War Horse
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until October 11.
In a month of big hitters, the latest Edinburgh visit for the National Theatre of Great Britain’s staging of Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 First World War set anti war novel about a young boy and his horse remains a remarkable theatrical feat. Featuring life-size puppets from South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, Marianne Elliot and Tom Morris’ original production was first seen in 2007, with Katie Henry picking up the baton for this current outing. As the Herald said in its review when the show galloped into Glasgow earlier this year, the bond between boy and horse ‘provides a totem of hope in a world of despair throughout a still powerful production.
The Glass Menagerie
Dundee Rep until October 18; Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, October 21-25; Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, November 4-8.
Tennessee Williams’ semi autobiographical 1944 play based around a dysfunctional family living in a St. Louis tenement made Williams a star. In more recent times, Dundee Rep have produced the show twice before over the last thirty years prior to the Rep artistic director Andrew Panton’s new take on it. Back in 1996, the play’s narrator Tom was played by a young actor called David Tennant, who has also done rather well for himself. This time out sees Christopher Jordan-Marshall step into Tom’s shoes.
The Seagull
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, October 9-November 1.
The first production by new Lyceum artistic director James Brining sees Caroline Quentin star in a revival of Chekhov’s classic play. Quentin plays former actress Arkadina, whose tortured wannabe playwright son Konstantin is desperate to impress young Nina, who in turn falls for Arkadina’s lover Trigoran. This merry-go-round of artistic angst sees a supporting cast featuring the likes of John Bett, Lorn Macdonald and Forbes Masson in a show that promises much for Brining’s tenure.
Six
The Playhouse, Edinburgh, October 21-26.
When Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss reinvented the stories of Henry VIII’s six wives for the X Factor age on the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, its poptabulous reimagining of history went global. This latest Edinburgh run of what looks like a never-ending tour of Marlow and Moss’ West End and Broadway smash hit is already sold out, but is still worth flagging up as an example of how fringe shows can still sometimes go on to much bigger things.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, October 21-25; King’s Theatre, Glasgow, November 4-8.
West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin’s hit adaptation of Harper Lee’s much-loved novel about racial tension in the 1930s American deep south isn’t the first staging of the book. It’s success on Broadway and in the West End, however, has shown how the story of how lawyer Atticus Finch’s defence of a black man falsely accused of rape has retained its power. Sorkin’s version puts Atticus more to the fore, with this first UK tour starring Richard Coyle as Atticus in a cast that also features one-time Citizens Theatre regular Paul Albertson.
So Young
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, October 23-25; Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, October 28-November 8.
Douglas Maxwell is on a roll just now. Hot on the heels of the Tron Theatre’s tour of Man’s Best Friend, which showcased Maxwell’s monologue about a dog walker trying to get through a crisis, comes this tour of his 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit. Co-produced by the Traverse, the Tron and Raw Material, So Young gathers together four friends in what should be a living room full of the sort of laughter shared experience brings with it. As it turns out, Maxwell’s play for grown-ups reveals a fair few other things going on beneath the surface.
A Piano Full of Feathers
Perth Theatre, October 23-November 1.
When Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas, it went on to become his most famous song. As Jane Livingstone’s new play shows, however, Berlin’s festive favourite was born of tragedy following the death of his infant son. Livingstone’s play puts the song at the centre of her play for Perth Theatre, performed by River City star Frances Thorburn and recent Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Musical Theatre graduate Ross Forbes-Mackenzie. They are accompanied by Hilary Brooks, who provides live piano for a selection of Berlin favourites that soundtrack the show.
Miss Saigon
The Playhouse, Edinburgh, October 28-November 1.
It is thirty-six years now since the team behind Les Miserables premiered their Vietnam war set musical. A global hit ever since, Alan Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg were inspired by a photograph of a Vietnamese mother leaving her child at the airport where they would travel to live with their American father. The result reimagined Puccini’s Madame Butterfly for 1970s Saigon, where a love affair plays out between an American marine and a Vietnamese bar girl. The show has proved controversial over the years, but remains a spectacular box office draw.
Sunny Afternoon
King’s Theatre, Glasgow, October 28-November 1.
Of all the 1960s sired groups to have burst out of swinging London, The Kinks arguably have the most complex history, both in the mercurial back stories of Muswell Hill siblings Ray and Dave Davies, and in their songbook of pre punk music hall social realist vignettes. Playwright Joe Penhall’s musical, penned with Davies senior, looks at the first five tempestuous years of the Kinks’ chart topping history in a West End smash hit that goes beyond its musical theatre trappings to look at the fickle curse of fame, a frequent subject of many of the songs performed live by the cast. As the Herald described it back in 2016 when the show first toured, the result is ‘a ferocious attempt to invest the tribute musical form with dark substance’
Hamilton
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, October 29-December 27.
In a month of big shows, this is arguably the biggest, as American history is told, not with standard showtunes, but by way of an explosive rap soundtrack brought to life by a huge cast. Having toured the world for the last decade, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s highly charged musical about eighteenth century American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton arrived in Scotland in 2024 for a stint in Edinburgh. This latest visit sees it bed down in Glasgow for a two month run of one of the most dynamic shows you’re likely to see anywhere just now. As the Herald’s review put it, Hamilton ‘makes for an exhilarating reclaiming of history that combines roots, rap and revolution with delirious abandon.’
The Herald, October 4th 2025
ends
Comments