They have played host to big names like music superstar Elton John, American rock icon Tina Turner and Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, as well as hundreds of lesser known actors, dancers and musicians.
Theatres are an essential part of the city's fabric and integral to the Capital's cultural scene.
Here are some fascinating black and white photos, selected from the Evening News archive, of shows, stars and staging from 40 years ago.
Scroll through the old pictures and get a flavour of what was happening on stage in the mid-1980s.
25. Auditioning to be a corpse
Evening News reporter Scott Begbie auditions at the Kings theatre for the part of the corpse in The Real Inspector Hound in April 1984. He has to prove he won't laugh or flinch when touched or a gun is fired. | TSPL Photo: Joe Steele
26. Elton John at Playhouse
Elton John at the piano on stage at the Playhouse theatre in Edinburgh, June 1984. | TSPL Photo: Bill Stout
27. King's Theatre facelift
Workmen in the foyer of Edinburgh's King's Theatre as it underwent a £1 million facelift in 1985. | TSPL Photo: Bill Newton
28. Traverse co-founder
Jim Haynes, a co-founder of Edinburgh's Traverse theatre, appeared in The Every Job Man at the theatre i,n February 1984. American-born Haynes was a figure in the British 1950s-60s counter-culture. He opened Britain's first paperback-only bookshop in Edinburgh's George Square in 1959, later moving to London and Paris. | TSPL