Looking towards a season of collaborations, bold new premieres, and the revival of some of Scotland’s recent critical hits, the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh are proud to announce one of their biggest and most interesting seasons for a while.
Opening the door to audiences and partners, the theatre looks to re-affirm its status as a producing house and strengthen the bonds with other venues in bringing quality theatre to audiences in Edinburgh and Scotland.
With new musical productions, world premieres no-less, for Wild Rose, and looking forward to a summer packed with the returns of award-winning (and nominated) Pitlochry Festival Theatre hits Shirley Valentine and A Streetcar Named Desire, The Lyceum are ensuring a successful hold on audiences.
In 2025, the theatre looks to kick things off with the second phase of their Shakespeare Exchange with Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) in New York, who earlier this year welcomed Zinnie Harris’ returning Macbeth (an undoing), and in 2025, the lyceum will in turn welcome The Merchant of Venice.
Proud to present the Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s production of Willy Russell’s celebration of freedom, women, and identity, the Royal Lyceum Theatre welcomes Elizabeth Newman’s critically acclaimed staging of Shirley Valentine.
Performed by Scot Squad’s Sally Reid, in a performance for which she was awarded one of the Outstanding Performance awards from the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland last year. Shirley is a bored, frustrated, middle-aged housewife and mother who contemplates how it all went wrong. With only her kitchen wall for company most days, stuck at home without the kids, the disenchantment of Shirley’s marriage and life begins to weigh upon her. But when the suggestion of a trip away becomes a reality, Shirley leaves a note on the door, and aways herself to the sunshine and relaxation of Greece. Finding happiness, fun, and herself, Shirley is faced with a big decision…
Have a read of our five-star review of the original, CATS-winning production of Shirley Valentine.
June 12th – 29th, 2024
Tickets
Pandemonium
Following an enormously successful run at Soho Theatre in 2023, Wayward Productions (in association with Soho Theatre) bring their derisively satirical verse show, Pandemonium, to the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
Written by Oscar-nominated writer Armando Iannucci OBE (The Thick of It, Veep, and The Death of Stalin), comes a show which lays bare the scandalous and bewildering actions of the British Government’s actions in the face of the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic. In all the farcical mockery of the sharpest of Shakespeare’s comedies, Pandemonium (directed by Patrick Marber) will give an account of the tragedy, parties, and goings-on of the Government during the pandemic.
And sitting atop this pile of squabble and slander is none other than Boris Johnson.
September 24th – 28th, 2024
The first in a couple of world premieres, the Royal Lyceum of Edinburgh, in co-production with Freckles Productions, present The Baddies to the world this October, based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
Following on the hugely successful Stick Man, this brand-new stage adaptation will bring families together as audiences come face to face with the worst Baddies in the world… Featuring songs from Joe Stilgoe (Zog), a wickedly funny show awaits to welcome new generations of theatregoers.
A witch, a troll, and a very ancient ghost; they love being bad. But when they encounter a young girl who isn’t taken in with their tricks and spells, will the Baddies find a way to bring the frights to this little girl, or is she the one who will best the baddest of the lot?
October 4th – 20th, 2024
Tickets
A Streetcar Named Desire
A second presentation of a sensational show from the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, the Royal Lyceum Theatre of Edinburgh is proud to stage the Scottish revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Pitlochry’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman, recently nominated for Best Director at this year’s Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland.
Perhaps Tennessee’s most famous text, audiences follow the trails of Blanche Dubois, the epitome of the Southern Belle, who after losing her family home and prosperous lifestyle arrives on the doorstep of her younger sister Stella, and her brutish husband Stanley, in a poor neighbourhood of New Orleans.
Reprising their role as Blanche Dubois, Kirsty Stuart (Outlander) will bring her Outstanding Performance-nominated performance to the Lyceum later this year. Have a read of our five-star review of A Streetcar Named Desire.
October 24th – November 9th, 2024
It’s never too early to get ready for the Royal Lyceum of Edinburgh’s annual festival show! And this year they’ve got an absolute corker with Duncan McLean’s take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
Cooped up at the bottom of the lighthouse in Granton Harbour, Jim Hawkins thirsts for adventure. To set sail over the seven seas, sing shanties, and, just maybe, find a bit of gold or two.
Directed by WilsWilson (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart), it’s Christmas Eve, and Jim Hawkins finally gets the chance for which they’ve been waiting. Surrounded by past-it privateers and marauders, Jim ends up whisked away with Ben Gunn and Lean Jean Silver aboard the Hispaniola. Get ready to set sail from Edinburgh, for a trip north to the Orkneys in search of Captain Flint’s hidden fortune!
November 28th – January 4th, 2024
Tickets
The Merchant of Venice
Kicking off the new year with a strong opener, the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh will present the Theatre for New Adventure’s production of The Merchant of Venice, featuring John Douglas Thomas as Shylock.
Staged by TFANA’s resident director Arin Arbus, Shakespeare’s perpetually contested play about corrosive bigotry and vengeance is poised at the intersection of race, class, and religion in this acclaimed US production.
Set in the birthplace of capitalism, Arbus’ production takes the show’s cast and the production’s setting drives them into relevance with the hideously divisive world in which we find ourselves. Two-time Drama Desk Award winner John Douglas Thompson’s Shylock exists in a world where he is a second-class (at best) citizen. It’s 16th-century Venice and Jewish people are prohibited from most professions, pushed into gated ghettos, and locked away in the evening from the predominantly Christian Venice surrounding them. It looks to be one of the season’s big sellers, so don’t delay in grabbing tickets.
January 18th – February 15th, 2025
Wild Rose
Perhaps the run-away winner of the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh’s new announcements is their production (with Caledonia Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions) is the world premiere of Wild Rose, the stage adaptation of the original film from BAFTA winner Nicole Taylor.
This world premiere production will be a quick seller, and feature songs from Country Music legends Dolly Parton, Caitlyn Smith, Patty Griffin, The Chicks, and more alongside the film’s award-winning original song Glasgow (No Place Like Home).
A new musical about motherhood, the truth, and dreams, Wild Rose will be directed by the renowned John Tiffany (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Once, Black Watch), and centre on Rose-Lynn and the only thing which has ever made sense in her life: country music. Debating whether to risk it all on the path towards Nashville, Rose-Lyn dreams of making it out of Glasgow and finds an unlikely champion in their cleaning job boss, Susannah.
March 6th – April 5th, 2025
The Mountaintop
Next Spring will find the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh stage Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, their Olivier award-winning play about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s final night on Earth.
Directed by Rikki Henry, The Mountaintop is set during the peak of America’s Civil Rights Movement, confronting life and death, and the concepts of legacy head-on. This compelling drama peeks at the man behind the legend, set in a roadside motel where King is confronted with the smoking, drinking, and larger-than-life motel maid, Camae, on the eve of his assassination.
May 31st – June 21st, 2025
Coraline – A Musical
Our top pick for the season must go to the co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Leeds Playhouse, HOME Manchester, and the Birmingham Rep’s production of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline – A Musical.
Gaiman’s rich fantasy story of buttons, insects and yellow anoraks poses what our shadows do when the lights go out, and we’re left in the darkness of the unknown and takes audiences on Coraline’s magical and mysterious journey as she confronts the sinister ‘Other Mother’ after wondering through a mysterious door in her and her parents new home.
Battling the weirdest of oddities, and rejecting the mundanity of the everyday, Gaiman’s Coraline – A Musical will be adapted by Zinnie Harris and reunite director James Brining and design from Colin Richmond in what promises to be an exciting and epic adventure with music and lyrics from Louis Barrabas.
June 26th – July 19th, 2025
One Off Events:
Nish Kumar: Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe – September 14th, 2024
Sandi Toksvig: Friends of Dorothy – October 15th, 2024
Jack Dee: Small World – May 11th, 2025
Interested in being featured? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’