Edinburgh Festival Guide

Listings: Theatre

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Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales

  • 3 stars

Brand new show from award-winning Scamp Theatre (Stick Man). Adapted from the bestselling books written by Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler (creators of The Gruffalo). A magical collection of Julia Donaldson’s most popular titles including Tiddler, The Smartest Giant in Town and A…

Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh

Thu 1 Aug

£6 / 08445 458252

Preview

Fri 2 Aug

£11 (£10) / 08445 458252

Sat 3 Aug

£10 (£9) / 08445 458252

…and 22 more dates

First Love

Adaptation of an early Beckett novella about a man, cast out from the family home, who hooks up with a woman, with darkly comic consequences.

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Thu 23 May

£6–£15.50 / 0131 228 1404

Fri 24 May

£6–£15.50 / 0131 228 1404

Sat 25 May

£6–£15.50 / 0131 228 1404

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Wed 28 Aug

£8–£20 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

Thu 29 Aug

£8–£20 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

Fri 30 Aug

£8–£20 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

…and 1 more date

Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience

Basil, Sybil and Manuel open for their sixth Fringe. Always a sell-out, only a third of the show is scripted, so everything stays fresh. ‘Best comedy show I've ever seen' (Sunday Express)

B'est, Edinburgh

Thu 1 Aug

£46.50 / 0131 556 4448

Fri 2 Aug

£43 / 0131 556 4448

Sun 4 Aug

£43 / 0131 556 4448

…and 20 more dates

On Behalf of Nature

European Premiere: After receiving a 2010 Herald Angel Award for Songs of Ascension, US composer, singer, filmmaker and theatre artist Meredith Monk returns to the Festival with her latest music-theatre work, On Behalf of Nature. A poetic meditation on the environment, On Behalf of Nature evokes the Buddhist notion of…

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Fri 16 Aug

£10–£30 / 0131 473 2000

Sat 17 Aug

£10–£30 / 0131 473 2000

Sun 18 Aug

£10–£30 / 0131 473 2000

Reflections on Dance Odysseys

Mary Brennan, Dance Critic of The Herald, chairs a discussion with Scottish Ballet Artistic Director Christopher Hampson, Scottish Dance Theatre Artistic Director Fleur Darkin and Dance Base Artistic Director Morag Deyes.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Mon 19 Aug

Free / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

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Eilish O'Carroll: Live Love Laugh

Winnie McGoogan from Mrs Brown's Boys. Eilish O'Carroll tells her own life story with unflinching honesty and humour in this award-winning play. ‘Heart-warming, funny and thought-provoking … a tour de force.’ (Cork Echo). Book early!

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Wed 31 Jul

£10 / 0131 556 6550

Preview

Thu 1 Aug

£10 / 0131 556 6550

Preview

Fri 2 Aug

£10 / 0131 556 6550

Preview

…and 21 more dates

And They Played Shang-A-Lang

Number one hits from the era accompany this tale of growing up in 1970s Edinburgh.

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, Edinburgh

Thu 1 Aug

£10 (£9) / 0131 558 7272

Fri 2 Aug

£10 (£9) / 0131 558 7272

Sat 3 Aug

£10 (£9) / 0131 558 7272

…and 21 more dates

Bothwell's Bride

Nominated for MTM UK Best Composer 2007, Peter D Robinson's new musical is set in 1565, the final months of Mary Queen of Scots’ reign. Carpe Diem’s reputation for powerful drama and singing make this one to see.

Stockbridge Parish Church, Edinburgh

Tue 6 Aug

£10 (£8) / 0131 332 0122

2 for 1

Wed 7 Aug

£10 (£8) / 0131 332 0122

Thu 8 Aug

£10 (£8) / 0131 332 0122

…and 2 more dates

Circa: Wunderkammer

Seven performers tantalisingly blend of circus, cabaret and vaudeville as Circa come back to the Fringe for the first time in four years.

Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh

Wed 31 Jul

£12 (£11) / 08445 458252

Preview

Thu 1 Aug

£12 (£11) / 08445 458252

Preview

Fri 2 Aug

£12 (£11) / 08445 458252

Preview

…and 21 more dates

Duets

Relationships come into focus in extracts from the canon of Scottish Ballet’s Founding Artistic Director Peter Darrell, and new collaborators James Cousins and Helen Pickett. Darrell’s poignant Five Rückert Songs embodies the feelings in Friedrich Rückert’s poetry on love, loss and loneliness with lingering steps and…

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Sat 17 Aug

£12 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Sun 18 Aug

£12 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

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Forgotten Memories

This is a filmed documentary on Jirí Kylián’s life, way of thinking and most significant creations. Shot in 2011 in The Hague, Prague, Monte Carlo and Paris with Sabine Kupferberg dancing as Kylián rehearses some of his works. Film directed by Christian Dumais-Lvowski and Don Kent.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Fri 16 Aug

£4 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Mon 19 Aug

£4 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

The Green Table/Portrait of Mary Wigman

Choreographed in 1932, The Green Table is known as Kurt Jooss’s masterpiece. In this film of a performance in the 1960s by Folkwang Ballet, the dancers include a young Pina Bausch. Portrait of Mary Wigman: at the end of the roaring twenties Mary Wigman provoked a real revolution in the world of dance.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Sat 17 Aug

£4 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Sun 18 Aug

£4 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Im (Goldenen) Schnitt I (reconstruction 1996)

Moving through constellations of wood and Plexiglas pillars, reacting in sculptor Vera Röhm’s space Cesc Gelabert recreates Gerhard Bohner’s original concept highlighting elements of dance, visual arts and music while allowing them to remain autonomous. Bach’s 'Well-Tempered Clavier', interpreted by Keith Jarrett…

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Mon 19 Aug

£10–£18 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

New Voices

World premieres: California’s Helen Pickett – a former dancer for William Forsythe and now Resident Choreographer at Atlanta Ballet – is renowned for energetic yet poetic creations. James Cousins’s contemplative and gripping style has won him the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award. Martin Lawrance shares the…

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Fri 16 Aug

£12 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Sun 18 Aug

£12 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Mon 19 Aug

£12 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

Pierrot Lunaire (1962)

This seminal work from American dancer and choreographer Glen Tetley was also the starting point of his now iconic choreographic style – combining modern dance with the elongated line and aerial bravura of ballet. It is a style he perfected through his professional career performing leading roles in the Martha Graham…

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Sat 17 Aug

£10–£18 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

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Twonkeys Blue Cadabra - Free

One of The Scotsman’s Top Ten free shows of 2012. Bizarro! ★★★★ (TimeOut). ‘It's quite lovely’ ★★★★ (Skinny). ‘Hugely Entertaining’ ★★★★ (ExuentMagazine.com). ‘Twonkey is a true comic original' ★★★★ (Scotsman). ‘Silly and Enjoyable’ ★★★★ (BritishTheatreGuide.info).

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, Edinburgh

Thu 1 Aug

Free / 0131 477 7007

Fri 2 Aug

Free / 0131 477 7007

Sat 3 Aug

Free / 0131 477 7007

…and 21 more dates

Agnes of God

Multi award-winning EGTG (Edinburgh Evening News Spirit of the Fringe 2012) return with Agnes of God. A miracle or murder? A virgin birth or rape? Innocence or insanity? Even with the strongest faith, nothing guarantees absolution.

The Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh

Mon 5 Aug

£10 / 0131 556 4270

Tue 6 Aug

£10 / 0131 556 4270

Wed 7 Aug

£10 / 0131 556 4270

…and 3 more dates

All That Fall

‘A life of unending misery in a world devoid of God, now that’s funny.’ Maddy Rooney is in her seventies – unsightly, ungainly and unwell – laboriously to-ing and fro-ing between her home and Boghill Station. This is a landscape whose details are drawn from the suburbs of Foxrock and Leopardstown from Beckett’s youth, but…

The Hub, Edinburgh

Sun 25 Aug

£15 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

Mon 26 Aug

£15 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

Art and Technology

Professor of Epistemics Jon Oberlander, Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Composition Peter Nelson, and Chris Speed of the Edinburgh College of Art discuss historical, conceptual and philosophical relationships between the performing arts and technology. Chaired by theatre specialist Olga Taxidou.

The Hub, Edinburgh

Thu 29 Aug

£6 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Edinburgh University Events.

Beckett and Contemporary Art: Make Sense Who May

Derval Tubridy, Goldsmiths, University of London, explores the vibrant interplay between Samuel Beckett’s work and contemporary art with a particular focus on bodies and technology. Chaired by Octavian Saiu.

The Hub, Edinburgh

Wed 28 Aug

£6 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

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Beckett on Film

Producer of the Beckett on Film project, Michael Colgan discusses the challenges in creating this extraordinary film collection.

The Hub, Edinburgh

Fri 30 Aug

£6 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett at the Festival.

Canticles

For four voices by Peter D Robinson, nominated for MTM UK Best Composer 2007. The Canticles of Zachary, Mary, and Simeon: Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis, praise God from varying perspectives and have long been integral to Christian worship.

Stockbridge Parish Church, Edinburgh

Sat 10 Aug

£10 (£8) / 0131 332 0122

Catastrophe/Rough for Theatre II/Breath

Beckett on Film: Catastrophe: Directed by David Mamet and starring Harold Pinter, Rebecca Pidgeon and John Gielgud. Rough for Theatre II: Directed by Katie Mitchell and starring Jim Norton, Timothy Spall and Hugh B O’Brien. Breath: Directed by Damien †Hirst.

The Hub, Edinburgh

Sat 31 Aug

£4 / 0131 473 2000

Part of Beckett on Film.

Ceilidhs in Lauriston Hall

With caller Ken Gourlay and ceilidh bands Flaming Heather, HLI, Scott Leslie, Willie Fraser and piper. All dances walked through and called. Cheap bar. Hall has air-conditioning! Fringe groups welcome. www.edinburghceilidhs.co.uk.

Lauriston Hall, Edinburgh

Fri 2 Aug

£8 (£6)

Sat 3 Aug

£8 (£6)

Mon 5 Aug

£8 (£6)

…and 17 more dates

Cest Gelabert Conversation

Choreographer and solo performer Gerhart Bonher on the making of Im (Goldenen) Schnitt I.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Sun 18 Aug

Free / 0131 473 2000

Part of Dance Odysseys.

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