Will Power: Rebecca Mahar talks to Salvador Kent about form, farce and clowning in political theatre The General Will  is a new play at the Fringe from up-and-coming Edinburgh-based writer and director Salvador Kent, who uses the the meta-analysis of clown to critique current events and the political players who shape them. In the play, two clowns – government actors – enact current events that have made their approval ratings drop to an all time low. Meanwhile, two Gen-Z actual actors rehearse a play responding to these events…   Chloe Embley in rehearsal for The General Will. Pic: Salvador Kent. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full article ! Commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 29 July 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin.

Footloose -  ★★★★☆ - Vigorous Festival Theatre: Fri 18/Sat 19 July 2025 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 20 July 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Dancing onto the Festival Theatre stage with boundless energy and enthusiasm, The Beyond Broadway Experience presents a  Footloose  that is a showcase of Scottish talent and training, an invigorating look into the up-and-coming generations of musical theatre performers. Based on the 1984 film of the same name, Footloose tells the story of Chicago teen Ren McCormack, who loves to dance, moving with his mother to the small town of Bomont after they are abandoned by his father. Ren quickly discovers that Bomont is nothing like Chicago, and that after a tragic accident several years before, dancing has been outlawed. Not that this will stop Ren… Bobby Duncan as Ren and Rhianne McAllister as Ariel. Pic: BBExP. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

This Is A Gift - ★★★★★ - Luminous Pitlochry Festival Theatre: Tue 24 June – Th 11 Sept 2025 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 9 July 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. This Is A Gift , Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir’s Leith-based retelling of the Midas myth performed solo by Blythe Jandoo, creeps into your heart and slowly squeezes it in a golden vice. This is a feat of writing and storytelling that reminds us that myths don’t always have a happy ending — and shouldn’t. It runs in the PFT Studio for five performances only, with two matinees remaining on Fri 5 and Thurs 11 September 2025. Blythe Jandoo in This Is A Gift. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

Grease -  ★★★★☆ - Raucous Pitlochry Festival Theatre: 18 Jun – 27 Sept 2025 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and original published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 4 July 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Grease  is a raucous, riotous classic of 1970s American musical theatre, and this new co-production between Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Blackpool Grand Theatre is packed with heart, soul, and exceptional actor-musicianship. It’s the first day of school in 1958 at Rydell High, and new girl Sandy Dumbrowski (Blythe Jandoo) is introduced to the Pink Ladies clique by Frenchy (April Nerissa Hudson) and quickly invited into the fold. Simultaneously, the greaser gang the Burger Palace Boys gather, focusing on the popular Danny (Alexander Service). Blythe Jandoo and the cast of Grease. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

The Great Gatsby - ★★★★★ - Sensationa l Pitlochry Festival Theatre: 27 June – 25 Sept Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally posted on All Edinburgh Theatre, 3 July 2025. Edited by Thom Dibdin. The Great Gatsby  is an extraordinarily difficult story to adapt, but Elizabeth Newman has done it, in a dazzling, hopeful, forlorn and febrile production, helmed by Sarah Brigham and co-produced by Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Derby Theatre. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of the same name,  The Great Gatsby  is narrated by Nick Carraway, a writer and veteran of the Great War turned bond salesman, who moves to the Long Island village of West Egg to start afresh. Nick Carraway is the fixed point in the sea of chaos that is Gatsby. He is, as Fitzgerald wrote, “rather ill at ease among swirls and eddies of people”. It is this aspect that Newman has seized upon in her adaptation, to great success. David Rankine (Nick Carraway) and Oraine Johnso...