Feet of Clay –  ★★★   – Charming Strawmoddie:  5 – 8 June Review by Rebecca Mahar   Strawmoddie are back at the Cymera Festival with another adaptation from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, bringing  Feet of Clay  to life in charming fashion.   The nineteenth Discworld novel, and third centring on the City Watch, this adaptation of  Feet of Clay  naturally picks up  in media res  in terms of characters, setting, and general given circumstances. Nevertheless, the characters are archetypical enough and say enough about themselves and each other that you don’t need to be a devotee of the Disc to follow along easily enough.   L-R: Georgie Dickie (Sergeant Detritus), Alice Pelan (Corporal Angua), Chris Allan (Samuel Vimes), Rebecca Amos (Corporal Nobby), Amber Libman (Cheery Littlebottom), Alex Card (Captain Carrot), Hilary Davies (Sergeant Colon). Pic: Robin Mair. Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, leader of the Watch, is seeking a coa...

LEAR –  ★★★★★   – Blistering Raw Material:  5 – 7 June Review by Rebecca Mahar   External and internal storms rage in this raw, dauntless production, bringing its classical inspiration into a brutal, truthful present. From Raw Material in association with the National Theatre of Scotland,  LEAR  commands its stage without words for a blistering hour of physical storytelling.   If you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s  King Lear , this  LEAR  is instantly recognisable. But while enriching to the experience of watching this production, familiarity with the former is not required: writer Ramesh Meyyappan, while deriving the essence of his story from Shakespeare, has transformed it into something entirely new. The company of LEAR. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.   Under the fearless direction of Orla O’Loughlin, Meyyappan also appears in title role, alongside Nicole Cooper as Goneril, Amy Kennedy as Regan, and Draya Maria as Cordelia.   As the...

The Mountaintop —  ★★★★½  —  Electric Royal Lyceum Edinburgh:  31 May – 21 June Review by Rebecca Mahar   The Mountaintop  is Katori Hall’s speculative exploration of final hours of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life; a fictive, and sometimes explosive, burrowing into the psyche of a man who became a modern legend. Presented by the Royal Lyceum in a bold new staging from director Rikki Henry,  The Mountaintop  deconstructs the legend and displays the man, in all his foibles, questioning how he might have reflected on his own legacy— and the progress he, and his country, had yet to make.   Caleb Roberts as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic. Opening just before midnight on April 3 rd , 1968, the play begins with Dr. King staggering into his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He collapses to the floor, exhausted, as a storm rages outside; the same storm that had, hours before, punctuated his speech at the Mason Temp...

Trial by Jury  –  ★★★★☆ - Absurd A Matter of Misconduct! –  ★★★★☆ - Shrewd Festival Theatre: Fri 30 May & Fri 6 June 2025 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 4 June 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Scottish Opera and the D’Oyly Carte Opera celebrate the 150th anniversary Gilbert & Sullivan’s partnership by pairing  Trial By Jury  with  A Matter of Misconduct! , a new operetta commissioned in response to it. Although G&S had collaborated briefly in 1871,  Trial By Jury  was their first operetta and the one that kicked off their enduring success, making its premiere a fitting date to mark. Like all their subsequent collaborations, the plot is completely ludicrous, tucking satire into its nooks and crannies to sneak past the censors of the time. Edward Jowle (Usher) and Chloe Harris (Counsel for the Plaintiff) in Trial by Jury. Pic: Michael Bodlovic. Visit All Edinburgh ...

  The Merry Widow - ★★★★★ - Scintillating Festival Theatre: 29 May – 7 June 2025 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 1 June 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Scottish Opera presents a scintillating new adaptation of Franz Lehár’s  The Merry Widow  at the Festival Theatre, bringing its setting into the twentieth century, and its sensibilities into the twenty-first. Originally a German operetta adapting a French play, this version of  The Merry Widow , a co-production with D’Oyly Carte Opera and Opera Holland Park, features a new English translation by David Eaton (lyrics) and John Savournin (book), the latter of whom also directs the piece. The company of Scottish Opera's The Merry Widow. Pic: Mihaela Bodlovic. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !