This week: 19 – 25 March 2018
On Edinburgh’s stages this week
In the run-up to the Easter holidays, there are plenty of great productions on stage this week in Edinburgh. Not to mention a couple of real curios, which are well worth seeking out.
The big production of the week is at the King’s, which is home to the Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society who have HMS Pinafore opening on Tuesday for a six performance run.
Natalie Arle-Toyne and Steven McNicoll in Rhinoceros. Pic: Beth Chalmers
There’s comedy in a more absurdist vein at the Lyceum, which is welcoming the return of Edinburgh International Festival 2017 hit, Rhinoceros, Zinnie Harris’s new version of Eugene Ionesco’s classic text. In a sleepy French provincial town, a rhinoceros rampages across the market square. Another crushes someone’s cat. Æ’s review during the EIF: ★★★★☆ Wild.
Ballet fans are particularly well served. There’s a residency from the Russian State Ballet of Siberia at the Playhouse, with crowd-pleasing productions of Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Snow Maiden and Swan Lake. While the Festival Theatre has Northern Ballet with a new production of The Little Mermaid.
On the city’s smaller stages the Old College Quad on South Clerk Street has a community production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, with Gerda Stevenson updating Samuel Taylor Coleridge for our times.
Travels with my Aunt
Assembly Roxy has two visiting productions. Well established local amateur company Arkle is staging Giles Havergal’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel, Travels With My Aunt. While new company Anaïs Productions is making its debut with Polly Stenham’s That Face.
At the Wee Red Bar, Theatre Paradok have something of an underground production of Sarah Kane’s Crave, 20 years after it debuted at the Traverse. Tickets for that are going very fast so grab them quick if you want it.
Meanwhile, the Traverse itself has a visit from the Actors Touring Company, with a hard-hitting piece about the rise of the new right, Winter Solstice.
Going underground, Chimaera Productions is reviving its 2008 take on Dr Faustus, at the Banshee Labyrinth (Scotland’s most haunted bar etc etc) with a production which “seeks to fuse the traditional text with cabaret, burlesque, magic and horror theatre to create an immersive experience that allows the audience to experience Faustus’ excitement, passion and fear”.
Heady stuff, indeed. And if none of that tickles your fancy, then maybe a trip down to the Brunton will. The ever inventive Quirky Pond is staging a very rare revival of Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw. Or you could head up to the Church Hill, where Edinburgh Grand Opera has Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.
Listings
Assembly Roxy
2 Roxburgh Place, EH8 9SU
Travels With My Aunt
Wednesday 21 -Saturday 24 March 2018
Evenings 7.30pm
Arkle Theatre Company stage Giles Havergal’s adaptation of Graham Greene. Mild mannered Henry Pulling is looking forward to a retirement of gardening and leisure but is whisked off to exotic places with even more exotic characters.
That Face
Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 March 2018
Evening: 7.30pm.
Polly Stenham’s award winning script is staged by Anaïs Productions. Mia is at boarding school. She has access to drugs. They are Martha’s. Henry is preparing for art college. He has access to alcohol. From Martha. Martha controls their lives. Martha is their mother.
Banshee Labyrinth
29 – 35 Niddry Street, EH1 1LH
Dr Faustus
Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 March 2018
Evenings: 7.30pm.
A new take on Marlow, in part drawing on Chimaera Productions’ debut staging from 2008, seeks to fuse the traditional text with cabaret, burlesque, magic and horror theatre to create an immersive experience that allows the audience to experience Faustus’ excitement, passion and fear.
The Brunton
Ladywell Way, Musselburgh EH21 6AA. Phone booking: 0131 665 2240
What the Butler Saw
Thursday 22/Friday 23 March 2018
Evenings: 7.30pm.
What the Butler Saw – Pic: Quirky Pond
Quirky Pond with a rare outing for Joe Orton’s farce. Dr Prentice, a sex obsessed psychiatrist, is attempting to seduce his prospective secretary, but is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of his nymphomaniac wife who has also promised the secretarial position to her blackmailing lover.
Church Hill Theatre
33a Morningside Road, EH10 4DR
The Pearlfishers
Wednesday 21, Friday 23 & Saturday 24 March 2018.
Evenings Weds, Fri: 7.30pm; Matinee, Sat: 4pm.
Catriona Clark stars as Leila, the high priestess at the centre of the story. Roger Patterson and Arthur Bruce are Nadir and Zurga, rivals for her love, who have sworn to renounce her to protect their friendship – and who sing one of opera’s most celebrated duets, “Au fond du temple saint. EGO favourite Ivor Klayman is the High Priest, Nourabad and Kirsty Pollock dances. Sun in French with English supertitles.
Festival Theatre
13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
The Little Mermaid
Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 March
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinee Sat: 2.30pm.
Northern Ballet re-imagine the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale with choreography by David Nixon and music by Sally Beamish. A young mermaid is enthralled by her first glimpse of life beyond the ocean and falls desperately in love with a human.
King’s Theatre
2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
HMS Pinafore
Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 March 2018
Evenings 7.30pm; Matinee Sat: 2.30pm.
The Edinburgh Gilbert & Sullivan Society with the comical tale of the love affair between sailor Ralph Rackstraw and his captain’s daughter, Josephine. Unfortunately Josephine’s father, Captain Corcoran, has loftier ambitions for his daughter and plans to marry her off to the insufferable but wealthy Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Admiralty.
Lyceum Theatre
Grindlay Street EH3 9AX. Phone booking: 0131 248 4848
Rhinoceros
Friday 23 March – Saturday 7 April 2018.
Tue – Sat: 7.30pm; Matinees from 28th: Weds, Sat: 2pm.
Zinnie Harris’s new version of Eugene Ionesco’s classic text first seen during the EIF 2017. In a sleepy French provincial town, a rhinoceros rampages across the market square. Another crushes someone’s cat. Æ’s review during the EIF: ★★★★☆ Wild.
Old College Quad
South Bridge, EH8 9YL
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Wednesday 21 – Friday 23 March 2018
Evenings: 7pm.
Music in the Community and Leith Walk Primary School present a retelling for our times with music by Dee Isaacs and words by Gerda Stevenson.
Playhouse
18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA. Phone booking: 0844 871 3014
The Russian State Ballet of Siberia
Tuesday 20 – Saturday 24 March 2018
Evenings: 7.30pm. Matinee, Sat: 2.30pm.
Romeo and Juliet
Tuesday.
Cinderella
Wednesday.
The Snow Maiden
Thursday.
Swan Lake
Friday 23/Saturday 24.
Girls Night Oot
Sunday 25 March 2018.
Early evening: 6pm.
Join the girls on a hen night that you won’t forget with a smash hit retro soundtrack… Songs from 60’s,70’s, 80’s, 90’s and Now!
Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
Winter Solstice
Wednesday 21 – Saturday 24 March 2018.
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinee, Sat: 2.30pm.
The Actors Touring Company with the UK premiere tour of Roland Schimmelpfennig’s razor-sharp comedy about the rise of the new right across the globe.
