, Victoria Ge. The play follows the brutal coming-of-age of stubborn heroine, Zelda, who struggles to move on, EUTC say the play has an experimental vision and uses elements from physical theatre and theatre of cruelty.
The story starts to unfold after Zelda’s beloved girlfriend from teenagehood, Esther, falls pregnent. The once-innocent and wholesome past of a group of high school friends is slowly brought to light while the present reveals its ugly side. Sound like gritty stuff.
According to the production team: “Not only calling out destructions and hypocrisy of intellectuals and artistry, Intoxicated Honeymoon also aims to shed lights on the duality of tenderness and burdens of girlhood and womanhood, such as the harmony and rage as a female sexual being, the praises and extreme anxiety of maternity – when do we realise that it has always been a gory self-fulfilling prophecy?”
Shows for young people
There are two well-recommended shows for young people on offer this week. Firstly, the music filled Anna Hibiscus’ Song is touring to the Studio, playing a matinee and early afternoon show every day. This is the adaptation of Atinuke and Lauren Tobias much-loved children’s book, told using music, dance, puppetry and traditional African storytelling.
The second is the adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s smash-hit book: The Baddies, Freckle Productions co-pro with the Lyceum, which is being made in Edinburgh before going off on tour. This is a first chance to see the show, which has its press performance next week.
Listings
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
UP (Visible Fictions)
Sat 5 Oct 2024
Evening: 7.30pm (Upstairs).
A huge theatrical story told with everyday tiny things. The odds of perishing in a commercial plane accident are 29.4 million to one. Reassuring. Except if you’re the one. As emergency masks plummet, engines squeal and hand baggage flies from the overhead bins, two strangers hold hands. Scared and breathless, their lives flash past as they face their final moments together. Book here.
Bedlam Theatre
11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ.
Intoxicated Honeymoon (EUTC)
Thurs 3 – Fri 4 October 2024.
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Oh dear; we say things, we make choices, we go on with our lives. But what if that edgy and cynical teenagehood of yours had long jinxed you before entering the monstrosity of adulthood? It was probably a curse written in blood. EUTC with an original play written by English Literature student, Victoria Ge. Book here.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Rambert’s Peaky Blinders
Tue 1 – Sat 5 Oct 2024
Evening: 7.30pm; Sat Mat: 2.30pm.
Æ review of 2023 tour: ★★★★☆ Razor sharp
Rambert’s thrilling stage adaptation: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby returns to Edinburgh, capturing the Peaky story with stunning performances from Rambert’s dancers and its iconic soundtrack from a live on-stage band. See news preview: Peaky Blinders returns. Book here.
Leith Depot
138-142 Leith Walk EH6 5DT
Dram-a at the Depot: The Fall (Penpal Productions)
Mon 30 Sept 2024
Evening: 8pm.
Six pint-sized plays, inspired by the Fall. Performed by actors, script in hand, for you, the audience, drink in hand. All welcome, including any theatre loving furry friends. As if that wasn’t enough, there will also be cake! What more could you possibly want? Book here.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848.
The Baddies
Based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Fri 4 – Sun 20 Oct 2024
Daily (not Mon) 10.10am, 1.30pm. Fri 4 & Sat/Sun: 3.30pm.
The Baddies love being bad. They roar, spook and cast wicked spells to try and scare a girl out of her wits…who will succeed? Or perhaps the girl is braver than they think… With songs by Joe Stilgoe (Zog and Zog and The Flying Doctors), The Baddies is a wickedly hilarious adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s smash-hit story. A laugh-out-loud riot for all the family. Book here.
Studio Theatre
The Studio, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Love the Sinner (Imogen Stirling and Vanishing Point)
Tue 1 Oct 2024
Evening: 7.30pm.
Æ review: ★★★★★ Masterful
A beautifully produced fusion of performance poetry, visual theatre and live electronic music, that reflects on the meaning of being human today. Book here.
Anna Hibiscus’ Song
Thu 3 – Sat 5 Oct 2024
Two shows: 10.30am & 1.30pm.
The story of a young girl named Anna Hibiscus. Anna lives in amazing Africa. Ibadan, Nigeria to be exact. Anna Hibiscus is so filled with happiness that she feels like she might float away. And the more she talks to her family about it, the more her happiness grows! There’s only one thing to do…Sing! Book here.
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard (PPP)
By Shonagh Murray.
Tue 1 – Sat 5 Oct 2024
Lunchtimes: 1pm (Trav 1).
Æ Review: ★★★☆☆ Tuneful
Behind every great man, there are great women. 30 years after the death of Robert Burns, his wife Jean Armour is living a quiet life looking after her granddaughter. That is until she finds herself face to face with the bard’s infamous mistress Clarinda (or Nancy to most). Book here.
Ruckus (Metal Rabbit Productions)
By Jenna Fincken.
Tue 1 – Thur 3 Oct 2024
Evenings: 8pm (Trav 2).
The effect of being told you’re loved is very powerful. But what happens when that love becomes an invisible threat? Lou is a 28-year-old primary school teacher who wants to show her audience the exact moments in her relationship, breaking down the progression of coercion as Lou journeys from freedom to being trapped. Book here.
Search Party.
By Inua Ellams.
Fri 4 Oct 2024
Evening: 8pm (Trav 2).
Award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles) brings his chaotic, audience-led poetry event to the Traverse. A unique interactive experience where the boundary between artist and audience blurs into a dynamic act of creation. Ellams uses a lifetime of writings, from poems to plays and essays, all meticulously indexed and stored within his electronic tablet. Book here.
ENDS
