Preview of the week Mon 13 – Sun 19 May
What’s on in Edinburgh’s Theatres over the week ahead.
Angela Clerkin stars in stylish noir thriller The Bear, a murder mystery with a solicitor’s clerk and a mythic bear, at the Traverse. Photo credit Sheila Burnett
Compiled by Thom Dibdin
There’s a busy week ahead in Edinburgh’s theatres, after the end of the lovely Imaginate at the Traverse, with almost a dozen shows playing across as many venues.
The big shows are at the King’s, with the Pitmen Painters, and the Playhouse, where Ghost the Musical comes in for a three week ride. The NTS is at the Bedlam with a second Chinese Play Pie and a Pint: Thieves and Boy; the wonderful Improbable tour to the Traverse with The Bear; and Summerhall welcomes Be Silent or Be Killed, reviewed last week at the Brunton.
There’s opera at the Queen’s Hall where Mr McFall’s Chamber give a concert performance of María de Buenos Aires, and dance at the Festival Theatre with Sutra.
On the amateur front, Leitheatre are up at the Church Hill with Deathtrap and St Serfs have The Steamie at St Serf’s Halls. Encore, the Musselburgh musicals company, are cracking the whip with Calamity Jane at the Brunton. And on the shoestring front, recently formed Moving Lights are performing Steel Magnolias at Augustine United Church on George IV Bridge.
Listings:
Augustine United Church:
• Steel Magnolias
“Join the six women in Truvy’s Beauty Salon as they battle love, life and everything in between with the help and support of each other.” New production from the new Edinburgh-based shoestring company, Moving Lights Theatre, created to showcase the work of both emerging and experienced actors, writers and directors. Presented with support from Black Dingo Productions.
Tickets from: www.wegottickets.com
Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL. Wed 15 – Sun 19; 7pm
Bedlam Theatre:
• Play, Pie and a Pint: Thieves and Boy
“Two construction workers turn vigilante, trying to right the wrongs of society by burgling the home of a high ranking, corrupt government official. However once they get inside it turns out they both have very different ideas about justice.” Presented by the Confucius Institute in partnership with Oran Mor and the National Theatre of Scotland.
Tickets from: http://xtspro.com
Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place. EH1 1EZ. Tue-Sat, 1pm.
Brunton Theatre:
• Encore: Calamity Jane
Musselburgh amateur musicals company Encore join the Deadwood Stage with the classic songs from the film including The Black Hills of Dakota, My Heart is Higher Than a Hawk and Windy City – not forgetting the show stopping Secret Love. Join them with lots of fun moments, great costumes and high-kicking saloon girls.
Tickets from 0131 665 2240
Brunton Theatre, Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA. Wed-Sat, 7.30pm.
Church Hill Theatre:
• Leitheatre: Deathtrap
“Someone is about to get murdered… but who? The twists start there and just keep coming in Ira Levin’s classic thriller. The only certainty here is that Deathtrap is a play to kill for.” Performed by long-standing Edinburgh amateur company Leitheatre.
Tickets from www.thequeenshall.net
Church Hill Theatre, Morningside Road EH10 4DR. Wed-Sat, 7.30pm.
Edinburgh Playhouse:
• Ghost
“Based on the phenomenal Oscar-winning movie that captured the hearts and imaginations of a generation back in the 90s, Ghost is a timeless fantasy about the power of love.
“Sam is trapped as a ghost between this world and the next trying to communicate with girlfriend Molly through a phoney psychic in the hope of saving her from his murderer.”
Tickets from www.atgtickets.com
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Tue-Sat, 7.30pm (Wed/Sat mats 2.30pm), then Mon-Sat, run ends 1 June.
Festival Theatre:
• Sutra
“A collaboration between one of Europe’s most exciting dancer-choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Turner Prize-winning sculptor Antony Gormley and 17 practicing Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China. Dance that is at once deeply hypnotic, playful and breathtakingly athletic.
“Aged between 10 and 26 years the monks performing in Sutra follow a strict Buddhist doctrine, with kung fu and tai chi martial arts forming a part of their daily ritual.”
Tickets from: www.edtheatres.com
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Fri-Sat 7.30pm.
King’s Theatre:
• The Pitmen Painters
“In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint.”
Written by Billy Elliot creator Lee Hall, The Pitmen Painters has received huge critical acclaim and won the Evening Standard award for Best New Play.
Tickets from: www.edtheatres.com
King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Mon-Sat 7.30pm (Wed, Sat mats 2.30pm).
The Queen’s Hall:
• Maria de Buenos Aires
Astor Piazzolla’s short opera tells the poignant story of tango, represented in the person of María, born in the slum city suburbs “on a day when God was drunk”, transported to the city night spots, condemned to death, “dragging her guilts, as a female and a shadow, bled by seven knives of sun”, and, eventually, reborn.
Mr McFall’s Chamber present a complete concert performance of this masterpiece with a backdrop of film by Argentine director, Geraldine Comte.
Tickets from: www.thequeenshall.net
The Queen’s Hall, 85 – 89 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG. Thurs, 7.30pm.
St Serf’s Church Halls:
• The Steamie
“It’s Hogmanay in a Glasgow wash house, and the girls need to get their washing done before the bells. Join Dolly, Magrit, Doreen and Mrs Culfeathers as they laugh and cry their way through the last day of the year – with a little help for the not so handy Andy.”
St Serf’s Players turn to this modern classic for their 65th anniversary production. First performed in May 1987, it has delighted and entertained audiences all over the world.
Tickets from: www.stserfsplayers.org.uk/
St Serf’s Church Hall, Clark Road, Goldenacre EH3 5AP. Thurs-Sat, 7.30pm.
Summerhall:
• Be Silent of be Killed
Highland Theatre company Right Lines Productions – best known for The Accidental Death of an Accordionist, Who Bares Wins and Whisky Kisses – returns with a new show based on the book by Roger Hunt, Be Silent or Be Killed. Read Irene Brown’s review in the Annals here.
Tickets from www.summerhall.co.uk
Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, Southside EH9 1PL. Wed, 8pm and 10pm.
Traverse:
• The Bear
“A noir thriller about an everyday murder and a mythic bear.
He’s on trial for murdering his wife’s lover. She’s the clerk for his defence team – just there to take notes. He tells her, “It wasn’t me. The Bear did it.” She thinks he’s lying or mad, but looks at the evidence anyway.
And there it is. The Bear. Someone else saw it.
Angela, the solicitor’s clerk finds herself investigating a murder and hunting a bear. Till she discovers that The Bear is hunting her.”
Tickets from: www.traverse.co.uk
The Traverse, 10 Cambridge Street EH1 2ED. Thurs-Sat, 7.30pm.
• Post show discussion with co-creator theatre-maker and performer Angela Clerkin: Friday 17 May. Details: www.traverse.co.uk
ENDS
